Chef
Rachel Klein, who abruptly - at least to the public - left the exotic
OM Restaurant & Lounge in Harvard Square in December after bringing
it much acclaim, is settling in as executive chef at the Seaport
Hotel’s Aura restaurant and new Tamo Bar.
The now-larger and renovated Aura had a soft reopening last week
with Klein’s new global, Asian-influenced menu and steakhouse offerings.
But the more interesting story may lie in Klein’s unceremonious
departure from OM along with that of general manager Donnie Simon.
Klein was the opening chef when the restaurant, with its lavish
Tibetan-inspired decor, debuted in early 2006. Her decampment followed
accolades, including Boston Magazine’s Best New Chef in 2006 and
Esquire Magazine’s 2006 Top 25 Best New Restaurants in America. Conde
Nast Traveler magazine also named OM to its 2006 “Hot List” as one of
the world’s 25 most alluring nights on the town.
Klein is taking the diplomatic route, saying she has “certain core
values that I like to keep around me and maintain, and it was just time
to move on.” She declined further comment.
To hear OM co-owner Solmon Chowdhury tell it, Klein simply left for
her current position, while Simon was let go and now is spewing venom.
But Simon, backed up by other sources, tells another story. It’s one
of two young restaurateurs, Chowdhury and partner Bikram Yonjan - named
by Stuff@Night Magazine as two of the most influential players in
Boston’s entertainment industry - who bit off more than they could chew
and ran into financial problems.
“By the 12th of December, (Chowdhury and Yonjan) sat both of us down
and told us there was no money to pay either of us,” Simon said.
Yonjan, who owns 45 percent of OM and traveled to Thailand,
Indonesia and Nepal to outfit it, has since filed for personal
bankruptcy with at least $79,258 in debt and just $269 in the bank,
even though he claims monthly income of $26,535, according to court
filings. He plans to “walk away” from the restaurant and seek a job as
an engineer, the court documents state. Deutsche Bank won court
approval to foreclose on a Somerville two-family home owned by Yonjan,
and court documents filed in March point to a pending eviction process
against OM from its Cambridge location. Yonjan could not be reached for
comment.
Simon joined OM in September and says he soon discovered the
financial troubles. The restaurant was in arrears with vendors, and
back taxes are owed to the state.
Chowdhury maintains that talk of OM financial problems is “not really accurate.”
“Every business has a slow season and a busy season,” he said. “I
don’t think we have any financial problems. We let (Simon) go, so he’s
basically bad-mouthing us.”
Simon says he and Klein believed that money was being used from OM
each month to prop up Chowdhury and Yonjan’s ailing and short-lived
Rendang restaurant in the same building.
Simon and Klein decided to increase OM’s focus on corporate sales and private parties to lure in more business.
“Because of the switch in the business model, our sales in November
were higher than they were in the previous year, and the profit margin
also was a lot better,” Simon said. “The first week of November, the
gross profit was $39,000 and change, but they kept telling us that we
were losing $30,000 to $40,000 a month.”
OM brought in $2.5 million in annual sales, according to Simon, who
said food and labor costs were in line and liquor costs were coming
into line. “We were working and running the restaurant in the manner
that it should be run,” he said. “We both had great track records and
experience to back up what we brought to the table.”
But things got grim in December. OM went into the holiday season
short-staffed and was having trouble holding on to employees, Simon
said. Tip payouts were changed from nightly to weekly, and the checks
didn’t clear the bank. Simon and Klein also said they had problems
cashing their paychecks.
OM has since changed its Asian-influenced new American menu to a less expensive one, and Chowdhury says “business is excellent.”
“We lowered our menu prices by about 25 percent,” he said. “We
basically listened to what our customers wanted. They knew the
restaurant was amazing and everything was great, but the prices were
too high.”
Meantime, OM’s vendors are still trying to collect.
“They can only give me a little bit at a time, and I have to go and
appear in person - to the right person at the right time of day when
it’s convenient for them - and they may give me a part of the portion
of what they owe me,” said one vendor who was out more than $8,000 and
did not want to be identified.
Grill Concepts Inc. CEO Philip Gay doesn’t like the word “chain”
when asked why Bostonians should be jazzed about another chain
restaurant landing at the Shops at Prudential Center.
The 200-seat Daily Grill opens Monday as the 24th restaurant and the
first New England outpost for the 24-year-old Woodland Hills, Calif.,
company. It joins P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and the Cheesecake Factory,
two other chains that do gangbusters business at the Pru.
“We talk about ourselves as a collection of restaurants rather than
a chain,” said Gay. “But I think what we offer is an excellent value in
an excellent environment. It’s all about serving one great meal one at
a time.”
Daily Grill serves upscale American cuisine in an upscale casual
dining environment, with a 100-item menu featuring steaks, chops,
seafood and salads. Average checks run $18 per person for lunch,
excluding tax and tip, and $28 for dinner.
The publicly traded company spent $3 million revamping a former
Applebee’s into a classic, contemporary space recalling New York and
San Francisco grills from the ’30s and ’40s, according to Gay. The
lease was signed a year ago, and he has no qualms about hitting New
England amid shaky economic times.
“The demand is there,” Gay said. “When you’re able to get a premium
location like we have, you’re going to take it any which way. We’ll be
there for the next 15 to 20 years.”
Send restaurant news to dgoodison@bostonherald.com.
