Quitter

This post effectively ends my run as 'Dining Rumor' for the foreseeable future, and I feel as though I owe some sort of explanation.

Firstly, there are a few strictly personal reasons that interfere with the time and effort with which I am able to contribute to this blog.  One is simple:  I am in the process of making some living arrangements that are going to interfere with accumulation of and knowledgeably writing about the service industry chit chat going on around town -- ultimately, I'm going to be out of the loop.  The other reason is a bit more complex, and honestly none of your damn business.

In addition to that, I'm also making moves to get out of the service industry, as much as it is possible.  I've been doing a little freelance writing, and while the income isn't something I can live off of, I enjoy putting my schooling to use.  There is a certain measure of contradiction in the fact that I will no longer be writing this blog because I am trying to be writer, I get it.  At any rate, I'd feel as if I wouldn't have the right to author a blog like this, not working in the service industry in the same capacity anymore.  If I tried, I wouldn't have the same street cred; I'd be living a lie! A shame!

The biggest reason that I'm a quitter comes down to my profound disillusionment with the service industry in Buffalo over the last couple years.  My inability to make any headway as a Person of Value, or someone that warrants treatment as a human being from customer and employer alike has not just been crushing me, but really putting limits on my ability to pay bills, live independently, and generally survive.  As much as we, in "this thing of ours," like to bitch about customers, we know that it comes part and parcel with the job -- it's all, to some degree, a little bit tongue in cheek, despite all the affectations of outrage we like to adopt.  But when you get more respect from a public that is often on its best day some form of pleasantly apathetic and ignorant than you do from your own bosses, who should know better....burning out is going to become an inevitability.

I'm bitter because I was ready to love it; service industry work is the only thing I have on my resume, and while I'd never dreamed I'd spend the rest of my working life in a restaurant as a child, I'd started to get comfortable with the idea.  There is that element of uncertainty that my untamed streak craves:  meeting the challenge of an unforecasted busy night with my fellow co-workers as a team, celebratory late night drinks, the next day's hungover tales of debauchery.  Not to mention that if food is the new entertainment thanks to celebrity chef TV and foodie culture, restaurant work becomes slightly more respectable.  And if this was what I was going to do with my life, why not really own it?

After recounting a recent string of job mishaps, my bartender friend told me, "Maybe you should try another line of work."  At first, I was indignant.  This is what I DO. Are you implying I'm not GOOD at it?  He wasn't.  I'm no all-star;  but I know what I'm doing and I provide solid service.  We'd worked together, so he knows just what my strengths and weaknesses are.  He wasn't telling me I'm not good at it.  But if I was as qualified as I am and I still can't make things work for me, maybe "The Universe" was trying to tell me something.  Maybe I should start looking at other options, use that college education, get out now before I start flipping tables on customers and kicking busboys in the nuts.

He has a point.  My laughably bad luck was perhaps a sign -- maybe not a divine one from on high, but the signal of a trend.  And I'd be stupid not to listen.

Of course I can't just up and quit the industry in a huff.  I'm not real qualified to do much else.  It might take a couple years to make a full transition, and I might never be out of it completely.  But I can't stake my life on something so unreliable; despite my eagerness, it just won't ever look out for me. 

If the same bitch breaks your heart enough times, eventually it's your own fault for stickin around.

AMF

~DR

This Acropolis Business

Back on the horse.

Somebody, please, describe to me how this fuss over the Acropolis expansion makes any sense.  As is evident by their article today, the Buffalo News has finally caught wind of the story, and whether fair or not, seems only to add fuel to the flame.  The scary part is that it seems ever more apparent to me this conflict isn't just going to halt expansion plans for owner Paul Tsouflidis, but bring them crashing down around him.

But then again, what do I know? Well, nothing. I'm just a blogger.

Ok, that's not entirely true.  I do know Paul.  I met him through my patronage of the Acropolis and I know him through several mutual friends as well.  As a private citizen, I don't know him overly well, but Paul has always impressed me as a business owner.  Hang around an owner-type long enough, and they'll regale you with all of their plans to reinvigorate, remodel, and revolutionize their little corner of the food and beverage industry.  And the tales are interesting, creative, exciting even. "Yes!" you'll think as the lowly server, "Yes! that's exactly what you SHOULD do! and we'll be packed six nights a week and we'll all be making more money than we know how to spend! we might even have to splurge on another bus boy...let's DO this," and that's how you're meant to respond.  As company that is almost as cheaply bought as your labor, you're meant to be a yes-man.  But soon that beer buzz wears off, and with it, all of your owner's wonderful, exciting, and sure-to-be-moneymaking plans...and as weeks stretch into months, the talk never stretches into anything but more talk.

