Joe Isidori, the Executive Chef for the Trump organization called Tuesday to inform me that DJT would be closing immediately, and the concept of the restaurant would be “reworked” to fit better with the economic times.
Whatever DJT becomes it will never be what it once was. For barely four months it’s been bucking the tide of vacancies, foreclosures and recession, and trying to carve a niche for itself as a premium restaurant experience, in an intimate setting, with superior food, that isn’t driven by a casino marketing machine or an absentee celebrity chef.
That it failed is due more to a perfect storm of negative market forces than from anything else. The 1,200 unit Trump International Hotel/Condominium Tower has closed on less than 300 units to date, and the rooms are being rented at 1990 prices, by bargain hunters with no interest in Tasmanian sea trout with yuzu emulsion, roasted jidori chicken with Oregon morels, slow roasted halibut with sweetbreads, or one of the best steaks in town.