Lauro Kitchen, Portland, Ore

Nation's Restaurant News,  Dec 22, 2003  by Alan J. Liddle

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The popularity of Lauro Kitchen in southeast Portland, Ore., is compounding the neighborhood Mediterranean cafe's biggest problem: the negative reaction of some diners to the owners' no-reservations policy.

Open since July, 65-seat Lauro Kitchen serves food inspired by the cooking of France, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal and Spain, or "foods of the old Roman Empire," as chef-owner David Machado likes to quip. And the cafe, which is only open for dinner, has been serving up large quantities of those foods: Machado says the establishment is averaging two-plus table turns on weeknights and better than three turns on Friday and Saturday.

Machado says the dining public's enthusiastic response to Lauro Kitchen's moderately priced foods and knowledgeable service is as gratifying as the strong reaction of some guests to the no-reservations stance is perplexing. "This has been a very hard process that has had some people upset with us on the phone and at the door," he confides.

Machado and general manager Daren Hamilton say they can't accept reservations because the restaurant's relatively small size, modest check average of $27 and five-day-a-week operating schedule leave no room in the business model for the empty seats tied to no-shows, late arrivals and changes in party sizes

Hamilton, a minority partner in the business, says of the reservation policy, "Some people will never be happy with it." He says he tries to help people willing to learn "how to work the system" by coming early or late or by putting their name on the wait list well ahead of their desired dining time.

Machado was formerly a restaurant chef and general manager at Pazzo Ristorante in Portland for San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. In the recent past he was a vice president of restaurant operations for multi-unit North Pacific Management of Portland. He left a downsized NPM in February with a severance package that he says helped him open Lauro Kitchen using the equity in his home and a loan from the federal Small Business Administration.

"Over the years I had the opportunity to open restaurants with other people's money, but I needed to take the risk personally and financially to see if my concepts and recipes were things the public would embrace," Machado says, explaining why he spent $260,000 to open Lauro Kitchen in what was once a plumbing-supply warehouse.

The chef-restaurateur adds that he analyzed the concepts he helped others develop or manage and those of competitors and peers far and wide and "drilled down far enough to figure out" the components that contribute to "an enduring concept." Based on projected first-year sales of about $1.2 million, compared with business plan estimates of $877,000, Machado concludes that the Lauro Kitchen development team hit the formula for success "on the mark."

Machado says the restaurant is named Lauro Kitchen because "lauro" is Italian for bay leaf--a staple in the cooking of all the countries or regions that inspire his menu writing. Sous chef David Anderson contributes to the creative process, he notes.

At 35 percent of sales, Lauro Kitchen's food costs are several points higher than the 28- to 29-percent level he adhered to while he was working for others, the restaurateur acknowledges. His practice of providing guests with quality bread, extra-virgin olive oil for dipping and oil-cured olives gratis upped the food cost, he indicates, adding, "But I wouldn't change that, because guests love it."

According to the owner, the restaurant's "mature" wait staff has contributed to the strong reception afforded it by the dining public, including a large number of families with young children. Most front-of-the-house employees have at least a dozen years of experience and previously worked with Machado or Hamilton or both, which helps guarantee a meshing of styles, Hamilton indicates.

Keeping the Lauro Kitchen staff lean, if not mean, Machado uses as a consulting pastry chef former Pazzo co-worker and friend Lee Posey of Portland's Pearl Bakery. Approximately 30 percent of all guests buy one of Posey's creations.

While Hamilton, another Pazzo veteran, oversees daily and ongoing beverage operations, the "template" for the restaurant's wine program was created by consultant Dave Holstrom. Among other clients, Holstrom works with the McCormick & Schmick's seafood dinnerhouse chain.

The 32-bottle list at Lauro Kitchen showcases wines from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, with most priced from $16 to $40. A full half of all wine revenues comes from the sale of imported jug wines by the glass and half liter and liter pitchers, Machado reports.

Lee Winn of Portland's Sienna Architecture designed the public spaces within the gold-and-brown-hued, 2,400-square-foot restaurant. Among the key design elements are the open kitchen with cobalt blue-tiled, gas-fired pizza oven; high, vaulted, exposed-beam ceilings; large window views of Division and 34th streets; and "clouds of light." They are 3-by-6-foot lighting fixtures with paper filters for diffused illumination.