Leisurely ambition
23.03.2008 03:05
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- Source: JS Online
Growing up in the Waukesha County village of Nashotah, Michael Dillon didn't go on vacation until he was 24 years old, after he graduated from college. "I went to Jamaica and I was like, 'How did I miss this?' " he said. With his own Caribbean-themed restaurant now open downtown, he never has to miss the islands again. Edgar's Calypso, 628 N. Water St., which opened in November, was inspired by 30-plus subsequent trips Dillon, 56, took to the Caribbean since that first visit. The menu draws on meals he's had on the beaches and at the bars of the islands he's visited - not high cuisine, he said, but "vacation food" such as burgers, chicken wings and pork with spicy jerk sauce. The recipes are simple, and Dillon, an avid chef, developed most of them himself. The restaurant's dcor, too, reflects an amalgamation of Dillon's favorite Caribbean hangouts. Colorful beach umbrellas hang from the ceiling, matching the multicolored chairs and tables below. The walls are covered with murals he painted himself, depicting beach huts, ocean vistas and relaxing sunbathers. A self-portrait of Dillon's grandfather - Edgar, the restaurant's namesake - hangs on the wall behind the bar. Dillon said his background made figuring out how to decorate Edgar's easy: he earned a degree in fine art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and runs McDill Design, a graphic design firm located above the restaurant. Harder than it lookedInfusing the restaurant with an exotic touch came naturally for Dillon. He speaks French, Spanish and a bit of Italian, owns a home in southern France and has written a handful of dining-themed travel books. It's running the place that's the tricky part. "I just thought, 'I'll paint it, I'll hire some people I like,' " he said. "It's so much harder than I anticipated it would be." When he first mentioned to friends and family that he was thinking about pursuing his daydream of opening a restaurant, the only support he got came from his mother. "She said, 'Good for you!,' " he said. "Everyone else said, 'You're crazy.' " One of Dillon's friends with experience in restaurants told him, "You should take $100,000, put it in a suitcase and throw it off the top of the Chase Bank building, because that'll be faster and more fun." Dillon first seriously pursued the restaurant in November 2006, after the space below his McDill Design office - formerly occupied by the upscale restaurant Swank - became available. The terms of the lease weren't hammered out until last fall, however, and Dillon scrambled for two months to prepare to open. He can list the lessons he's had to learn the hard way. He fired a general manager who wasn't working out the day before his grand opening. Business started off slow because he picked "a stupid time to open." Dillon said he alternates between feeling like Edgar's is on the right track and wondering whether the restaurant will be able to pay for its own rent. But while he'd like to recoup the money he put into the restaurant, he's not looking to make money. He was motivated instead by the accomplishment of having his own restaurant. Now that he's got one, he said, he wants it use it to provide opportunities for people "who need a chance." Dillon mentors Milwaukee Public Schools students through the YMCA's Sponsor-A-Scholar program and said he wants to provide stable jobs and good work experience for students. He said he wants to be the same kind of employer as his friend Jerry Cohen, owner of Major Goolsby's - someone who "hires people that stay with him for their lives." As for the dining experience, Dillon said he wants patrons of Edgar's to feel "like they're on vacation. "It's not the Ritz," he said. "It's laid back, nothing's a problem. I call it Caribbean home cooking. "
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