Survivors
Judy Fu
Owner/chef, Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon; age 6
Learned How: At culinary school in Taipei, Taiwan
First Worked: As a prep cook, House of Liu, Washington, D.C.
From the Résumé (1976-1992): chef, Jong Yen Lo, Seattle; head chef, Orient Express, Seattle; head chef, Panda's/Pandasia, Seattle
Secret to Success: "You have to concentrate on what your goal is: For me, it's hard work. You can't be afraid of working, and most important, you must stay focused."
Wish You Were Still Here: Tien Tsin: "Back in the '70s, this place made lots of homemade, country-style Chinese food."
Hope You Stick Around: Hing Loon (628 S. Weller St., 206-682-2828). "We go there for noodles on our day off."
Shiro Kashiba
Owner/chef, Shiro's Sushi; age 60
First Job: chef's apprentice, Yoshino, Tokyo, Japan
From the Résumé (1966-1991): sushi chef, Tanaka Restaurant, Seattle; sushi chef, Maneki, Seattle; owner/sushi chef, Nikko, Seattle, International District
Secret to Success: "Buying good seafood. Shopping is one of the most important things I do. I go to two or three places every day — Ocean Beauty, Mutual Fish, Uwajimaya — though I buy certain fish, like tuna and yellowtail, from a distributor. They know the quality I need. I try to use local seafood as much as I can and try to keep our sushi in the traditional style."
Wish You Were Still Here: Jackson Café: "It was a small café that I used to go to when I first moved here. They served traditional American food like oxtail. I miss it because it was the first place I ever ate apple pie à la mode — I'd never had that kind of thing before. I still remember that taste!"
Hope You Stick Around: Lampreia (2400 First Ave., 206-443-3301). "I like Scott (Carsberg). He works real hard and likes to do it his own way. He's got great creative ideas, and he really thinks about the customer and the service — and that's the main point of this business."
Jeremy Hardy/Peter Levy
Co-owners, Chow Foods (Atlas Foods, The 5 Spot, Coastal Kitchen, Jitterbug), Seattle; ages 45 and 47
Learned How: Hardy earned a master of mixology degree from Harvard University ("OK, it was an on-campus extension course"). Levy says, "As a former construction estimator in the commercial remodeling field, I learned a lot about space planning, design and budgeting."
First Worked: Hardy as a dishwasher, Page's Diner, Boston; Levy as a dishwasher/busboy, Bonanza Steakhouse, Cupertino, Calif. ("It's where I cut my teeth on bus-tub dining!")
From the Résumé (1988-1995): Both at Beeliner Diner (morphed into Jitterbug), Seattle; Luncheonette # 1, Seattle
Secret to Success: Hardy: "Peter and I love what we do, and that makes it so that you're involved in the whole thing — every aspect of the business. The more I'm in this business, the more I love it." Levy: "Our neighborhood locations and the level of continued support we get from the residents of our neighborhoods are the reasons we continue to be reasonably successful."
Wish You Were Still Here: Hardy: Saleh al Lago. "I have many romantic memories of the place because this is where my wife and I went when we were dating. Also, the food and service were great. Saleh brought a real old-school standard to a neighborhood restaurant location." Levy: Lofurno's. "I'll always remember those Sunday nights, eating over-garlicked pasta served by rude waiters. It felt so shady and so right! And of course there's Twin Teepees. My family and I used to go there every week for a club sandwich."
Hope You Stick Around: Hardy: Mandalay Café (1411 N. 45th St., 206-633-0801). "It's a well-run restaurant with great owners, great music and a cool room — and we can walk there from our house." Levy: Burrito Loco (9211 Holman Road, 206-783-0719): "It's reasonably priced, unassuming, convenient to my house, and the food is always fresh and delicious."
Mick McHugh
Owner, McHugh Restaurants, Inc. (The Pleasant Hour, Mercer Island; F X McRory's Steak, Chop & Oyster House, Seattle; Leschi Lakecafe, Seattle; co-owner, T.S. McHugh's, Seattle; age 58
From the Résumé (1963-1995): co-owner, 92 Yesler, Seattle; co-owner, El Nido, Bellevue; co-owner, Jake O'Shaughnessey's, Seattle, and New Jake O'Shaughnessey's, Bellevue Square; co-owner, Kirkland Roaster, Kirkland; co-owner, Rosellini & McHugh's 910 Café, Seattle; co-owner, Cooper's Roost, Issaquah; investor, Floyd's Place, Seattle; co-owner, Chipper's, Seattle.
