Philippe by Philippe Chow in Boca Raton: Polished Service, Lively Crowd, Fair Prices
After Chow vs. Chow, will Las Olas see Philippe?
Philippe by Philippe Chow has closed its Boca Raton doors, just missing the one-year anniversary mark.
The upscale Chinese eatery opened on August 24, 2011 to much expectation by Boca residents looking forward to having the New York celebrity hangout bring a touch of Big Apple-style to the neighborhood.
The restaurant got a good start and some major publicity when Jennifer Lopez was seen getting Philippe's chow delivered to her suite at the Boca Raton Resort & Country Club while she was filming on location.
CEO Stratis Morfogen was so bullish on South Florida, that he re-opened a Philippe by Philippe Chow in South Beach in November 2011, with plans for a third location in Fort Lauderdale to open in mid-2012. But an expensive lawsuit, filed by rival restaurant Mr. Chow, which ended in both sides claiming victory, might have proved too much both financially and emotionally for the restaurateur's plans to expand in South Florida.
In an email to Clean Plate Charlie, Morfogen cited unexpected amounts of time, money, and stress that were expended on the above mentioned lawsuit.
"The closing of our Boca Location was as a result of Philippe Chow's
and my inability to focus on the opening of two new restaurants in south
Florida due to the unexpected time, emotional stress and money we were
required to devote to fighting the frivolous lawsuit filed by Michael
Chow. Unfortunately, if we had known what we
know today we would have never decided to engage in such an aggressive south
Florida expansion plan while fighting off these frivolous accusations.
Even though we prevailed in the U.S. Federal Courts the cost to defend
ourselves was extremely expensive."
At this point, the South
Beach location is open for business as usual, with the usual cast of
celebrities flocking to dine on green prawns and Peking duck, though it
seems unlikely the Fort Lauderdale location will open in the near
future.
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