Grits and Determination: A Recipe for Success

The scene can turn edgy at night after people have been carousing. Barrie likes to head off any problems. He gives every customer a menu immediately and gets them engaged in the social contract. I feed you; you pay me. There are security cameras here and there, and most of the employees look as though they can take care of themselves in the ring.

Barrie says it also helps that he knows many of the people who come in.

On a recent morning, his wife stops by. Barrie likes to tell the story of how he met Victoria -- a blond, Jewish, divorced mother of two from California -- on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

They struck up an e-mail courtship and saw each other when they could. But as the romance grew more serious, Victoria told Oz that there was no way her parents were going to let her marry a black Muslim from Africa.

Barrie had a similar problem. "My father had picked out a wife for me," he says. But Barrie was persistent and eventually the two got married in 2004. (Barrie says that he has a work permit and that he is still working on obtaining his U.S. citizenship.)

"We talk about politics," Barrie says, "but we don't agonize. We differentiate between politics and family."

When his family expanded overnight, Barrie realized he needed a much bigger house, but he wasn't sure he could afford it. "You know what is wonderful about this place?" he says, waving a hand in the air. "Any time I need something, big or small, somebody who eats here is there to help me."

Customers helped him find and buy a house big enough for everyone -- including the couple's 8-month-old son, Noah, born on Christmas Day.

4,000 Eggs a Week

Frizzy-haired David Iscoe, 19, a student at Columbia University, is on his dinner break from Hudson Trail Outfitters, where he unloads trucks during the 5 p.m.-to-1 a.m. shift. "I'm trying to figure out a way to get a steak without paying a lot of money," he says.

Osman Barrie has gone home and Lawrence Rawlings, 30, is running the show solo during the slow time. Rawlings suggests that Iscoe forgo the side orders of hash browns and bread and just focus on the beef. Iscoe orders a steak, medium well, and a cup of black coffee. He says he started coming to the diner as a student at Wilson High School.

Rawlings watches Iscoe's steak as he takes orders -- burgers and hash browns -- from a couple of German-speaking men. Someone else wants eggs. The cafe sells about 400 burgers and 4,000 eggs a week, according to staff calculations.

Iscoe is so hungry that he eats his steak British-style, not shifting his fork from left to right hand. "I got sushi for dinner before 5. It didn't fill me up," he tells Rawlings. "I need a lot of coffee."