Grits and Determination: A Recipe for Success

Barrie called 911 and two New York City police officers took pity on him. They fronted him $100 and put him on a train to Washington so he could report his losses to -- and receive some aid from -- the Sierra Leone Embassy.

Once here, Barrie went to work as an ice-cream vendor. He says he was given routes in some of the city's poorest sections, but was able to succeed by extending lines of credit -- for $10 or so -- to the families. "At the end of the month, I made big money," he says. "I had maybe 30 accounts and only one person never paid me."

Because ice cream was a seasonal venture, he took other jobs. For a while, he worked at a car wash on Central Avenue for $4 an hour, plus tips, in the morning and sold ice cream in the afternoon. In 1993, he got a job at the Steak 'n Egg Kitchen, washing dishes. The manager, who liked Barrie because he spoke Arabic, told him to learn all he could about the menu so he could become a waiter. "All the food was new to me," he says. "A medium-rare steak! In my country we cook everything well done."

Eventually, Barrie worked his way up to regional manager -- overseeing six stores. When the parent company foundered, Barrie used creative ways to pay vendors and employees at the Tenleytown location. But there were still major problems. The diner's equipment had fallen into disrepair. "The health department was always shutting the place down," he says.

The Connecticut-based parent company of Steak 'n Egg gave up the ghost. In 1997, the local landlord handed the keys to Barrie and Vamboi, a cook at the diner. The landlord said that as long as they could pay the rent, $3,500 a month at the time, they could run the restaurant. Little by little, they purchased new equipment, painted doors, fixed toilets. They slept in their cars in the parking lot and worked 12-hour shifts.

In the nine years that Barrie has run the show, he has expanded the staff and the menu. He uses Montreal seasoning on his steaks. He bought an ice-cream machine for cones and milkshakes.

One day, he sent a gofer to get chocolate chips from the neighborhood CVS. The pharmacy didn't have any, so the gofer bought a bag of M&Ms. Barrie improvised with the candies and now M&M waffles and pancakes are hot items.

Instead of making three-egg omelettes the way the old Steak 'n Egg company did it, Barrie uses four eggs. "This country likes large portions," Barrie says. "People who come in here, many never finish their omelettes."

Advisers told him he would lose money selling larger portions. "What do I know," he is fond of saying sarcastically. "I'm a dumb African."

He adds, "God bless America."

'The Whole United Nations'

It's lunchtime on a recent weekday and Oz is at the grill. Business is brisk. He works fast, scrambling eggs, building sandwiches and greeting a swift flow of customers.

He smiles a lot and why not? At 36, he is happily married, has three kids, lives in a four-bedroom house on River Road and drives a Mercedes. He is an owner of two restaurants and employs 18 people at the Tenleytown location.