Were it not for the Prospect Park Subway station on Lincoln Road between Ocean and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn, there would have been little reason for people to linger on the block.
Home to a motley collection of beauty salons, bodegas and an ancient but gigantic apartment building in desperate need of sandblasting, the block was better known as an entrance to the park.
But about a year ago the allure of the ho-hum drag soared with the warmly received opening of K-Dog and Dunebuggy, a coffee shop with soups, sandwiches and pastries.
Now, in K-Dog and Dunebuggy’s wake, comes Enduro, an eclectic Tex-Mex concept just a door away. Enduro is the first mainstream, full-service restaurant to open in decades in Brooklyn’s Lefferts Manor section, a slowly gentrifying residential community with century-plus-year-old homes.
Enduro is co-owned by James Mamary, a little-known operator who has opened and owned 20 restaurants during a 20-year foodservice career that has dotted Brooklyn with some of the borough’s most diverse dining spots.
Where did you get the confidence to open a full-service restaurant on such a bland street?
Well, Tex-Mex is a low-cost operation to be in, and yet it enjoys strong middle-market traffic and everybody loves it. Plus, I intend to do a healthy delivery and takeout business here, and Tex-Mex travels well. But I had been watching this area for a while and couldn’t help but notice the success of K-Dog and Dunebuggy.
What was the toughest part about opening here?
Dealing with the landlord. It was an arduous process, maybe the hardest, toughest negotiating I’ve ever had in 20 years of opening restaurants.
How did you get in the business?
My family comes from a long line of retailers. But I had a grandfather who owned a restaurant, and I worked there as a maître d’ during my college years and loved it.
But how does a guy with your kind of education end up opening restaurants?
FAST FACTS EDUCATION: graduated with a double major in economics and political science from Fordham University; graduate degree in international affairs from Columbia University AGE: 48 BIRTHPLACE: Brooklyn, N.Y. PERSONAL: married, with two daughters
Simple. I wasn’t cut out for the white-collar corporate world. I was working for a big corporation dealing with international political risk assessment, and one day I went to lunch and never came back. I couldn’t stand the atmosphere.
All of your restaurants are in Brooklyn. What are the others?
I’ve got Gravy, an American diner; Rosa’s Pizzeria; and Pacifico, another Mexican concept. I also have a tiki bar concept called the Zombie Hut, a French-American place called Patois, a beer garden called the Gowanus Yacht Club, an American bistro called Sweetwater, and an organic place called the Farm. I’ve opened a restaurant literally once a year for the past 20 years.
Where do you get the capital? Does the cash flow from one fund the next?
Somewhat. But it is really about who your partners are and what they bring to the table and your managers. My partner here is Richard Kraus. He has a great background as a chef and entrepreneur starting in L.A. 20 years ago. I love his food and his philosophy about food.
What’s next?
I’m going to do an eclectic sandwich place in Crown Heights, [Brooklyn].
What’s your advice to anyone who wants to open a restaurant?
More than the money needed, more than having good partners who know more than you, be sure to work in the industry, and I mean every position, front-of-the-house and back. You’ve got to know it, inside and out.