K-Paul's NY closes; Ark revamps its Cajun concept

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 2, 1992 by Milford Prewitt

NEW YORK -- Following an amicable parting of the ways between Cajun superchef Paul Prudhomme and Ark Restaurants Corp., K-Paul's New York has been remodeled and reopened as the Louisiana Community Bar and Grill.

Michael Weinstein, president of Ark, indicated that Prudhomme decided to dissolve the joint-venture partnership in order to concentrated on K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, the world-famous restaurant largely credited with catapulting Cajun-style cooking into the international spotlight.

Prudhomme may still consult with Ark occasionally, but he will no longer travel back and forth between New York and New Orleans, Weinstein explained.

"We are very pleased with the relationship we have with Paul," Weinstein said. "We went into business with Paul Prudhomme because he was Paul Prudhomme. Not because we thought Cajun food had any more viability than any other food."

But, he added, "we thought he was an important chef that should be represented in New York, and he wanted to come here badly. So we made a business deal. It's been good for both of us."

Prudhomme's New Orleans office said the chef was in Paris and unavailable for comment.

Weinstein said the restaurant has maintained its former sales volume since closing for a three-week-long renovation. He said the decor, menu and even the kitchen crew are largely identical to the restaurant's previous incarnation.

Even Prudhomme's signature dishes, like etoufee, blackened and bronzed fish, and gumbo, will remain on the menu.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the restaurant has been remodeled to accommodate live jazz bands, "a direction we were heading in anyway," Weinstein said.

Ark, which operates 18 restaurants in Manhattan, Boston and Washington, opened K-Paul's with Prudhomme in the summer of 1989, directly across the street from another Ark operation, Gonzalez y Gonzalez.

Just a few weeks ago the company converted one of its Upper East Side restaurants, Albuquerque Eats, into a Southwestern-themed restaurant, Canyon Road.

30-percent profit gain

The publicly held Ark reported a 30-percent gain in profits in its second quarter ended June 27, on a 14-percent increase in revenues, to $16.1 million. The company's third quarter just ended, but results have not been released.

Weinstein said the conversion of K-Paul's New York should have no detrimental impact on the company's financial performance.

"If anything, it should help us because there will be no more licensing fees," he said.

Prudhomme's partnership with Ark was not the impresario's first venture in New York. In 1985 Prudhomme imported the entire staff of his New Orleans operation to work at a local restaurant for just one month.

K-Paul's New York had an inauspicious beginning in its first few weeks in business. The restaurant, like Prudhomme's original establishment in New Orleans, opened with a no-reservations policy that irked many diners. The policy was quickly scrapped.

While K Paul's New York never gathered the crowds that made K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans an international destination restaurant, Weinstein said, the restaurant enjoyed strong patronage and volume.

Reviews of the restaurant tended to be mixed, though. For example, the 1992 Zagat New York Restaurant Survey said that "fans love its |massive quantities' of |spicy' food ..." while "foes call it |overpriced' and |hokey.'"

Weinstein said it would have been very easy to close the restaurant and sell the lease, which he described as "very cheap" by New York standards, after Prudhomme stepped back. But he said the company felt a commitment to the workers there, some of whom he feels have distinct culinary skills that would not be easily transferable to other restaurants.

"We were confronted with a situation by employees who had a specific talent, and if we didn't continue to do Cajun food, they would be out of work," he said. "Some key people could not be transferred to do other things, and Paul was kind enough to suggest to those people who wanted to move back to New Orleans that they would have a job with him.

"That's how strongly he felt about his commitment to them. We had a similarly strong commitment: If you don't want to move to New Orleans, we will maintain this as a Cajun restaurant, and we will give it a chance under another name."

Weinstein admitted that the changeover has not been without difficulties, however. He said he was disturbed by the diners who, upon phoning for reservations, paused before they committed to dinner.

"It's the same phone number as before, but they are hearing a different name," he said. But once it is explained, it gets them to come down."