You Say Tomato's Ripe for Change
By CHARLES FERRUZZA
No, the rugged guy wearing the dress, I mean kilt, in the doorway of You Say Tomato, is not one of this popular coffee shop, bruncheonette and neighborhood hangout's three founding partners -- Randy Parks, Mark Wingard and Michael Pouncil. The blacksmith and artist George Rousis, the man in the sexy kilt, does have a connection to the restaurant the at 2801 Holmes: His partner, Annie Clark, works there.
But one of You Say Tomato's owners, Michael Pouncil, is moving out of Kansas City to take up residence in Portland, Oregon, though he’s apparently keeping an interest in the two-year-old restaurant.
“We’re going to miss the hell out of him,” says Mark Wingard, who opened You Say Tomato with his partner, Randy Parks, and Pouncil with little more than a great idea, a bit of cash and a lot of physical labor.
It wasn’t easy turning the Depression-era Weneck Brothers grocery store into a fun, funky restaurant serving good coffee, excellent pastries, imaginative sandwiches and soups – and bierocks!
Not everyone loves those savory Eastern European meat pastries filled with seasoned ground beef, cheese and shredded cabbage -- count me among the non-fans. But they’ve been wildly popular at You Say Tomato.
The other big change is the venue’s hours. “We tried serving dinner for two years and waited for business to pick up, but it just wasn’t happening,” Wingard says. “Now we’re going to open on Mondays and close at 3 p.m. And since our weekend brunch crowd is the busiest, we’re opening an hour earlier on Saturday and Sunday – at 8 a.m.”
Beginning on September 15, the new hours at You Say Tomato will be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
Wingard and Parks have also promoted employee Annie Clark to revive the dormant retail section of the business. And they've hired the vivacious Esther Estevez as “cashier and public relations associate,” Wingard says.
“The biggest surprise of the last two years,” he adds, “is that I’m still standing! I had no idea what incredibly long hours we would have to work to put product on our counters. On the other hand, I’m thrilled that so many of my customers like my cooking. I didn’t go to culinary school, you know. I was taught to cook by my mother and grandmother. I used to have anxiety attacks about customers liking my baked goods.”
As a very big fan of Wingard’s cakes, rolls and cookies, I can say that he has nothing to worry about.
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