Some students dream of oneday holding prestigious, high-paying jobs at large, international corporations.
But not Greg Salisbury.
The 1989 College graduate is perfectly content with running a cozy restaurant in University City.
Last Thursday, Salisbury opened the American-style restaurant Rx (pronounced "Rex"), located at the corner of 45th and Spruce streets. The space was formerly occupied by a takeout restaurant called Moveable Feast.
With the creation of Rx, Salisbury said he hopes to give something back to his former community.
"I decided to open the restaurant because I recently moved back to University City," Salisbury said. "I realized I can only eat Ethiopian food so many days of the week."
The space also used to house a pharmacy with the same name as the new restaurant. Salisbury said that he decided to keep the name, which had already been emblazoned on the furniture and on the outside of the building.
The restaurant's atmosphere is homely, with its well-lit interior and antique furnishings that ironically include an old "Doctor's Health Scale."
"I found out that 'Rx' was the Latin abbreviation for recipe, so that seemed to be a sign," Salisbury said.
When he graduated from college in the midst of a recession, Salisbury said, he "couldn't get a job to save [his] life," so he took a stewarding job at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel downtown.
"I didn't even know what the stewarding department was," Salisbury said. "So I get to work the first day and I'm literally washing dishes and mopping the floor."
From there, Salisbury became more involved in the kitchen, learning to cook and later moving on to other food and beverage operations. His experience in communications while at Penn also helped him land a job as an editor at Philadelphia-based newspaper The Jewish Exponent.
In June of 2000, Salisbury left his New Jersey home and moved back to University City to cut down on the time he spent commuting.
"God, it totally freaked me out to be driving through campus each day when I first moved," Salisbury said. "I'm not really the go-backer-visitor-type, so it's weird. The way I remember Penn, it was not as built up as this."
Salisbury describes Rx as "simple American," with a selection of seasonal produce from local purveyors. He wants Rx to provide a comfortable environment in which one can sit, chat and "have a cup of coffee or an espresso."
Opening week business has been "better than expected," according to the fledgling owner.
"We had to close early on Saturday night and Sunday for brunch because we ran out of food," Salisbury said. "The community's been overwhelmingly supportive."
Salisbury emphasized his desire to create a "hub" in the community for students and local residents to congregate. From utilizing local food vendors to exhibiting paintings for sale from area artists, the restaurant owner has stressed giving back to his old neighborhood.
"It's a great community," Salisbury said. "Everybody waves and says 'hi' when you walk down the street."
Rx boasts a menu of a wide variety of organic, vegetarian and vegan dishes, from marinated tofu with black bean salad to crab cakes and beef stew. Appetizers cost no more than $7, and entrees are all under $17.
Customers have reacted positively thus far to the new eatery.
"I think it's great to have somebody from the neighborhood open up a restaurant in the neighborhood," said Dean Batten, a radiology resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Now, more than a year after his homecoming, Salisbury is enjoying the new direction his life has taken.
"I'm a nurturer; it makes me really happy to serve people," he said. "It's something I've wanted to do for 10 years. If I didn't do it now, I would kick myself for the rest of my life."
