Dish

Let Them Eat Bread
In the ten months since the Arizona-based Scottsdale’s restaurant opened in the old Pico’s space just off Kirby (4527 Lomitas, 526-5260), owner/manager Perry Thomson received mixed reviews of his grilled-meat-dominated menu and endured disparaging comments about chains. Critics also complained of high prices (a tab might run to $35 for two, pre-cocktails).

So Thomson recently announced (modest) across-the-board price cuts. Examples: The grilled fish-o-the-day sandwich dropped to $7.95 from $9; the seared pork tenderloin and fresh Atlantic salmon entrees are down a dollar to $15.95 each; and both the “backyard barbecue” chicken and the 12-ounce rib-eye steak are off 50 cents, to $9.95 and $17.95.

The cuts were inspired by customer feedback, not critics’ comments, claims Thomson. “I felt we were very competitive,” he says defensively.

But his customer comment cards told a different story. Reportedly the biggest single complaint from diners centered on Scottsdale’s bread basket, an unassuming assortment of sourdough, Parmesan flat bread and fresh apple muffins. Long used to lagniappes, Houstonians groused about paying $2 for the perk.

“We heard you,” says Thomson. The bread basket is now free, and just to show there are no hard feelings, Thomson is throwing in a garden salad with all lunch entrees and with all meat entrees at dinner. (Apparently Houstonians think an $18 entree ought to include some greenery besides parsley.)

Thomson bristles at the suggestion that Scottsdale’s is part of a chain, or that he is a franchisee. “I created the concept myself,” he says. Be that as it may, his thinking is clearly franchise-oriented, his conversation cluttered with comparisons to chains such as The Black-Eyed Pea, Chili’s and Bennigan’s. And never mind that his menu bears a strong resemblance to those of the Atlanta-based string of Houston’s restaurants, which gave rise to early rumors that Scottsdale’s was in fact owned by Houston’s. “There’s absolutely no connection there,” he insists.

Thomson also owns two Timber Wolves: one a college-campus restaurant in Arizona (“It’s like a cross between Black-Eyed Pea and Chili’s,” he explains) and the other a bar at Bissonnet and Kirby, the Timber Wolf Pub (2511 Bissonnet, 526-1705). At the log-cabin pub you’ll find even more of the trademark lodge look, but that of course doesn’t make the Thomson twins a chain.

So how does Thomson’s Texas experience compare to his Arizona expertise? “It’s not really all that different,” he says. “It’s just a matter of which local chain you’re competing with. Here it’s the Pappas; there it’s somebody else. That’s all.”

— Margaret L. Briggs