Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | 8:25 a.m.
That's not the case for Matt and Rosie Frausto. Their restaurant, Geisha Steak House, is special, one they will keep as long as they can.
For starters, it's been in the same location for more than 30 years - at the Townhouse Center near the intersection of Desert Inn and Sandhill roads. Second, it used to be owned by Matt's mother, Muncha. Before that it was owned by Muncha's sister, Cunja.
It's also where Matt and Rosie met for the first time, although the memory is fuzzy for Rosie.
"It was over there," Matt said, pointing to one of the six tepan tables, where cooks prepare customers' food in front of them, a la Benihana. "I was a dishwasher at the time, and as I was putting stuff away, I heard this noise. She had spilled hot soup on herself, but she was just giggling."
"Too much sake," Rosie said, flashing a nervous smile. "I was a party girl back then."
Geisha Steak House is also where, years later, Matt would propose to Rosie - at the same tepan table.
"Pretty romantic, huh?" Matt said.
The Fraustos could not have come from different backgrounds - Rosie is Irish/ Jewish and Matt is Korean/Hispanic, she's a Democrat, he's a Republican - and neither of them imagined a career in restaurant management, but they make it all work.
Well, except for the kimchi.
"It's a Korean cabbage, marinated in a sauce with chili powder," Matt said. "I love it."
"It smells horrible," Rosie said. "I can't stand it."
But the couple compromised.
"We got a separate refrigerator to store it, because it smells so bad," Matt said. That cultural difference aside, the Fraustos work in relative harmony at Geisha Steak House, which they took over in 2002.
The restaurant is an instant standout, with its pagoda-like exterior trim. A small entryway leads to the main room and its tepan tables. Three small tables and two booths off to the side offer a place to sit for customers waiting for a table.
White brick walls contrast with Japanese characters painted in black. A mural covers the wall nearest the kitchen, and Japanese wall hangings are interspersed throughout.
The most popular item remains the Geisha special (a complete meal that includes hibachi shrimp, sake and a choice of filet mignon, chicken or lobster), but Matt is also proud of his scallops, which he calls his specialty.
Matt works as a cook and Rosie handles shopping, advertising, customer service and taking care of their two children, David, 8, and Sarah, 7.
While they aren't sure if their children will ever take over the business, Matt and Rosie don't see themselves moving from Las Vegas -- or their restaurant.
"This place was meant to be," Rosie said. "It is a second home for us."
Three choices
Growing up in Antioch, Calif., Matt, 35, knew growing up he would be one of three things: a chef, a writer or a sanitation worker.
"Sanitation workers were cool," he said. "But I always loved writing. I still do. Fantasy stories, horror, mysteries -- I love all that stuff."
He is currently working on a "pre-teen novel," and hopes to get it published.
"When we were dating, he used to write me poetry, so it was always there in some form," Rosie said. "He's very good."
Matt spent most of his early years playing soccer and football "just for fun," and also developed an interest in comic books, amassing more than 3,000 during his childhood. (For those who side with either Marvel or DC Comics, Matt has no favorite: He collected both.)
But food is what he remembers most. With his parents' combination of cultures -- and the fact he had more than 30 first cousins -- Matt grew up around a lot of family gatherings and a lot of good food.
"We'd get the whole family together about four times a year, and we'd have a mix of all foods," he said. "I was never hungry."
Matt began making his own food at a young age, often while his father, Jose, and mother, Muncha, worked.
"I always loved being in the kitchen," he said. "I didn't make anything fancy -- ham and cheese sandwiches -- but I enjoyed doing it."
Vegas connection
Matt moved to Las Vegas shortly after graduation because one of his cousins, John Cho, lived here, and offered him a place to stay.
"I always loved Las Vegas," Matt said. "I always knew I'd live here one day. Everything seemed so familiar whenever I'd visit as a kid."
He worked at a car wash for four months, but soon found himself back in California.
"I went back to get my truck from my brother, but it broke down and I was stuck there," he said.
He wasn't stuck for long. A friend of Matt's in the California Conservation Corps suggested he check it out, and Matt spent the next 18 months working at fire sites.
"I enjoyed it immensely," he said. "It was mostly mop-up, cutting roots out of trees, but it was great work. Unfortunately, you can only stay in two years, max."
By the time Matt had to leave the CCC in 1991, however, his cousin John's mother, Cunja, had purchased Geisha Steak House from original owner Jimmy Nishiyama. Matt was offered a job there, and he gladly accepted.
"I got to come back to Vegas," he said. "I washed dishes and made appetizers for six months."
