The Emporia Gazette

May 27, 2012

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Virgil Patterson said he has something new for Emporia — an upscale restaurant.

At Styx, the cuisine is primarily Italian and the prices are higher than usual for Emporia — a pasta entree goes for $14 and prices go up from there for more complex dishes.

That’s not upscale for Kansas City, but Patterson thinks the restaurant is just what Emporia needs to keep some of its discerning diners in town.

“There’s nobody else in the market,” he said. “If I can sustain it, it’s a free ride. I have no competition in Emporia.”

Patterson says the appeal is not in the price, but in the food. Determined to offer special fare, he hired a chef with wide training and experience.

The chef is Jason Horowitz of Lawrence. Horowitz is a graduate of the cultural food, dining and nutrition program at Brooklyn College in New York and holds an associate’s degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He has worked as a chef an a number of restaurants in New York and Lawrence and has consulted for many restaurants.

Patterson said that since Styx opened without fanfare two weeks ago, Horowitz’s dishes have drawn uniform praise from customers. One customer, Patterson said, has announced his intention to eat his way through the entire menu, one dish at a time.

Styx is in the old lumberyard building at Fourth Avenue and Merchant Street, formerly occupied by the Fourth Avenue Dining Co., which was owned by Clint Arndt. Patterson said he is leasing the building from Arndt.

Patterson is also the owner of Three Fools’ Cafe, a popular sandwich shop and bakery at 7 E. Sixth Ave. He said he plans to fold the two restaurant operations together, moving Three Fools’ lunch menu to Styx, which is now open only from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

The bakery operation will remain on Sixth Avenue and supply breads for the restaurant.

The move is planned for the Nov. 27, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Lunch hours will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The staff at Styx is stilling settling in Patterson said.

“We’re just doing out tuneup work right now.”

To control the quality of the food and maintain the restaurant’s intimate atmosphere, Patterson is keeping the restaurant small for now. The mezzanine is not being used. The ground-floor tables will handle 60 customers at a time. That matches nicely with the kitchen capacity of 50 to 60 plates and hour. Because of the limited seating, reservations are recommended. Call 343-7899.

With winter coming on, there is no rush, but Patterson said he intends to open the restaurant’s courtyard “when I can make it serviceable.

Patterson said he began thinking about opening a n upscale restaurant in Emporia when Mary Helmer, executive director of Emporia Main Street, showed him statistics indicating that a lot of money leaves Emporia every year to support out-of-town restaurants.

He decided that all that was needed to keep some of that money in town was a restaurant that could offer as good a dining experience as popular restaurants in Topeka, Lawrence, Wichita and Kansas City.

To do that, Patterson decided to open a restaurant that would enhance, rather than compete with, other restaurants in Emporia. Styx offers a full menu of Italian and Italian-style dishes, but no steak and no hamburgers. The wine list is small, but selected with an eye toward quality, regardless of price.

Patterson thinks Styx fulfills a long need in Emporia.

“My feeling is,” he said, “I’m going to have to screw something up” for the restaurant not to succeed.