restaurant closings

Ted Turner's Restaurant Chain Closes Nine Locations

Filed under: Dining

Ted Turner's restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill, has announced that it has closed nine restaurants around the country. The 46-unit chain casual dining restaurant focuses on serving bison, beef, seafood and more at modest prices from $6 to $20 for entrees.

"It's been a rough time for our industry," said George McKerrow, founder of LongHorn Steakhouse and chief executive of Ted's Montana Grill in an article on National Restaurant News. "We had to get smaller before we get bigger."

The nine Ted's Montana Grill units that were closed were in Kansas City, Missouri (three restaurants); Wichita, Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska; Schaumburg, Illinois; Sterling, Virginia and Raleigh, North Carolina. A new Ted's Montana Grill opened in Boulder, Colorado this autumn and other possible new locations could include Boise, Idaho, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Florida is also a strong location for the chain and new Florida markets are being considered. The restaurant is also working on integrating lighter fare including more salads and a vegetable plate.

Tags: bison, restaurant closings, ted turner, teds montana grill

Iron Chef Michael Symon Closes One Of His Restaurants

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

If you've watched any Food Network shows lately you've probably seen Iron Chef star Michael Symon. One place you won't see him is his Bar Symon in Avon Lake, Ohio. The Midwestern chef will be closing the restaurant as of October 30. Local news reports quote Symon as saying that the concept didn't work in this location. He has four other restaurants, Lola Bistro and Lolita in Cleveland, the B-Spot Burgers in Woodmere and Roast in at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. Some of Symon's signature dishes are also on the menu at the Quicken Loans Arena where the Cleveland Cavaliers play.

He plans to open another B-Spot Burgers in Strongsville in January and hopes to be able to move some of his Bar Symon employees to this location. This is the first time that Symon has had to close a restaurant. Symon opened his first restaurant, Lola, in 1997 and has been credited with reviving Cleveland's restaurant scene. Last year he published a cookbook Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen.

Tags: food network, iron chef america, michael symon, restaurant closings, restaurant closures

Emeril Lagasse Closes Mississippi Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Emeril Lagasse, who was honored recently for his work with the Food Bank in New York City, will be losing a restaurant from his fold. Emeril's Gulf Coast Fish House at the Island View Casino will close on May 29. The restaurant opened in 2007 in the Mississippi town which was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. Gulfport is Lagasse's wife Alden's hometown and the restaurant was created to help draw visitors to the area. The restaurant had an oyster bar and served entrees including andouille crusted redfish, shrimp and grits and five-day duck.

Island View Casino plans to open a new restaurant in the space off the casino floor around June 9. The Carter Green Steakhouse will be an upscale dinner house featuring prime steaks, fresh seafood and fine wine, employees who worked at Emeril's will have a chance to try out for roles in the venture.

Tags: emeril lagasse, Emerils, gulfport, GulfportMississippi, restaurant closings

Charlie Trotter Closes Las Vegas Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Las Vegas is losing one of its celebrity chef restaurants. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Charlie Trotter has closed his two-year-old Restaurant Charlie in the Palazzo Las Vegas. Trotter, who is a Chicago institution, won his first Michelin star at his seafood-centered Las Vegas restaurant. The sushi bar inside the restaurant, Bar Charlie, was selected as one of the nation's best sushi spots by Bon Appetit last year. Alas, the numbers just weren't working for the Las Vegas restaurant. The Chicago Sun-Times quotes Trotter's wife and spokeswoman, Rochelle Smith Trotter, who said that they lowered prices three times and tried a pre-theater menu . She makes a mention of the "level of clientele that seemed to be the frequent guest that Las Vegas is now seeing" a reference to the fact that the high-spending tourists seem to be in short supply in Las Vegas lately.

Trotter's Las Vegas restaurant offered a Grand Tasting Menu for $175 (with a $100 wine accompaniment). Items on the menu included Muscovy duck breast with Thai basil and Yuba, Elysian Fields lamb loin with cumin, smoked ricotta and buckwheat, Peekytoe crab salad with sake and rice milk and Nantucket bay scallops with guava and macadamia nuts.

Trotter is still hoping to open a restaurant in New York. It had been announced that it would be at One Madison Park but it may end up being at another New York property. He is also looking at other options and continues to delight dinners at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago.

Tags: charlie trotter, charlie trotters, las vegas nevada, palazzo las vegas, PalazzoChupi, restaurant charlie, restaurant closings, restaurant closures

Orso Restaurant Closing In Los Angeles

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Celebrity-friendly restaurant Orso Los Angeles becomes the latest restaurant to close. Orso opened in 1989 and its location near Robertson Blvd. and the tree-shrouded smoking-friendly patio have made it a popular film industry haunt. Over the years paparazzi have caught a wide variety of stars including Eric Clapton, Ellen DeGeneres and Sharon Stone dining at the restaurant.

The Italian trattoria serving fare priced at around $25 per entree will close by November 21. Entrees included options like grilled seabass with Sicilian vegetables and garlic-herb butter, veal scaloppine with roasted red peppers, capers and lemon and roasted pork chops stuffed with spinach and fontina with mustard pork sauce. Orso restaurants in New York and London will remain open.

An NY Times article says that Orso Los Angeles began to falter when the Creative Artists Agency and International Creative Management moved into Century City office towers and when the nearby New Line Cinema once a huge client, began deep job cuts. There's no shortage of other restaurants in the area but its always sad to see a restaurant that has survived 20 years in the fickle world of Los Angeles restaurants close down.

There is a spot of good news though. The restaurant may be closing but the space itself may have a new future, LAist reports that restaurant owner Sean MacPherson, who is part of several Los Angeles spots including Bar Lubitsch, Swingers and Good Luck Bar, is listed on a recently submitted alcohol permit for the space.

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