14 FEBRUARY 12-18, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Carson during the staff meeting. “I’m ner- vous.” “I’m not,” responded a beaming Morri- son, turning to Leon. “Your food is awesome.” The Punch List After the holidays, on January 6, some twenty people fi lled the Dear Emilia space, placing strips of blue tape on little fl aws, omissions and general areas in need of improvement. Days earlier, a press release had announced the January 29 opening. The date was set. The restaurant…wasn’t. This exercise is called the punch list walk- through—the last time the team can make requests for changes that can be completed by opening night. Despite the fact that the tables were still stacked up against a pillar, waiting to be installed, Morrison had an optimistic smile on her face. “This is exciting!” she said, comparing the project to making pasta — a few fl aws give it character, but aren’t the goal. “When you pay this much for something, all these little details matter. And while it’s okay to have imperfections, why start with them?” By the end of the day, there were hun- dreds items to address on the punch list, and 23 days to address them before the grand- opening ribbon would be cut. The Mess One week before a media preview dinner was scheduled and eleven days before the grand opening, a worker repairing the kitchen hoods inadvertently set off the Ansul fi re suppres- sion system, spewing chemical foam all over the kitchen and ruining days of prep work. The cleanup cost precious preparation days and left the previously pristine stain- less-steel hoods noticeably streaked. To make matters worse, the gelato machine imported from Italy, which the basis of the entire dessert program, didn’t work. Chef Leon hadn’t ordered enough bison meat to make the buffalo mortadella, so he switched to locally produced prosciutto. And the barrels of aged balsamico that were to make up the “batteria” at the entrance still hadn’t arrived. For a man who’d just lost his showcase appetizer, his signature dessert and his fi rst- impression entryway, Leon was strangely calm and accepting, turning his attention to a still-ongoing list of items needed for the kitchen. “I’m done with the stressing part,” he said. “The reason why Heather, Austin and I opened up a restaurant is because we can do whatever we want. So if we don’t open with a tasting menu, that’s okay. We can do a second or even a third grand opening. Nobody can tell us otherwise, right?” The Opening When the Dear Emilia team fi nally cut the ceremonial ribbon on January 29, they were not only announcing the grand opening of their new restaurant, but also cutting all ties to the emotional roller coaster that had defi ned their days (and sleepless nights) for more than two years. From now on, it was not the worry of “what if,” but the more concrete challenges of “what’s next?” In the end, the project went more than $300,000 over-budget. The opening was delayed at least six months (depending on when you want to start counting). After all the cuts and compromises, Emil- ia’s owners estimate they opened with about 65 to 70 percent of what they had originally envisioned. Even on the day of the ribbon- cutting, the electricity kept going out. Was it worth it? “Hell, yeah,” says Morrison, ever the optimist. “Absolutely. It’s like childbirth. Mother Nature makes you forget all that other stuff.” “Yes?” says Carson, almost begrudgingly, brow furrowed with the day’s concerns. “But the baby’s not out yet.” “Yeah,” says chef Leon, with his trade- mark nonchalant calm. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, yeah... we’re here now.” Email the author at [email protected]. Cafe continued from page 13 Dear Emilia’s lasagna verde. MOLLY MARTIN
