WYMANS: FROM CAFE AND BAR TO FINE DINING RESTAURATEURS

John Wyman can usually be found during the evenings at the Mollies Cafe & Bar, 11 S. Spanish. John and Jerry Wyman were recently named "Restaurateurs of the Year" by the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association.

John Peter Wyman graduated from Southeast Missouri State University a week before he and his wife, Jerrianne Malone Wyman, opened Mollies Cafe & Bar in the Harrig area, at 627 Good Hope St.

That was in 1989.

Today, the Wymans are known simply as John and Jerri, and the restaurateurs own and operate two of the city's fine dining restaurants. The Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, 300 Broadway, and Mollies Cafe & Bar, 11 S. Spanish, offer fine dining experiences with choices of a-la-carte menus that range from filet mignon, prime rib, lobster, barbecued shrimp and other seafoods to frog legs and you-name-it.

The Wymans were honored recently as the 1997 "Restaurateurs of the Year" by the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association.

The honor is bestowed on an owner-operator of a restaurant operation that is successful in the eyes of fellow operators, employees and the community, and is community minded, active in civic affairs and instrumental in the building of the food-service industry.

The Wymans fill these criteria. Jerri can usually be found at the N'Orleans while John is a fixture at Mollies, both greeting customers and keeping watch over their operations.

The Wymans operate their businesses under the name Merriwether Investments -- They live on Merriwether Street in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Renovating old houses is their hobby. They are working on two or three old houses in the downtown area.

When the Wymans first opened Mollies, it was operated as a bar and lounge for a year before the entrepreneurs added a full evening menu in October 1990.

By this time, Jerriann had graduated from Southeast Missouri State, and the two decided to provide a specialty menu of barbecue shrimp and premium filet steak.

"We went into this with careful study," say the Wymans. "We found a chef with some impressive credentials, and we cut our own meat."

The Wymans later opened a second bar and lounge next door to Mollies on Good Hope. It operated under the name of Midtown.

This was a far cry from the previous menu fare at 627 Good Hope, which for years housed Al's Midtown Restaurant. Al's had gained fame for its Friday catfish and Wednesday kettle beef.

Al's Midtown had sold its operation in 1988, and food was not being served when the Wymans assumed the business in 1989.

Before opening for business, the Wyamns closed the building and spent a month before opening Mollies.

"Although we opened as a bar only, we did the remodeling with the idea of adding a restaurant."

With the addition of food, Mollies suddenly became "the place to go."

Mollies Cafe and Royal N'Orleans are still the "places to go."

Mollies is now in historic downtown building constructed in the early 1900s -- The old Green Warehouse, 11-15 S. Spanish, now called the Alliance Building.

Mollies opened at its downtown site in July 1993, with a large opening night crowd.

"We offered the same fare we had on Good Hope and opened with the same employees," said Wyman.

The Alliance Building, which houses Mollies Cafe and some apartments, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The structure at 9, 11, 13 and 15 S. Spanish was built by Louis F. Klostermann in 1905 for rental purposes. The lower floors were rented for various commercial purposes. Some of the occupants included the Water Office, Power's Advertising Co., the Tribune newspaper, a car dealership, a bottling operation and Bluff City Distributing. The upstairs rooms served as a hotel for about 50 years.

This building is the only remaining example of pressed metal ornamental siding in the city. Included in the design are Corinthian columns, rosettes and scrollwork.

The Wymans, along with Mike Graviett, opened the Bel Air Bar and Grill in 1994 -- across the street from Mollies -- at 24 S. Spanish. The Bel Air offered burgers, homemade chips and Jamaican pulled chicken and barbecue.

The Bel Air was sold in April 1996.

In October 1995, the Wymans had assumed operation of the Royal N'Orleans.

The Wymans are only the third owner of the Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, established in the historic Old Opera House at Broadway and Lorimier in the mid-1950s by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Barnhouse. Dennis Stockard, another restaurateur, acquired the property and restaurant in 1987.

The restaurant's business was interrupted in March 1990 when the building was heavily damage by fire.

Although termed a "total loss," the building was rebuilt and renovated to retain its 1860s exterior look and was reopened in February 1991 by Stockard.

"The business remains the same," said Jerri Wyman.

The Old Opera House was 122 years old when it was damaged by fire five years ago.

The historic building, constructed in 1868 by the German Turner Society, was the social center of Cape Girardeau for a number of years. It was the scene of parties, dances, weddings, minstrels, operas, wrestling and boxing matches.

In later years, a number of businesses called the Opera House home. The first issues of the Daily Republican were printed there in 1904 by the Naeter brothers, founders of the Southeast Missourian. In 1912, the building was purchased by Dr. C.E. Schuchert and Arthur Harrison and was operated as a theater and opera house. In the 1950s, the property was purchased by the now defunct First Federal Savings & Loan, which announced plans to raze the historic building for a parking lot.

The structure was saved when the late Richard Barnhouse purchased the building, restored it to its former grandeur and opened the Royal N' Orleans Restaurant.