at the Gwinnett Center. Contact Karen Siegel, (678) 985-9494, ext. 105. winesouth.com.

May/June 2007From Number Cruncher to Potato Peeler to RestaurateurBy Sally HansellFor Chef Tony Morrow, owner of The Pecan restaurant in downtown College Park, menu management and regularly analyzing data are as critical for success as turning out consistently good Southern fusion food.Morrow, who launched The Pecan a year ago, studies his point-of-sales results a minimum of twice a day. “I’m looking at the menu all the time to see what’s moving,” he says. “The more you look at the data, the faster you can correct it if something is wrong. I look at financials and trends on a daily basis. That may be a bit overwhelming for many people who open a restaurant, but it helps take the risk out of it.”If number crunching comes more easily for Morrow than other chefs, this is no coincidence. The 42-year-old has an MBA and eight years of management experience in the corporate world. He completed his MBA in management at the University of South Dakota while stationed in Rapid City as a U.S. Air Force captain supervising 125 officers. Unusual among chefs, the business school degree has proven enormously helpful. “An MBA gives you the tools to focus on the business. You know what to look for. You understand marketing and all the components of the business,” he says.Sipping peach tea at The Pecan’s bar counter, Morrow discusses his career change and rapid ascent in Atlanta’s restaurant scene. The Pecan is located in a charming 1920s store front formerly occupied by Oscar’s, a restaurant run by Todd Immel and Oscar Morales that drew rave reviews.Morrow began cooking seriously only five years ago after being downsized from a major computer corporation in Atlanta, where he managed 80 employees in a call center. “When I searched my soul to find out what I really enjoy, it was food,” he says. In a dramatic change, he took a job as a prep cook at Pano’s & Paul’s and enrolled in The Art Institute of Atlanta’s culinary program. “I was an adult peeling potatoes, but I was happy to be in that environment working for the best,” he recalls. “I had a purpose. I was focused. I knew what I wanted,” he explains. “While I was starting from scratch in a formal culinary environment, I paid attention to my environment.”Morrow carried a notebook, taking daily notes on tasks like how to make a dressing. “I may have been corrected on how I was doing something by either the chef or a sous chef. You want to keep those little jewels.” After Pano’s & Paul’s he trained at other Buckhead Life Restaurant Group eateries, including an internship at 103 West with Chef Hilary White and a stint at Kyma with Chef Pano Karatassos, Jr.Next he took on institutional dining as Executive Chef and General Manager at Morehouse School of Medicine’s first cafeteria. “Every opportunity I got to move up, I took it, even if it took me into another area,” Morrow says. Two years later he worked for Compass Group as general manager of the Bank of America Plaza restaurant in downtown Atlanta. “Then I said, OK. If I’m going to work 90 hours a week, I’m going to be working in my own business.’”Born in New York but raised in southwest Atlanta, Morrow grew up with a love of pecans nurtured by his mother’s Southern-style cooking. As a student at Tuskegee University, he strolled through pecan orchards stuffing his pockets with the nuts and mailing the booty home to his mother. She sent back care packages with pecan pies, German chocolate cakes and pecan-studded breads.The namesake nut makes multiple appearances on the menu, sustaining a theme while demonstrating efficiency with a versatile use of ingredients. Entrees include roasted buttermilk pecan chicken, sea bass with pecan crust, and New York strip steak grilled over pecan wood, which lends a sweet, smoky flavor. For dessert, soft-shelled Georgia pecans show up in pecan pie, sweet potato creme brulee with toasted pecans, and house-made pralines folded into ice cream. Even the restaurant’s Web site (www.thepecanonline.com) sports pecan-themed lines and colors.Morrow developed the concept for his Southern fusion-style menu as a project for culinary school. As he defines it, Southern fusion is classical Southern cuisine with influences from France, Italy and New Orleans.Some dishes were created by putting a spin on his mother’s recipes. “Italian” collard greens are local collards topped finely diced tomatoes with a nod to Italy’s tomato bruschetta. Oxtail osso busso matches braised oxtails and vegetables with a bed of jasmine rice. A flavorful bowl of pepper jack grits gets drizzled with Cajun cream sauce and festooned with blackened tiger shrimp. Presented on contemporary plates, the dishes combine humble ingredients with elegance.With the track record provided by his POSitouch system, Morrow evaluates each item on the menu. If a dish is not selling, he explores why not, asking if it is priced too high or paired with the right side dishes. Menus at comparable fine dining restaurants provide a benchmark for pricing.The top-selling appetizer at the 85-seat restaurant is the Tybee Island crab cake. Are the crabs really caught off Tybee Island? No, but they are huge cakes plumped with four ounces of crab and lightly covered with panko. Morrow estimates he sells 48 crab cakes a night, or about 60 to 70 a day at $14 each.Entrees at The Pecan hover around $30. Morrow crosses the $40 mark with the surf and turf entree at $42, a price he sees as reasonable for a 14-ounce New York strip steak and a six-ounce lobster tail. While these luxury meats are “loss leaders” with a low profit margin, they lead to more lucrative sales in wine.Like the fusion food, the environment at The Pecan integrates the old with the new. Morrow made only minor changes to make the already stylish Oscar’s space warmer and more formal. He kept the sleek blond furniture and faded Coca-Cola mural painted on a brick wall. He added an artichoke chandelier and off-white carpeting on the concrete floors. Heavy red drapes hang like stage curtains, adding a dramatic note while reducing the noise level and creating a partition between bar and dining room for corporate dining events.Morrow spends most of his time in the front of the house while the kitchen is run by Chef de Cuisine Paul Lewis, who was Morrow’s sous chef at Morehouse. “I need to be out here in front because this is a relationship-building business,” says Morrow, who exudes confidence and enjoys greeting customers. “We have close to an 85 percent return rate.”The Pecan is the only fine dining establishment in College Park, Morrow says, and it’s one stop from the world’s busiest airport with numerous nearby hotels. Morrow reports strong relationships with the hotels and substantial business from Delta Air Lines. The restaurant also draws a large following from his catering business Flavors Gourmet Catering.Morrow is banking on continued development in College Park. With three new hotels being built in the airport area, “wonderful things are happening,” he says. “This is an under-served area. It’s a sleeper town that’s about to wake up.”

