TMA's Ouster Of Janos Restaurant Raises Other Possibilities. By Margaret Regan ROBERT YASSIN, director of the Tucson Museum of Art, says his idea of a good museum restaurant is the Tea Room at Tohono Chul Park. The indoor-outdoor restaurant enjoys a symbiotic relationship with the park, Yassin says. The way he sees it, the Tea Room's innovative but moderately priced food draws in diners, who then make unplanned visits to the park's nature trails and gallery, and vice versa. Park-goers often wander into the restaurant for a bite to eat. That's exactly what Yassin would like to see happen at the TMA after Janos restaurant vacates the historic Stevens House on the museum block next year. The Tea Room is operated by Don Luria and Donna Nordin of Café Terra Cotta fame. "We've talked to Don and Donna and others as well (about restaurants)," Yassin said at a recent press conference detailing the museum's progress toward raising funds for its current $2.2 million expansion project. And, as it happens, Luria sits on the TMA board of directors. Luria says he and his wife have given Yassin advice about museum restaurants in general, but they have not been officially asked to present a proposal to operate a place for the TMA. If asked, though, they might be interested. "My philosophy in life is I'd like the opportunity to say no," Luria said by telephone from his headquarters above Café Terra Cotta. "Sure, we would consider it. I have a foot in both camps, as a restaurateur, and as a board member. I'm very pleased with the shows the museum is doing. You enhance the experience by having a decent place for customers to eat." Luria and Nordin have a high profile in the arts community. Luria sits on the board of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra as well as TMA's, and the couple are donors to both the Arizona Theatre Company and Ballet Arizona. They recently hosted a Dinner à la Art for the TMA. Janos, owned and operated by chef Janos Wilder, has been in the century-old Stevens House more than 13 years, serving up regional nouvelle cuisine that has put Tucson on the international culinary map. But last spring the museum board announced plans to re-occupy the house and convert most of its rooms into permanent exhibition space for Latin American colonial art and Mexican folk art. The relationship between museum and restaurant deteriorated over lunch service, among other things, though Yassin says the museum always intended to use the house for gallery space one day. An acrimonious public battle over the museum's plan erupted last fall, with neighborhood residents and some city council members going to bat for Janos, others for the museum. The TMA board stood firm, declining a city scheme to put up a new art building to be financed by Janos' rent payments. Janos is looking for another space. Its lease ends September 1, 1998. Yassin said all along that he intended to install a smaller restaurant in a portion of the Stevens building, making use of the kitchen, the enclosed porch, and the adjoining patio. "We'll keep the porch and have an inside/outside restaurant," he said. So far, he added, with Janos' departure still 17 months away, it's still too early to get a firm commitment from a restaurant to come in and operate it. Fundraising director John Schaefer said the museum is about halfway toward its goal of raising $2.2 million. Already completed are the renovation of the Corbett House into an historic house museum and the construction of a courtyard near the Goodman Pavilion. Still to come are the enclosure of the museum lobby, conversion of a basement storage room to a gallery, and construction of a new lobby and gift shop. Renovation of the Stevens House won't begin until Janos departs. Yassin hopes for a grand re-opening of the enlarged museum on March 21, 1999, the museum's 75th birthday. Photo by Sean Justice

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