24 | THE UNIVERSITY OF DARRY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.GOM | BACK TO SCHOOL | MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2007
》 LAWRENCE
Downtown dining gets new kids on the block
Genovese Restaurant, 941 Massachusetts St., took the place of Mass Street Deli earlier this year.
BY TYLER HARBERT
tharbert@kansan.com
New downtown restaurants are hoping students have a taste for unique foods.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Owners of Genovese Restaurant, 941 Massachusetts St., and Ingredient, 947 Massachusetts St., said they could be successful in the crowded Lawrence restaurant market if residents and hungry students are willing to sample their cuisines.
"That is the most important part, good service and quality food," said Subarna Bhattachan, who owns Genovese along with Alejandro Lule and Armando Paniagua. "If we don't have a good product then it is pointless."
Bhattachan said his restaurant, located in the former Mass St. Deli, features a northern Italian cuisine, serving a variety of fresh and dry pastas for $10 to$ 12, as well as salads for $6, pizzas for$ 10 to $12 and entrees such as rib-eye steaks and salmon dishes from$ 14 to $25.
Bhattachan said Genovese's owners researched the market and plan to control their labor and food costs.
"You have to do your homework correctly," he said.
Bhattachan said he will rely on word-of-mouth advertising and walkup traffic to make Genoese a success.
Bhattachan also owns La Parrilla, 814 Massachusetts St., and Zen Zero, 811 Massachusetts St.
He said that more than half of his 50 employees were University students, but that the most important thing owners needed to do in order to be successful was be willing to work at any time, even upwards of 100 hours a week.
The restaurant's hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and until 11 p.m. from Thursday to Sunday.
Steve Kerner is one of the owners of Ingredient Restaurant, which opened in the building that once housed Qdoba. Kerner said the three keys to attracting enough customers to a restaurant were the freshness of its food, the restaurant's atmosphere and the price.
Ingredient customers can choose five from more than 80 ingredients to customize their salads and pizzas, which range in price from $7.50 to$ 11.
Kerner said customers will order their food through a counter like a fast-food restaurant, but a server will bring the orders to them with regular china and silverware like a sit-down restaurant. He called it a "gourmet fast casual restaurant."
"It's different," he said. "It's not your average fare."
Kerner, who has experience in restaurants and catering in Kansas City, said all of his ingredients would be brought in from Kansas City markets and from some local farmers.
bring in as special ingredients," he said.
"Whatever they have growing we'll
With a philosophy of freshness and a variety of ingredients such as caramelized almonds, pine nuts and grilled pineapple, Kerner said Ingredient
would fit in with the Lawrence attitude toward food.
"We think it's the perfect market for it" Kerner said.
—Edited by Joe Caponio