But Paul has never been that kind of owner.  By the time I was hearing about his plans to alter not just the look, but the feel of Acropolis, its very place in the community and amongst its fellow Elmwood avenue businesses, I was already jaded enough to expect the Great Big Nothing as far as follow up was concerned.  I got showed up, big time.  And I loved it.  What Paul was doing was what he said he was going to do -- a beautiful remodel on the interior, and extensive exterior refacing as well, all at what looked to be at great cost.  And whatever that cost, the expense has been out of his own modest pockets -- a far cry from some of the money coddled inheritors in this town that throw around their weight and wealth in less productive fashion.  The jump in the quality of food, without an extreme jump in pricing, was jaw dropping.  I was hesitant about the concept when i'd heard it -- healthy, traditional style Greek food, replacing my favorite diner-fare? Bollocks!  Yet the guy can cook, and since the menu change, I've never had a meal there I wasn't happy with.  When the big test rolled around, the ever elusive liquor license procurement test, I had, at that point, faith in Paul's tenacity, and even his willingness to submit to long suffering.

How does this matter?  Anyone who was at the Acropolis community meeting in the basement of Lafayette Presbyterian Church, read comments sections in online articles, or just generally paid attention to all the ballyhoo, has heard the cry of the detractors:  "The question here is not about Paul's character, or whether or not he runs a good business -- the issue at hand is how the intended changes will adversely affect the Elmwood Village residential community."

This is the complaint, put as succinctly as possible, and it is this complaint alone that needs addressing.

So, how does Paul's quality of character or quality of business relate to the question of how a "new" Acropolis will affect Elmwood Village living conditions?

DIRECTLY.  The negative response from "Elmwood Villagers" is  emotional, irrational, and just plain fearful if they are going to, as many of them do, concede the points that Paul is a) a man of character, integrity, and upstanding citizenship and b) that he runs a quality business.  My question is -- how does updating, renovating, increasing, or altering Acropolis's business imply that Paul will attend to the new aspects of this business with any less quality or integrity than he attends to it in its current form?  Will he be less conscientious?  Will he care for it less as it grows?  If Paul's a good guy, and he runs a good business, how will the expansion change the acceptable manner in which he's run his business to this point?  Unless this is just lip service, to ease the criticisms of Paul's business into people's ears.

Which it may very well be.  Complaints also include dealing with the drunken public -- doorway pissers, lawn pukers and the like -- as well as increased noise from late night events.  To address the noise complaint in any length is a waste of time.  It's silly, Acropolis has never been cited for illegal decibel levels, and has clearly tried to work to keep noise down.  Some people can't be satisfied, and cities are supposed to be noisy.  End of story.

The complaint of drunken rabble, carousing down Elmwood Avenue due to a DJ event hosted by Acropolis is patently ABSURD.  In the walkable three blocks of Elmwood on either side of West Ferry there are over a dozen establishments with liquor and late night hours.  To say that Acropolis featuring a DJ or serving liquor poses a singular threat to peace, quiet, and clean lawns in the Elmwood Village is ridiculous.  The Blue Monk churns out a college crowd hopped up on high octane beer...hipsters, twentysomethings, and thrill seekers rove the streets from Bullfeathers to Thirsty Buffalo to Faherty's and back again...even Cecelia's has played host to the occasional late night, out of control frat party.  Why is Acropolis being singled out?  The names of the owners of those other establishments don't come up in a discussion of the behavior of their piss-drunk patrons;  no one is giving them quite so much hell. 

It seems obvious, from the Buffalo News article, that when compared to other Elmwood establishments (Epic and Toro are mentioned specifically), Acropolis is being treated with "selective enforcement" of regulations, as Paul points out.  A commenter on the Buffalo News article (Frank Wyglondalski, Depew, NY) suggests this is due to the fact Paul hasn't been "greasing" the right people. I assume he means city employees, or even politicians.  We pretend like that's not the way things work in the world sometimes, just so we can all get along, but maybe Frank isn't so far off the mark.  Or maybe it's something else. 

