Q&A with GARY BRIC

It's 11:41 p.m. Sunday, and Mayor Gary Bric has reading to do. There's the phone book-thick draft city budget, and the usual City Council agenda packet. But he's not at a desk; he's standing behind the bar at his restaurant, Gary Bric's Ramp, serving drinks to a cluster of loyal customers. For more than two years the restaurateur, bartender and avid golfer has juggled city business, work and home life, careful not to let one passion bleed too far into the other.

CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO: You've been pulling double duty for a while now. Any changes since you became mayor?

GARY BRIC: I want to be here for my customers. But I also know there are things I have to do for the city. It's really a matter of juggling my schedules.

Q: What's the worst thing on the menu here?

A: This is going to be in the paper?

Q: Yeah.

A: What are you, nuts? I pride myself on my steak and seafood. But I can't put on there that I wouldn't order the Italian dishes. We're not an Italian restaurant. I can't answer that, in all honesty.

Q: OK, what's your least favorite?

A: The pasta dishes. But only because I'm not Italian. All the food here is good. I just recommend steak and seafood, that's all.

Q: You have been mayor for…

A: How about 17 days. But who's counting?

Q: Care to grade yourself?

A: I would say I have 346 days to go. People say, 'Oh, after your first 100 days…' I don't give a rat's ass — 100 days, one month, three months. People come up and say, 'Hey, Mayor Bric.' Stop it. It's Gary. As I tell [Fire Chief] Tracy Pansini or [Police Chief] Tim Stehr, it's mayor when the cameras are on in the Council Chambers. Once they go off, it's Gary.

Q: You got a chance to throw out the first pitch at a Dodger game recently. What were fans doing booing you for?

A: As I am walking out to the pitcher's mound, I'm saying, 'Please, dear god, don't fall down.' Then I hear everyone booing. I go, 'Jeez, what are they booing me for?' Once I got back from throwing the first pitch, [Vice Mayor] Anja [Reinke] caught it, and I asked my wife, 'Why were they booing me?' And she said, 'They weren't booing you, they were booing me.' Then she opened up her Dodger jersey and it said 'Cubs' underneath. She's a die-hard Cubs and Bears fan.

Q: And you'll never forget your anniversary, right?