Downtown Landmark Closes It's Doors

[cincygreg]

The Maisonette and La Normandie are now closed

MAISONETTE CLOSES

Still plans to re-open in 2006 in the Kenwood Montgomery area, but Cincinnati's 5 star restaurant is at least termporarily gone.

<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ July 25, 2005 04:10 PM: Message edited by: cincygreg ]</font>

[Lew]

A lifelong resident and yet I never made it down there. Well I did eat at La Normandie on a few occasions.

Of course, I never rode "The Bat," either.

So I guess I'll never qualify for Mr Cincinnati.

[reason]

I'm saddened by the loss of the Maisonette, but irked by the Comisar's persistent Downtown bashing toward the end.

Comisar announced the move to the suburbs then weeks later the family bragged how the prime Downtown location would bring top dollar.

If Downtown is so bad for business, then how can the sale of their building be so lucrative?

I'm no food expert, but it seems to me the Comisars failed in large part due to their own business model. Upscale, casual dining is in; fancy, stuffy dining is out.

With Sarbanes Oxley, the expensive business dinner has become much less common. I've been at my current job 6 years. The first two years I ate at the Maisonette three times for business and haven't been there since. Instead, I see a concerted effort from business hosts to opt for much more casual places, like Brio's, Copeland's (yuck), and PF Chang's.

Ruby's and Jag's can be very pricey, but the more casual atmosphere seems to be more popular as opposed to fine French dining.

[cincygreg]

Upscale casual, casual and family dining are always going to be top places, especially now. With more people being money conscious (dont have to be poor or broke to like to get the most for your money or take advantage of deals) the trend will continue in that direction. People want to be able to take their kids with them to places (not always, but it increases their options). I generally eat in casual to upscale casual places (like Trio or Behle Street) or sometimes I'll go a little more upscale like Embers. But, I also like the fast casual places as well where you can get a quick fresh made meal. And yes, I still do the fast food thing from time to time. I'm single and dont have any children so my choices are just based on what I like and where I feel comfortable and am treated well, but even now I see more and more families in the upscale casual places and people taking advantage of things like "kids eat free". Kids are a bit more adventurous these days and though chicken fingers and grilled cheese will always be mainstays, they will try different things which again increases the number of options that families have when they go out to eat.
Many upscale places are becoming even more just "special occasion places" the kind of places you only really consider on Anniversaries or Valentines day or to celebrate a big life moment. That trend doesnt bode well for the upscale restaurants as they all try to get what they can out of a smaller market.