Columbia councilman is selling his restaurant, will work for USC

Re-elected Columbia City Councilman Moe Baddourah has a new, $80,000 job working for the University of South Carolina and is closing the restaurant he has operated for 11 years.

Baddourah has been hired to run USC’s McCutchen House on the school’s Horseshoe and will teach a class on restaurant management, he said. The course for juniors and seniors is part of the university’s requirement for a degree in hotel, restaurant, and tourism management, Baddourah said.

He starts the job on Monday, which fulfills a goal he said he has had since in got his master’s degree in restaurant management from USC about 15 years ago.

Baddourah said he will recuse himself from votes that affect his alma mater. He said he has an opinion from the State Ethics Commission that prohibits him from voting on what he described as “anything that is university related.”

“We haven’t really had a lot on the university the past four years,” Baddourah said of votes during his first term on council. “Maybe a dozen.” He begins his second, four-year term Jan. 1.

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to come for a long time,” he said. The previous McCutchen House director held the job for some 20 years, he said.

Baddourah officially accepted the job the first week of December after having spent $35,000 to replace lost inventory and rebuild his flood-damaged Moe’s Grapevine on Rosewood Drive near Garners Ferry Boulevard. That area was swamped by an overflowing Gills Creek.

The restaurant reopened Oct. 14, he said. That was 10 days after record-setting rainfall drenched the Midlands.

The last day of Moe’s Grapevine is New Year’s Eve. Baddourah said he is seeking either a purchaser or someone to lease the property, which he owns.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Columbia councilman is selling his restaurant, will work for USC."