A Conversation With John Metz, Jr.

September 2007

By Julie Douglas

John Metz Jr. is the 2007 Chairman of Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNA). A consultant for Greazy Spoon Development as well as proprietor of Sterling Spoon Catering and chef/owner of Marlow’s Tavern, Aqua Blue, Hi Life Kitchen and Cocktails, Metz is steeped in every aspect of the restaurant industry. He recently spoke to Restaurant Forum about his new role with DiRoNA and the benefits of being named one of North America’s distinguished restaurants.

Restaurant Forum: What is the ultimate goal of DiRoNA?

John Metz, Jr.: Our current situation is really focused around the word “distinguished” with regard to stepping away from “fine dining” as a mantra. We’ve focused on fine dining for so long; there are so many great restaurants out there that there are very distinguished in their certain category-meaning it doesn’t just have to be white tablecloth. It could be a great seafood, steak and sushi place, like one of my restaurants, Aqua Blue. Or it could be the higher-end like Bacchanalia that has that distinction as well. So it doesn’t just have to be the formal fine dining. It really is distinguished dining.

Our focus has been on three groups: No. 1 is the restaurant members themselves. Our No. 2 group would be our vendor partners that we’ve worked with over the years like founding partners Coca-Cola and Ecolab. And finally the consumer-based program that is trying to attract people that are already foodies. We’re not looking to promote within the whole free-market world with regard to consumer-based advertising. It’s really about people who want to participate and be around the chefs and the owners. We’ve got credibility within the restaurant industry and vendor partner industry and I think the next level that we need to add to this whole idea of participation within the consumer world-the food-crazy people who watch The Food Network and “Top Chef” and things like that.

RF: What kind of benefits do you offer restaurants?

