- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- August 2002
-
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Our State
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tar heel tastes
Irregardless Cafe
Philosophy ami the freshest food share the menu at this Raleigh
eatery, providing a nurturing sanctuary that feeds the soul
as well as the appetite.
BY DlANF. SII.COX-IaKRF.TT
You can’t consider yourself a
chef unless you cut .ill 10 fin¬
gers and burn both of your
hands," laughs Arthur Gordon,
owner of Irregardless Cafe in Raleigh.
If you have ever tasted one of
Irregardless Cafe
Gordon's original dishes, you are
thankful for the cuts and burns he
has sustained while learning to cook.
Every one of them represents a step in
learning along a path that reaches
back into his childhood.
At an early age, Gordon
took over much of the
cooking in his family.
“My mom wasn't that
great a cook, and I decid¬
ed that to survive, I had
better learn." After gradu¬
ating from the University
of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, Gordon knew
he wanted to become a
chef. "I sent off my appli¬
cation to the Culinary
Institute of America. They
sent me a return letter
explaining they wanted
me to have a year of
cooking experience."
Gordon thought it would
be a good idea to combine
his chemistry and philoso¬
phy degrees and start his
own restaurant. “I decided
that would be the best way
for me to acquire experi¬
ence." Pulling $9,000 of
resources together with
two friends, Gordon
bought an old house in
Raleigh and made it into a
restaurant. “We did all the
work inside ourselves, so
that helped save money,"
explains Gordon.
The restaurant opened February
10, 1975, with the unusual name of
Irregardless Cafe. “I chose the name
because when I wrote 'irregardless'
in college papers, professors would
circle it in red. I wanted finally to
be able to use the word," Gordon
gleefully laughs.
When the cafe opened, there were
not that many restaurants in Raleigh,
and people were always looking for
somewhere new to eat. “We decided
to go pure vegetarian. There was still
a lot of the late- 1 960s social con¬
sciousness around. We started the live
entertainment and the Sunday brunch
when we first opened, and we have
continued both since," says Gordon.
Trial advertising
Irregardless received free advertis¬
ing in an unusual way when it first
opened. At that time, the trial of
Joann Little, who was accused of
stabbing a jailer, was getting national
coverage. “Two of my waitresses
were on jury duty and were chosen to
be seated. When asked where they
worked, they answered 'Irregardless
Cafe.’ It was such a unique name that
the AP wire picked it up, and the
name went all over the country.
Suddenly, we had lines out the door."
Gordon saw this as a wake-up call,
and he and his partners decided they
needed to figure out what they were
doing. "This really wasn't the best
time to start a business. The Middle
East gas crisis was going on, and
people were really watching their
money." But there was something
special about the new eatery in
downtown Raleigh.
Located on a one-way street near
Central Prison, the restaurant has
what Gordon grades as a C-minus
location at best. “They always say
when you open a business, the most
important thing is location, location,
location. We don't have a great loca¬
tion, and the parking lot is I GO yards
from the front door," he says.
