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It's like Cape Town

After sailing from South Africa, they returned to the restaurant business, but now it's different.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published June 11, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG -- As responses to midlife crises go, sailing to America is among the more interesting.

"I don't know what happened," said Arno Von Waltsleben. "I had two very successful franchises. I sort of woke up one morning and said, 'This is not what I want.' "

So Von Waltsleben sold his two Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Cape Town, South Africa, bought a sailboat and loaded up his wife and three children, ages 15, 12 and 3.

They sailed west to South America, then up the coast to Florida, arriving in Fort Lauderdale in December 1999, in time for the millennium New Year.

"We pretty much came to America like all immigrants: by sea," he said. "But we didn't see the statue of Liberty."

The South African family stayed in Florida a year but knew they wanted to live in the United States. After an unusual odyssey, they've landed in St. Petersburg to run the Primi Urban Cafe, an "alternative Italian" restaurant.

"We're a little different," said Von Waltsleben, 48. "We don't want to go for the normal Italian food."

Von Waltsleben said he should have seen it coming. He bristled at the constraints of a franchise and wanted to do his own thing. After the sailing journey, he returned to South Africa to study under a Sicilian chef who ran restaurants throughout the country. Von Waltsleben started another restaurant but always planned for his return to America.

In the interim, the family took vacations to Florida and scouted their next landing. They thought Sarasota was lovely, but they fell in love with St. Petersburg because its layout reminded them of Cape Town. Late last year, they came to town and found their new restaurant location at 27 Fourth St. N.

"We're starting a new life here," said Irene Von Waltsleben, Arno's 47-year-old wife who works in the restaurant along with one son, George, 18. "For the last five years, we've thrown everything we have into this move."

The restaurant is a small affair, much smaller than the one they still own in South Africa, but it's where the couple want to be, they said. After they've been here long enough to gain resident alien status, they'll sell the other restaurant and settle completely into their new home. They bring with them an adventurous spirit that infuses their cuisine as well.

"It's unique to us," Arno said of traditional Italian food influenced by the maritime crossroads that is South Africa. "We add a little chili, a little curry."

He said there are conventional Italian dishes, but more authentically Italian than the spaghetti and meatballs most Americans expect. He also throws in some Indian flair, some Malaysian, even some Portuguese, many of the ethnicities that touch the Cape of Good Hope. They leave out the Dutch because that cuisine is just too boring.

"This is much more of an expression of who we are and what we do," Irene said.

The restaurant's been open about a month now, Arno said, and lunches are doing well, but the nighttime crowd hasn't yet picked up. The couple get compliments on their food, but they've had some cross-cultural adventures in refining their style.

"Some people put ketchup on everything," Irene said of her American guests. "And in South Africa, nobody would drink tap water, only bottles."

They have also had to adapt to different names for foods and even cuts of meat. And they're working to accommodate the fast lunches their customers demand. But they said they've found they know enough about humans and restaurants that they can do well.

"Good friendly service comes naturally to us," Arno said, adding that all dishes are made from scratch. "If you do that, you can do business anywhere."

The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch, then closes for a couple of hours before dinner. They close altogether on Sundays so they can enjoy their new home and shop for a house.

They said their adventuring is done, that this is where they plan to settle. They also plan to expand, not only delivery and outdoor seating at this restaurant but also restaurants in Sarasota and Tampa.

"We worked hard to get here," Arno said. "We want to be a household name."

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified June 11, 2006, 08:34:56]