Jewish Deaf Business
by Sharon Ann Dror
Jonathan B. Weiss 145 Yale Street Suite 8 Santa Monica, CA 90403
Voice:(800) 304-2358 E-mail: BigMango99@aol.com
Jewish Deaf Business
By Sharon Ann Dror
Catering party at Ma Maison for the Post Academy Grammy Awards
Restaurateur, Caterer and Consultant
Jonathan B. Weiss, 41, was born deaf and grew up In Pacific Palisades and Cheviot Hills, CA. He developed speech and lipreading skills at John Tracy Clinic for two years. After three years of speech training, his first long four-syllable word was 'Albuquerque' as in New Mexico! After attending private schools, Weiss became the first Deaf person to graduate from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor's degree in Hotel Travel and Restaurant Management
Current Occupation: Managing Partner at Jack Sprats Grille in West Los Angeles, CA, president of Big Mango, Inc., a private catering company, and consultant to several restaurants.
How did you get involved in the restaurant industry?
"I come from the third generation of a
restaurant family from Chicago, started working when I was 8 years old at my family's
restaurant called 'Fox and Hounds' in Santa Monica which the family owned for over 35
years and won over 34 Travel Holiday Awards for fine dining."
You always loved to cook?
My grandfather started several restaurants in Chicago
then my mom & uncle and other family members as well are all in the business which is
in our blood! Yes, I always loved to watch The Galloping Gourmet by
Graham Keer and Julia Child when I was a kid and learned everything but what got me
started to learn to cook when I went to work for Ma Maison in West
Hollywood where I learned a few from such as Wolfgang Puck, John Sweeney, Gordon Hammersly
and Claude Segal etc al. Cooking is one of my favorite hobby along with collecting
cookbooks and watching the Food Network Channel on TV and learn
what in the world they are making!!!"
Do you prefer to work for a restaurant, or do catering?
"They are both different, working in the
restaurant is probably what I love the most because I am able to do everything such as
cook, wait, host, bussing, ordering, receiving, banking, menu developments and special
projects, etc. and taking care of my customers like 'How do you like your steak?' I am
very interested in the answer. "The business is so fragile". All it takes one
person to cook the steak, and it's over. I have always felt that if you can have a great
lunch or dinner in a restaurant, the rest follows.
"I'm am thrilled to be involved in the restaurant business but catering is whole different ballpark, the tempo is faster and clients are more picky but the business is very profitable. I have catered to the movie stars home such as Arnold and Maria Schwarzenegger, Jack Lemmon, Kristie Alley, etc. and did work for the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Democratic Presidential Dinner Fund Raising for President Clinton, movie premieres and the Super Bowl in Arizona.
"I have a staff of 40 plus who make this restaurant happen, and I'm just one of them and learned a long time ago that without every one of the employees doing what they are trained and hired to do, it just doesn't work so I am very involved as a prominent a position that I hold and I'm ready to acknowledge that I m not a one man band! We all work as a team."
How are you able to communicate?
"I communicate orally and lip read
very well. I also speak few languages such as Spanish and I understand and know how to
communicate with my employees and clients."
Did you ever own a restaurant?
"No, but I have always had
partners such as Provencia in West Hollywood and Daily
Wrap in Brentwood but I would eventually like to own my own place alone
someday without having partners involved because I have all the resources ready along with
my catering.
What is your favorite cuisine and why?
"Oh, that is a good question, I
love everything from Italian, French and Asian foods, I love to go and travel to different
restaurants all over the country and experience their menu and looking at plates as well
as tasting. Presentation is important but when the plate comes to me, I'd like to say this
is elegant food that makes me pause and take a look then dine in with guests.
And your future plans?
"My future plans, oh well, you
know I would love to do something like what Herb Larson did back then on TV and would love
to do on the Food Network for the Deaf Community by hosting and
showing the audience how the top chefs would cut the fish, chicken, pasta, etc and prepare
it in 20 minutes at a budget - I want to make this an interesting show but you know it may
happen or never."
Will you use Signs or talk with captions?
Both! Because I want this to be for both hearing and deaf
audience."
Cool idea!!! And what was your most memorable experience?
"My most memorable experience
is when we did a fundraising dinner event for President Clinton back in 1997 at one of the
clients home in Beverly Hills and from the beginning to the end, the secret service would
follow me everywhere because I was in charge of coordinating the food. They would make
sure everything was clear of any damages & checking and tasting just about everything
-for example they would tell us they are coming and we would get it all ready but twice
had to call it off for another time due to delay. It really can ruin the food overall
quality but it is something we could not have control over.
"It really kills the texture of the food but it was an exhausting and tiring experience. If I had to do it again, I would love to challenge and it was an education for me to learn about it."
Have you ever done kosher catering?
Never done kosher catering but have
been to parties that are catered by certified kosher catering companies."
What is your Jewish background. Could you tell us about your Family?
"Yes, my family belonged to
Sinai Temple in Beverly Hills for many years and I got married at Steven Wise Temple in
Bell Air with Michele (Tucker) in 1985. We have three beautiful children, Brandon 13, (he
will do the Torah on November 20th), Brett 11, will have his Bar Mitzvah on January of
2001, and Brooke 3 1/2, she now attends Temple Beth Shirr Shalom in Santa Monica where we
are now members.
"I went to Israel last summer with my son, Brandon and we traveled all over in two weeks with wonderful dear friends of ours and loved everything from Jerusalem to Eclat to Sated." A wonderful adventure!
Anything else you want to add?
"I get to work almost every
morning at 5 to do the ordering, fish, meat, produce and others and also going down to the
market to inspect quality and checking on prices and looking for some ideas to put on the
menu for the weekly specials to go over with the chefs planning for the day's menu on
soups, appetizers and entrees.
"I also am a very athletic, working out five times a week, as my dream was to be a professional football player or be a sportscaster (if I was hearing!!!!)
"I had the privilege to learn and to work with Wolfgang Puck, Julia Child, Paul Bookies, the top chef in France, Paul Produce of New Orleans, Susan Feigned of Border Grill and many others which really inspires me to learn and be more, motivated in the future of running the show and of course Patrick Terrill of the legendary Ma Maison which probably got me started in all types of management background in how do deal with customers, buying food and wine, coordinating cooking schools, catering, and many others, etc....
"I would love to help anyone if they need to ask me anything for expertise in opening restaurant etc.... or looking for restaurants in other cities to try, they can contact me at BigMango99@aol.com"
JDCC News wishes you the best of luck in your career!