Beijing Boyce

Renovations were apparently done with super speed as China Doll is open again (see Tongli in Trouble). They had just enough time to change some light bulbs and buy new bottle openers for the bar.

Meanwhile, in Lido, The Cellar is now Cave or, to be less cryptic, the wine bar called the Cellar that was part of Trio,  which includes Frank’s Place and Park Grill, has been sold to a Korean company that is re-launching it as Cave. Tonight’s opening party drew a sizeable crowd and I’ll have more on this soon.

For now, it’s time for Halloween fun…

TRIO opened in May of 2006 and included: a reincarnation of the city’s oldest non-hotel bar, Frank’s Place, at ground level; a seventy-seat New York grill and piano bar, Park Grill, up top; and the high-end wine-centric The Cellar in, no surprise, the basement.

Frank’s Place has done well, particularly with the improvements made to the deck since opening day, but both The Park Grill and The Cellar have struggled. TRIO management reports the latter has been rented to a Korean company that operates eight wine bars in Seoul under the brand Le Cave. Look for a similar deal in respect to The Park Grill.

“The result is not that different from the original concept,” says one investor. “We’ve just teamed up with strategic partners.”

What it means is that the TRIO management can focus on its bread and butter - Frank’s Place - while its new partners can provide added marketing and sales power. This might end up being one of those win-win-win situations.

Also see Frank’s 1.2