The Regular

/ Th-uh reg-yuh-ler /

noun, The long standing or habitual customer or client of a bar, store or team.

This site is really an ode to my father, a man who refuses to eat in establishments where the owner and waiters don’t all know his first and last name. He is a man of habit. A man of ritual. He is a man that met his fourth wife (also my mother) while she was working as the maitre d’ of one of his go-to restaurants in the 80s. He would sit for dinner with the owner every Thursday and ruthlessly flirt with my mom who should have known better than to marry a man who already had six children. But something about his charm, and the ease with which he joked with the waiters and line cooks at the restaurant was all quite intriguing.

As his eighth and final child, I looked up to my dad like no one else. I was the smallest of the bunch and we had an odd couple dynamic. He taught me how to eat the chicken feet he would order off the dim sum cart on Saturdays. He taught me that a martini always meant gin. He taught me that coffee should always be offensively hot, when served. And he taught me the importance of finding the special places where you can become The Regular.

I hope you enjoy what he has inspired and we have created.

Chef's kiss,
Rosie Ellis

DON & ROSIE ELLIS