Lisa Garza juggles relationships to get Sissy's Fried Chicken open.

Although La Garza is all about sisterhood (“I am Sissy,” Garza says. “Sissy is southern slang for “sister” and I am developing every aspect.”) there will be no sissy in the kitchen. La G has plucked Jeffery Hobbs and named him “leader of the kitchen.”

Oh, it’s a tangled tale—an episode of As the Restaurant Turns. Here’s the synopsis: Lisa was married to Chef Gilbert Garza. Together they operated Suze Restaurant, the cozy spot on Midway and NW Highway. At some point, Jeffery Hobbs joined the happy couple to work on the kitchen team as chef and partner. Hobbs and Gilbert ran a great restaurant. Lisa concentrated on catering. Lisa was picked as a contestant on Next Food Network Star. The experience was devastating, as most former TV reality participants will admit is generally the case. The Garzas divorced and Lisa retreated for a couple of years. She emerged as a fancy caterer. Found a new guy. Got re-married and is now pregnant with new restaurant.

After eight years at Suze, Hobbs splits to partner with burgeoning bully restaurateur, Jack “Maple & Motor” Perkins. They’re consulting on taco joints. Then La G calls Hobbs and asks him to be the “leader of her kitchen.” According to La G, Gilbert has given his blessing to the deal. See, there can be happy endings. Or beginnings. Stay tuned.

TRA Education Foundation has partnered with El Centro to provide an Introduction to Restaurant Management class – open to TRA members and non members.  Great for assistant managers or new managers.  Two-day intensive training that you can’t get anywhere else for the price. Offered Oct. 31-Nov. 1 and also on two Saturdays – Nov. 5 and Nov. 12.

More info and application here.

Anybody have some suggestions for the former employees when it comes tax time? We never received check stubs or info on the taxes taken out of them, that is when we did get them and they didn’t bounce.

I contacted Gregory P. Williams, a CPA with Restaurant CFO Partners in Plano. He has a lot of answers. They are below. I’ve also included his contact information if you have more questions.

Here’s Greg:

Good question!  Below are the official IRS procedures to follow in this situation.  Even in bankruptcy, employers generally send out W-2’s.  If this is not the case in this situation, then I anticipate that the employee will have to follow procedures 2 & 3 and estimate their earnings.

If you haven’t received your W-2, follow these four steps:

1. Contact your employer -If you have not received your W-2, contact your employer to inquire if and when the W-2 was mailed. If it was mailed, it may have been returned to the employer because of an incorrect or incomplete address. After contacting the employer, allow a reasonable amount of time for them to resend or to issue the W-2.

2. Contact the IRS –  If you do not receive your W-2 by February 14th, contact the IRS for assistance at 800-829-1040. When you call, you must provide your name, address, city and state, including zip code, Social Security number, phone number and have the following information:

• Employer’s name, address, city and state, including zip code and phone number

• Dates of employment

• An estimate of the wages you earned, the federal income tax withheld, and when you worked for that employer during 2010. The estimate should be based on year-to-date information from your final pay stub or leave-and-earnings statement, if possible.

3. File your return – You still must file your tax return or request an extension to file April 16, 2012, even if you do not receive your Form W-2. If you have not received your Form W-2 by the due date, and have completed steps 1 and 2, you may use Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Attach Form 4852 to the return, estimating income and withholding taxes as accurately as possible.  There may be a delay in any refund due while the information is verified.

4. File a Form 1040X – On occasion, you may receive your missing W-2 after you filed your return using Form 4852, and the information may be different from what you reported on your return. If this happens, you must amend your return by filing a Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Gregory P. Williams

Restaurant CFO Partners

701 E. 15th Street

Suite 201

Plano, TX 75074

Tel: 972-633-8999

Bartenders from all over Dallas will participate on a rotating basis. There will also be beer, wine, food trucks, and live music coordinated by JT Donaldson. A Portion of the proceeds will go to the Promise House who has been helping teens in North Texas since 1984. So head out to The OC, home of the secret-keeping restaurateurs, and catch Brian (Sfuzzi, Standard Pour ) McCullough on Thursday.

Jump for other bartenders who’ve already signed up for the party.

A few names of the Local Bartenders Participating:

Dub Davis of Marquee Bar and Grill

Sean Conner of Whiskey Cake

Omar Yeefoon Peoples Last Stand

Kyle Hilla of Bolsa

Brad Hensarling of the Usual Bar Ft Worth

The Entire Crew of the Cedars Social

However, a few weeks ago my mother and I showed up at a small restaurant for a 5:30PM reservation. We were on time, but our other two friends had called to say they would be 15 minutes late. I told the hostess our situation. She told us she would seat us when our party was complete. The restaurant was empty. Oh, sorry, there was one two-top in the back. The hostess handed us menus and walked away. A few minutes later, I broke up a conversation between said hostess and a server and asked if we could order a glass of wine. She brought us the wine. We stood for 18 minutes with a menu in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. No other diners entered the restaurant. When our tardy party arrived, we were escorted four steps to our table.

Restaurateurs, tell us why this is right or wrong.

Dishers, tell me some  similar stories.

Bob Young: Remembering Marcello Rosen

On Tues., July 19, my family (wife Paula, daughter Lacey, son Christopher, and his fiancee, Katie) and I celebrated Paula’s birthday at our favorite restaurant, Toulouse. We arrived to find that our requested table was occupied by none other than restaurateur Alberto Lombardi and several of his family members and friends—including his go-to real estate broker, Marcello Rosen.

