The Metaphor undergoing a metamorphosis

By: ERIKA AYN FINCH - For the North County Times | Friday, September 3, 2004 11:05 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Gayle Calhoun stands in the middle of The Metaphor Coffee House and excitedly talks about the full-size kitchen she plans to install and the fresh artwork she wants to decorate the walls.

Though she has never owned a restaurant, Calhoun is confident she can bring new life to the landmark cafe on the corner of Second Avenue and Juniper Street in downtown Escondido.

"This is going to be a clean, family restaurant with live entertainment," Calhoun said. "There won't be a dance floor but it's going to be uncluttered and artistic. There will be a touch of class but it will be relaxed."

Calhoun, a fifth-generation native Californian who lives near Lake Wohlford, assumed ownership of the coffee house on Monday. Calhoun purchased the business from Jim Nemish, who has owned and operated The Metaphor since 1989.

Nemish has no plans to disappear from the community and admits he already misses the coffee house. He said he's applied for the position of chief executive officer with the Downtown Business Association of Escondido, a position recently vacated by Suzanne Strassburger.

In the last year, Nemish has been at loggerheads with the association and launched a petition drive asking the city to drop the mandatory fees that downtown businesses pay to help support the organization. Strassburger has said the upheaval was one reason she quit the organization charged with promoting the downtown commercial area.

Nemish said this week that "it was time" to sell the coffee house. "Over the years I have been political and, after this petition with the DBA, the politics became insurmountable."

As for Calhoun, the new owner said she isn't focused on Escondido politics but rather on all the changes she has in store for the business. She wants to buy all new tables and chairs, remove at least one of the pool tables and open a walk-up coffee bar on Second Avenue. She's also considering opening the cafe on Sundays.

"We are going to revamp it but it will still have the same Metaphor look," Calhoun said, eyeing the memorabilia that covers the walls. The renovations, she said, will include a good cleanup for the place that has become as well-known for its scruffy appearance as it has for its stuffed pasta shells and live music.

"The Metaphor desperately needs a woman's touch," Calhoun said. "But that doesn't mean we are going to lay down lace doilies and put curtains in the windows."

Calhoun is relying on a strong support network of family and friends to make her vision a reality. She is longtime friends with Andy Anderson, the cafe's chef for the last eight years. Calhoun's daughter and Anderson's granddaughters are waiting tables and taking orders to help out.

Anderson has his own ideas for the overhaul. He said he will create a diabetic menu that will include breakfast, lunch and dinner items. Both Anderson and Calhoun have a history of diabetes in their families.

"It will be the first extensive diabetic menu in Escondido," Anderson said.

The 2,300-square-foot coffee house is part of a larger art deco-style building constructed in 1947. While Calhoun wants to update the building (the air conditioning was being repaired this week) she realizes there is a lot she can't do due to the building's historic designation.

"I wanted to put in wheelchair ramps for handicap access but I can't because it's a historic building," she said. "But we still want to open the back door on Second so people can park in the large parking lot and come right in."

Calhoun said she's operating on a "shoestring budget" so it will be awhile before she can make all of her improvements, but she said the place will be open through renovations. And she said there will continue to be plenty of live music.

"I haven't been in the restaurant business, but I am counting on Andy as my cornerstone," Calhoun said. "I have been in sales and I love people and music. Lots of good music."

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