Room 4 Dessert, Courtesy of the Kalina Archive
What started as a summer vacation and was quickly upgraded to a legal battle ends with the official and permanent closure of Room 4 Dessert, Will Goldfarb's haute dessert bar at 17 Cleveland Place. It's unclear exactly how a perennially crowded and critically acclaimed restaurant met with such an abrupt and unfortunate fate, but we have very good sources who say the shuttering is a result of a massive rift between Goldfarb and his financial backers. Futhermore, said sources say, Room 4 Dessert will not reopen under that name elsewhere because a legal settlement, just completed, prevents Goldfarb from doing so. Goldfarb said to us today, not fully denying these claims, "at this point there are no legal issues whatsoever. [Me and my former partners] have terminated our mutual interests. There are no issues of any kind with my former partners."
But, fear not for the sweets man. Goldfarb has indicated to us (and Cutlets as well) that he's got a new, bigger, restaurant in the works that'll open in February 2008 at a location he would not disclose. Think bigger and more savory—and perhaps with the intellectual property a bit better locked up.
· EaterWire: Goldfarb, Room 4 Dessert in Ownership Battle; Future Uncertain [~E~]
· Room 4 Dessert Takes Summer Vacation, Has Run-in With Verizon [~E~]