November 04, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

At St. Michael's Alley, 'intimate' is the word

by Saqib Rahim

How do an electrical engineer and a freshly graduated economics major get started in the restaurant business?

"We did it sort of on a whim," said Michael Sabina, co-owner of St. Michael's Alley on Emerson Street.

Some whim. He and his fiancée, co-owner Jennifer Youll, have run the cozy spot for more than 10 years now -- an epoch in the restaurant business -- since they took the reins of the identically named coffee shop in 1994.

Now success has brought the pair a new challenge: moving St. Michael's to a newer, bigger space as part of the 800 High St. project. Sabina said the move -- targeted for spring 2006 -- won't involve menu changes, but it will mean a bigger restaurant with more room for private groups and more parking, and better exposure to high-traffic streets.

Best of all, he said, after 11 years of renting space, he and Youll will fully own the new spot. That is a watershed moment for a restaurant that has come a long way with its current owners.

The original proprietor, the two said, had run St. Michael's for 35 years as the first coffeehouse on the Peninsula. When Sabina and Youll first came upon the place -- named after St. Michael's Alley in London, where the first English coffeehouses were born -- they were instantly struck by its friendly, social feel. The shop was a popular spot to see such small-time musicians as Joan Baez and The Grateful Dead (as The Warlocks) play their first gigs. So Sabina and Youll leased the facility and got to the romantic business of running a coffee shop in California.

Working 80 hours a week, that is. Learning the ropes of the business without any formal training. Cutting their margins close more than once. Sacrificing their savings to keep the store alive.

"It was killing us," Sabina said of that early era.

Then, in 1998, a buyer made an offer Sabina said he couldn't refuse. As the necessary arrangements were made, Sabina and Youll carefully watched the new owner manage their pet project. He failed to finalize the deal, however -- and Sabina and Youll kept St. Michael's, along with something they never had before: perspective.

Sabina had been reading a book called "The E-Myth," and it had convinced him to think of St. Michael's as a bona fide business, not just a day-to-day job. The coffee shop's frenetic daily pace had kept them from really thinking about its future, he said.

So he and Youll decided it was time for a change: enhancing the ambiance, changing the menu, and above all, converting to a restaurant. With Whole Foods' arrival on Homer Avenue, they said, selling coffee and baked goods wouldn't suffice. Whereas a coffee shop would leave them struggling to survive, a well-conceived restaurant could bring real success.

Buoyed by their new ideas, Sabina and Youll prepared for an extensive remodeling. What came next would become a hallmark of St. Michael's for years to come: community. Customers and friends clamored to be involved in the transition, offering expertise from electrical work to interior design.

"We couldn't have done it without them. ...It was fun," Sabina said.

So when St. Michael's reopened two months later as a warmly lit, rustic-looking restaurant, the image was different, but the "spirit" of the old coffee shop lived on, Sabina and Youll said.

When terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers in late 2001, they said, that spirit was more important than ever. Palo Alto businesses nose-dived; people were dreading the oppressive silence of half-empty restaurants. But St. Michael's regulars never skipped a beat, Sabina and Youll said.

"It was business as usual, and I think that's what people wanted, was business as usual," Youll said. St. Michael's offered the comfort of close quarters, trusted friends, and an escape from the ghastly images on television, he added.

This reputation for warmth has carried over to the present, Sabina said, noting that most of his customers are regulars. "They come in and see the same people in here seven or eight years later. ... It's comfort."

"Loyal customers and loyal staff, that's what keeps us going," she added.

The food helps, too. Chef Ryan Anderson is loath to use the term "California" to describe his food, but in the end, he said, it's the only word that works.

"We have everything here," he said of his home state, explaining that he works with fresh fruits, seafood, and meat that are often produced within 100 miles of Palo Alto.

Anderson said that his brand of "California" cuisine aims to combine many flavors, blending Mediterranean, Indian and Thai influences, for example. The St. Michael's menu, he said, seeks to balance novel tastes with the restaurant's "hall of fame" favorites.

It helps to have a chef who has been around to watch that hall of fame grow. Anderson, 32, said that his nine-year tenure with St. Michael's is unusually long for chefs of his age; younger chefs tend to move around in one- to two-year stints.

But when he found St. Michael's in the mid-'90s, the timing was perfect. "We were both at the same stage in our growth," he says. Anderson's friends were among those who helped with the 1998 remodeling; since then, he said, Sabina, Youll and Anderson have grown together.

Sabina is particularly fond of such memories, and he sees them as part of the continuing story of St. Mike's. He envisions a "history cookbook" that would contain famous St. Mike's recipes alongside the stories and photos from the restaurant's famed past. That pedigree is growing rapidly with such marquee customers as the Clinton family, who rented the restaurant when Chelsea graduated from Stanford in 2001.

As for the move, Sabina said he and Youll are enjoying the same community support they have had in the past. The restaurant's reputation as one of Palo Alto's oldest businesses has helped them work with the city and banks. And as usual, friends and customers are pitching in their skills for outfitting the new restaurant.

Help like that, Sabina said, makes him even more excited about the task ahead: "It's a lot easier when you're surrounded by great people."

Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., 5:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., 5:30-9:30 p.m.; Sunday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Reservations: Yes
Credit cards: Yes
Lot Parking: No
Alcohol: Yes
Highchairs: Yes
Outdoor seating: Yes
Wheelchair access: Yes
Catering: Yes
Banquets: Yes
Noise level: Medium to high
Bathroom cleanliness: Good

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