First Learned: "The older generation of restaurateurs were my mentors: Ivar Haglund, John Franco, Victor Rosellini, Gil Centioli."
First Worked: As a bar-back (bartender assistant) at Rosellini's 410, Seattle
Secret to Success: "Don't make it too complicated. Be humble and listen to people. Know your customers. Be fair and flexible with your employees. Appreciate their skills. Don't be a big-shot: you can learn from everybody."
Wish You Were Still Here: The original Vito's. "The thing that made that place work were the Santoro brothers, Vito and Jimmy, and Eleanor — Jimmy's wife, who became Vito's partner, running the front desk after Jimmy died. It was a warm, inviting, very Italian, very Seattle place: a great joint."
Hope You Stick Around: icon Grill (1933 Fifth Ave., 206-441-6330): Owner Gary Detlef "helped us in our early careers, designing Jake's and McRory's. For 25 years Tim (Firnstahl) and I tried our damnedest to talk him out of opening a restaurant, but he did it anyway. Gary loves this business so bad he finally had to build his own temple!"
Dany Mitchell (aka: "Papa Mitchelli")
President, since 1977, of Mitchelli Family Restaurants (Trattoria Mitchelli, Seattle; Angelina's Trattoria, West Seattle; Stella's Trattoria, Seattle); age 54
First Learned: "I have a degree in romance languages — I was to have been a French teacher. I worked first to buy a car, then to go to college, then worked my way through college."
First Worked: As a busboy and dishwasher, Villa Arturo, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Secret to Success: "You've got to stay in touch with your customer base and be aware of the changes in what people like to eat. Some restaurants take shortcuts by buying frozen product, but buying fresh is the key to success. There was a time when you couldn't get fresh mozzarella. Now it's everywhere. I used to buy the Genzale family's whole basil field, now you can buy fresh basil all year 'round. It's amazing how things have changed — look at the breads in this town! Look at the wines in this state!"
Wish You Were Still Here: Brasserie Pittsbourg and (the original) Maximilien: "It's not the restaurants that I miss so much, though, it's the person, (chef/owner) François Kissel — he's a great culinarian."
Hope You Stick Around: House of Hong (409 Eighth Ave. S., 206-622-7997): "It's on the way home for me. I always stop and get the same thing: curry vermicelli noodles and barbecue pork."
Owner, Tom Douglas Restaurants (Dahlia Lounge, Etta's Seafood, Palace Kitchen); age 43
Learned How: "I went to the school of every chef and co-worker I ever worked for or with — as I still do. Restaurants have been my hobby for the past 30 years, and that's a certain kind of schooling. I call it the school of taste-memory: stealing from every place you've ever eaten and rebuilding their stuff in your own mind and in your own way."
First Worked: Shucking oysters and peeling shrimp at Hotel du Pont, Wilmington, Del.
From the Résumé (1981-1989): chef/general manager, Café Sport, Seattle
Secret to Success: "The Nordstrom lesson hit home early: 'The customer's always right. The customer comes first. The customer is king.' "
Wish You Were Still Here: Labuznik
Hope You Stick Around: Saigon Restaurant (1916 Pike Place, 206-448-1089).
President, Washington Restaurant Association, 2000-2002
Director of Marketing, Anthony's Restaurants (Anthony's HomePorts, Puget Sound locations; Chinook's at Salmon Bay, Seattle; Anthony's Pier 66/Bell Street Diner, Seattle; Harbor Lights, Tacoma; Anthony's Woodfire Grill, Everett); age 51
Learned How: From Lee Abbott, owner of Ye Olde Hickory Rib Pit, who "taught me how to get up, come to work, work hard and do a good job; John Limantzakis, who I worked for at the Edgewater and who later owned Latitude 47, convinced me it doesn't matter how good you are: If you're not smiling, the guest misses the whole point; Budd Gould taught me about success from a business standpoint: how to keep a business making money."
First Worked: As a "counter-girl" at Ye Olde Hickory Rib Pit at the Seattle Center Food Circus
From the Résumé (1967-1990): eventually promoted to manager, Ye Olde Hickory Rib Pit, Seattle Center; restaurant hostess/captain, Edgewater Hotel, Seattle; bookkeeper, then assistant to the director of operations, Anthony's Restaurants
Secret to Success: "I like working with people, as quirky as they can be. I love the energy of the restaurant business. No day is ever the same."