What I've heard in the pipeline is that the two establishments flanking Acropolis, Elmwood Pet Supplies, owned by brothers John and Tom Higgins, and Mother Nature Plant Emporium, owned by Bob Petrik, have been the most vocal detractors of Paul's expansion.  I imagine that they learned, as I did, of Paul's plans from Paul himself while patronizing his restaurant.  I imagine that upstairs renovations came up, possibly a "Champagne Room" to retire to in the evening hours, the liquor license, revamping the diner into a culturally significant arts-and-music destination.  I imagine being of middle age and upwards -- and as their business hours don't allow them to benefit from the additional foot traffic it would provide -- these fellows didn't have much interest or excitement about such plans.  Sure, they enjoy the breakfasts, but this was not someplace they wanted to be for a late night cocktail.  (Which I think is really how you can easily draw the line between supporters and non-supporters -- people who like the sound of heading to Acropolis for a classy drink during  young-people-drinking-hours, and people who don't.)  When hours proved to be too late, and noise too noisy, I imagine these flanking business owners, who either reside or have tenants in their buildings, had something to say.  And I imagine if personal appeals failed, they would search out legal options.  But really, the only thing they've been able to trip Acropolis up on legally is the music license.  Big effing deal.  

The darker whispers I've heard imply tenants and residents have been encouraged (enticed?) by the business owners to vocalize their criticisms of the Acropolis expansion, but the worst indictment of Paul that they can manage to muster is his cold demeanor.  Can you blame him? It's more of a courtesy than I'd be able to extend in his situation, in which case saying little or nothing is peferable to the alternative of explosive verbal altercation.  Bob Petrik's "Acropolis Testimonial" at Lafayette Presbyterian was enlightening.  I've met Bob before too; his flower shop is top quality.  He's a nice guy.  A little too nice.  Nice in the same way laughter only metaphorically describes the sound a hyena makes.  Does it not seem antagonistic that he's decided to continue to patronize Acropolis on what sounds like an almost daily basis, when everyone in that restaurant knows he is one of the most vocal opponents of the expansion?  Is there not something a little bit sick about exploiting Paul's civility while flaunting the stranglehold he's helped to bring down on the man's business?  I'd never be so quick to eat at a restaurant owned by someone I've pissed off that badly, but that's just me. 

The Higginses? Some light internet stalking yielded a few hits of note (see comments by BuffaloByChoice), one in particular being this: a business profile, that, for whatever reason, lists political associations and even possible campaign contributions.  The amounts of "possible contributions" aren't really as significant as to whom they were made, one Congressman Brian Higgins.  Huh. Can't say for certain if there is any family relation -- the Congressman's bio does not include them amongst the listing of immediate family members.  Now, I haven't researched much further than that, and I honestly wouldn't know where to begin to discover whether or not these Higginseses...es are of any relation...but if they are?  Well.  Then there may be more behind LoCurto's "no" vote than we realize, and its pretty clear which way this is going to go.  This is, of course, complete speculation, and an indulgence of my penchant for conspiracy theories.  But by whatever logic LoCurto's using to equate an upstairs bar -- a service bar much the same as the one found on the first floor, mind you -- with a "Chippewa-style nightclub," is beyond me.  The implied fear, here, is with "hip hop DJ's," and a "Chippewa" atmosphere, we'll all soon be in danger of shootings, stabbings, and general menace from folks who don't look like they belong in a place that's supposed to be a "Village." There are several irrational jumps in logic here that are disturbing, which makes me wonder what force is at work in the decision making process...because it sure isn't a rational one. 

I find it sad and a touch ironic that of all the jackasses who've built successful businesses in the Elmwood area on back alley deals, insurance fraud, and the like, that the guy who's trying to be forthcoming and transparent about what he wants his business to be is the guy who's getting jerked around the most. 

It's mind boggling how blown out of proportion this has all become. 

The Future of the Eights: an interview with owner, Peter Rouff

After the flurry of activity on the Dining Rumor Facebook Page, it seems clear that this was inevitable.  It was Dr. Peter Rouff, owner of the Eights, and the building in which it resides, that initiated contact with me, in order to quell some of the confusion and answer some questions about the current state of things at the Eights Bistro.  By the time I had gotten the questions off to him, however, about a third of them were obsolete, as he is currently in the midst of signing a deal with the new ownership, which he hopes will take over in March.  He was kind enough to answer all the relevant questions via a series of e-mails, and that interview is what follows here.

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DR: What can you tell us about the Eights parting ways with Amelia?  Was there a specific conflict or event that led to her departure?

