Chicago : Marché restaurant closing

(Crain's) — French brasserie Marché will shut down next month after a nearly a two-decade run in the West Loop.

The Randolph Street staple, which opened in 1993, will close June 13, the owners said.

"After 17 years, it's time to do something else," co-owner Jerry Kleiner said.

The decision to close was also influenced by the end of the lease at 833 W. Randolph St., said Howard Davis, an attorney who owns Marché with Mr. Kleiner.

"It's a big place and expensive to carry," Mr. Davis said. "It needed to change."

Big French brasseries may have run their course in Chicago. Old Town Brasserie closed in April after a run of 2½ years. Brasserie Ruhlman closed in October 2008 after being open for roughly a year.

Messrs. Davis and Kleiner said they are considering a new concept for the Marché space, if they can agree to new lease terms with the landlord. Mr. Kleiner, who owns 33 Club in Old Town and Carnivale in Fulton Market, declined to discuss Marché's potential replacement.

Marché was one of the early collaborations between Messrs. Davis and Kleiner. The duo later opened several more eateries under their KDK Restaurants partnership.

But the recession has hit restaurants hard. Mr. Davis shut down Le Lan in River North and Soul in Clarendon Hills last May due to a lack of diners. Le Lan had opened in 2004 and Soul debuted in 2008.

KDK continues to operate three other long-standing Chicago restaurants: Red Light in the West Loop and South Loop's Gioco and Opera

Charlie Trotter ends Vegas run with restaurant closing

(Crain's) — It looks like Charlie Trotter's luck has run out in Las Vegas, as the celebrity chef has closed the namesake restaurant he opened two years ago in the Palazzo Las Vegas hotel and casino.

Restaurant Charlie and Bar Charlie went dark on Friday after five months of debate, said Rochelle Smith Trotter, Mr. Trotter’s wife and publicist.

Mr. Trotter and the restaurant's partners had considered rebranding the 120-seat Restaurant Charlie and its 18-seat Bar Charlie sushi bar, but decided against straying from the high-end concept that Mr. Trotter is known for.

Restaurant Charlie opened in March 2008 to cater to the Palazzo's high-end, international guests and was a hit with some critics. It garnered one Michelin star — an international one-to-three-star rating of excellence — in 2009 and its chef, Vanessa Garcia, was recently named a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for rising star chef of the year.

But it wasn't long after Restaurant Charlie's grand opening that the economy slammed on the brakes.

"We just no longer had the traffic to justify the offering in the Palazzo property," Ms. Trotter said. "It was really a function of, can we sustain it and how long can we sustain it for?"

Mr. Trotter, who was recently married in the Maldives, continues to operate his eponymous restaurant in Lincoln Park.