Loula Long Gone

Restaurants come and go so quickly that it's refreshing to find places, such as the sixteen-year-old Kabob House (see review), that have staying power even in a faltering economy. Alas, one restaurant that has fallen off its high horse is the "fancy" Loula's Bistro and Wine Bar(625 Northwest Murray Road) in the Summit Inn & Suites hotel. The restaurant was named for Lee's Summit's legendary horsewoman, Loula Long Combs -- doyenne of the American Royal -- who was better known for her love of animals than for her culinary skills.

But ten months after it was reviewed in the Pitch ("Horse Sense," October 4, 2001), the owners of the hotel put the Loula's concept -- which included fresh flowers sticking out of every entrée -- in the stable. They've brought in 43-year-old Patrick Quillec (Hannah Bistro Cafe, Café Provence) to turn the 65-seat dining room into the eastern offshoot of his successful Hannah Bistro (3895 State Line Road). Quillec had looked at the space two years ago but was turned off by the lack of retail traffic in the neighborhood. This time, he was pleased to see the new Summit Woods Crossing mall across the street.

Loula's is closed until October 8, when Quillec opens Hannah Bistro Café, Lee's Summit. Quillec is moving chef Joe Damariofrom the Midtown Hannah to Lee's Summit and has hired Brant Ottas general manager. The menu, he says, "will be 85 percent the same as Hannah, except we'll use the wood-burning pizza oven to add signature pizzas."

That oven undoubtedly reminds him of the ones at Bistro 1310, in the old Omni Hotel (now the downtown Doubletree Hotel). That was where the French-born Quillec had his first Kansas City gig as executive chef. In fact, that facility's designer, Tami Lowen, also created the Summit Inn & Suites. Quillec plans to roast chicken and cook mussels in his new oven, which burns cherry and oak woods. "I had wanted to do my kind of pizza -- made with fresh tomatoes, pesto and three kinds of cheeses -- at the first Hannah," Quillec says. "But we ran out of space for a wood-burning stove."

When Quillec turned an old Pizza Hut into the first Hannah Bistro, he didn't spend a fortune on the interior -- and it shows. Loula's was decorated with a bigger checkbook, and Quillec plans to keep the gilt-framed horse prints and the tasteful paintings. He's also going to keep the herb garden just outside the patio doors.

"We're going to grow more herbs, in fact," Quillec says, adding that his management team will also be taking over the hotel's banquet-and-catering department. Is he overextending himself?

"People are asking me that, and I hope not," Quillec says. "But right now, I'm living the dream I've had ever since I came to the United States. It's taken me 25 years to do it, but I'm where I wanted to be."