Jo and Mike Jakupcak were dining in Sumac on Wednesday. They remember Ray Risho’s restaurant, Perugia Old World Cooking. Ray’s two sons, Sam and Abe, opened the Silk Road on the Hip Strip with Sam’s wife Elise in 2009.
“We’re old-time restaurateurs,” Mike said, grinning. “I had the breakfast, and it was marvelous. I could just drink the sauce.”
Jo was equally impressed.
“I could write poetry about the bakery,” she said. “I had some bread with the hummus dip. And it had some wonderful olive oil in the center, and it was just perfect. Delightful.”
Risho has said that he’s been planning a restaurant like this since even before The Silk Road, which closed in 2016.
The new spot is located in the space that once held the kitchen and fine dining room of the Red Bird wine bar and restaurant, and then more recently the Second Set Bistro. A hi-fi bar called Shapes is going into the other half of the space that once held the Red Bird.
If you go, remember that Missoulians always rush to new spots in the first few weeks that they’re open, so it might be a little busy.
Risho said his staff are working hard to keep up with the pace so far.
“We’re finding our rhythm,” he said.
Sumac is open every day except Mondays.
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.
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Dining and Cooking