Macaroni Grill first to draw business crowd when clients need wooing

      Steve Comer, managing partner of Arthur Andersen's Las Vegas office, has done it.
      So has Tom Thomas, a managing partner at the Thomas & Mack Co.
      And so has North Las Vegas City Manager Pat Importuna.
      They all have written on the paper tablecloth during a business lunch at Romano's Macaroni Grill at 2400 W. Sahara Ave., the Best of Las Vegas Publisher's Pick for Best Place to Take a Client to Lunch.
      "It's like having a built-in chalkboard," Importuna says of the paper-clad tables on which he once mapped out a city intersection and the adjacent parcels that businesses had targeted for development.
      At the conclusion of the lunch rush, the room may look like a particularly energetic kindergarten class just finished coloring practice. But there is more to the restaurant's popularity than crayons and paper.
      Local business people cited a host of reasons for frequenting the Macaroni Grill, which opened in January 1995 and has two other outlets in the valley.
      The restaurant at Sahara Avenue and Rancho Drive is convenient to the freeway. The eatery offers quality fare at reasonable prices. And you don't have to sacrifice your day in order to eat lunch.
      "They can get you in and out of there in about 45 minutes," Thomas says.
      Actually, management tries to limit that time to 40 minutes.
      Macaroni Grill General Manager Eric Tucker says business people represent the vast majority of the restaurant's lunch clientele. These people don't want to be rushed, but they won't tolerate a restaurant that wastes their time.
      The Macaroni Grill sets time goals for moving people in and out. For instance, servers are to drop off the check within two minutes of serving the food. That permits a customer to pay and leave as soon as he or she is ready.
      "We are strictly a business lunch," Tucker says.
      The Macaroni Grill lunch menu includes a selection of pastas, most between $6.50 and $7.50. Such specialties as pollo Marsala and scaloppine di pollo are a little more expensive, with costs ranging from about $7.50 to $8.50.
      Local business people say the food is a draw. "I'm a pasta freak," Comer says.
      So is the busy atmosphere that permits each table to become a self-contained island of conversation. Amidst the noise, there is little chance others are listening in on business talk, Thomas says.
      And those crayons do come in handy when sketching out the makings of a deal. "They provide the crayons, and we provide the deal," Thomas says.
      Few local business people say they favor the kind of expensive restaurants one associates with power lunches.
      Those who frequent such places cited a handful of upscale casino locales, such as Spago or Bertolini's in The Forum Shops at Caesars, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Others stick with a local favorite.
      "The Las Vegas Country Club is still one of the power lunch centers of Las Vegas," Thomas says of the facility at 3000 Joe W. Brown Drive.
      The atmosphere is quiet and intimate, he notes, a perfect environment in which to talk serious business.
      "Any place you sit you look out on the golf course," Thomas says. "The food is good and it is consistent."
      In general, however, local business people view lunch in practical terms. Restaurants they endorsed offer quality food at a reasonable price in an acceptable period of time.
      Sig Rogich of the Rogich Communications Group says power-lunching isn't as big in Las Vegas as it is in some other cities. "Although you are finding more business conducted at lunch," he notes.
      The public relations consultant believes there is a simple explanation for this development. "We have better places to eat."
      Rogich and others who work in the Howard Hughes Center spoke highly of Freddie G's Deli & Diner, which opened at 325 Hughes Center Drive last June. "It's so convenient to get in and out of," he says.
      Luedda Hill, manager of Travel Professionals, says Freddie G's filled a big niche. "There hasn't been a good delicatessen that was handy for a long time," she says.
      Chef Sam Marvin -- a modest sort who allows, "The food here is incredible" -- says the average lunch customer spends about $10. The menu offers a wide assortment of deli sandwiches, as well as chicken pot pies, baby-back ribs and knishes.
      Marvin says he and Fred Glusman, who owns Freddie G's and Piero's, visited top-notch delis in several cities before opening the doors of Freddie G's in June.
      He says they wanted to do more than serve deli food. As near as possible, they wanted to re-create the atmosphere of a New York City deli.
      Marvin says the 3,000 people working in the Howard Hughes Center provide a ready clientele for a quality establishment. He says the business has become a favorite among Las Vegas celebrities and the city's movers and shakers.
      Comedians Jerry Lewis and Shecky Greene are regulars, as is boxing promoter Bob Arum, tennis star Andre Agassi and various local politicians.
      "It is definitely a who's-who in here," he says.
      Hill, manager of Travel Professionals on Paradise Road, says business people had better be prepared to wait if they want to take a client to some of the more popular lunch spots in that area of town.
      An exception to this rule is P F Chang's China Bistro at 4165 Paradise Road. The place is always busy, and with good reason. Yet there isn't much of a wait.
      "Even though it's pretty popular, you get in and out," Hill says.
      The location of one's office typically is the determinant factor in where one goes to lunch.
      Kent Mason, marketing manager for Cashman Cadillac on East Sahara Avenue, would love to ferry clients to the finest eateries in the city. Unfortunately, he and they have to get back to work. So he is a regular visitor to Landry's Seafood House, 2610 W. Sahara Ave.
      "Gosh, I like that place. The food is great and you can get in and out of there pretty fast," Mason says.
      Attorney Frank Cremen used to bring guests to Max C's deli, where owner Max Corsun dispensed opinions as well as food. But Corsun sold his business late last year.
      Among Cremen's downtown favorites that are still in business is Chicago Joe's at 820 S. Fourth St. "The food is excellent. The service is friendly," he says.
      Attorney Bill Terry seconded the selection, saying the location in an old house lends the Italian restaurant a distinctive atmosphere.
      "It's just a nice, homey atmosphere," Terry says. "It's a friendly atmosphere. You walk in and you see people you know."