May 15, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Paul Roller: Prisoners’ best hope for a ‘last meal?’
by LEN LEAR
Part two of a two-part series

Chicken magnate Frank Perdue used to say, “It takes a tough bird to make a tender chicken.” In the case of Paul Roller, you could say it takes a very tough taskmaster to make a successful restaurant. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Some of Paul Roller’s former employees think he is so tough, he’d probably love a job preparing “last meals” for prisoners about to be executed. On the other hand, Paul, 55, sure is fun (for someone not on death row) to interview.

That’s because he is a hard dog to keep on the porch. Whereas almost all other businesspeople are guarded and circumspect when they know they’re being quoted in a newspaper, Roller is a rapid-fire weapon of delicious quotes, often politically incorrect. He has never sanded down his rough edges. For example, at least three people said to me this past week they “could not believe he said that,” referring to Paul’s comment in last week’s issue that “The profit margin is so bad (in restaurants) these days, and that’s even if you’re not doing coke.”

Another example: What restaurant owner in the Delaware Valley would not want to have his/her restaurant reviewed by Philadelphia Inquirer critic Craig LaBan? After all, a favorable review — two bells or more — would virtually guarantee a parade of reservations from all over the region, including many from people who had never even heard of the restaurant.

Answer: Paul Roller.

“It is well known that Craig LaBan goes to restaurants anonymously and uses a credit card that does not have his name on it,” explained Paul, “so I probably would not know if he was here. Then he calls the restaurant owner, asks some questions and says that an Inquirer photographer will be coming out to take pictures.

“I absolutely would not allow the photographer to come here and take pictures. I would not let him in the door. The Inquirer called me a while back for an advertisement, and I said I will not take one out as long as that man (Craig LaBan) is with the Inquirer. I will not be a part of his sales team. He has hurt too many restaurateurs.”

Roller has stayed competitive by providing a wide variety of made-from-scratch dishes — and large portions — at reasonable prices. At Flying Fish there are several lunch entrees under $9, for example, and almost all dinner entrees are under $20. Most bottles of wine are marked up about two-and-a-half times the price that Roller pays, which is much less than the markup at many center city restaurants. Glasses of wine are usually $9 each, and there are some really special craft beers like the Duvel Belgian golden ale ($9), Three Philosophers Belgian-style ale ($6) and Westmalle Trappist ale ($9).

Some of the dishes we found to be excellent values at a recent dinner were the roasted beet and avocado salad with Belgian endive, grapefruit and pine nuts ($9.75); glorious broiled tilapia with rhubarb, grapefruit and pecans ($17.75); a daily special of sublime soft shell crabs with sweet potato and pea pods ($25); and yummy homemade desserts of key lime pie and pecan pie ($5.75 each). The only dish I found somewhat disappointing was a daily special, the “classic wedge” of iceberg lettuce that was served cut up into small pieces, not in the traditional way as one large cylindrical wedge, with red onion, smoked bacon and a small amount of Maytag bleu cheese but no bleu cheese dressing, which is usually present ($8.75).

“The hospitality industry is just about all we have left in Philly,” said Paul. “This has become such a good restaurant town that the bar has been raised. Customers have higher expectations now, and I truly believe our product is so much better than it was when I opened Roller’s Restaurant (at the top of the Hill in 1982), and we do have a very loyal customer base.”

One source of ongoing inspiration for Paul is the fact that his dad, who died in 1990, was so proud of his success in Chestnut Hill. “He used to walk up and down Germantown Avenue almost every evening,” Paul recalled, “and he would look in each restaurant and write down the number of customers they had. Then he would leave the paper with all the numbers on it with a hostess at my restaurant. He thought I should always know how much business the competition was doing.”

Roller lives near his restaurants with his wife, Becky, who worked with Paul at The Commissary (owned by fellow Chestnut Hiller, Steve Poses) during Philadelphia’s Restaurant Renaissance in the 1970s. Their daughter, Elizabeth, 24, a graduate of Central High School, 260th Class, and Boston University, is a server at Flying Fish and helps run catering jobs. Their son, Peter, 21, is a senior at Dartmouth College.

Paul has two brothers — Chip, 64, of Roxborough, who works at the Franklin Institute, and Richard, 61, who previously managed Flying Fish and also worked with Steve Kurtz Roofing in this area but is now retired. “The three of us and my son always go to Rolling Stones concerts,” Paul said, “whenever the Stones are in Philly.”

The only down side to Roller’s empire (Flying Fish, 8142-44 Germantown Ave.; Roller’s Express-O and Roller’s Market, both at 8341 Germantown Ave.; and Roller’s huge catering operation, both on- and off-premises) is that it is an all-consuming dragon which makes a private life almost impossible.

“This restaurant (Flying Fish) is my home, too,” he declared, “because of all the hours I spend here, but when my kids were younger, I always wished I could spend more time with them. But the thing about this business is that you can never be complacent. I’m sure that even Georges Perrier worries every day about paying all the bills.”

Roller, who hopes to be approved soon for outdoor dining that would seat about 30, said his goal in the business is “to be as crusty and amusing at the age of 70 as Gene Gosfield was (the recently deceased owner of Under the Blue Moon, the Chestnut Hill icon that closed in 1997) if I can just last in the business until that age.”