Dept. of the Inevitable: Merkato 55/Le 55 Bankrupt

Meatpacking District: How, you wonder, could a restaurant such as Le 55 (fka Merkato 55) now known for its lavish brunch parties where people drop a grand and scream "What recession?!" file for Chapter 11? Turns out, when it's a restaurant with 300 seats that is relatively dead the rest of the week, the answer is: pretty easily.

Crain's brings the news that the MePa spot, which opened as a restaurant a year and a half ago under the stewardship of celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson and gradually turned into a nightclub after his departure, is in arrears to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and to its landlord: "Douglas Pick, an attorney representing its ownership, AM Operating Group, LLC, says the plan is to emerge from bankruptcy as a profitable business." Thank goodness those people can still spray champagne all over each other at Bagatelle and Hudson Terrace
· Meatpacking District eatery files for Ch. 11 [Crain's]