Results tagged “restaurantclosings”

From Gothamist Contribute comes the following tip: "Max Brenner's on 2nd ave and 9th street is closed for good. I showed up to work this morning and half an hour later I was out. Not a huge loss to the community, but it's something." A Max Brenner worker answering the phone this afternoon confirmed that the store has indeed closed. Despite the idea that chocolate sales might actually improve during a recession, Brenner's free flowing chocolate fondue fountains have slowed to a trickle on Second Avenue; his hazelnut-caramel calliope is likely just as kaput. The Feedbag discovered a few weeks ago that the fictitious and so-called "Bald Man," a composite of the chain's two founders (one of whom is bald), has nonetheless been giving interviews in Australia. Made up or not, it seems Brenner may ultimately prove to be some kind of Danielle Steel of the cocoa bean: the Second Avenue location may have now closed, but the chain will publish its first cookbook in November, and it's all about chocolate rhapsody and purple prose. The "Bad Boy Chocolate Pizza" recipe not only features "passionately roasted marshmallows," but also recipe notes about "the infinite essence of life."

Pichet Ong, the chef and owner of P*ong, and its attached boutique bakery Batch, chose to announce this weekend’s closure of both establishments through Facebook, which might be a first for a high-profile eatery. Batch, the well regarded home for glittery cupcakes and tiramisu retrofitted with the flavors of Thai iced tea, will aim for another incarnation in a different space. Citing unaffordable rents, Ong said this morning: “Our business had been down by 40% from the first year. Purveyors were reducing prices to make it easier for us and our staff appropriately downsized, but we couldn't negotiate the rent down to the current business model we've been operating with.” As for the next Batch, Ong said that he’ll do consulting work around town (likely for former boss John Georges Vongerichten, we’d guess). The chef will also be “preparing to open a bigger and more delicious Batch.”, to be located in an as-yet-unnamed Chelsea space.

Crain’s takes notes of a sharp spike in restaurant closings, with real estate brokers reporting many more closures than usual and a surge in restaurant auctions; the city's leading restaurant auctioneer tells Crain’s he’s been handling “20 liquidations a month for the past year, twice as many as the year before.”

Especially telling is that many of the auctions involve seasoned operators rather than neophytes who miscalculated their ability, the strength of the market or both. An example is Frank's, a chophouse in the meatpacking district that has been owned by three generations of the Molinari family. It closed two weeks ago, along with its adjacent butcher shop.

The New York Sun is reporting that the operator of the midtown Japanese restaurant Naniwa has been arrested for trying to bribe a city health inspector in order to avoid a summons. Kazuo Mitsuya allegedly tried to slip the inspector $200 to make the restaurant’s violations just go away. Presumably offended by the low sum offered, the inspector got on the horn with the Department of Investigations, who sent in an undercover officer posing as...