As the table transitioned to us, we exchanged warm hellos with Alberto and Marcello.

Less than a month later, on Fri., August 12, my son and I attended a memorial service for Marcello, who had lost a courageous battle with cancer. Christopher (who’s also a fellow Weitzman broker) and I were both struck by the frailty and sanctity of life—and the loss of a true real estate professional and a valued business friend.

The service was attended by hundreds of Marcello’s friends and family, including Dallas restaurateurs Avner and Celeste Samuel (NOSH), Alberto and Vivian Lombardi (La Fiorentina, Cibus), Taco and Duni Borga (La Duni), and Brian and Courtney Luscher (The Grape)—as well as restaurant brokers Dennis Leibovitz, Steve Williamson, Jack Gosnell, Alan Mann, Nelson Billups, and many others —all there to pay respects to a well-liked player in our business.

Marcello lived a fascinating life and was a successful retailer in his own right (as co-founder of the Pea in a Pod chain) before switching over to the commercial real estate arena, focusing on restaurant development and site selection. Most recently he was senior vice president at Dunhill Partners.

As tough as it was to realize the loss of Marcello, I was comforted by the sense of community of our commercial real estate industry. On my next visit to Toulouse, La Duni, Nosh, or The Grape, I will raise my glass and toast Marcello, a true professional and a friend.

Bob Young is managing director of The Weitzman Group. Contact him at byoung@weitzmangroup.com.

This morning, however, Steven Doyle reported this even more interesting (and par for the course) quote from the wild life of Mr. T:

“We closed The Table but we are about to open it back up again. It will be called One Art. The One Art is about the art of being a chef. There will be two seating’s, five nights a week. Much like Ad Hoc. There will be 3 courses or more. It will cost a flat $55. Everything farm to table and local as humanly possible. Less reliant on foie and truffles.”

So, there you have it. Let loose.

Chef Tre Wilcox (left); Marquee's contemporary dining room (right). (Photos by Desirée Espada.)

What to expect: Let me open by saying that the first time D Magazine’s administrative coordinator Loren Means went to Marquee for lunch, she didn’t leave until well after dinner. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the cocktails are as much to blame as the food, but all she knows is that she was happily reunited with Wilcox’s duck three ways and Jason Kosmas’ French 75. She describes it as “one happy Sunday.”

These days, in Marquee’s two-level restaurant (and on the cooled, bird’s-eye-view, movie-marquee patio), the duck three ways may appear and disappear from the rotating menu (as if Wilcox does not want to replicate Abacus, yet can’t escape the dish’s popularity), and the French 75 is concocted by request only, but we managed to have a great meal nonetheless. Even though some of the items I mention herein will most likely have cycled off for your visit, the bulk of the menu shows evidence of Wilcox’s skill and optimism.

read more about Marquee…

Quail stuffed with wild boar sausage. (Photo by Desirée Espada.)

On the menu: We started with the quail appetizer stuffed with wild-boar sausage. Even split between two people, the quail was meaty and savory enough to satisfy both of us. The addition of wild boar might imply a gamey aftertaste; this was not the case. Instead the meat was mildly spiced and rich with fats and dense protein. As a contrast, the bright and pungent artisan salad with shaved fennel and tomato vinaigrette cleared the palate for the courses to come.

Gentlemanly waiters and contemporary environs. (Photos by Desirée Espada.)

For our main courses, we chose the seared duck breast (lovely and rare) and the thick,  juicy bone-in pork chop served over morel risotto with an additional side crock of bacon-rich, braised Brussels sprouts that stole the show. In the case of the chop, the inherent superiority of the meat was optimized by a brief cook time. The risotto, while salty, hummed with mellow mushrooms, grounding the dish from the bottom up.

Grilled pork chop with morel risotto. (Photos by Desirée Espada.)

My only point of concern came with the dessert: airy layers of chocolate layered with salted caramel popcorn and garnished with vanilla ice cream and more popcorn. No part of it failed—the chocolate was rich, yet light; the popcorn was crunchy, and the ice cream provided girl-next-door solidity, but together the dish felt like flavor overkill, too much of too many good things.

Brussels sprouts side. Nobody puts this baby in the corner. (Photos by Desirée Espada.)

Respect to Jason Kosmas for his deft and layered cocktail menu. We ordered a trial margarita, tangy with blood orange juice and a spicy kick. Since Kosmas was pouring, we asked him to surprise us on our second drink, with the only stipulations being that he use tequila or rum, give it some heat, and not make it too sweet. What arrived was exactly that—a delicious cocktail tailored to my specs. But, after trying both, I actually preferred the margarita off the menu. The moral: trust the man behind the shaker.

Chocolate layered with salted popcorn and garnished with ice cream. (Photos by Desirée Espada.)

In all, touches of Hollywood regency in the entry, clubby lounge spaces inside and movie marquee rooftop provide a see-and-be-seen vortex. One caveat: the place can feel chaotic if you sit at one of the tables near the upstairs bar. Instead, opt for a second-floor table overlooking the parking lot (trust us, the view is better than it sounds; this is Highland Park after all), or brave the frizzies and head out onto the patio.  Try it out for yourself and see if you can beat Loren’s seven-hour record.

Jason Kosmas, mixologist and cocktail consultant. (Photos by Desirée Espada.)