Restaurant Develops Recipe For Endurance

The high-concept eateries that have burst onto the Lake Union restaurant scene over the past two decades, only to flop or wither, makes for quite a list.

Horatio's. Rusty Pelican. Victoria Station. The Turkey House. Abigail's. Vancouver's Discovery. Kessler's. The Hungry Turtle. Shore Broiler. Casa Villa. The Riviera. The Landing. Greenstreets. The Gasworks. McGovern's. West Veranda. Greenjeans. Don The Beachcomber. The Great American Food & Beverage Conglomeration.

Heavyweight restaurateurs looking to make a go of it amidst Seattle's ambience-oozing enclave of luxury yachts and trendy houseboats have attempted every imaginable format, from dimly-lit leather-and-brass saloon to pastel-hued South Pacific bungalow.

Yet one establishment, Latitude 47, has been a fixture on Lake Union since the early 1970s. This classic waterfront steak and seafood house, located just north of the AGC high-rise on Westlake Avenue, has had just one exterior paint job and two major interior upgrades since opening. Now owner John Limantzakis is about to celebrate his 20th year in business.

"I believe I am the oldest restaurant on the lake with the same name, same ownership and still doing basically the same thing I did in 1973," says the 50-year-old Limantzakis.

His recipe for endurance in an unforgiving business: Hands-on attention to detail, continuity of key employees and work days that routinely stretch 12 hours and longer.

Limantzakis has cooked up a loyal base of lunch and dinner patrons, a quietly-thriving banquet/catering operation and a durable after-hours cocktail lounge/nightclub.

While tiered management runs competing restaurants, Latitude 47 is a singular business entity with a distinct persona - Limantzakis.

The engaging owner, invariably dressed in a freshly pressed suit, crisp white shirt, classy tie and spit-shined shoes, hasn't missed warmly greeting lunch and dinner customers more than a handful of days in 20 years.

"John always makes a good presentation," said Don Wright, president of Western General Marketing, a longtime business associate. "He has true concern for his customers and his employees, he really cares about the quality of the food he puts out and he provides that something extra - conviviality," Wright said.

But Limantzakis is much more than the public face of the operation. A typical day begins at 9 a.m. and ends after the kitchen begins to wind down around 9 p.m. Day in and day out, no detail is too small to escape his analysis, from the current operating efficiency of the silver polishing machine to the grade and freshness of the last shipment of seafood and meats.

Limantzakis takes fierce pride in getting things right, a trait he spreads by force of personality to 60 employees. It is the key, he says, to consistently delivering value to his patrons, which keeps them coming back.

"This is one of the few businesses where you buy the raw product, you prepare it, you merchandise it to sell it and then you collect from the customers," he says. "And things can go wrong within that system.

Though he is intense about his work, Limantzakis is the first to admit he is anything but a one man band. Executive Chef Stellios Makratzakis, his brother-in-law, manages the kitchen.

His sister, Sandy Makratzakis (married to Stellios) and her assistant Dawna Tarrant, 12 years with the company, run the banquet/catering facility.

Comptroller John Micholson has worked for Limantzakis since 1968, while banquet chef Willie Kriner and sous-chef Madjid Moussouni, have logged 14 and 12 years, respectively, at the restaurant.

Tucked away at dock level beneath the restaurant, the banquet facility can hold up to 300 for a sit down dinner, or smaller groups for a seminar or breakfast meeting. It has proven to be a reliable source of revenue, helping smooth the inevitable ups-and-downs on the restaurant side.

In 1984, Limantzakis invested $500,000 remodeling the facility, which provides an alternative to the cookie-cutter banquet halls found in downtown hotels.

It is no coincidence that Latitude 47 resembles a hotel operation, sans lodging. By his late 20s, Limantzakis had risen from waiter to general manager at the Edgewater Inn. The job included responsibilities at four other hotels in the chain. But with a young daughter and an infant son to think about, Limantzakis abandoned his fast rising career in hotel management to jump into business for himself.

"I have no regrets," Limantzakis says. "I have met some fantastic people. We have made a lot of friends throughout the area and the world, and I have a very nice family.

"My family is really what gave me a charge and the incentive to keep going."