Shakespeare and Co. manager Monty Fraley
photo by: Emily Moseley.
The restaurant chain began in Dubai in 2001. Edward T. Saad, owner of Lexington’s restaurant and 13 more outlets in Dubai, chose Lexington as home to Shakespeare and Co.’s initial American location. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Saad performed his doctoral work at the University of Kentucky in chemical engineering and worked for Ashland Oil.
Lexington is a natural choice for this first restaurant, as well as serving as homebase for Saad’s family, because as his wife, Alyne Saad, said, he has a fondness for the area and believes Lexington is a good size city for Shakespeare and Co.
Fraley added that they wanted to locate downtown, “in the center of city,” because “we have a heartbeat in downtown Lexington; we are starting to get a vibe and culture downtown now.”
As the final touches were being made on the restaurant’s interior, Alyne Saad stood on a ladder with a good bit of paint on her clothes and a drop of turquoise on her forehead. She is responsible for the atmosphere and design of the restaurants in the chain. While they now have a design team, she personally designed the interior and created the look of space for the Lexington restaurant. The Shakespeare and Co. workshop in Dubai manufactured the tables and chairs, the custom woodwork and molding and fabrics from her textile line.
During the final weeks of preparation, the restaurant brought Lewis Carroll to mind even more than its famous namesake bard, with its gilded Victorian accents and chandeliers amid plenty of Middle Eastern flair, including custom-made moldings and arched glass-front cabinet doors.
It isn’t minimalist, but it is sophisticated — think shabby chic meets your Turkish great aunt’s parlor.
