Here's to You, Mr. Robinson

The late Joe Gilbert's name still stands out in red lights on the front of J. Gilbert's Wood-Fired Steaks (see review) on Metcalf, but his restaurant legacy has been fractured beyond recognition. There's no restaurant at the old Municipal Airport anymore, where Gilbert had his first great success in the 1940s. And who remembers the Inn at the Landing, which opened in 1960, back when the Landing shopping center at 63rd and Troost was still a jewel in the J.C. Nichols empire?

The biggest shock for fans of the Joe Gilbert and Paul Robinson success story has been the reversal of fortune for the once-thriving Houlihan's chain, now overseen by a group of very well-paid executives, including former Einstein/Noah Bagel Co. CEO Robert Hartnett and Bagel & Bagel founder Gail Lozoff.

"My friends in Kansas City have sent me clippings about what's going on with Houlihan's," says the restaurant's cofounder Robinson from his patio in Venice, Florida. "I've been tempted to call those guys up and talk to them. I mean, how can someone with a background in bagels have the talent and experience to develop an entirely new menu? Because that's what Houlihan's needs."

The previous management team "tried to turn Houlihan's into another Cheesecake Factory," Robinson says. "But that's a one-of-a-kind concept. You can't imitate it."

The irony is that the original Houlihan's was so successful in the 1970s and '80s that it was widely imitated by other restaurant chains -- T.G.I. Friday's, Ruby Tuesday and Applebee's to name a few -- that have outgrown it in popularity.

Obviously Robinson still has candid opinions about the restaurant business, and although he's semiretired, he's no stranger to the newest crop of eating establishments in Kansas City: He designed the interiors for restaurateur Rod Anderson's Pierpont's and the Hereford House locations on 119th Street and in Lawrence and Independence.

A younger "semiretired" culinary professional in Kansas City, former caterer Diane Dougherty, wasn't going bananas last week as she packed up her cooking tools to fly to Denver for the four-day official Western Region Team USA tryouts for the 2004 Culinary Olympic team. Only 38 chefs were invited to compete in this year's invitational, and from the 20 chosen regionally, 10 will be selected in May after competing at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.

Dougherty, who sold her catering company last year and now consults for businesses such as Mr. Goodcents, is hopeful about her chances but admits that three local male chefs who have competed for -- and lost -- positions on Team USA warned her that she "was going to get [her] ass kicked!"

"But deep down," Dougherty says cheerily, "I think they really want me to get it."