Combo Plates

There’s something endearing about seeing a young, attractive couple like Martin and Wendy Rudderforth (see review) opening a new restaurant together. It’s a gamble in more ways than one — I’ve worked for couples who opened restaurants and wound up losing their money and their marriages.

There was the moody chef who ran off with the sullen busgirl. There was the stoic wife who finally left her handsome, charismatic husband when she found out he was leading a double life as a gay sex freak; that was the Italian restaurant where I was the clueless waiter — I assumed the owners were totally devoted to each other even as he flirted shamelessly with every male customer in the joint. Thankfully, I don’t have room to go into the story about the high-strung macrobiotic-vegetarian couple who were so humorless that they considered banning laughter in their dining room. Or the scripture-quoting couple who swore like banshees back in the kitchen until the dinner rush ended, then reverted to Christian piety, saying things such as “Jesus wants y’all to make good tips tonight!”

But maybe those ill-fated marriages were doomed before the husband-and-wife teams opened the doors to their restaurants. Lately, I’ve met more well-adjusted, down-to-earth entrepreneurs like the Rudderforths or their Johnson County counterparts, Lisa and Bernardino Lara. The Laras have made quite a success out of a combination restaurant and market, Tienda Casa Paloma (8220 Metcalf in Overland Park), in a location that wouldn’t seem to be ideal.

Lisa Lara, a veteran of the corporate restaurant business (including the Hereford House and the former Gilbert-Robinson operations), took a career-changing gamble when she and Bernardino turned a former Big & Tall men’s clothing store into a casual dining venue offering traditional American and Mexican breakfasts and unusual Mexican dishes for lunch and dinner. Until recently, the couple’s 19-month-old daughter, Carolina, was a fixture in the dining room, where tables share space with Mexican products and produce.

“Our customers miss her,” Lara says, “but she outgrew the dining room as her playground.”

The Laras have built a steady clientele since opening a year ago. Lisa thinks customers like the fact that she works so closely with her husband.

“He’s the best chef I’ve ever worked with,” Lisa says. “So even when business is stressful, it’s very easy.”

So, here’s a toast to the mom-and-pop restaurant.