Roussos -- a colorful Madison character who ran for mayor in 1988 -- said he would never remember people's names, but if they came in and ordered a chicken breast po' boy, and then came in a year later, he'd remember what they ordered. "I remember people by what they eat."

His manager considered buying the business, but reconsidered. "It's really too much -- for almost anyone," said Roussos, who doesn't own the building.

A large number of restaurants fail within the first year, and Roussos said he's not sure how many people who open restaurants know the failure rate statistics.

Roussos, who has a degree in English literature and economics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, said he never would've opened New Orleans Take-Out had it not been for the late chef Robert Hurst, his instructor in the culinary program at Madison Area Technical College.

"If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have all the tools. I wouldn't have learned what I learned. He was a great chef and a great teacher," Roussos said.

A former suburban Chicago restaurateur who retired to Madison, Hurst taught Roussos everything about opening and managing a restaurant.