Eating your way through Kansas City
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Lifestyle
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Phil Roberts: a concept-generating machine
Bonjour, and welcome to Salut Bar Americain, where Edina, Minnesota, meets Gay Paree. The tablecloths are checkered, the awnings bright red. And the wine bottles? Oh yes, the wine bottles, stenciled with the user-friendliest designations you’re apt ever to see: 1.(cheap), 2.(decent), 3. (good). A snaggle-toothed stuffed boar’s head gazes down upon a zinc-topped bar, impassive, yet knowing...in that French sort of way. Ne c’est pas? Salut Bar Americain is but the latest in a string of concepts created by Phil Roberts...
Feeling The Burn?
Then fight it. Tactics for beating burnout in yourself and your staff.
Must-read books from small-business leaders
Bob Metcalfe, Ethernet inventor, 3Com founder, recipient of the National Medal of Technology in 2005.
Must read: “Atlas Shrugged,” by Ayn Rand
“I’ve read the book five times and I’m getting ready to read it again.
It encourages you to have a confident belief in individual freedoms, to
be aware of the clever corruptions of government and to generate and
exchange values [The book also advises that] when you have to choose
between freedom and equality, choose freedom.”
David Zebny's non-chain chain Z Square
On the face of it, David Zebny might sound like the typical restaurateur wannabe: Bored real estate broker/developer/banker with plenty of scratch and a vague idea about doing something more “creative” moves to Europe and sees his future. Except that the man behind Z Square already has two locations under his belt and is about to add more. He may even have discovered an underserved niche between the bakery-cafes (read: Panera) and the casual dinnerhouses (Applebee’s, et al). Z Square was designed to be hip, high quality and reproducible.
Funny how a handful of celebrity chefs and
mom-and-pop global joints can round out a local cuisine. Now visitors
in the know—and with a car to navigate the bi-state sprawl—have a new
nickname for Kansas City: Chowtown.
Ralph RubioFounder, chairman: Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill Back story: When Rubio, 50, was a teenager he was bussing and waiting tables at restaurants around his hometown of San Diego. He also took frequent trips to Baja, Mexico, where he fell in love with their signature fish tacos. At 26, and with financial help from his father, he decided to open his own place—and bring the feel of those Baja taco stands to his neighbors. Today, publicly traded Rubio’s is 155 units strong and is credited with introducing the American palate to fish tacos. |