[g.johnson]

ADNY
Caught in a cycle where they have to increase prices because they don't get enough customers thus discouraging new customers. Plus the food isn’t very good.

Pure Food and Wine
If Roxanne Klein can’t make it work in bloody California (with apologies to bloody Californians), what hope do they have here?

Cru
Might be a great restaurant but the space is doomed.

[yvonne johnson]

Just as well we got a reservation at Cru within the next few days.......before it closes.

I don't know, maybe by altering the space a bit (bar is now in front) it's no longer jinxed. (I don't believe in ghosts or anything.)

[mitchells]

Masa. It was set-up as an impossible reservation restaurant and in actuality has morphed into going almost anytime you want.

Mix

[omnivorette]

Maybe Masa will have sale days and specials. All you can eat?

[Wilfrid1]

Rocco's. Chodorow must be wondering which to close first - Mix or Rocco's.

Le Perigord. Sadly, sadly. Unless Georges owns the building and can keep it going with a lot of empty tables.

I disagree about ADNY, only because I think the organization can afford a loss leader.

How do people feel about Union Pacific? Never hard to get a table there, even before the TV debacle and general downgrading by critics.

[cabrales]

Ducasse is not going to allow ADNY to close, because it would be a slap in the face and a source of ridicule.

My guess: March (high prices; food not commensurate; expensive rent; chef not on the uptrend)

[Wilfrid1]

I think the main sign to look out for is unfilled tables. I haven't noticed that at March particularly, but I may be wrong. I think "high prices; food not commensurate; expensive rent; chef not on the uptrend" all applies to Chanterelle (well, I don't know about the rent), but I gather it's still quite a busy restaurant. Ditto Le Cirque, although one must await the outcome of Sirio's move.

[g.johnson]

cabrales, on Aug 11 2004, 02:07 PM, said:

Ducasse is not going to allow ADNY to close, because it would be a slap in the face and a source of ridicule.

Possibly, but can he afford to keep the restaurant open if the Essex House management refuses to subsidize the place?

[g.johnson]

Wilfrid, on Aug 11 2004, 01:59 PM, said:

I disagree about ADNY, only because I think the organization can afford a loss leader.

It's hardly a leader if no one likes the place.

In any case, sssuming it's possible to make a place like ADNY pay, they'd obviously prefer a prestigious restaurant that did actually make money. I don't suppose they'd give Ducasse the boot unless they had some scheme to replace him with another famous name.

[Wilfrid1]

Setting aside the hotel question, I stand by the claim that it's a loss leader for the Ducasse organization. I don't know if you've received any publicity material yet, but the restaurant markets not only Ducasse's other restaurants, but a whole fleet of hotels, villas and other amenities in Europe, not to mention his books, of course. I suspect it's quite an effective way of getting the Ducasse brand in front of people with money to spend.

As I've mused elsewhere, I think flagship restaurants in cities like New York serve increasingly as ways of establishing and marketing a chef as a lifestyle brand, rather than as profit centers. Pure speculation on my part, of course, but it would be interesting to see how much income Vongerichten derives from Jean-Georges as opposed to his flotilla of lesser restaurants around the world, his books, and other commodities. Yet the existence of the flagship is important to the continued success of the brand. The same may well be true of Boulud, although if any four star can turn a profit, surely Factory Daniel can.

[Orik]

Scroll down to Rocco's (the fall of):

http://www.shelovesny.com/resy.html

[Wilfrid1]

Curious little link. Not sure how reliable it is - Pylos takes reservations, unless it changed policy recently.

[omnivorette]

Wilfrid, on Aug 11 2004, 01:14 PM, said:

I think the main sign to look out for is unfilled tables. I haven't noticed that at March particularly, but I may be wrong. I think "high prices; food not commensurate; expensive rent; chef not on the uptrend" all applies to Chanterelle (well, I don't know about the rent), but I gather it's still quite a busy restaurant. Ditto Le Cirque, although one must await the outcome of Sirio's move.

Chanterelle also happens to be quite small.

[g.johnson]

Wilfrid, on Aug 11 2004, 02:36 PM, said:

I suspect it's quite an effective way of getting the Ducasse brand in front of people with money to spend.

Not if everyone hates the restaurant.

[Wilfrid1]

An interesting counterfactual, but no reason to adopt it. Even you didn't hate it, despite the stringy foie gras.