Business POV

2006 James Beard award-winner Shawn McClain is at the top of his game and backed by a great team: proprietor Peter Drohomyrecky and wine director Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky. One year after opening Custom House, they discuss the newly christened Spring Restaurant Group and the many challenges of running three establishments.

Shawn McClain, age 39, executive chef and partner of Spring, Green Zebra and Custom House restaurants in Chicago, has a knack for balancing the next trend with refinement and sensibility. A native of San Diego, Calif., and a 1990 graduate of the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College in Evanston, Ill., McClain’s star rose quickly in the culinary world. He broke onto the national scene while at Trio restaurant, also in Evanston. After seven accolade-filled years, he left to open Spring, his homage to seafood, with partners Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky and Peter Drohomyrecky. The restaurant opened to extraordinary critical and consumer success. In 2001, Spring was nominated for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best New Restaurant” Award, and McClain was named by Esquire magazine as “Chef of the Year”.

In 2004, McClain was ready to take on new challenge and opened his second restaurant, Green Zebra. An immediate success, this vanguard concept brings vegetables to the center of the plate, and has been lauded by the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and several other prestigious publications. In 2005, McClain swung the pendulum in the opposite direction and opened Custom House, a modern interpretation of the classic steakhouse focuses on artisan meats and classic sides reinterpreted with McClain’s unique flair. Custom House opened to rave reviews, receiving three stars from both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky is the Wine Director for the Spring Restaurant Group (Spring, Green Zebra and Custom House) in Chicago and oversees all aspects of service and front of house operations. Her background in the Chicago restaurant scene is extensive. She spent three years at the venerable Shaw’s Crab House, moved on to be the General Manager at Starfish, an upscale seafood restaurant, and eventually accepted the position as maitre d’ of the four-star Trio in Evanston, Ill. At Trio, where she and Chef Shawn McClain first met, Sue quickly took over dining room operations and received numerous accolades for her service standards and for Trio’s wine program, which she was instrumental in developing.

A 25-year veteran of the restaurant business, Peter Drohomyrecky, oversees the financial well being of the Spring Restaurant Group. Peter worked in private clubs from the prestigious Metropolitan Club in the Sears Tower as maitre d’ to the Jack Nicklaus developed Wynstone Golf Club as general manager. In 1993, he was appointed general manager of the well-known Shaw’s Crab House in downtown Chicago where he continued to hone his skills. Peter later accepted a general manager position with Spare Time, a six-unit restaurant company based in Chicago, where he shifted his focus to back-of-house responsibilities, such as developing staff training programs, payroll, and accounts receivable.

In 2001, Peter and his wife, Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky, joined Chef Shawn McClain to open Spring; in 2004, Green Zebra, and in 2005, Custom House.

springrestaurant.net
greenzebrachicago.com
customhouse.cc

http://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/awards.php?year=2006&category=3#233