PR: There is no animosity between Amelia and I – she wanted to make a change and has my full support for her next endeavor.   I have absolutely nothing negative to say about either her or Martin.  They gave notice in early December that they were leaving to pursue a new project.  I did not ask any questions - so I am as in the dark as everyone else.  I read (I believe on your FB page) a rumor of a rift between Amelia / Martin and myself:  I consider the split completely amicable. I gave her free reign to run the restaurant, so I am hard pressed to come up with any reasons either should have hard / hurt feelings.

DR: Was this parting of ways at the Eights what inspired you to put the location on the market?  Are there any other factors for doing this?

PR: Immediately after they gave notice, I contacted my commercial real estate agent @ CBRE to put the location / restaurant space up for lease.  I never had strong desires to be in the industry - I love the building and my investment is in that real estate. 

DR: If your intent is to rent to another restaurateur, why stay open as the Eights in the meantime?

PR: The wheels turn slowly with Buffalo real estate - [if] I have no idea how long it will take to find a suitable tenant...I either shut it down (as I stated above: not an option) or keep the lights on.  I do not look at the present direction as half measures.  I do not want to paint myself as any kind of do-gooder: I have been blessed with amazing staff and want to give them an opportunity to not only keep their jobs, but enhance their skills and resumes.  Chris has been a very dedicated and loyal bartender-promoting him to bar manager was a natural step. I have been incredibly impressed by Rachel (former sous chef - now head chef) - so giving her a chance to run a kitchen is a merit based promotion and hopefully leads to bigger and brighter things. 

DR: What is your response to the many adverse reactions to the new, post-Amelia menu?

PR: Hell hath no fury like a scorned vegan.  I wish the vegan community well in finding a replacement establishment in city limits.

DR: Is the loss of income from the rental property at all a factor in staying open?

PR: No. Much like a home sells "better" when it's furnished and looks lived in, I have been advised that it's easier to sell (or rent) an open and operating restaurant than a closed / shuttered establishment. Even if an ideal tenant was located and a letter of intent signed today, by the time the lawyers dot the i's and cross the t's - I figure (maybe pessimistically) it's a minimum two months before someone takes over: a long time to leave the space vacant.   So why am I staying open?  Loyalty to employees, A desire to maintain a positive presence on the 800 block of main and the hope that an open establishment will facilitate finding a new tenant.

DR: What will your relationship to the next restaurant of that location look like?

PR: The new tenant will be just that – an independent tenant.  No agreement other than a straight lease:  They pay rent and will have free reign.  888 Main Street is a real estate investment.

DR: What is important to you about housing a restaurant in some capacity in that location?

PR: I do not want to be the cause of a shuttered property in Buffalo, so my goal is to operate until the beginning of the new tenant’s lease.  Who would not want to purchase fair market realty in the fastest growing area of Buffalo?  As I shared with you in my initial email: I will not shutter the space.  So many positive things are happening in and around the medical corridor, I will not allow any property that I own to detract from its neighborhood

DR: You've mentioned that one reason why you wish to stay open as the Eights until you find a new tenant is out of loyalty to your staff. What happens to them once a new tenant is found?  If the current staff may have to look for other employment, what is keeping them from doing so before the change over happens?

PR:  Our present head chef is already fielding other job offers and if she leaves, I will seek a guest chef for February.  I have been as upfront as possible in respect to future plans with my employees and each should take the best action for themselves.  I am aiming to close the establishment as close as possible to the start date of the new tenant’s lease, but if I can not staff – admittedly, that would be a problem.

DR: Do you foresee yourself ever being directly involved in the restaurant business sometime down the road? 

PR: The Eights was my first attempt at owning a restaurant.   I will not say it’s the last time that I will invest in a bar or restaurant, but for the foreseeable future, I do not intend to stay in the industry.

DR: Can you tell us whether or not you're close to a deal with anyone?  If so, can you tell us with whom, or what sort of establishment may being going in?

PR: I am presently having an attorney drawing up the lease for a new tenant (they are local well established restaurateurs whose vision is an ideal fit for the medical corridor).  Hopefully, we can make the announcement by the end of January - expecting a March start date.

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While I haven't heard yet who the new tenants with be, I'll be keeping my ears open, and plan to be in touch with Peter down the road in the event he is able to share any more information with us.

As always, I appreciate the time and the effort Peter has taken to oblige my questions, and indulge our curiosity.  

Thanks for reading, 

~DR