Dream another dream, this dream is over.
– Van Halen, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)

I lot of people didn’t like that album, but I did. It wasn’t great, like some of their earlier albums, but it was a solid good. There is something to be said for that.

So here we are, another idea has crashed and burned and its time to move on. Before doing so, I wanted to close this chapter before opening another.

Why did we want to open a restaurant? The was pretty simple, my job is on life support and the possibility of finding a new job seems dubious, at best. The printing, graphics and prepress industry has been shrinking for years. The work requires less and technical knowledge than it used to and there is a new batch of people coming out of school every year which is willing to work for a fraction of what I make. In short, things aren’t looking very good. I couldn’t find a job when we were working on moving to Phoenix a few years ago and I don’t expect much better luck when my current job ends, at any moment. So, we took a look at our talents, thought about an industry that will be less impacted by the coming job crunch (than computers and graphics) and decided the food industry was worth a shot. Neither one of us a cubicle drones and wouldn’t be happy if we had to be. We’ve worked as (and with) small businesses for so long that we were already comfortable being Jacks of all trades (which was another job issue, specialization wins these days). If given the chance, we were pretty sure that we could bootstrap the idea into something that would secure some kind of future for ourselves. It would be complicated and hard, but it would be ours at least. We wanted to create a place that was a part of a community. A place where people would feel welcome, have fun, could have good food and make some good memories.

So, more specifically, why did I want to? For me, it was the idea of helping someone I loved with their dream. Angela has supported me plenty over they years and I considered it a chance to do the same for her. She loves food, she has a damn good palate, a good sense of what works and is great at making things happen. Also, there was a chance that once we got it up and running, I could work on comics again. That’s why I got into doing the vintage arcade games. Later, I discovered I was pretty good at it, but it was first to have some ready to go when out dream finally took off.

So, we worked on it for a few years. Saved money, rebuilt games and educated ourselves on the running that kind of business. We tried to get loans, find people and properties that might work, with no luck. Like with a lot of plans in the past, doors were shut in our face or didn’t open at all. We knew the odds are long on this sort of business (so many close in the first couple years of opening), but we were trying to be smart and frugal and figured we could find an opening.

Nope. No luck, no openings.

I would love for people to experience Angela’s food, to give her a chance to connect with others through her favorite medium. Who knows? Maybe one day we will revisit the idea. For now, its done. Time to re-tool and re-prioritize for the next step, which is another post.