JM: Part of the added value for restaurant members, partners and the consumers is the educational resources in regard to training, development, programs and services.

RF: What about the 75-point evaluation developed by Cornell University?

JM: That’s something that’s really exciting. It’s pretty unique. We wanted to be able to create special recognition within the industry. It’s really about full service; it’s really about distinguished dining. It’s about the criteria that were created within the 75-point evaluation for the 750 DiRoNA designated restaurants. We not only have new members of DiRoNA, but it’s also about making sure that we maintain our base of core restaurants and that they maintain their level of quality.

RF: How do new restaurants get on your radar?

JM: There are several ways. There are referrals, which can come from our membership, from our vendor partners, from our Board of Directors. This is all anonymous. [The restaurants] then receive an inspection from our referral. The other way is an advisory council and that consists of anonymous people-from food critics, magazine editors, restaurateurs (that are not in DiRoNA) and other distinguished panelists that review of all the processes and they review the inspection process and recommend restaurants that they feel deserve that recognition. Also, you have to be in operation for a minimum of two years to formally be considered for inspection.

RF: It sounds like it’s almost the Academy Awards of the Culinary World.

JM: It is a little. But we don’t want it to be exclusive. We’re not trying to create the exclusion of restaurants. It’s just really about the level [standard of the restaurant]. Distinguished can be unique and all levels. It’s not just high-end.

RF: Tell us about your new role as the 2007 Chairman of DiRoNA.

JM: We have an evolution going and we’re just trying to make ourselves better. Although we’re evolving right now-not just as a recognition organization, we’re also evolving as a membership organization-it’s changing the complexity of it a little bit in regard to the fact that there are certain things associated with membership, whether its annual membership fees, marketing partnerships, program services. So we’re evolving this year with regard to that, trying to create the value for all those members that I mentioned: restaurants, consumers as well as our vendor partners. So that’s been a challenge for us, and it’s really been fun to help with the creation of that, the evolution of that. We have a lot of work to do.

As you are aware, I’ve got a couple of restaurants and two of my restaurants are Distinguished Restaurants of North America [Aqua Blue and Hi Life Kitchen and Cocktails]. It’s been a lot of work for sure.

RF: You’ve opening another restaurant?

JM: I’m opening our third Marlow’s Tavern on Aug. 7. I’m also on the Board of Directors of the NRA and the GRA in addition with my [consulting] work and operating my business. I have a couple day jobs going on.

RF: What elements are you looking for when are you dining out?

JM: I go out every single night of the week, whether it’s one of our properties, or it’s some of the great restaurants in Atlanta. I travel around the world to go see food. In my days working for Carlton Restaurants, that was part of my job-researching food. I look at everything. One of the things I challenge my team on-all my managers, all my partners-is really to continue to evolve our brand and make sure that we learn from the best of the best out there. So we look at food, we look at trends, we look at pricing, we look a menu design, and we look at lighting fixtures. We look top-to-bottom at restaurants. My better half is in this business with me, so she’s very understanding of that.

RF: We’ve seen small plates and upscale-casual trends. Do you see any other trends coming down the pike?

JM: There’s still a big trend on small plates, still going on and continuing to evolve, which is pretty neat. I think it’s been this way for a while, we saw it with Aqua Blue, but sushi is still very hot, and I think it’s because of the lightness of it. People want smaller plates-with regard to even entrees, smaller portions. In turn, we’re looking at our pricing a little bit differently now. We’ve done different tasting menus, different appetizers and tasting portions. We thought it might affect check averages, but it did not, because they just ordered more of the small plates. It’s been pretty interesting to watch. Everybody is about fresh. People want freshness, variety, and they want change. If we’re behind on the menu rollout, they let us know.

RF: What’s your restaurant philosophy?

JM: Hospitality is our No. 1 focus. I try to be the most hospitable person I can be with regard to all of our guests, vendors, and my employees. That’s how we live; that how’s we breathe. And then excellence. Whatever excellence is for whatever item we’re trying to deliver-the expertise to understand what it takes to create and put out the best cheeseburger, all the way to the high-end sea bass and clams. That’s what we do.

