This story is not going to use a certain four-letter word that starts with f and ends in conflagration.
It鈥檚 the word that comes up most often in stories about Slickity Jim鈥檚 Chat 鈥榥鈥� Chew to explain why owner Mike Zalman is on his third location. (The first two locations were destroyed by that red-hot destructive force that reduces dreams to piles of charred embers.)
Zalman has been known to use the f-word but he鈥檇 like to move on from those dark days when he called himself Bad Luck Mike.
In other words, the f-word is not the one he wants forever associated with his popular Main Street diner/restaurant. He鈥檇 rather use a three-letter word that starts with a and ends with a multitude of possibilities.
鈥淚 like art that has a purpose,鈥� he says of why he does what he does. 鈥淭his restaurant is a big piece of art. If I didn鈥檛 have to charge people, I wouldn鈥檛, but if I don鈥檛 have the money to practise my art...鈥�
Art is in the food 鈥� To Mock a Killing Bird (eggs benny with avocado and roasted vegetables), the Are You Going To Be A Nacho Man appetizer and The Double Belly Buster Pork Platter for dinner, to wit.
Art is in the music 鈥� at the time of the interview, 1920s New Orleans jazz was creating yet another time travel dimension.
And art is in the d茅cor 鈥� although kitsch might be the more creatively honest word. (Zalman gets up from our table to straighten a painting of a black Lab waiting to retrieve a duck that its owner is about to shoot.)
It鈥檚 in Zalman鈥檚 nature not to be defined by one thing, just like it鈥檚 hard to come up with a few words to describe the vibe at Slickity Jim鈥檚, with its curved veneer-panel roof that makes you think you鈥檙e camping out in a vintage caravan trailer, bus-seat chairs and vintage treasures straight out of a 1950s rec room.
鈥淚鈥檓 just doing what comes naturally,鈥� Zalman says. 鈥淚 use food as a method of communicating. The d茅cor is a long story. It鈥檚 a vision of how I see the world.... Why does a painter paint? Why does anyone do anything? I don鈥檛 have designs on what I want it to be. I do what I do and people enjoy it.鈥�
The house he rents, half of a duplex just a couple of blocks south on Main between the Lip Lounge and 麻豆传媒映画Special, is one of the most photographed locations on the strip. Could it be the front garden of mannequin heads? Or maybe the upside-down mannequin leg on the porch or the ravaged mannequin heads in his window. The 1969 Norton motorcycle parked on the tiny patch of lawn has a head-turning effect, too.
The yard art grew organically from happenstance. His daughter was studying to be a hairdresser and practised on the mannequins which, having given their hair to a good cause, were given a place of honour in the windowsill.
Although Zalman was first assured that the recent sale of the home, for $1 million, wouldn't mean a change for him or his neighbour, he was dismayed when he found a development notice on his front lawn.
Happenstance also had a lot to do with turning a punk rocker into a restaurant owner. 鈥淲hen I was 15 with a purple mohawk, there weren鈥檛 many other jobs than kitchen work. It was either be a bike courier or a dishwasher.鈥�
Restaurant jobs are a portable skill and when Zalman, who had dropped out of cooking school, landed in Vancouver, he started selling soup to 麻豆传媒映画restaurants. When the old Eagle Grill at Powell and Victoria came up for rent, his wandering days were over. 鈥淚t just had this dynamic cross section of people and it was what a restaurant should be 鈥� a place where the community gathers.鈥�
When the roof of the building caved in in 1999, Zalman moved to Main and Broadway. The only other nearby businesses were Eugene Choo, Burcu鈥檚 Angels and Lugz Caf茅. With its $3.75 breakfast and Zalman鈥檚 commitment to good grease, Slickity Jim鈥檚 soon became a mecca.
Slickity Jim鈥檚 and four other businesses were destroyed by that nasty f-word in November 2009, but Zalman was back at it again the following spring, with people lining outside his doors at Main and 19th from day one. In August 2011, it鈥檚 suspected that someone lit a you-know-what in a dumpster behind the building but Zalman was able to rebuild his treasured nook at the same location.
Knock on plywood, nothing bad has happened since then. dropped by last year, introducing the Food Network鈥檚 fans to Slickity Jim鈥檚 Abstract Notion, a menu choice that depends on the chef鈥檚 whims of the moment.
Zalman is joined in the kitchen by Mike Soret, the former frontman of the Molesticks and author of Confessions of a Local Celebrity: A Tale of Rags to No Rags. 鈥淗e鈥檚 way over qualified to be working here,鈥� Zalman says but Soret, like him, believes in the ephemeral creativity at play at Slickity Jim鈥檚.
Introducing Skinny Fat Jack鈥檚
Mike Zalman is transforming Slickity Jim鈥檚 back room into a 鈥�1920s Chicago booze can speakeasy.鈥� While the room will still stay open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, at night Zalman plans to close off entrance from inside the restaurant so you have to gain access via the back alley. With only 300 sq. ft. to work with, patrons will have to cozy up to hear music 鈥� probably acoustic 鈥�, watch a burlesque show or listen to live radio plays.
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