The paint on the the sign had barely dried...
Alas, the record for the fastest restaurant opening and closing may have just been broken.
Las Brisas, the Mexican restaurant located inside of Starr's and operated by Sergio Zegar, closed last night after only 5 weeks in operation, per a newsletter announcement last night from Starr's owner, Bud Starr.
Starr would only only comment that he never had any involvement in the restaurant's operation and that "it was Sergio's deal and Sergio's decision."
The restaurant space at Starr's has worn many hats. Originally built for the lucrative-but-erratic pharmaceutical company dinner meeting trade, it morphed into Bar Oliver (Bud's given name) in April of 2009 (the subject of an SLM First Look), then to the Bistro at Starr's less than a year later, and a southwest-themed restaurant named Sonora (run by Mark French) was supposed to take its place. Now the ill-fated Las Brisas...
Next up: a reiteration of Nosh, a small bistro that itself had but a 9-month run in Maplewood at 7322 Manchester (now occupied by recently-opened Home Wine Kitchen). Paula Anderson, chef-owner at Nosh, will head the new Nosh as well. No opening date has been announced, but the space is ready for occupancy today. More on the new Nosh as we learn it.
So Relish was just asked, "What the hell's the deal with that space?"
We provided an opinion here and stand by it. To be successful, a restaurant MUST launch properly, advertise accordingly, and continue to market itself long after its opening. Even in a facility like Starr's, a dedicated phone line and constant, posted hours are mandatory, as is a working website. That restaurant owners spend bajillions on a spiffy build-out and then ignore the basics is hard to grasp. If you're gonna do a restaurant, you have to follow through. Social media must play a major part as well--to ignore it is tossing aside a free opportunity, the proverbial gift horse for a restaurateur. If you don't "do" social media, fine, hire someone who does.
Besides planning the new menu, one can only hope that Anderson and company are working on a dandy, pre-launch, marketing nosh as well.
