Doyle and Newcomb Are the New Owners of Mogan’s Cafe

David Williams, the founder of Mogan’s Caf’, sold his Highlands restaurant to house manager Jon Doyle and general manager Ryan Newcomb on December 1. ‘We made an offer six months ago,’ Doyle said in an interview. ‘We had been thinking about it for a while because David has so many other opportunities that take him away from the restaurant.’ Williams, a former Chamber of Commerce president, serves as the personal training-camp chef for heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine, and over the past few years has been on the road as many as 21 weeks out of the year. The new owners were surprised and pleased when Williams agreed to sell. ‘He said he thought it was the best thing for Mogan’s,’ Newcomb said. The men praised Williams for how he developed the cafe that started as a breakfast and lunch spot in the Highlands Plaza (just north of Sunset) in 2003. ‘He did an amazing job of building the restaurant,’ Newcomb said. ‘We only plan on doing fine-tuning.’ One of the minor changes thus far is to offer a luncheon special that changes daily: Monday’s offering was the Championship salad and BBQ chicken quesadillas. They also have started varying the soups adding French onion and butternut squash soup to the menu rotation. ‘We’re asking our regulars what they would like to see on the menu,’ Newcomb said. ‘Dave is keeping it [the restaurant] in the family by selling to us, so we don’t want to rock the boat too much,’ Doyle said. ‘He has been wonderful and has helped us with the transition.’ Seven months ago, Newcomb implemented Kids Eat Free Tuesdays, which allows children 10 and under to eat for free from 5-9 p.m., when an accompanying adult orders a dinner. He also began hanging works by local artists at the cafe, which not only helps artists, but also provides a pleasant ambiance. The two also have a Wine Discovery Monday, with all of their bottles of wine at half price, and Bucket of Beer, which gives patrons five beers for the price of four on Mondays. Mogan’s Happy Hour, from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, offers two drinks for the price of one. Specialty drinks include bloody marys, margaritas, pi’a coladas, mimosas and bellinis, plus 10 imported and domestic beers. Dinner specials routinely include a risotto, salmon, halibut and filet mignon, but with different sauces on different nig on different nights have different sauces.   Newcomb and Doyle gained experience in different restaurants before coming to Mogan’s.   Newcomb, who grew up in Centralia, Illinois, moved to Los Angeles 13 years ago. ‘Mostly to get out of Illinois,’ he jokes. He worked at the Coffee House on the Sunset Strip for four years as a server, then took on managerial duties. When the restaurant closed, he spent three years traveling to ‘find’ himself, living in Hawaii, San Francisco, San Diego and Austin before moving back to L.A. in 2005. Doyle’s sister Amy Vasco, a former co-worker from the Coffee House, asked him if he needed a job, which led him to Mogan’s.   He started as a server, but when Vasco quit a year later he assumed some of her duties as manager. When Karen Williams (Dave’s mom) retired in 2007, Newcomb took over office duties, too. Although he loves to travel, Newcomb admits that his entire concentration is now on the restaurant, which is open six days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Doyle was raised in Anaheim and attended Loyola Marymount University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After college, his focus was writing, screenplays and fiction, so he took work that allowed flexible hours. He worked as a server at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel’s cafe, before moving to Rusty’s on the Santa Monica Pier, where he was a bartender. When a screenplay deal fell through in 2005, Doyle moved to New York City for a year. ‘I needed to get away,’ he said. He worked at the New York bar OW, while continuing to write. His two passions are books (he loves fiction) and the Lakers. He returned to L.A. in 2006 and began working at Mogan’s. Doyle and Newcomb, who plan to get more involved in the community, helped sponsor the free parking that residents enjoyed in the business district last Saturday.