Closings..

Remembered...

just a short note that I wanted to get out today.   There is a saying in some blues songs about "you never miss your water till the well runs dry".

Well, one year ago today, Cafe Des Artistes in Leonardtown went dark.  From a year's perspective, it is apparent what a hole it left for Leonardtown which is trying to be a bona fide arts district.  There are other ingredients there, a coffee shop, a kitchen store, a gallery, and a few other eating options.  However, IMHO, there are no dining options.  Loic and Karleen offered what we now see was a unique setting where creative food was available, along with caring attention from the Chef and his charming wife. And also from that year's perspective, we see how hard that is.  La Rive Breton did their best, but the model that worked in DC didn't translate well, and they also went dark.  

Plus through the grape vine we now know what the Jaffres had to put up with in the building.  The "Rive" team invested a large sum of money trying to fix what Loic endured for years.  So after a long period of vacancy a Tex Mex restaurant will be moving into what was the cornerstone of Leonardtown.  Maybe not, but it seems to me that the whole aura of the town is lowered.  I know the businessmen's association is populated with smart people so maybe they can work something out.  I don't think Dos Amigos will have Creme Brulee on the menu..

Perhaps a good thing is that Loic is loving rural life in Pennsylvania, and his chickens.  He deserves it! 

And I have also learned and verified that the Urban Barbecue place has also closed shop.  Personally I never tried their product, but reports reaching the feeder were never very positive.  As I recall, it was a young couple that opened the place ("we've always dreamed of....") I hope they didn't suffer financial hardship.  Tough business. 

anyway, just another milestone.  

DFD