January 8, 2013
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Chef Brian Malarkey |
Gingham, his La Mesa BBQ fusion restaurant, closed and was taken over by The Cohn Restaurant Group to make a second Bo-BEAU. To make matters worse, his judgeship wasn't renewed for the second season of The Taste, and his San Diego restaurants didn't fill as many seats as they once did. We had suggested that the group spread itself too thin with the opening of a Herringbone in LA and Searsuckers in Austin, TX and Scottsdale, AZ (which also closed this week after being open only a little more than a year). Were we right?
Now with news that Gabardine will soon close its doors, it's becoming apparent that the Malarkey name doesn't carry the weight it once did in America's Finest City. Is it that other eateries are catching up to the casual/classy trend of social dining taking over San Diego? Or that maybe the Malarkey brand is merely shedding dead weight in order to focus on successful locations in other cities, as we've also heard rumors of a fabric restaurant to open in San Francisco?
Will the Malarkey empire fail or thrive? We can't wait to see the answers that 2014 brings. Regardless, cheers to new beginnings!
![Gabardine on Urbanspoon](http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1661961/biglink.gif)