Hot Spot

An acquaintance of mine, Sally, is the ex-wife of one local fireman and the mother of another. She says no community is more tightly knit. "If you're buying a house, you find a fireman with a real estate license. If you're having construction done, you hire a fireman with those skills to do it."

And now, if you're hungry, you go to the Creekside Pub & Grille (9916 Holmes), which is co-owned by two firefighter families. The two-month-old establishment isn't for firemen only, though lots of them hang out there, especially when there's a game on the dozen or so TVs mounted around the bar and the dining room. The place is a noisy and raucous South Kansas City Cheers, where practically everyone knows your name -- and your station number.

It's run by two attractive Michelles: Michelle Ward, a former hairstylist and the wife of Keith Ward (KCFD Station 23), and Michelle Paulakovich -- a restaurant veteran who started working at Fiorella's Smokestack as a teen-ager and the wife of hockey-player-turned-fireman Chris Paulakovich (KCFD Station 18). Anyone who remembers this strip-center spot in any of its previous incarnations -- Jimmy & Mary's, Sherlock's Steakhouse, The Corner South -- will be shocked at its complete makeover. Keith and Chris, who run a part-time remodeling business, gutted and rebuilt the bar and gave the dreary old dining room new paint and fresh carpet.

The Creekside Pub & Grille serves the kind of fare you'd expect to find in a Kansas City saloon (fried onion rings, burgers, nachos) and some unexpected offerings, too, including homemade soups and fish and chips as well as a cilantro-spiced pulled-pork sandwich, a veggie wrap and a grilled Reuben stacked with corned beef.

Michelle Paulakovich's father, Leon Nussbeck, a sports memorabilia collector, covered the walls with photos, framed jerseys (including one from Baltimore Orioles player Mark Nussbeck, Michelle's brother) and athletic gear. Sister-in-law Ann Paulakovich is working as the restaurant's night manager, and both husbands pitch in if they're off-duty.

Their reason for taking on the project? "We're lifelong Southsiders, and there wasn't much out here for us," Michelle Paulakovich explains. "Everything new is being opened on the Plaza or in Johnson County. We saw there was a niche waiting to be filled."

And sure enough, the place has been busy since the day it opened. Even the first Wednesday's Taco Night took them by surprise. "We were having people order thirty or forty tacos at a time," Michelle Ward says. "My arms are still sore from making tacos nonstop until we closed up."