PALO ALTO Calif. The 10-year-old Spago branch here is scheduled to close June 1 as part of a shift by Las Vegas-based Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group from direct restaurant ownership to partnerships with hotels, museums and other venues.
Other free-standing restaurants within the Group, including the flagship Spago Beverly Hills and Chinois on Main in Santa Monica, would not be impacted by the decision to work more with hotel partners, said regional operations partner Alex Resnik. "Chinois and Spago Beverly Hills are part of a very strong market for us in Los Angeles," he said. "That's Wolfgang's home."
Spago locations in Hawaii and Las Vegas are located in hotels, and the Spago scheduled to open in November would be part of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Bachelor Gulch, Colo.
With the closing of the unit here, the only remaining Puck restaurant in the San Francisco area is Postrio in the Prescott Hotel. Though Puck holds an interest in Postrio, the restaurant is operated by the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, which owns the hotel. Another Postrio location is in The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, operated by the Puck group.
Resnik said no other Puck restaurants are planned for the San Francisco area at this time.
The Puck group, which operates several other upscale concepts, is expected to debut a new one called The Source at the Newseum in the Washington, D.C., area later this year.
