Cooking Up a Storm

But Samuel quickly landed a position with the Oriental Mandarin to head the kitchen in a hotel the firm was planning to open in Mexico City. Four days before Samuel was scheduled to leave for Mexico, T.J. Mand approached him with an offer to partner with him in Yellow on McKinney. Mand, the owner of a successful typewriter and computer ribbon company in Leonard, was married to Samuel's first wife, Catherine, at the time. "[Samuel] came to me once and said, 'I've got Catherine by the balls,'" said a former business associate of Samuel's. "'When I divorced Catherine, she took me to the laundry. And now they're investing all of this money, and I'm going to get it all back.' Avner always makes his money."

Yellow opened in late 1994 to critical acclaim. But by the following summer, Samuel was gone. He left, he says, to take some time off and reassess his career path.

Several weeks later, he read in the paper that Executive Chef Kent Rathbun had left the Melrose Hotel, and he decided on a lark to interview for the position. To his surprise, he was hired. But after less than four months on the job and a few days before he was to introduce a new menu in the hotel's Landmark restaurant, he was gone. Assistant General Manager Scott Shoenberger says the parting incident occurred during a meeting in his office to plan, with other managers, the rollout of Avner's cuisine.

The discussion quickly shifted to Samuel's curt treatment of the restaurant staff, a few of whom were preparing to quit. "I'd already had a couple of discussions with Avner about his disposition..." Shoenberger says. "I don't deal with old-style European chefs that scream and yell and use a lot of profanity when they work in the kitchen."

But the exchange escalated into a cussing match. Characterizing the confrontation as an inexcusable display of unprofessionalism, Samuel says Shoenberger dressed him down in front of his co-workers. He claims he went straight to the personnel office to report the incident.

Shoenberger disputes this account, saying that after he confronted him about his treatment of the staff, Samuel threw a pencil across on the table and told him to "stick this up your [ass]," before walking out. Shoenberger says he called a meeting with Samuel in the personnel office immediately following the outburst.

Contrary to news reports at the time, Samuel insists he wasn't fired. But Shoenberger differs here too. "He did not leave on his own accord," he explains. "He called me back the next day and asked for his job back...but there was no way I was going to allow him to come back."

He was unemployed for the next few months until he ran into Eric Kimmel--partner in the defunct Joint on Turtle Creek--one evening at Star Canyon. "I said, 'You know, the best chef in town would make the best hamburger,'" recalls Kimmel. "'The bottom line is, if you're a great chef, it's easy to make $30 entrees. But can you make a really good burger?'" Kimmel intrigued Samuel with his pitch, and he later met with Larry Klinghoffer, owner of Malibu Tan and a partner in the Joint, who convinced him to head the kitchen of this hip pool hall serving burgers and upscale appetizers.

A phenomenally successful venue in its first few months, the Joint sank after just over a year because of differences in direction and management philosophy among the partners.

But Samuel was gone just a few months after Kimmel persuaded him to come on board. Mand had been paying him frequent visits at the Joint urging him to come back to Yellow, whose fortunes had been sagging since Mand opened a second restaurant, Americana, in late 1995.

Samuel agreed. But when he returned, he found Yellow in a shambles. "The walk-in [cooler] didn't even work," says Samuel. "I'm surprised nobody got killed, from food poisoning or something like that."

He persuaded Mand to shut down for a week to renovate. But the newly refurbished Yellow lasted just four months, closing for good in June 1997 after forfeiting its charter of incorporation for non-payment of franchise taxes the previous February. Samuel attributes Yellow's gradual demise to Mand's drinking. Mand, who had a string of drunken driving convictions in Dallas and Collin counties, is currently serving a two-year sentence in the Bradshaw State Jail in Henderson on two drunken driving convictions.

Again, Samuel moved quickly into a new position. While still at Yellow, he got a phone call from Bahman Ayrom, owner of Addison Cafe, Cafe Highland Park, Bolero Mediterranean Grill, and Farfallo, offering Samuel the opportunity to revamp his dated restaurants. Samuel joined Boerkel Inc., Ayrom's company, and reopened Bolero as Okeanos to critical acclaim, and Farfallo as Avner at Preston to a lukewarm critical reception. A rift developed between Ayrom and Samuel shortly after Avner opened. And just eight weeks later, the second incarnation of a restaurant named Avner was on the ash heap of Dallas culinary history.

There are numerous reasons proffered to explain Samuel's professional instability. But most seem to center on his personal volatility and erratic professional behavior aimed at customers, business partners, and vendors alike. "He was always a screamer and a yeller when under pressure," says Wayne Broadwell, who was partners with Samuel at the Plaza Cafe. "When under pressure, he loses it...He's a wild man."