This Wichita restaurateur barely survived COVID-19. Now, he’s passing his business on
As most of his longtime customers know by now, La Galette owner Tony Abdayem almost didn’t survive his recent bout with COVID-19.
He became so ill with the virus that he was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve and stayed in the ICU for 16 days. He was finally able to return home on Jan. 12 but still has a long recovery ahead of him. He’s on oxygen and has recently learned that the virus affected not only his lungs and chest but his heart as well.
The ordeal, Abdayem said, has caused him and his wife, Michelle, to reevaluate their priorities and make some tough decisions. Among them: They’ve just sold the restaurant at 1017 W. Douglas that Tony started with his father and brothers 35 years ago.
But La Galette will stay in the family.
The Abdayems have sold La Galette to Rob Attar, Tony’s nephew, who has worked in the restaurant’s kitchen for the past 25 years. Attar reopened the restaurant, which has been closed since Christmas, on Monday.
Attar, who is the son of Tony’s sister, said he’s been talking with his uncle and aunt for several years about taking over when they retire, and they’d almost worked out a deal two years ago. But Tony changed his mind and decided he’d work another five years.
The events of the past several weeks, though, made him reevaluate, he said.
“I would like to concentrate on my health,” Tony said on Monday. “Right now, this is more important than anything in the world.”
Attar, Tony said, has been his “right arm” in the restaurant for years. He prepares, among other things, the quiche, the potato pie, and the restaurant’s famous cream puffs. When the Abdayems would leave town, Attar would run the place.
His nephew, who has worked in other kitchens around Wichita — most recently at the Rolling Hills Country Club — is up to the task of running La Galette, Tony said. His own four children aren’t interested in taking it over, though they’ve faithfully helped Tony staff the place over the years.
But Attar has always been interested.
“I want to keep it in the family,” Tony said. “This is my biggest desire.”
Attar said that he doesn’t plan to change anything about the menu or the way his uncle always ran the restaurant. He lost the staff during the long closure and is trying to hire new people, so he’ll start out slowly while he looks for the right employees. Eventually, he said, he wants to add a few more things to the menu, including shawarma.
He started working in restaurants when he was 15 years old, Attar said, and he’s also manned the kitchens at restaurants like Larkspur and Cafe Lafayette. Taking over for his uncle is a long-held dream.
“I’ve always wanted my own place,” he said.
Preserving the legacy
Tony said he started feeling sluggish and rundown in the days leading up to Christmas, which are traditionally among his busiest days of the year, when people are lining up for his famous Yule log cakes and other pastries to serve over the holidays.
He and Michelle both started to feel sick, and quickly, they were both so worn out they couldn’t finish their work — rare for the couple, who are a constant presence at the restaurant.
Michelle remembers that one day, she got home from work and collapsed on the floor. She couldn’t move. Both she and Tony tested positive for the virus, and Tony said they still have no idea how they picked it up.
Michelle was feeling awful, but Tony started to decline rapidly. His blood oxygen level dipped so low, a doctor advised him to get to the hospital immediately.
He spent the next two weeks in a fog, alone in the ICU. He said he sincerely believed he would die. And he came close.
“I called my wife one time and I told her, ‘You come here. I need to give you my will,’” he said.
Michelle — the owner of the smiling face that greets customers at the La Galette counter every day — got well but spent most of January worried about her husband and about their business. She knew she could not run it without him and decided to remain closed until he was well.
Once he was home, the couple realized that Tony was not going to be able to return to work for some time. Retirement was on the horizon anyway, so they decided to pass the business down to the next generation and enjoy their lives.
Stepping away is not easy, though, they said. They want Attar to make the place his own, but they’ve volunteered to come in and help him with whatever he needs once Tony is feeling better. Tony, who said he doesn’t “see myself sitting home 24/7,” has offered to eventually help make the pastries, his specialty and one of the things that has always made La Galette so popular with local customers.
Once he’s better, Tony said, he also hopes to have some type of retirement reception so he can say farewell and thank people for the years of business and friendship.
Tony says he’s grateful to all the people who prayed for him while he was ill, and he’s especially grateful for Michelle, who he married in 1989, and for their children.
“Since day one, she never left me,” he said of his wife. “Without her, I wouldn’t be in business.”
Attar said he plans to get the restaurant back up to the level his uncle always had it and to keep it there. Customers should rest assured that nothing will really change.
“That’s one of the reasons I took it over,” he said. “I want to keep the legacy going.”
La Galette is now back to its normal hours: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 4:32 PM.
.jpg)