Chasing the green
As much as he loved living in the desert, Matt wasn't making much money, and in 1992 took a job restrapping bombs and scraping off their rust at the Concord Naval Weapons station in California. (The Pentagon is currently recommending closing the site, which has been mothballed for years.)
He was sent to Saudi Arabia toward the end of the Gulf War and worked there for six months doing the same thing, but wasn't near any combat.
"It was actually really boring," he said. "There I was, a young single guy, and all the women had to be in black from head to toe. And there was no alcohol allowed."
Shortly before returning, he received word that his mother had purchased Geisha Steak House from her sister.
Matt was brought on in 1993 as an apprentice to his cousin John, and spent six months learning how to cook on the grills.
His first time in front of people was "nerve-wracking," Matt said. "You're thinking you're going to miss something, or people won't like you. And you have to keep up on the news, because you have to talk to your customers. None of it is scripted."
And no one could have scripted the story of how Matt and Rosie got together.
Band of Gypsies
Rosie, 37, is a firm believer in karma and fate. She has yet to see anything that disproves her beliefs.
Her mother, Estelle Keys, divorced her first husband, Edward Connally, in 1968, when Rosie was 2 years old. Rosie was raised by her stepfather, Joseph Keys, but Estelle divorced him in 1986 and got remarried -- to Rosie's biological father.
"I think my mother always knew they were meant to be together, but it took that long for her to realize it," Rosie said (Edward died in 1989).
She still considers Joseph her father, however, and sees him regularly -- he's worked as a pit boss at Las Vegas casinos for years, including Caesars Palace and Jerry's Nugget. He currently works at Wynn Las Vegas.
She has a good relationship with her parents despite a somewhat rocky childhood; she had to move from place to place with very little notice.
"My parents were Gypsies," Rosie said. "My mother kind of let my grandmother tell her what to do, and as a result we were never in the same place for long.
"I didn't enjoy moving at all," she added. "You don't get to make friends. That's why I'm real big on staying in one place. I don't want to do that to my children."
After spending time in California, Las Vegas and Texas, her family ended up in Las Vegas for good in 1980.
Hair today ...
Rosie showed a talent for management at a young age. She went to work for a Dairy Queen for two years, and became assistant manager at 15. At 16 she went to work at a Wendy's and again was promoted to assistant manager.
But Rosie believed her destiny was in the beauty industry.
"My mother is a hairdresser, and I was always around hair," he said. "I liked doing nails."
She attended the Academy of Hair Design while going to high school and working at Wendy's. She graduated from the academy at 18 and began her nail career, working at four salons over the next 10 years.
During her junior high and high school years in Las Vegas, Rosie had gotten to know Matt's cousin John.
"We were in the same clique," she said. "I started going to the Geisha Steak House in 1992 because John worked there, and he never made me pay because we grew up together."
It was during Matt's first stint there (when his aunt owned the restaurant) that he first saw Rosie (see the above-mentioned "sake incident"). He didn't see her again until he returned from Saudi Arabia, but by that time Rosie and John were dating.
"I dated John for about four months, and Matt would hang out with us when we'd shoot pool and have drinks," she said. "John is a great guy, but he wasn't a great boyfriend. He didn't want to settle down."
"Me neither," Matt chimed in. "I thought I was going to stay young and single forever."
A new life
Shortly after Rosie and John broke up, she and Matt began seeing each other, but initially only as friends.
"Matt was there for me, because I think initially he felt bad that it was his cousin," she said. "But after a couple of months we got real close. I just started thinking he was so sweet."
Matt and Rosie married in 1995, and for a time he worked as a chef while she did nails.
But as soon as she became pregnant, Rosie stopped working, and Matt's mother, who had wanted to retire for some time, began grooming her son to take over the restaurant.
Rosie takes great joy in the fact that John is now the restaurant's manager, and the three have a great relationship. Matt's sister, Jennifer, also works there. In all, the Fraustos have seven employees.
Rosie's mother, Estelle, lives with her and Matt and still works as a hairdresser at Scandal's along with Rosie's sister, Marnie. Both of Matt's parents live in Las Vegas and are living the retired life.
And just as Geisha Steak House has become a second home for the Fraustos, so have their customers become a second family.
"I love the people," Rosie said. "Some of our regulars have been coming here for 30 years."
"I love that people enjoy my cooking," Matt added. "I just love being here, the atmosphere."
"I've never missed not doing nails," Rosie said. "I know now that was an along-the-way kind of thing. This is what we were meant to do. I have no regrets."
Well, maybe the kimchi ...
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