Restaurants 'like opera' to John Schwartz

John Henry Schwartz sat at a table — number 11 — in Canlis Restaurant and confessed his dream.

It was the mid-1970s, back when Capitol Hill was home to furniture stores and expensive dress shops. Mr. Schwartz, who'd been in the restaurant business since his teens, envisioned a high-class joint: Waiters in tuxedos. Tableside service. Well-dressed patrons. Flaming food carts.

"He said, 'I'm going to have my name all over it,' " recalled Chris Canlis, owner of Canlis.

This place, Henry's Off Broadway, taken from Mr. Schwartz's middle name, would prove to be his most personal and subtle achievement, "truly a whale of a restaurant — his expression of everything a restaurant should be," Canlis recalled.

Mr. Schwartz, who for nearly 40 years worked in or ran restaurants from Daniel's Broiler to The Butcher Restaurant in Bellevue, to Chandler's Crabhouse and Spazzo Mediterranean Grill and Tapas Bar, died Friday in his Bellevue home after a long bout with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. He was 53.

From his days at Franklin High School, when he worked at Dag's Drive-In, to his time at Henry's, when he cruised tables checking on guests, Mr. Schwartz was not a cook or a host, but a restaurateur who eventually saw his work as a form of theater.

"It was like an opera — a story, with drama and people and lives at stake — and he helped orchestrate it all," Canlis said. "He would go to any length to make sure the guest had the experience of a lifetime. And I loved him for that."

Along with his brother Bill, the financial genius, Mr. Schwartz helped build Schwartz Brothers Restaurants into an internationally known food-service company that included everything from the Atrium Cafe to an outfit that catered for Benaroya Hall. He loved food and people, and was such a workaholic that even after he became ill, he still stopped by his many dining spots to check on a few details.

"There are some cooks who don't like people and some hosts who aren't into food, but to John, you can't have one without the other," said Louie Richmond, an attorney who worked for the brothers.

Mr. Schwartz was "completely passionate about food and service," Canlis agreed. "In this day and age, there are restaurant guys who use computers and dwell on concepts, but not John. He didn't dwell on costs or functional operations. He engaged the guests, responded to their needs and connected personally."

Over the years, Mr. Schwartz was involved in many charitable organizations. He was on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, president of the arts fund-raising organization PONCHO and a member of the United Way Presidents' Cabinet.

"He was generous in every sense of the word and will be sorely missed," Canlis said.

Mr. Schwartz is survived by his wife, Stacy, and their children, Alexandra and Tyler; John's children Jaclyn, Mackenzie and Jake; his brothers, Bill and Michael; nephews Lindsey, Danny, Ricky and David Schwartz, nieces Karen Schwartz and Joelle Kanter.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. today at Green Funeral Home, 1215 145th Place S.E., Bellevue, with burial at adjacent Sunset Hills Memorial Park. Remembrances in lieu of flowers may be made to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109.

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com.