RF: Last April you gave the commencement address at your alma mater, the Culinary Institute of America. What was the most important message you wanted the next crop of culinary professionals to get?

JM: It was an overwhelming experience for me. I was choked up a little bit at the beginning. It was really cool to be there. My father gave the commencement address to my class, which was a really cool experience, too. For my address, the big thing was, you don’t have to come out and be the high-end chef like Thomas Keller or Daniel Boulud in New York because there are so many opportunities in the food-service industry as a whole. You could run a concession, street-side vendor business. You could be creating unique food to sell to different people, you could be a high-end chef, you could be a bar chef-you could be anything. That was my big comment to them: not to get hung up on going to New York and cooking at the high-end restaurants-like I did and my classmates did. I had the good fortune to go into both the chain business and the independent business to get a well-rounded experience.

RF: The fascination with restaurants in the media doesn’t necessarily dwell on the business side. How much of your father’s influence as a food management veteran rub off on you?

JM: I credit both my parents: My mom on the hospitality side and my dad on the hospitality side. My mom was very involved in it. My father-being a real leader in this industry for a long time-focused on what to do right and the ethics that I try to operate under today: Taking care of the people that take care of you. Making sure that you’re helping the people around you-create wealth for them and it will make your job easier because you have great folks underneath you. I wouldn’t be able to have six restaurants and try to do it all [without the support]. My father is one of the ultimate entrepreneurs. But he makes all the key people his partners.

RF: What’s your take on the state of restaurants in the ‘burbs today?

JM: I think there’s a big need for it. People want to travel less to go get great food. I think there’s a big opportunity out there-and for all of Atlanta-as the suburbs continue to grow.

DESIGNATED DIRONA RESTAURANTS IN GEORGIA
45 South at the Pirate’s House
20 E. Broad St.
Savannah, GA 31401
912-233-1881

Aqua Blue Restaurant & Bar
1564 Holcomb Bridge Road
Roswell, GA 30076
770-643-8886

Aria
490 East Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-233-7673

Atlanta Grill at the Ritz-Carlton
181 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
404-659-0400

Bacchanalia
1198 Howell Mill Road
Atlanta, GA 30318404-365-0410

Bluepointe
3455 Peachtree Road at Lenox Road
Atlanta, GA 30326
404-237-9070

Bone’s Restaurant
3130 Piedmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-237-2663

Café Elan, Château Élan
7000 Old Winder Highway
Braselton, GA 30517
800-233-9463

Chops  
70 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-262-2675

Chopstix
4279 Roswell Road
Atlanta, GA 30342
404-255-4868

City Grill
50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30303
404-524-2489

Elizabeth on 37th
105 E 37th St.
Savannah, GA 31401
912-236-5547

Hi Life Kitchen & Cocktails
Corners Court, 3380 Holcomb Bridge Road
Norcross, GA 30092
770-409-0101

Joel
3290 Northside Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30327
404-233-3500

La Grotta
2637 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-231-1368

Murphy’s
997 Virginia Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30306
404-872-0904

Nava
3060 Peachtree Road, #160
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-240-1984

Nikolai’s Roof
255 Courtland Street N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30303
404-221-6362

Pano’s and Paul’s
1232 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30327
404-261-3662

Pricci
500 Pharr Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-237-2941

Rainwater
11655 Haynes Bridge Road
Alpharetta, GA 30004
770-777-0033

Sapphire Grill
110 W. Congress St.
Savannah, GA 31401
912-443-9962

South City Kitchen
1144 Crescent Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-873-7358

The Food Studio
87 West Marietta St.
Atlanta, GA 30318
404-815-6677

The Olde Pink House
23 Abercorn St.
Savannah, GA 31401
912-232-4286

Veni Vidi Vici
41 14th St.
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-875-8424

“There are so many great restaurants out there that there are very distinguished in their certain category.” -John Metz, Jr.