Weimann and Maclise

You never know where a relationship might lead. Deming Maclise made coffee for James Weimann at Caffe Ladro when James was building Peso's. Neither knew it would turn into a long-term friendship/business partnership. By 2008, they were actively talking about doing projects together. Each have their own successful projects, but they're well known for their partnerships: Bastille, Poquitos, Macleod's, Von Trapp's, Stoneburner (coming mid-2013).

Deming Maclise (left) and James Weimann at Poquitos

Partnerships often work because people bring different strengths. In the case of James and Deming, it works because they are so similar. "Being similar doesn't work for some people, but it does for us. We make almost all of our decisions as a duo. Any decision James makes, I back up. I can't remember having a conflict over a decision either of us has made. We come to the table with mutual respect. James had done more and I relied on his bar and restaurant experience. But I feel he's always respected my opinion," says Deming. James agrees, saying "If one of us is really passionate about a decision, that's the time the other compromises. We talk about the stressful events as they come up. Staying calm is the best way of being efficient."

A slow process of deciding to work together on projects has also worked for them. "We thought about it very methodically for a long time. What works is our similar eye and complete passion for finding cool, old things and putting them in a hip concept," says Deming. "The things we find inspire the design of the place we're building." Both men find the concept, design and building to be their favorite part of projects. "When we travel to a city, we list out restaurants and salvage yards," laughs James. "We'll do 5-10 restaurants in a day. When we went to LA to research Mexican restaurants, we did 32 restaurants in five days." These weren't drive-bys, they were places where they sat down, ate, took notes and photos. "You have to be open to what others are doing right," explains Deming.

Another similarity they have is how they treat the people who work with They've applied the lessons learned over the years (click to see backgrounds for James and Deming), and, although they are very involved in operations, have teams running the restaurants. "We give employees a voice," says Deming. "We were employees, too. If you're not listened to, you don't enjoy your job. Sometimes people listen less as they get bigger. We've been good listeners, and I think we are even better now. James and I always want things to be better. Our employees and partners elevate our projects. Our goal is for people to love their jobs. About 80% of the current Poquitos staff was here when we opened. The same is true for the kitchen staff at Bastille. At this point, we don't have to do projects. Now it's about our whole team. Chef Jason Stoneburner and James Lechner have done such a great job at Bastille, they should get their own place. When you have people who know the operation inside and out, it makes sense to give them part of it." (Stoneburner, the restaurant, will open mid-2013, with Stoneburner, the chef, and Lechner running both Bastille and Stoneburner. The team that runs Poquitos—Rich Fox and Dustin Watson will also run Von Trapp's.)

"They deserve it," says James. "I've worked with both Rich and Dustin in the past and they're amazing. We're happy to give them a percentage of ownership. Alan Macleod was our painter—he painted Caffè Fiore, my house, Bastille, Poquitos. He was a beertender in Scotland and has an amazingly great personality. When Harlow's Saloon in Ballard went up for sale, we talked with Alan and signed the papers in a week. We wanted to get Alan off the ladder. His name is on the sign, the thee of us own it, but it's his place. It's so expensive to open a restaurant and there are so many great restaurant managers who dream of opening a place. It's hard to get capital to start. So we can help them with that and they can run their own place. We want them to take the spotlight."

Poquitos interior

Deming adds, "We're willing to have less of a percentage of ownership in order to give the opportunity. It's a smart business move—their motivation is built in. And honestly, it feels good to share it. Our partners run the daily operations, but we're still involved. If they didn't, we couldn't start new projects. We trust the team." James agrees. "Absolutely. We don't need to have our names on the sign. It's a team effort. We feed our own love of designing and building. If you're a chef/owner, it's hard to see outside the kitchen and restaurant. We dine in our places, eat off the menu like customers, and talk to the staff. We sit and watch the interaction." You might think staff would be on their best behavior knowing the owners are in the house. Deming disagrees. "It doesn't matter if we as the owners are there—when there are 200 people in the place, every staff member can't be worried about us. We still see and taste what's going on."

Bastille
5307 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206-453-5014
www.bastilleseattle.com

Poquitos
1000 E Pike St
Seattle, WA 98122
206-453-4216
www.vivapoquitos.com

Macleod's Scottish Pub
5200 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206-687-7115
www.macleodsballard.com

Von Trapp's
912 12^th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122                                                        Bastille's back bar
206-325-5409
www.vontrapps.com

Stoneburner
5214 Ballard Avenue NW
Seattle, WA 98107

Connie Adams/February 2013