Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tombstones WildWood Oak Fired Kitchen Closes, Citing Hard Times
Posted by Jim Ridley on Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 2:51 PM
WildWood Oak Fired Kitchen, the Bellevue dining destination intended as the prototype for a proposed chain of locally focused restaurants, has closed its doors. According to former co-owner and co-founder Dave Wachtel III, the restaurant called a halt to operations last Saturday night.
"The economy's been tough," Wachtel said. He declined to discuss any other aspects of the closing, explaining that the restaurant's current and former owners are "involved in sensitive legal issues."
When it opened in mid-2007, WildWood immediately lifted Bellevue's limited dining options with relocated Seattle chef John David Crow's menu of creatively tweaked staples, such as pork chop with chestnut spaetzle. No sooner did the Scene's Carrington Fox give it a glowing review, though, than Crow parted ways with then-owners Wachtel and Justin D. Tatum.
Another Wachtel-Tatum venture, Barfield's All-American Grille in Hendersonville, shuttered its doors in January.
Comments (8)
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"Bellevue Bity says:
Not a big loss."
It probably is for the people that lost their jobs and will have a bitch of a time finding a new one.
I really don't understand people on this blog's glee or indifference at restaurants closing.
Really? Glee? Indifference? Hows about real life personal experience????
I, for one, do not mourn the loss of server Aus***. He was possibly the only server that compelled me to modify my standard 20% compensation. He was awful. So was the the undercooked flatbread appy, the overly salty chicken entree (with LoMein noodles), and glacial menu options (same shit, different year).
Goddammit I tried though. At least 10+ $100 plus meals on the days (daze) when wine was half price, fer crying out loud... Urp...
But now we got China Panda and Brewhouse West! Hahahahaha. Phuck...
btw - Mr. Crow and his posse @ 360 are doing a respectable gig. However, I personally cannot shoulder the entire burden of this flustercuck of an economy.
I have mixed feelings about this. Yeah, it was way overpriced, but it was better than anything else in Bellevue, if you picked the right menu item.
john david crow - a wonderful man and a great chef in this town was 'taken for a ride' by dave wachtel. a nightmare scenario... i know john and he is a very decent, earnest and hard working man.
from all accounts, wachtel deserves what he's getting. i've heard numerous horror stories from so many different sources as to how he has treated people and business dealings.
as for the quality of the food - i've no idea as i never would have patronized the place.
Awww to bad for them. Seems like the global crisis has affected everyone. I didn't think it would hit the food industry that bad.
The reason Wildwood closed, is because you had one owner who was a crook, and the other that was playing with dad's money, and couldn't read a doctor sues book. One was a fake, the other would rather look at himself in the mirror, not realizing that everyone around him thought he was a douche! Glad the placed closed, what a joke! Dave Whachtel and Justin Tatum are losers who's parents had a little bit of money....You can pay for school but you can't buy class...
This was not John's fault, it's the ignorant overly wealthy restaurant investors in this town who assume that opening a restaurant wil cure all of their social ills. It does until the food goes south with the chef who is fired because is partners do not have the patience to wait out the storm and let the CHEF do his job. After commiting all of those sins who else do you you blame. Leave your uneducated opinions and your drunk meddling wives at home. Your chef will get you through this.
