Coup de Cafe : Restaurant Reacts to Gorky’s and Invites Homeless to Free Meal

They came, they ate--boy, did they eat--and they shook their host’s hand warmly when they left.

Twenty-one of Los Angeles’ homeless sat down to a free breakfast and lunch Saturday at Vickman’s Restaurant and Bakery in downtown Los Angeles in the latest twist in the continuing saga of The Diners That Gorky’s Left Out in the Cold.

Vickman’s, a venerable, 60-year-old eatery situated in the heart of the wholesale produce district, decided to make good on the promise that Gorky’s Cafe and Russian Brewery made--and brusquely broke--to the winner of a free dinner contest last week.

It all started when Franc Novak, an art director who lives in a downtown loft, was notified that he had won a free buffet dinner for 25 at Gorky’s, a funky establishment that bills itself as a place for “foodski, funski, brewski.”

Novak thought he would do a good deed by inviting 25 of downtown’s down-and-out to the repast last Tuesday evening.

Gorky’s management, fearing a criminal element among them, turned the group away at the door.

Later, the cafe, which has donated money and food to the homeless and other charities, sought to repair the damage to its reputation by feeding 500 at the Fred Jordan Mission downtown Thursday.

However, Vickman’s--sensing a public relations coup over its competitor eight blocks away--eagerly stepped up to the plate, so to speak, with an offer of its own--free meals for 25, served at the restaurant, not in a mission.

Late Saturday morning, 20 men and one woman from the Midnight Mission on Skid Row took their seats at a long row of tables in Vickman’s back room and were invited to order anything they wanted off the menu.

One man nudged the fellow next to him, whispering, “Hey, there’s beer on the menu. They said we could order anything we wanted.”

No one ordered beer. They did ask for nine steak sandwiches, one order of steak and eggs, five deluxe bacon cheeseburgers, one pastrami on rye, one corned beef hash and egg over easy, one deluxe cheese burger, one double cheeseburger, one bacon-cheese omelet, one short stack of pancakes, three orders of onion rings, three milks, nine Sprites, eight salads, three fruit salads and 20 coffees. And four apple and cherry pies.

“It was fantastic, unbelievable,” said Charles Johnson, 37, who had one of the bacon cheeseburgers.

Novak, who sat with his guests eating a potato pancake, pronounced the luncheon “a lot of fun.”

Of the flap at Gorky’s, he said: “It all boiled down to how the people smelled. I didn’t smell anything. They dress the same way I do.”

Vickman’s waitress Lynne Frisbey-Ramirez pronounced the homeless patrons to be “a lot politer than most of my normal customers.”

Manager Joe Ramboldt said: “They were no problem whatsoever. They were a nice group of people, they really were.”

When Glenda Young, a Vickman’s regular who came to the restaurant on 8th Street for breakfast, learned what was going on in the back, she decided to make her own contribution: a $30 tip for Frisbey-Ramirez.

“I just thought it was very foolish of Gorky’s to do what they did. I want to show my appreciation,” said the Pasadena resident, who was so moved by the sight of the homeless diners that she nearly broke into tears as she left the restaurant.

Asked if Vickman’s offer was motivated, in part, by a little one-upmanship over Gorky’s, Ramboldt said: “I’d have to be honest and say yes.” But mostly, he said, it was because “I think what Gorky’s did was really lousy.

“You don’t have a contest and change the rules because you don’t like the people who won the contest.”

As for Gorky’s, operations manager Carmine Martuscello said Vickman’s good deed was “nice” and “good for the homeless.”

In adding what he hoped would be the last word on the controversy, he said that Gorky’s has learned from the controversy.

“If anything, (it) helped this company make its policies more known to our management--that we do a lot of things for these people, that we do not mistreat them, and that we do what we can for them.”

At least one of Vickman’s guests, Calvin McNeal, 42, does not plan on giving Gorky’s another chance.

“When I get my hands on some money,” he said, “I’m going to spend it here.”