Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Getting their piece of the pie

Dozens of black-and-white family photos cover the walls of T.C.'s Rib Crib, a down-home barbecue joint in a Las Vegas strip mall.

They pay homage to generations of aunts, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers from the South. Customers should thank the extended family as they gobble up cobbler, collard greens, fried okra and the tangy barbecue sauce, smothered over succulent pulled pork or ribs. The recipes date back to ancestors who were slaves, and now they're the livelihood of owners Irving and Sharon Harrell, plus seven other family members who run the place.

"The ones who are here work in the restaurant," Irving Harrell said of the surviving family members. "The ones who aren't look out for us from heaven to make sure we don't screw up the recipes."

T.C.'s Rib Crib does good business for a restaurant that opened in February. The food is excellent, the service is personal and so far the bills are paid. There's a charm in the decor, sweet tea and personal enthusiasm that's unmatched by any corporate chain.

But the Harrells - like other owners of small independent eateries - might be some of the biggest gamblers in Las Vegas. In a town that favors celebrity chefs and franchises, they had to take out loans on two houses to open a mom and pop restaurant.

The restaurant oozes with authenticity - but odds are stacked against the family's long-term success.

Las Vegas is famous for its high-end fine dining, thanks to free-spending tourists and liberal use of expense accounts. And franchise restaurants vie for attention in every shopping center. But just try to find a mom and pop place that's survived its first year or two.

Restaurant experts say Las Vegas favors the familiarity of heavily marketed, branded restaurants because so many locals are transplants from across the country. And largely for that same reason - an area lacking in generations of loyalty and word-of-mouth buzz - it's harder to support the neighborhood mom and pop joint.

Harrell said friends have asked how he could manage to take such a huge risk on opening the Rib Crib. He's both matter-of-fact and sobered by the reality of the challenge.

"We're playing for all the marbles," Harrell said.

T.C.'s Rib Crib was born in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when the Harrells' extended family lost their three homes and all their possessions in New Orleans. The southern representatives of the family including Aunt Ada (who makes the eatery's potato salad) and Sharon's father T.C. (keeper of the secret sauce recipe) were suddenly homeless.

They migrated to Las Vegas a year ago and opened the restaurant at 8470 W Desert Inn Rd. They had never run a restaurant themselves, but the idea seemed natural because the family has won kudos for its cooking. Plus, Harrell said, he and his wife had so much trouble finding local restaurants they liked.

The restaurant is named after Sharon Harrell's father, T.C. Napue, 70, because he's the patriarch and the one who knows how to make the barbecue sauce. His recipe has been in the family since 1902 and is scrawled in pencil on a yellowed piece of notebook paper. He guards the secret so closely that no one not even the Harrells knows the recipe.

Everyone in the family argues about who is the best cook, Irving said, so they held blind taste tests to determine which dishes would be offered to customers. Big Sam's Baked Beans and Cousin Joe's Greens were among those that made the menu, though not without controversy.

It's a difficult thing to quantify, but restaurant experts say that compared to other cities, there seem to be fewer mom and pop restaurants in Las Vegas - and they have a harder time staying open. Jeff Pappas, a restaurant consultant for the Las Vegas-based Acceleron Group, said the business is tough anywhere - more than 90 percent of independent restaurants are shuttered within five years. But Las Vegas has additional challenges.

Kep Sweeney, president of Acceleron Group and author of the book "The New Restaurant Entrepreneur," said high rent and long-term funding are the primary challenges for Las Vegas mom and pop places. Rent is expensive - Harrell pays $3,680 a month for his 1,300-square-foot space. East Coast Pizza, at 5025 S. Fort Apache Road, spends $5,000 a month for 1,500 square feet.

Small owner-operators are not considered credit-worthy tenants, Sweeney said. Indeed, Harrell said he went to a dozen banks and none would consider giving him a loan until he had two years of successful operations under his belt. Sweeney said landlords have the most power in the restaurant industry, and in Las Vegas they favor the security of corporate coffers over small-business charm.

"The landlords here want the personal guarantee from a publicly traded restaurant company," Sweeney said.

The rapid expansion of Las Vegas also plays to strengths of the big corporations, which do thorough research and have proven business plans. Paul Hartgen, president of the Nevada Restaurant Association, said the chains are "geared up for fast execution on a higher scale" and they multiply at a faster rate than independents. The mom and pop places are especially hard to find in the newest sections of the city.

Landlords can make things extra challenging for independent restaurants by contractually restricting their business to avoid competing with the chains. For instance, East Coast Pizza is prohibited from selling sandwiches because there is a Quizno's leasing a nearby space.

Vito DePalo faces similar handicaps at Vito's Italian Eatery, one of Henderson's longer-lasting mom and pop places. His lease forbids him from offering customers two staples of the pizza business - delivery and pizza specials - to avoid competing with the Pizza Hut in the same complex. Vito's can only deliver if a customer brings up the subject by asking for the service.

DePalo, 38, fits the quintessential image of a pizza maker. He wears checkered chefs pants, a black T-shirt and cap turned backwards. He's proud that he and his wife Paula are "100 percent Italian." They arrive early every morning to prepare recipes handed down through the generations. Every item is made fresh daily. Vito basks in compliments about his cooking.

"When I make something for somebody I make it for them as I would for myself," DePalo said.

Vito's, located at 10345 S. Eastern Ave., opened in 2002 and it has been a success, though Vito estimates he works about 90 hours a week. The couple refinanced their house and used credit cards to open the place, and so far the gamble's paying off, he said. Things are going so well he's planning to open a second one next year.

Vito's most loyal customer is Bill Hussey, a part-time professor who eats at the restaurant four or five times a week, often with his wife Colleen.

"Do you remember the show 'Cheers'?" Hussey said. "The theme song was you want to be where everyone knows your name. They know me. I feel like I'm part of the family there. It's a feeling of comfort."

Across town at T.C.'s Rib Crib, the Harrells hope to earn similar good cheer from their customers. They share Vito's long hours and emphasis on hospitality. A sign on the restaurant wall says: "Enter as strangers, leave as friends."

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy