[Editor's Note: This story has been updated with new information and comments from Ruffino's owner Ruffin Rodrigue.]
A little more than a year after opening his sprawling Riverfront restaurant (easily the most beautifully designed in town) on Camellia Boulevard in River Ranch, renowned chef Donald Link is calling it quits. The warm yet contemporary feel achieved by Cochon was not enough to sustain the business, a fact easily observed by the sparsely populated restaurant — a direct contrast with the runaway success the casual eatery has enjoyed in New Orleans' Warehouse District.
While the menu tweaks Cochon made in recent months and other promotions appeared to be catching on, the restaurant was said to have been preparing to check out of the market for some time.
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| Donald Link, left, at his New Orleans Cochon, one of the most popular eateries in the Warehouse District |
Selling upscale Cajun to Cajuns? It was a gamble that did just not pay off for the Lake Charles native — not when millions had been invested. While Link may be leaving Lafayette, the talent behind New Orlreans' Herbsaint, Cochon and Butcher is far from done when it comes to restaurant development.
Cochon spokeswoman Liz Goliwas Bodet released this statement to The IND Friday morning:
Link Restaurant Group (LRG) announced today that it was re-focusing its development efforts in the New Orleans market. With the planned opening of a new wood-fired seafood restaurant this spring at the corner of Magazine and Julia Street, the company resources will be concentrated in the city. As a result, LRG is exiting the Lafayette market. The Cochon Lafayette location will become a new restaurant operated by the owners of Ruffino’s in Baton Rouge. We’ve enjoyed our time in Lafayette. We’re also happy that the beautiful Vermilion River location we built will become a vibrant new restaurant serving an excellent menu from a highly regarded Louisiana operator.
At press time we were still trying to confirm the actual closing date of the local Cochon. A manager told IND Monthly Thursday night it would remain open for about two weeks (we're hearing Feb. 10), so there is still time to take in that last meal and fabulous scenery.
Lafayette will surely welcome Ruffino’s, the wildly popular Italian-Creole fusion restaurant on Highland Road in Baton Rouge (said to offer steaks that will give Ruth's Chris a run for its money and a wine program that'll excite all local oenophiles: Silver Oak and Caymus for $99 a bottle).
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| Ruffin Rodrigue, Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden and Executive Chef Peter Sclafani |
Ruffino’s, owned by former LSU lineman Ruffin Rodrigue and Executive Chef Peter Sclafani, will make some interior changes but is not planning a major overhaul, Rodrigue tells IND Monthly. A private dining room is part of the planned renovations, the entrance may be relocated, and some other changes to the flow and colors of the restaurant are being discussed, he says.
"We kind of feel like the building was meant for us," Rodrigue says.
The restaurant will likely be called Ruffino's on the River, primarly a white tablecloth dinner venue. Like the Baton Rouge eatery, plans call for it to open for lunch only on Fridays, with a brunch offering on Sunday.
Ruffino's negotiated a lease-purchase agreement with Link and his father-in-law, who own the real estate, according to Rodrigue. The new restaurant will seat about 250, Rodrigue estimates, signficantly less than the 400 accommodated in Baton Rouge.
The Baton Rouge restaurant was founded as DiNardo's (after the former LSU coach) in 1998, and Rodrigue and Sclafani secured an equity interest in the venture in 2000, prompting the name change. They bought out their partner, T.J. Moran, three years ago.
One big question for potential Lafayette diners of Ruffino’s on the River: Will it offer the Mercedes sprinter van service here like it does in Baton Rouge? We’re dying to know.
Yes, Rodrigue says, it'll happen. But probably not immediately. He hopes to open the new restaurant in April.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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