Results tagged “cafedesartistes”

Just days after failing to win the right to continue running a mediocre overpriced tourist trap in a 19th century Central Park sheepfold, Tavern on the Green is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Jennifer Oz LeRoy tells the Times it's "our only alternative given the current situation." In four months, Central Park Boathouse owner Dean Poll will take over the location, and in the meantime Tavern will attempt to burn appease some 20 creditors, such as the New York Hotel Trades Council, which is owed $1,778,764. Tavern also owes the Parks Department—which declined to renew its lease—$76,923, and one imagines LeRoy's gonna love shrugging off that one. Meanwhile, the dining industry paroxysm is even hammering celebs like Mario Batali—the Crocs-wearing chef was a partner in the far-out seafood restaurant The John Dory, which just went belly up after nine months. The landlord is now suing Batali for $75,000 back rent. Oh, and Café des Artistes, the Lincoln Square restaurant that just closed after 90-plus years, is also jumping on the bankruptcy bandwagon. Expected to be screwed in that filing are the restaurant's employees, who are owed $116,471 in benefits through their union.

Over the weekend it was reported that Cafe des Artistes, the serenely romantic restaurant near Lincoln Center, has closed after more than 90 years in business. The wife of owner George Lang blames the closure on the restaurant's unionized workers, who recently sued the restaurant for unpaid benefits, including medical insurance. Local 100 union president Bill Granfield tells the Times, "We think Mr. Lang is a great figure in the restaurant industry, a great person, and it’s a great restaurant. But it feels like time passed it by a while ago."

Cafe des Artistes, the beloved romantic West 67th Street restaurant near Lincoln Center, has closed, according to the Diner's Journal. Owners Jenifer and George Lang "said they had closed for vacation earlier this month and had planned on reopening in September, but changed their minds," with Jenifer Lang explaining, "George is 85, business has been down - not terrible, but down, like everybody else’s - and we feel it’s time." In 2003, NY Times restaurant critic William Grimes felt the food was uneven, but, "If ever a restaurant had fine, aristocratic bone structure it is Café des Artistes. Diners have only to take one step inside, and the tumultuous New York world outside disappears in a flash, replaced by lush floral displays, flattering lighting and Howard Chandler Christy’s pastel murals of naked beauties prancing through romantic landscapes." The Diner's Journal says it's unclear what will happen to the cafe—also seen in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery—which is owned by the building. In other news, Meatpacking seafood restaurant John Dory may have closed, though owner "Ken Friedman will not confirm or deny, telling [Eater] the reservationist was premature in confirming their final night."