Name: Ryan Sciara
Occupation: Managing partner, Cellar Rat Wine Merchants
Hometown: Kansas City, Missouri
Current neighborhood: Crestwood
Who or what is your sidekick? My wifey and two daughters, Lola and Luca. I am totally outnumbered!
What career would you choose in an alternate reality? I think it would be really cool to be one of the characters on Yo Gabba Gabba, especially Brobee. My daughter would think I was the coolest EVER!
What was the last local restaurant you patronized? Probably Lulu’s. We do it a lot for lunch.
Where do you drink? At home — don’t get out much with the two kiddos.
What’s your favorite charity? Harvesters and Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired
Favorite place to spend your paycheck: Garry Gribble’s Running Sports
What local phenomenon do you think is overrated? The frenzy around Boulevard Chocolate Ale.
Where do you like to take out-of-town guests? We usually make them baby-sit the kids so we can go out. Is that wrong?
Finish this sentence: “Other than the Kauffman Center, Kansas City got it right when …” Two words: Sly James.
“Kansas City screwed up when it …” Didn’t put the baseball stadium downtown.
“Kansas City needs …” A freaking school district that works!
“People might be surprised to know that I …” Have never seen Star Wars (or any other classic movie that most people have seen).
What TV show do you make sure you watch? Top Chef and Criminal Minds
____ take(s) up a lot of space in my iTunes: A lot of hip-hop, old and new
What movie do you watch at least once a year? Not a movie guy.
What local tradition do you take part in every year? Restaurant Week
Celebrity you’d like to ride the Mamba with at Worlds of Fun: Not a roller-coaster guy, either … so probably the pilot Sully, who landed that plane in the Hudson … just in case.
Favorite person or thing to follow on Twitter: Jasper Mirabile, especially his table 19 rants.
Person or thing you find really irritating at this moment: Election-year rhetoric
Last book you read: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
Favorite day trip: Probably to my in-laws’ house in Ft. Scott because it means (a) I get a day off and (b) I get to spend that day with my family.
What is your most embarrassing dating moment? Had my car die on me once in high school and had to get a ride back in a tow truck.
Interesting brush with the law? I did my college internship with the ATF, so I got to see some pretty wacky stuff. But the most interesting was, I had to go up to a crack house to retrieve some belongings for one of the agent’s informants. I was to say that I was the informant’s little brother and, no matter what, “Don’t go into the house.”
Describe a recent triumph: We just celebrated our five-year anniversary of business. A pretty big triumph considering all the other “little wine shops” that have gone out of business in the same time span.
Cellar Rat, 1701 Baltimore, hosts special events and classes weekly.
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