Oh, Kobe Club. Sweet, sweet Kobe Club. On the Deathwatch since February; the restaurant that Jeffery Chodorow promised us, in person, would not close so long as it had a bed at the Eater Hospice. It's been a while since we checked in on her, so let's:
1) We had a top correspondent in the house on Saturday night. Here's what he found: "In a weird turn of events I ended up at Kobe Club on Saturday night. The place was empty, like 1/3 full at 8:30PM on Saturday night empty and not a single person at the bar empty. The décor is ridiculous, but the wine list was the biggest tip off for me. There were only insanely expensive wine and some mediocre low end bottles. We were flummoxed to find so much as a $150 bottle. It was like someone bought out the mid range bottles and they never replaced them. I suppose they are going to keep it open for the holiday season at least, but I don’t know who wants to have their holiday party in Santa’s samurai S&M lair. I think Bruni was right on this one for once."
2) Gawker's man of the night Josh Stein is on the Kobe beat as well today. He's got a conversation overheard at Sarabeth's between Chodorow and his lieutenants. Stein relates: "Kobe Club is not at all holding up well. Among the complaints, the banquettes are threadbare and there's an "area of concern" near the raw bar. In what manner should all this be fixed? Said Chodorow: "Just do it as cheaply as possible. I don't care, just make it happen cheap." [Gawker]
Sweet, poor Kobe Club. We'll give it to the end of the year: it's not that Chodorow has any intention of keeping it open long term. But he likely feels that holiday season profitability, and a few months of being cash-positive is worth waiting for.
· Deathwatch: Kobe Club [~E~]
