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It’s beginning to look like brothers John and James Schmidt know what they’re doing. From the outside, it looks pretty easy. From the inside, you realize their ideas work because a) they’re good ideas and, b) they work like dogs to make them come to life. They’re currently on a roll with the Bar & Grill concept with Greenlake Bar & Grill, Eastlake Bar & Grill and now Southlake Grill opening in February.

Photo: A true Seattle-ite, John squints on a gray day in January from Eastlake's upper deck

John spent ten years at Ray’s, starting in 1984 and moving up through management levels. In 1992, he and James created a concept called Deli Club. Their idea was to get into a skyscraper location and offer credit. They’d sign people up for delivery and bill monthly. Soon there would be locations around the city. A seemingly good plan, but one no landlord wanted to discuss.

Finally the Pier 57 food court landlord met with them. He had space, but new renters couldn’t offer something currently available—he said they had to go ethnic. They chose Mexican with the idea of fish tacos, hoping to cash in on the fish idea as they were on the water. "Right up to that minute, we were still on the deli idea," laughs John. They called their new business Taco del Mar. Ironically, the fish tacos didn’t take off as planned, but the big burritos were a hit. "It took years to evolve into what it is now," explains John. "There are 225 stores internationally now and it’s still growing."

By the time they had 30 of their own stores and 30 franchise stores in the U.S., they knew they were too big to continue "figuring it out." They brought in people who had grown chains for huge companies. John stepped away from operations, but is still the #2 shareholder. James continues as CEO.

One thing they learned early on is the importance of environment and service. As John explains, "We serve food people can make at home. To get them to eat it at our place means the physical environment and service team have to be great. We used to get all kinds of comments about the terrific servers at Taco del Mar. When do you hear that about fast food places?"

The brothers opened Greenlake Bar & Grill in 2000. "James was very smart about this," says John. "Bruegger’s Bagels had the Green Lake location and had changed the name to Zi Panni. But managers at the chain kept showing up at Taco del Mar to interview for jobs, so we knew something was up. James found out who the real estate agent was and tied up the location before it ever went on the market." In early January 2007, they bought the building.

Eastlake Bar & Grill opened on November 1, 2004. They worked with the people who were operating Sam’s at the location and kept the name around for a few months. "It was an amazing opening," laughs John. "We closed for lunch, put the new signs and menus up and that was it. Unfortunately, Sam’s loyal customers were really upset. It took a good year and a half to get the place going the way we wanted, but it really took off in 2006. It took about the same amount of time to get Greenlake going—a year of really hard work."

Southlake Grill should open the first week in February. Although the concept is the same—a grill as opposed to a restaurant; good food at reasonable prices; casual, family friendly, neighborhood place—the way it came about is a different story. They were sought after. "Vulcan approached James close to two years ago," explains John. "He’s rented space from them before. Vulcan is driving the development in South Lake Union, as opposed to simply building space and leasing it. They want a mixed use area and they’re going after specific product."

Southlake Grill will be on the street level of  a building called Alley 24 in the South Lake Union area (Cascade Neighborhood), across the street from the 100-year-old Immanuel Lutheran Church which has just had an exterior makeover itself. Alley 24 is new, so Southlake will look more contemporary than either of its siblings.

"The interior will be an ‘L’ shape like Greenlake," says John, "but the bar will have 40 seats which is more like Eastlake. There will also be an open loft upstairs that hangs over half of the dining room. We’ll use it for banquets. It can seat 60 or hold 75-100 for a reception."

The opening management team are all veterans of the other grills. Steve Clemens has been hired as the executive chef for all three locations. "He won’t be behind the stove as much as directing what’s going on and creating menus," explains John. "The menus at Greenlake and Eastlake are very similar. The Southlake menu has some new items on it, more pasta, several burgers (as opposed to one burger you can add items to), new sandwiches and several really good vegetarian options. We even have a made-to-order chicken noodle vegetable soup. Since Southlake and Eastlake are so close together, we want to open with a different menu. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if within about a year, all three menus are the same."

Another change that’s coming is a new happy hour. The hours will still be 4-6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week, but the food items will be changing. "We’ll be putting on some new items that will be on the appetizer list at Southlake. It gives us all a chance to get used to the new items before Southlake opens," says John. The new happy hour will start on January 19. Select beer and wine along with well drinks are all price-reduced.

As with Taco del Mar, the brothers have a solid concept with the grills. Southlake will be a nice addition to the Cascade Neighborhood, serving the local community as well as drawing from surrounding neighborhoods.

Connie Adams/January 2007

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