You Say Tomato’s Ripe for Change

By CHARLES FERRUZZA

No, the rugged guy wearing the dress, I mean kilt, in the doorway of You Say Tomato, is not one of this popular coffee shop, bruncheonette and neighborhood hangout’s three founding partners — Randy Parks, Mark Wingard and Michael Pouncil. The blacksmith and artist George Rousis, the man in the sexy kilt, does have a connection to the restaurant the at 2801 Holmes: His partner, Annie Clark, works there.

But one of You Say Tomato’s owners, Michael Pouncil, is moving out of Kansas City to take up residence in Portland, Oregon, though he’s apparently keeping an interest in the two-year-old restaurant.

“We’re going to miss the hell out of him,” says Mark Wingard, who opened You Say Tomato with his partner, Randy Parks, and Pouncil with little more than a great idea, a bit of cash and a lot of physical labor.