Wish You Were Still Here: Ivar's Captain's Table: "We used to go there as a family and, later, after high-school proms and events. I have a lot of fond memories of that place — including eating those little popcorn shrimp."
Hope You Stick Around: Flying Fish (2234 First Ave., 206-728-8595). "It's a different, more cosmopolitan seafood restaurant. It's where I go when I want to pretend I'm out of town."
Luciano Bardinelli
Owner/executive chef, Sans Souci, Bellevue; age 59
Learned How: At Maggia, a hotel restaurant in Stresa, Italy
First Worked: As a busboy, The Palace Hotel, Montreaux, Switzerland
From the Résumé (1982-1995): owner/chef, Settebello, Seattle; consultant, Papparazzi, Seattle; consultant, Il Paisano, Seattle; owner, Stresa, Kirkland; original owner/chef, Italianissimo, Woodinville; general manager/consultant, Sostanza, Seattle; owner, Settebello, Bellevue; owner, Italianissimo, Seattle.
Secret to Success: "You have to have 100 percent knowledge of the business. You must be hands-on and you need to know how — and when — to cut expenses by jumping in and doing jobs that an owner doesn't usually do. I can cook, bartend and do my own accounting, so I can cut expenses if I have to."
Wish You Were Still Here: The Other Place restaurant. "I loved what Robert Rosellini used to do there. His goals were the ones I have: good traditional food with good service."
Hope You Stick Around: Filiberto's Cucina Italiana (14401 Des Moines Memorial Dr., 206-248-1944). "I love the pizza — I think it's the best in the city — if you can call what this city has 'pizza'!"
Paul Mackay
Owner, Mackay Restaurant Group, and partner in Chez Gus, Seattle; El Gaucho, Seattle and Portland; Waterfront, Seattle; Flying Fish, Seattle; age 60
First Learned: "I learned from my father, Frank Mackay, about the hard work that was required in this business. I learned from Jim Ward — who owned the original El Gaucho and the 13 Coins — how to take care of customers, and I learned how to make money from Dave Cohn, of Consolidated Restaurants."
First Worked: As a soda jerk (age 12) for his parents at MacFerguson's. "But my first job in a 'real' restaurant was at the Windjammer, on Shilshole — and it was also the first job I ever got fired from."
From the Résumé (1967-1994): waiter/manager, 13 Coins, Seattle; manager, Mirabeau, Seattle; assistant manager/manager, original El Gaucho, Seattle; operations manager, Ward Enterprises (owners of El Gaucho, 13 Coins Seattle and Sea-Tac, Lafitte's); manager, Consolidated Restaurants, (Elliott Bay Fish & Oyster Company, which later became Elliott's Oyster House, and Metropolitan Grill); co-owner, Harry-O's, Issaquah; general manager, Yarrow Bay Grill, Kirkland
Secret to Success: "When I worked for other people I gave them my expertise but never owned any of what I was giving them. Today I see my job as taking really talented people — people who are good at what they do but don't know how to create a solid business plan — and giving them a piece of (restaurant) ownership, making them business partners. And it works!"
Wish You Were Still Here: The original El Gaucho.
Hope You'll Stick Around: Marco's Supperclub (2510 First Ave., 206-441-7801). "I love the place, and the people (Marco Rulff and Donna Moodie) who own it."
Richard Malia
Owner, Ponti Seafood Grill; age 54
First Learned: "My mother, who grew up during the Depression and grew all her own vegetables. She'd send me out to the garden to cut vegetables as a kid, and had a special barbecue in our kitchen — she was always cooking, and she was the one who gave me my love for food."
First Worked: As a waiter, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Seattle
From the Résumé (1972-2001): co-owner, The Snug, Seattle; co-owner, Malia's Northwest, Seattle; co-owner, Axis, Seattle
Secret to success: "I have a love for what I'm doing — I really care about it. I don't think of the business as work, necessarily, it's just part of what I do. I love the people I work with — and for — the community and my family. I believe that's what success is: caring about those around you, and having their respect."
Wish You Were Still Here: Rosellini's 410. "Not so much for the food, but for the scene. Rosellini's was where politics and business happened in Seattle. People hung out there all day, taking two-, three-, four-hour lunches; it was an incredible thing."
Hope You Stick Around: Nishino (3130 E. Madison St., 206-322-5800): "I like Japanese food, it's healthy food. At Nishino, it's exceptionally well done and you have the choice of interesting entrees that you might not get elsewhere."