The last known state of Montrachet, from the Kalina Archive.
Since Eater put a bounty on the location of Restaurant Liebrandt, the new restaurant that Paul Liebrandt has acknowledged is in the works, we've had a few folks come forward with bit and pieces of intel. The common theme of this material is, Restaurant Liebrandt is opening in early 2008 in the space formerly known as Montrachet. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
It's important to note that our conversations with Drew Nieporent, the owner of Montrachet and long-suspected of being Liebrandt's operating partner, have been very consistent over the last six months. Eater: "Drew, we hear it's Montrachet." Drew: "It's not." Most recently, Drew's language was, "this intel [that Restaurant Liebrandt is taking the Montrachet space] is factually inaccurate." So, let's be clear: officially, Restaurant Liebrandt is not going into 239 West Broadway, aka Montrachet. At the very least, a complete set of official documents for the project—including, perhaps, a deal between Drew and Paul—does not yet exist.
But we do have the matter of consistent intel. Plus, there is the fact that Montrachet's liquor license is still active and will remain so through March of 2008. We need look no farther than just down the street from Montrchet, to what was once Liquor Store Bar, to understand how valuable a commodity such a thing is. The chances of Drew letting the booze paperwork go to waste are slim to none.
On the conclusive scale, we're going to rate this reveal a 6.5 of 10. It's even possible Drew and Paul are working the Montrachet theory behind the scenes to distract from their real location. Either that or we've got it right. Our $500 reward to the first person to supply the location along with photo documentation stands.
· WANTED: The Location of Restaurant Liebrandt ($500 Reward) [~E~]
· Whither PaulLiebrandt.com? (Also: $500 Bounty Update) [~E~]
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