Steve Cole Is Back on the Scene, Now at the Marriott

By CHARLES FERRUZZA

Steve Cole isn’t just a local legend because he’s a polished restaurateur, but also because of his style — he can be a tough taskmaster, a true perfectionist. That’s one of the reasons that his former restaurant, Café Allegro, was considered Kansas City’s most glamorous bistro for nearly twenty years. The food was exquisite, the appointments were beautiful, the service was elegant.

Well, not all the service: In the late 1980s, I occasionally worked for Cole as a freelance waiter when his restaurant operated the upscale concession areas at the Lyric Theatre. Mary Simpson, now a regional director for Rare Hospitality, was Café Allegro’s manager in those days and I could never put enough starch in my aprons to please her. And I ate a lot of the dainty pastries that I was supposed to be selling.

After Cole sold Cafe Allegro in 2002, he didn’t jump right back in the restaurant game. He did some consulting work for other restaurants but was best-known for handling commercial real estate deals for restaurant and hospitality locations.

Last month, he took on a new challenge when veteran hotel operator Kevin Pistilli hired him as the food and beverage director for the Kansas City Downtown Marriott. Before taking the job, Cole had been working as a consultant on various projects with Pistilli. That included creating potential new concepts for the historic Muehlebach Hotel’s long-closed Rendezvous Room and its somewhat forlorn coffee shop, the Pam Pam Room.