Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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• December 2011

Four Days In, Knife & Co. Is Looking For A New Chef [Gary Moran Packs His Knives And Goes]

Posted Nov 7, 2011 by Jeff Houck

Updated Nov 7, 2011 at 01:21 PM

I stopped in yesterday to say hello to Amy and her husband, chef Gary Moran, at Knife & Co. I hadn’t had a chance to eat there since it opened for lunch on Thursday.

We said hello, Amy introduced me to the staff and to general manager and partner Ron Stewart.

I took a couple menus home with me and spent most of the ride tweeting about such rustic southern items as molasses-brined double pork chops with pickled peaches and “Disco Fries” - red-wine braised oxtail gravy over French fries with melted cheddar cheese. I was looking forward to eating there this week. Friends who went last night raved about the food.

Then I got a note tonight that the Morans had left the restaurant and were looking for a new place to cook and work. After a disagreement, Moran packed his knives, took off his chef coat and left at about 6 p.m. tonight.

:::: crickets chirping ::::

Four days? Two lunches, two brunches, three suppers and then walking out in the middle of service Sunday.

Wow. That’s got to be some kind of local record. (Although, I’m guessing it isn’t.)

I called Amy to see what the deal was.

She said that relations between the couple and Stewart disintegrated today on her day off. Without someone in the front of house (read: her), no one could ring in specials or clock in.

Moran says that Stewart told her husband he didn’t like how chatty Amy was with customers and didn’t want her involved in the business.

The chef reportedly told Stewart that he got into the restaurant so he could work with his wife.

This matches a story Donna Koehn just wrote this weekend in the Tampa Tribune about local couples who work together:

“Opening a restaurant is a huge undertaking, and Amy is my emotional support,” Gary says.

He had moved back to Tampa with the goal of creating his own place from scratch.

“And then the economy tanked,” Gary says.

The couple is aware that putting all of their eggs in one family basket, including employing Amy’s teenagers from a previous marriage, means taking risks.

“The thing about opening a restaurant is it ends up taking twice as long and costing twice as much as you thought,” Gary says.

But it’s intoxicating to share the same dream and labor for it, they say, knowing you have a common goal and each other’s back.

Gary can be a bit bossy, both admit, and, like many chefs, a little brusque under stress in the kitchen.

It had been a hard week. “On Saturday alone, I worked from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.”

That’s pretty standard for a new restaurant, but she’s never worked front-of-house before.

The big point of friction was that Stewart wanted “silent service,” or minimal conversation between staff and customers.

Stewart is quoted on Knife & Co.‘s contact page as saying:

“As a patron of some of the world’s highest rated restaurants including The Maisonette in Cinncinatti, Atlanta’s Bacchanalia, San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys, and Baltschug Kempinski in Moscow, I am familiar with what a 5-star dining experience might be. My commitment to customers of Knife & Co. is to provide great food for a reasonable price with the service expected at a Mobil 5-star restaurant.”

Not all had been going well. They were on their third pastry chef in four days.

“The big disconnect was the silent service,” she says. “People who had eaten here already were asking for me by name. That’s how you build a name, how you build a rapport.”

Stewart did not return an e-mail inquiry late Sunday.

The Morans’ next play: Possibly a restaurant on Davis Islands. “We could close on a place as early as Friday,” she says.

I’ll be sure to not to wait four days next time.