Lawrence.com

If you've ever hankered for a big slab of beef on a bun, paired with a cold brew, and served with a side of hurtling Italian balls, then Jo Shmo's is definitely your bag.

With the simple mantra of "Burgers, Beer, Bocce," this new entrant into the cutthroat mix of Lawrence restaurants is hoping to become your one-stop-shopping fix for meat and merriment. Owner Josh Mochel, a KU opera grad from Chicago who spent time in the fine dining biz both in New York and L.A., returned to Lawrence to launch his vision in the former Thai House location on Mass. Street. Mochel chatted with us about his quest to bring bocce-lism to the Lawrence masses.

lawrence.com: What was the journey from opera student to restaurateur?

Mochel: "Well, music doesn't pay much. So I was sitting around, thinking to myself, 'OK, what is it that I want to do? Is music going to be the thing that leads me to freedom in the future?' I wanted something concrete that I could put my hands on. What did I know best? Well, I've only ever worked in restaurants. That's why I decided to do this."

"Burgers, Beer, Bocce"-is it a concept born of alliteration? Could it just as easily have been "Lunchables, Liquor, Lawn Darts"?

"No, man-in this venture I'm trying to present something that's a little bit of everything that I've enjoyed in my short 26 years and seen in my travels. I love burgers. I wanted to create something like when you're sitting in your backyard, grilling with friends-what are you doing when you're grilling with friends? We played bocce ball. We also played lawn darts, but unfortunately they're illegal now."

For the uninitiated, what is bocce ball?

"It's an old Italian game that combines what we know as bowling and shuffleboard. You have a small ball-called a palino-you throw it down the court, and you try to get your four larger balls as close to that small ball as possible. Only one team can score points at a time, so you can score up to four points in one round. The team that gets to seven first wins."

Is it kind of like horseshoes for people too embarrassed to play horseshoes?

"Maybe it's like bowling without the goofy shoes."

What's your history with bocce ball?

"When I lived in New York, near my apartment in Brooklyn, there are parks galore and every park has a bocce ball court. Growing up in the Midwest, I didn't really get to know this sport that well, but everybody I knew in New York played bocce ball. I was in a bocce league, I played bocce in the park with friends after work-on Tuesdays, we'd go play at night with a good Brooklyn Lager. I had a whole bunch of Lawrence friends, KU grads, who had moved to New York and we hung out all the time. We were thinking, 'You know what? I really think Lawrence would catch on to bocce ball.' We've taken it from a sport to a great bar game. I've only ever seen one other indoor bocce court."

You've got hurtling spheres and booze on a second floor with windows-should there be a sign out on the sidewalk reading "Warning: Dropping Balls"?

"Those windows are protected at all times. Actually, the crowd that I've seen is a mature crowd, 21 and up-juniors and seniors, young professionals-and everybody seems to understand how to act."

How do the leagues work?

"We're currently forming leagues. March 15 will be the deadline for sign up and play will begin on March 16. It will include six nights for six weeks consecutively, and then a tournament at the end."

Is opening a restaurant in Lawrence tantamount to clinical insanity?

"It's not easy. The challenge, honestly, is waging the price war. We all have bottom lines, and trying to find what our customers want is the hardest thing. How do I make a product, how do I price a product, how do I present a product that my customers will come back for?

"We've had a lot of repeat customers. We've hit and missed, definitely, but we're a new restaurant and we just cut the umbilical chord. We're finally starting to get legs, we're finally starting to get arms. We still have diapers on."

Plan on bringing any more obscure sports indoors? Perhaps water polo?

"Yeah, maybe scuba diving. Is that a sport? We'll do whale watching in Lawrence, Kansas. Actually, we'll just plant a few rows of corn and watch it grow."