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No = Haze? It Pays=20
Going cigarette-free has proved a smoking gun for = patronage at=20 Henrico restaurants

Patty=20 Kruszewski
Tuesday = March 14, 2006=20

Peter Caserta didn't need to hear the latest = findings by=20 Virginians for a Healthy Future to ban smoking in his restaurants. =

Long before he heard that average indoor air quality in = Virginia=20 restaurants and bars is five times worse than in the Hampton Roads = Tunnel,=20 he had made Pasta Luna smoke-free.

Neither does Caserta = suffer=20 from asthma, allergies, lung disease, or sensitivity to sidestream = smoke.=20 He's just plain picky about maintaining the quality of his food.=20

"Smoke doesn't bother me," says the owner of Pasta = Luna's=20 two Richmond locations. "It's just an association I have. I = associate=20 smoking with dingy, smelly bars =96 and restaurants with bad = food."=20

A product of the proverbial long line of restaurateurs, = Caserta=20 traces his culinary heritage back almost two centuries. The first = Pasta=20 Luna was established in Italy in 1850. Since 1911, when his = grandparents=20 opened a restaurant to serve immigrants in Little Italy, his = family has=20 been serving Italian food in America. Today, Caserta's Broad = Street=20 location is a perennial top-five finisher in polls of the best = Italian=20 cuisine in Richmond, and he recently opened a second Pasta Luna in = Chesterfield.

Fine food, smoky air don't = mix
Before his=20 restaurant went smoke-free, Caserta says, his customers would = complain=20 about the tobacco haze as they dined, and he fretted about its = effect on=20 flavor.

"When you've got good food, you don't want [smoke] = contaminating it," he says. "Classy places, elegant restaurants = don't have=20 smoke. A smoky place is dirty, not elegant."

So when his = native=20 New York City banned smoking in most restaurants and bars in 2003, = it was=20 all the encouragement Caserta needed to do the same =96 in the = heart of=20 Tobacco Country, no less.

The New York Times has = since=20 documented that bars and restaurants are prospering despite the = ban, and=20 Caserta reports that changing over to the new policy was not only = painless=20 =96 it won raves.

"It's rare that we turn [smokers] away. = We just=20 give them an ashtray and send them outside. And we get lots of=20 compliments."

Thanks to Pasta Luna's loyal following and = repeat=20 business, Caserta has never even posted a sign about the policy on = restaurant doors; his regulars know it is smoke free. When new = customers=20 or travelers enter, they usually ask for a non-smoking section =96 = and are=20 delighted to learn that they can sit anywhere in the restaurant.=20

"We have more customers"
The Tavern at = Triangle=20 Park went smoke-free in July, and owner Chris Danahy says = the=20 change had a noticeable impact on business. "It's made a = difference=20 alright =96 we have more customers."

In 15 years at the = Tavern, says=20 Danahy, he watched the small non-smoking section grow in = popularity and=20 requests for seating in the smoking section shrink =96 until = eventually=20 smoking was limited to the bar.

"We've always been driven = by=20 customer demand," says Danahy, "and over the years it reversed = itself. It=20 had gotten to the point where there was an overwhelming demand for = no=20 smoking." As he prepared to make major renovations and install new = carpet=20 and ceiling tiles, Danahy decided the time was ripe to go = smoke-free.=20

"The first week or so we had a handful of negative = comments from=20 people who wanted to smoke at the bar. Once we weathered that = storm =96 and=20 it was over very quickly =96 the response was 99.9 percent = positive."=20

Adding that the Tavern is a neighborhood hangout with many = families among the clientele, Danahy says parents have told him = they come=20 specifically to avoid exposing their children to the smoke-filled = places=20 they used to haunt. His waitstaff and other employees also = welcomed the=20 change, and tell him they like the cleaner air and going home in = odor-free=20 clothes.

"It's been good for me, too," says Danahy, "I = enjoy it=20 here more. It smells great!" In recent weeks, Danahy has had calls = from=20 colleagues at Shackleford's and Melito's restaurants = =96 both=20 considering stricter smoking policies.

As of March 16, = according=20 to owner Kirk Poore, Shackleford's will limit smoking to = the bar=20 and patio areas. "The first objective is to go non-smoking in the = dining=20 room," says Poore, who cites the health and comfort of customers = and staff=20 as the impetus for change. "We'll look at what effect that has. . = . and=20 consider [a complete ban] in the future."

Says Danahy: "[I = tell=20 them] as far as I'm concerned it's a selling point. I wish I'd = done it. .=20 . years ago."

Toppling the King
After = legislation to=20 further restrict the Indoor Clean Air Act cleared the Virginia = Senate in=20 February, a Washington Post editorial noted that New Jersey = recently became the 11th state to ban smoking in restaurants, bars = and=20 other workplaces, and declared that King Tobacco had been = "dethroned."=20

"The arguments against smoking bans," the Post = editorialized, "are=20 crumpling faster than a spent pack of Winstons."

Although=20 Virginia's ban ultimately failed in the House of Delegates, = Caserta is one=20 restaurant owner who sees it as only a matter of time before = smoke-free=20 establishments are the norm. "It's pass=E9," Caserta says of the = once=20 commonplace practice of dining in a smoky haze. "The world has = changed."=20

Dangers of secondhand smoke
A January report by=20 internationally recognized secondhand smoke researcher James L. = Repace=20 documented moderate to extremely hazardous levels of polluted air = in 11=20 smoky indoor venues across Virginia.

"In one bar," the = report=20 says, "the levels were so high that if reached outdoors, Virginia = would be=20 required to issue an air pollution emergency warning to the public = and=20 workers exposed to such air pollution."

"We were shocked," = said=20 Cathleen Grzesiek, chairwoman of Virginians for a = Healthy=20 Future and director of Public Advocacy for the American = Heart=20 Association, "to find [in the study] that nearly all of the = indoor=20 venues that permitted smoking reached air pollution levels greater = than=20 those found in the Hampton Roads Tunnel."

Exposure to = secondhand=20 smoke causes approximately 35,000 heart disease deaths and 3,000 = lung=20 cancer deaths among nonsmokers every year. A 2004 study found that = secondhand smoke increased the risk of heart disease in nonsmokers = by as=20 much as 60 percent.

Children are most harmed by passive = smoking,=20 because their bodies are still developing, says the CDC. "Exposure = to the=20 poisons in secondhand smoke puts children in danger of severe = respiratory=20 diseases and can hinder the growth of their lungs. The effects can = last a=20 lifetime."

Food service workers, whose occupation ranks = among the=20 highest in exposure to secondhand smoke, have a 50 percent greater = risk of=20 dying from lung cancer than the general population. For the full = report,=20 visit healthyva.org or lungusa.org/virginia. For a list of = additional=20 smoke-free area restaurants, visit vasmokefreedining.com.=20

A service of Richmond.com=20