By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Sitting in the new Sam B’s at 146 N. Main Street, Jim Ferrell recalls that he and his wife, Kathy, have opened a new place before, adding it doesn’t get any easier.
Ferrell has been on the Bowling Green food scene for going on 50 years starting in a literal hole on State Street in 1972 where he served “Sam B’s sandwich of the absurd.”
Now he’s back in the space where he opened his first restaurant, Sam B’s. And for all the delays and hassles of getting this new operation open, he’s pleased he’s back.
“I’m glad we did it,” he said. “I have no regrets. It cost twice as much as I thought and it took twice as long as I thought. But it’s a good asset. It’s a good piece of real estate. It’s a good location. It’s got history.”
Back at the turn of the 20th century it was a pool hall, and then about the time he arrived in Bowling Green in 1968, it was a head shop, first Metamorphosis, then Crystal City.
In 1988, Sam B’s, named for the Irish writer of theater of the absurd Sam Beckett, found its place on the Bowling Green culinary scene. In 2002, he moved the operation into another landmark, the former Kaufman’s restaurant, and then opened Beckett’s, a bar with pool tables in tribute to the building’s early years. “Huge mistake,” Ferrell said. Pool is anti-social.
After a few years he sold Beckett’s to George Strata, who remade the bar restaurant into something of his own.
For all the success at the former Kaufman’s, Ferrell said, “we never achieved the intimacy we had here in the nineties.”
So in May, he and Strata switched spaces. With Strata returning to the former Kaufman’s where many years before he worked, and Ferrell coming back to North Main Street.
Coming home again wasn’t easy.
They tore out the interior, including rotting wood. Construction crews filled seven 30-yard dumpsters, in the renovation. He wrestled with new regulations. Hopes of opening in late summer melted away.
All this not just recreate the earlier Sam Bs, but to make it fresher, up to date. It retains the original aesthetic with art, including a large painting by Manny Enriquez on the south wall, and other pieces selected by Enriquez decorating the facing wall. And presiding at the end of the bar is a spruced up image of Samuel Beckett.
“My dream is making this the best Sam B’s ever,” Ferrell said. “It’s our fourth and I want it to be the best. And I feel like it is.”
An important element is Executive Chef Matt Lawrence. Ferrell hired Lawrence about three years ago. At 70, Ferrell is looking to slow down, and the long-range plan is to eventually turn Sam B’s over the Lawrence. “ “We’re extremely invested emotionally and financially,” Ferrell said. “We’re not in hurry to turn backs on it.”
Still he and his wife would love to be able to have more freedom to travel.
“I’m very passionate about what I do,” Lawrence said. “I believe in Jim’s dream of keeping this place going and satisfying the customer base and at the same time expanding it.”
Part of the freshening of the image is dropping “restaurant” from the name. “Too old fashioned,” Ferrell said. He wants it to be a place where younger customers feel they can drop by and have a burger and a beer.
Still, most important was locking in those customers who have patronized Sam B’s wherever it was located over the decades. A special opening on Oct. 1 was “a magical night” with those faithful customers coming in to christen the new place.
Those customers have been returning since.
Ferrell insisted their favorites the Brussel sprout appetizer with whipped maple goat cheese – “they’re like candy,” Lawrence said, the crab cakes, the fresh salmon, and good steaks, remained on the menu. They join new dishes such as the airline chicken, so called because the wings are still attached to the breast, slow cooked in duck fat, and the Korean ribs
All, including the pasta, are made fresh in the kitchen.
The food, Lawrence said, is contemporary, even trendy but rooted in good technique and principles. “Quality, quality, quality,” Ferrell interjected.
Lawrence, 50, brings the right kitchen history. He’s worked in the food business since he was a teen, first as a server and cashier at a diner in his hometown of Lansing, Michigan. He started to fill in when the diner was short staffed in the kitchen, and his education began. He mentored by older chefs. He never went to culinary school, but he read the books that students there were assigned.
In his mid-twenties, he realized he needed to leave Lansing. He started to travel. He worked on Mackinac Island, ending up as the executive chef at Yankee Rebel Tavern. In the winter, he traveled to cook in Florida, Boston, Savannah Georgia, and the Chicago area.
He worked for the Mancy’s Restaurant Group in Toledo from 2007-2018, most of that time as executive chef at Mancy’s Italian Grill. Then he was moved to Bluewater, but he didn’t feel that was the right fit.
A mutual friend in the business, hooked Ferrell and Lawrence up.
Lawrence not only brings culinary skills, but an interest in using social media to extend the restaurant’s culinary base. He notes that on Facebook, the second most number of hits come from Toledo, followed by Perrysburg, and the Findlay. And they tend to stay on the page for more than a minute. He feels Sam B’s can attract those diners along the I-75 corridor who are looking for some place new to eat.
Ferrell said without Lawrence on board, he’s not sure he would have launched this new venture.
But he knew what he had with his executive chef. ““He’s the best chef, the right age, the right temperament.”
And he’s had success in maintaining his kitchen staff.
Lawrence said whenever the Ferrells come in, he wants them to be proud.
Sam B’s is open Monday through Thursday 4-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Once they get fully staffed, they plan to open weekdays for lunch as well.
