Rebecca Scott: Owner, the Night Kitchen

216 Stewart St, 448-8810

So you're the owner and night manager of the brand-new insomniac-friendly eatery the Night Kitchen. What's it like spending all night awake inside of a restaurant?

It's like living in a different world. It's fine for me, though, because I get my best work done from midnight to 4:00 a.m. Our chef [Avalon Zanoni] is a New Yorker, so to her this also seemed like a totally reasonable business venture.

Describe the scene around here, come four o'clock in the morning.

By that hour, a lot of the people who came in from the bars are gone and it's just writers, grad students, and geeky types sitting either out here by the bar or in our lounge area. They're usually eating, talking with friends, or working quietly. At dawn, I love to watch how the colors in the room change. A little blue creeps into the corner of the window, and then everything turns shades of purple.

You sure as hell can't get a brink-of-dawn, soul-warming bowl of matzo ball soup at Beth's Cafe. What, besides good food, do you plan on providing for the sleepless folks wandering down Stewart Street?

We had our first concert here in February, and we also plan on inviting writers for late-night readings. We don't have our alcohol license yet, but when we get it, we plan on having a grumpy hour between six and eight in the morning.

I can't picture you grumpy.

It's hard to make me visibly mad. I grew up in Florida, so when I get mad, I just start talking Southern. You know you did something wrong if I start my sentence with "sweetie." recommended