Sci Fi Café boldly goes where few restaurants have gone before

Jim Miller/ViewAngel Muro, 7, of North Las Vegas, keeps an eye on the rings of magician Joan Dukore, aka The Amazing Jean, as she performs her magic Oct. 15 at Zorn?s Dinner Gala in the Sci Fi Café. Advertisement

Most people have dreams of great things they could achieve and businesses they could thrive in, so, in some respects, Suzanne and Robert Hauglin aren't that unusual. What makes them different is that their dream involves creating a place where Klingons and Jedi knights can meet in harmony with little purple tentacled guys from Alpha Centauri and break bread. Their dream is the Sci-Fi Café.

The Hauglins grew up loving science fiction. Robert Hauglin was raised in Las Vegas and was hooked at age 13 when he first saw "Star Wars."

"It had everything, the hero's journey, bad guys in black, good triumphing over evil. It blew me away," he said.

Suzanne Hauglin grew up 500 miles away in Berkeley, Calif., fascinated by "Star Trek." When Star Trek: The Experience opened at the Las Vegas Hilton, she became a regular visitor, spending many vacations at the attraction.

Robert Hauglin's visits were even more frequent. He and his brother were regulars at Quark's Bar and Restaurant, with their own cult following. They went to the bar dressed as Klingons from the original "Star Trek" series for Halloween, and the response was so positive that they started coming back in the same outfits nearly every weekend.

"One of the bartenders couldn't remember our names," he said, "So he called us the Klingon brothers." The name stuck.

Although Robert Hauglin's schedule constantly changed, he found that through luck or kismet, he was often there at the same time as the visiting Suzanne. Quietly, without either realizing it, they fell in love with each other.

"When we started getting serious, I asked her what she'd think of being married at The Experience," Robert Hauglin said. "She tackled me. She was more excited about it than I was."

Once they were married, the couple pondered the idea of opening a restaurant together. She had run a small restaurant and catering business in California, and he works in the food department at Sam's Town. They just didn't know what kind of restaurant it would be until they were in a room in their home filled with science fiction memorabilia, and the light bulb went off over their heads.

"We'd have people over for dinner and they'd look at this stuff and say, 'You should open a restaurant and put all this stuff in it,' " Suzanne Hauglin said.

When Quark's closed, they realized the time had come to pursue their dreams. Unfortunately, that time coincided with difficult economic times.

"This is the most terrifying thing that we've ever done," Suzanne Hauglin said. "There's that old adage, if you build it, they'll come ... That's just not true anymore."

The couple didn't have the funds to open a restaurant right away, so they decided to start smaller, with monthly Sci-Fi Café events. The inaugural gathering, dubbed Zorn's Dinner Gala, took place Oct. 15 at the Hacienda Gardens Banquet Hall, 4250 E. Bonanza Road.

Several events are scheduled for the same venue, and the couple has made arrangements with four additional venues scattered around the valley for future dinners.

The inaugural gala featured a buffet dinner and a show consisting of a variety of performers, including magicians, a singer and a contortionist. Also on hand were the titular Zorn and his staff, Karool and Oorak, providing color and acting as hosts for the festivities. The $25 dollar ticket even included a surprise visit from the president of the universe.

The all-ages events are designed in part to get the Sci-Fi Café name out and create a following for the proposed permanent location for the restaurant. The Hauglins are uncertain how the news that Quark's may reopen at a new location downtown may affect their plans.

"There would be differences between our location and Quark's, for instance, we're a family operation, without the same concerns as a large corporate entity," Suzanne Hauglin said.

The plan is for the Hauglins' permanent restaurant to be within a few minutes drive from the Strip and for the décor to be completely immersive. The couple originally had tried to license several different science fiction franchises to base the restaurant on, but ultimately decided to base the place on their own vision.

"We wrote a sci-fi novel, and when you enter the restaurant, you'll be passing through a wormhole directly onto the spaceship from the novel," Suzanne Hauglin said. "We'll have meeting rooms for fan clubs. There will be a museum called From Science Fiction to Science Fact. We're going to show how a lot of things that first appeared in science fiction became reality, like the cell phone, which is pretty much the communicators from 'Star Trek.' "

For now, local sci-fi fans and gourmands will have to sate their appetite on the special events, which include monthly Dinner Galas at Zorn's, a Halloween Ball and an alien murder mystery dinner theater. Of particular note is their New Year's Eve Black and White Ball. In addition to the dinner, dancing and a champagne toast, actors Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips are booked to perform an original play. The actors will be reprising their roles as The Doctor and Neelix from "Star Trek Voyager." The play will be filmed for a DVD and streamed across several "Star Trek" fan sites.

Information and tickets for all events are available at thescificafe.com.

Contact Sunrise and Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.