photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Aline Misaphon, is the general manager of Mr. Brews Taphouse.

Aline Misaiphon is the general manager of Mr. Brews Taphouse. She has been working with the owner, Jonathan Langford, since the restaurant was a BurgerIM franchise in the same location.

Mr. Brews Taphouse, 3140 Iowa Street Suite 106, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

What is your favorite item on the menu?

Probably, the Kentucky Bourbon Classic with lettuce and tomato. It’s a bourbon mayo that goes on it. It has bacon, grilled onions and fried onions and I like to add the lettuce and tomato because it cuts the saltiness of the burger.

What is a restaurant trend that has developed in the pandemic that is likely here to stay?

Probably our to-go business, we’ve got a lot of delivery and takeout, more so than we are (experiencing) in-house dining now. So I think that’s been more convenient for most people. And I think that’s here to stay for a while at least.

How was running a restaurant in 2021 compared to running one in 2020?

When COVID first happened … everybody kind of got let go except myself and the owner and one other person. So every day was just a challenge, because we didn’t know how much to order (or) if we should stay open or close early. Some days we’d get hit with a lot of (to-go orders) and other days we wouldn’t have any customers. So I think it’s been challenging on the ordering side, mostly because, again, we just didn’t know what to prepare for. Usually you can look week to week what you normally do from the year before. And last year was just totally different numbers than we experienced the year before.

How would you describe the challenges of running a restaurant in 2021?

When we opened back up for dine-in we didn’t have the staff to do the numbers we were doing. It was challenging to get people to come in and work or even apply. The year before we would have a stack of applications that we could go through, and last year was just a lot more challenging trying to find line cooks and servers for a reasonable price that we could stay open with.

How bad was the labor shortage in the Lawrence restaurant world, and has it ended?

It got pretty tough there for a while, but I think now we are at a good place with students coming back. That’s also being in Lawrence. We lose seniors; we lost a couple this year, but replacing them with quality people has been a really big challenge. As far as line cooks, we have had to adjust by paying them more and keeping up with the competition and it seems to be going well with those people that we have.

What advice do you have for people who want to be better home cooks?

Food safety. I have noticed a couple people who don’t have experience when they come in the kitchen there are certain things they don’t know you can cross contaminate. But I would also say, add a lot of garlic to everything too. Garlic makes everything better.

Other than your restaurant, what is your favorite place to eat in Lawrence?

I really like Little Saigon Cafe. I go there regularly. I like my mom’s home cooking. She is from Laos and is a ¼ Thai so we get a little bit of Thai and Lao. I think they (Little Saigon) are Vietnamese but we have similar dishes so, it’s really good. I think it is the closest to authentic that I have had in Lawrence for pho or some of the bowls that they make there.

How do you get ideas for new dishes?

Every month (the company) allow any employee to submit a burger of the month. As an incentive they give $250 if they choose your burger. So it comes from everyone in the company. We have a monthly beer of the month and a burger of the month. Sometimes it’s the food ordering services that we go through. It comes from all of us just playing around in the kitchen when we are tired of eating what’s on the menu.

Are there any food trends you are following?

We are just trying to serve what we can get. It has been hard, and we have been back and forth between the food ordering systems just trying to get what they have in stock. Chicken was hard to get for a little while and now it’s more expensive. We’re just trying to keep afloat and offer what we have on our menu, and just do the items that we have really well.

How do you feel as a server working in the pandemic interacting everyday with customers?

It was tough for a little bit because we had some people who are really against masks. For us, we just said like, “Hey, we’re just going to wear them,” and we’re going to enforce them because it doesn’t hurt anyone to have them on. I think a lot of people are a lot more generous now and as far as tipping when they go out. But overall we just kept our regulars that usually come in.

Is there anything that customers that do visit can do to help you and your servers feel safer?

Just the mask. I know a lot of us are vaccinated, and we’re just trying to do our part and keep our germs to ourselves. And so just having the mask on or being mindful of other people around, that kind of thing.

What advice would you give to somebody who’s thinking about becoming a bartender or server?

I think it’s a good platform if you want extra income, but just don’t bet on it paying all of your bills right now, because with every week to week, it’s been one week’s really busy and people make money; in the next it’s really slow. So I think it’s a really good supplemental extra income, but it’s been hard for some of our servers that rely on it fully.