I just finished talking with Aurora’s chef/owner Avner Samuel and he’s got some big new plans in the works. He swore me to secrecy but I crossed my fingers behind my back. All I can say is that he’s making some big ch-ch-ch-changes and it makes me hungry. Now I will sit here at my desk and wait for him to come across the street and hit me over the head with a copper sauce pan for opening my big fat mouth. I just can’t keep a secret. Y’all want to guess?
18 comments
He’s engaged to Don Henley?
He’s going to reposition as a slightly more casual restaurant to try to increase traffic and get away from the notion that Aurora is just a special occasion place.
What do I win?
Didn’t he do that already?
He’s quitting the restaurant and going on tour as the lead singer in a “Dead or Alive” cover band?
He’ll be serving an open faced roast beef sandwich with a tangy throat yogurt sauce, accompanied by a delicate arrangement of twig and berries on the side?
Is he going to claim he is from Mexico in order to get out of paying federal tax or medical expenses, all while bringing down property values in the neighborhood where his son’s ESL class is being started? In Garland? By the Carnival-Mart that will now have a Whataburger inside that can’t get a simple #1 (plain & dry) order right?
Did I get it?
As an aside, Ms. Nichols, I am officially in love with this new method of journalism. I fondly recall opening the Washington Post in the early 70s and reading the work of Messrs. Woodward and Bernstein: “We found out some juicy stuff about the President and the break-in at the DNC — guess what it is!”
He’s going to install a giant wall aquarium inside Aurora and swim around in it like a furry merman during service.
Until the shock of economic change has worked its way through the community Avner must find ways to make his food more affordable and approachable. Careful costing of the menu is an absolute must when food and fuel prices skyrocket (imagine what the cost of air conditioning a restaurant is going to be this summer). The cost of some staples have quadrupled over the last year and salaries for busboys, waiters and chefs alike have to keep up with real inflation (if you factor out the cost of housing, which is dropping precipitously, the waiter’s cost of getting to the job, properly clothed and adequately fed to perform their duties has gone through the roof). Fancy food items that have to be flown in from overseas not only have an increased transportation cost, every bite of Irish Salmon is now purchased with a weaker dollar. All of those costs must also be properly reflected on the menu and passed on to the customer or Avner will be underwriting every meal he sells (right up until the day he has to close his doors). Since that’s likely to put his already exclusive pricing out of reach of anyone not in Tom Hick’s economic circle, Avner will do well to find simpler, local fare without such astronomical base costs. It’s already gotten tough for those in the restaurant business and anyone who says otherwise is lying to you or to themselves. Look for more closings across the city soon – many of them will be due to operators who fail to keep up with their so called “controllable” costs. I sincerely wish Avner the best.
Avner is finally going to settle down as the new COO for TGIFridays. A guy his age (and probably blood pressure) needs the benny’s.
He is going to stop screwing over his servers and actaully pay them for tips received. Yes I am bitter. I worked their for two years once and Avner still owes me about 10K. You tell me how a $5,000 tip from a guest turns into $200 each for 5 servers. His abacus must be broken. Maybe they will deport his Armenian ass. Or Maybe the city of Dallas will fianlly bust him for not getting that wine room up to code. For the record, the city never once inspected it. Aurora and Abacus Sucks
Sorry, I love Abacus. Aurora and Avner Suck big Armenian Donkey D&$K
Let’s get the record straight. Avner is not Armenian. He is Israeli.
I think Avner has a sock puppet in his office.
Hey – F* Avner – have another bump, man. And by the way, does Avner partake in said act with an Armenian donkey or and Israeli donkey? I think it’s material to the meaning of your post.
But the guy can cook.
Who gives a damn if he can cook. He’s a jerk.
Back to guessing…
Josh will find out that Avner was [censored] Callie before and after the partnership?
Gosh Nancy, that went well.