Laris is Closed
By Justin Fischer, Nov 17th, 2010 | In Dining
After a six year run, fine dining flagship Laris quietly closed its doors on Monday, November 15. Three on the Bund were unwilling to comment and only confirmed the closing. David Laris, however, was available for a few words.
The situation as he describes it was the culmination of a "two year process of being unhappy." Two years ago, the Australian chef/restaurateur/consultant had entered a licensing arrangement with Three on the Bund, similar to the one Jean Georges Vongerichten currently has with them. "It started as a positive thing," said Laris, "I wanted to do other things." Laris would allow Three on the Bund to use his name and he would work with them as a consultant while he focused his energy on his consulting and restaurant company David Laris Creates. According to Laris, however, it got to the point where he and Three on the Bund no longer shared the same vision as to how his namesake restaurant should be run. "Sometimes you've got to do what it takes to maintain quality," he said "and my sense of that and their sense of that weren't the same." He added, "They're real estate people, not hospitality people." Laris even attempted to buy or lease the space from Three on the Bund but negotiations failed a month ago. But there are new plans in the works. The working title is Laris 2.0. It's all on the drawing board right now, but Laris indicated that he plans to scale it down, pointing out that "the trend is moving away from 150 seat restaurants." Likewise Three on the Bund are looking to fill the space. And while they say they've got some promising leads, for now, they're unwilling to disclose who or what they might be. Said Laris: "Unless they totally renovate it, it's always going to look like Laris."
The situation as he describes it was the culmination of a "two year process of being unhappy." Two years ago, the Australian chef/restaurateur/consultant had entered a licensing arrangement with Three on the Bund, similar to the one Jean Georges Vongerichten currently has with them. "It started as a positive thing," said Laris, "I wanted to do other things." Laris would allow Three on the Bund to use his name and he would work with them as a consultant while he focused his energy on his consulting and restaurant company David Laris Creates. According to Laris, however, it got to the point where he and Three on the Bund no longer shared the same vision as to how his namesake restaurant should be run. "Sometimes you've got to do what it takes to maintain quality," he said "and my sense of that and their sense of that weren't the same." He added, "They're real estate people, not hospitality people." Laris even attempted to buy or lease the space from Three on the Bund but negotiations failed a month ago. But there are new plans in the works. The working title is Laris 2.0. It's all on the drawing board right now, but Laris indicated that he plans to scale it down, pointing out that "the trend is moving away from 150 seat restaurants." Likewise Three on the Bund are looking to fill the space. And while they say they've got some promising leads, for now, they're unwilling to disclose who or what they might be. Said Laris: "Unless they totally renovate it, it's always going to look like Laris."
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