Michael Roberts and Jean Donnelly, the husband-and-wife team behind Atlas Restaurant, are selling the CWE bistro to Diane and Bryan Carr of Pomme Restaurant and Pomme Café & Wine Bar – and Donnelly just chatted with us about the transaction.
“Nothing terribly specific” prompted it, Donnelly said. “When we decided to move here from San Francisco, we agreed that it would be for a certain length of time, and more than that time has passed. And so it has been on our mind that we would be returning – we were just never sure exactly when. And it feels like a good time now. … We don’t want to wait until we’re tired or one of us is sick, anything negative.”
Although they and the Carrs have been friends for some time, a third party brokered the May 31 sale, Donnelly noted. She also said that she and Roberts wouldn’t return to California till they can sell their house here.
And after the sale and the return to the West Coast? “We might do something on a small scale, eventually, as far as our own business goes,” said Donnelly. “But I think we’d like a little bit of a break. And so Michael plans on getting a sous chef position somewhere and working more of a 40-hour week schedule for a while, and I’m thinking about studying accounting and doing some accounting for restaurants.”
Donnelly emphasized how much she and her husband will miss St. Louisans in general. “We have had such a devoted customer base,” she said. “Everyone here has been so great. It makes for such a warm, friendly environment for us, to be surrounded by people who want to be here. And that really goes for our staff, too.”
Otherwise, looking ahead to their return to San Francisco, Donnelly mentioned one last grace note. “Michael surfed for years,” she said with a chuckle, “and he hasn’t had much opportunity since we’ve been here.”
This article appears in Mar 1-31, 2010.