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New lease on life: Owners eye lower rents, fresher concepts

New lease on life: Owners eye lower rents, fresher concepts

After 14 years of building the fine-dining reputation of his French restaurant La Cachette in a challenging Los Angeles location, chef-owner Jean Francois Meteigner is moving on—both literally and figuratively.

On July 31, La Cachette, with its staid country French design and formal atmosphere, will serve its last meal. On Aug. 1, Meteigner will officially open the doors of his new, more relaxed La Cachette Bistro, to be known as LC Bistro, in an oceanfront office building in Santa Monica, Calif.

Meteigner is not the only established restaurateur looking for a fresh start. This summer, a number of iconic restaurants are moving to new digs. Venues such as Aureole and Oceana in New York City, as well as the 22-year-old Corvette Diner in San Diego are closing the old and getting ready to debut the new.

The flurry of moving activity is being driven largely by the recession. Many operators are seizing the opportunity to negotiate better lease deals in their new sites. Others are finding available spaces in more desirable, higher-traffic districts where they are more likely to be happened upon by spending-shy consumers.

Still others say they are looking to evolve their concepts or are moving for larger dining rooms, a separate bar or other features that will add to sales and better position their brands for what will hopefully be better times down the road.

But moving an established restaurant is an expensive and difficult process, operators say. While a new location may draw media coverage and a flood of curious fans, it can also scare away longtime regulars who may be adverse to change. All things considered, however, operators note that the gamble is worth taking.

Paul McLaughlin, managing partner of the 17-year-old seafood restaurant Oceana, the flagship of the New York-based Livanos Restaurant Group, admits he’s a bit nervous. But the positive aspects of the upcoming move far outweigh the risks, he said.

Oceana is now located in an Upper East Side brownstone, where McLaughlin said the venue was considered more of a “destination restaurant.” It will serve its last meal there July 25.

In August, what officials are touting as the new-and-improved Oceana will open in a 10,000-square-foot space on the west side of Midtown Manhattan in the McGraw-Hill building near Rockefeller Center, which is surrounded by theaters and a vibrant business district.

The new location will allow the now 120-seat restaurant to almost double in size, adding a 12-seat crudo bar, a 20-seat wine cellar room, private dining and, down the road, outdoor seating.

Chef Ben Pollinger is taking the opportunity to rework his menu, offering more simply prepared dishes à la carte with more accessible pricing, McLaughlin said. Currently, dinner at Oceana is typically “north of $100” per person, he added. At the new location, pricing will range between $65 and $70 per person for dinner.

The move was prompted when the lease at the current location came up for renewal, McLaughlin said. Though there was an offer to extend, the group began to look at other possible spaces and developer The Rockefeller Center Group offered a solid deal.

McLaughlin declined to comment on the cost of the move, except to say it will be “costly.” But, he added, “when the market turns, we’ll be in a good position for the future.”

The 20-year-old restaurant Aureole, the flagship of chef-owner Charlie Palmer’s 14 restaurants, is also planning to leave its current Upper East Side turn-of-the-century brownstone for a 10,000-square-foot spot in the Bank of America Tower in the Bryant Park theater district. The new location is scheduled to open in June.

Palmer said he would serve his last meal at the current location May 30.

Over the years, Palmer has renovated the brownstone location multiple times, but the space configuration was limiting, he said. While still taking shape, the new Aureole, which is being designed by Adam Tihany, will feature a separate bar with 60 seats, and a 55-seat main dining room, which is somewhat smaller than the 80 seats available on the two floors of the current venue.

Unlike the original location, however, the new Aureole will also have space for a large wine cellar, private dining rooms and outdoor seating, as well as a much bigger kitchen, officials said.

While the current version of the concept offers an all-prix-fixe menu, the new incarnation will offer à la carte options. Prices will be lower for the soft introduction during the summer to inspire fans to come in for a look, officials said.

The goal, Palmer said, is to give customers more options at a time when upscale fine dining may be out of reach for many.

Palmer announced plans for the move two years ago, and customers have been encouraged to follow the process by keeping up with regular photo installments on the company’s website as the new location takes shape.

Company officials said Palmer plans to sell the brownstone, which he owns. News accounts have indicated that Aureole was enticed to move by a generous lease deal. The cost of opening the new restaurant reportedly has been estimated at $8 million, a number the company would not confirm.

In San Diego, the Cohn Restaurant Group’s beloved Corvette Diner closed April 26 after 22 years in the Hillcrest neighborhood, where founder David Cohn said finding parking spaces was always a problem.

One of 13 restaurants operated by the group, the Corvette’s lease was up, and Cohn decided to move the 1950s-style, rock ‘n’ roll-theme concept to a historic former naval base site with plenty of parking.

The new spot, scheduled to open at the end of June, is about twice the size of the original location, with seating for 242 and a 5,000-square-foot arcade, which the company has named Gamers’ Garage.

Because of the challenging economy, Cohn said, he was able to negotiate favorable rent and his per-square-foot costs are lower at the new location, though the overall rent is higher because the space is so much bigger.

Cohn estimated the cost of opening the new location at about $3 million, including the expense of moving the valuable memorabilia that decorated the original restaurant, such as a vintage Corvette car.

Though Cohn worries about losing customers during the weeks the concept is closed, he added that the restaurant received a lot of media attention when it closed, and he expects the new opening will also bring headlines.

The move has also given Cohn an opportunity to “modernize” the menu, adding more salads, for example. The former Corvette’s menu had six to eight malts and shakes, but the new menu will have 21, including exotic flavors such as pomegranate, he said.

Cohn sees the move as a “silver lining” of the current economy.

“Leases and occupancy costs are coming somewhat back down to earth,” he said. “Landlords are wooing restaurants and offering better deals, and everyone is looking at going back to basics.”

For Meteigner, La Cachette’s move is a chance to reinvent himself.

“I’m making it more fun for myself,” he said. “I don’t want to be stuck in that one concept anymore.”

Rather than the more traditional French fare of the original restaurant, LC Bistro will feature “California bistro” dishes, such as bison short ribs, raw tuna and grilled swordfish with wasabi.

Over the past three years or so, Meteigner’s said his original location suffered as the city widened and refurbished Santa Monica Boulevard, which it overlooks. Even regulars have trouble navigating the one-way access roads and back alleys now necessary to find the restaurant, he noted.

The new location—at roughly the same cost per square foot—is on a busy oceanside street surrounded by hotels and accessible by foot. The bistro will offer 80 seats inside and another 80 outside, as well as a 40-seat bar and a 20-seat private room.

Meteigner plans to bring the bistro’s prices down to between $5 to $15 for appetizers and $12 to $27 for main courses, and his culinary focus will be on using local ingredients.

Overall, he estimated that it will cost $3 million to $3.5 million to move, but Meteigner said it’s worth it.

“It’s an adventure,” he said. “We needed a fresh start.”— [email protected]

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