After only 10 days, building owner Danny Chow couldn’t stand the heat and got out of the kitchen.
In what might be an all-time record for gustatory futility, the owner of Danny’s on Court Street bailed out on his casual American restaurant in less than two weeks — and that coming on the heels of his prior eatery at the site, the defunct F. Martinella deli, which closed after a very short run.
“I was just too tired,” said Chow, who owns the building at the corner of State Street, yet still couldn’t make it work.
He denied that there were any financial problems — just exhaustion by the hard work of living the dream.
Few were surprised at Chow’s flaky move.
“It’s like he just woke up one morning and said, ‘Eh, I don’t want to do this,’” said Ron Lopez, owner of La Bagel Delight a block away from Chow’s building. “But even when the restaurant was open, it looked closed. It was just really bare.”
The restaurant business is tough, but even flies have longer lifespans than Danny’s. “I’ve been out of town for 10 days so I didn’t even see it open, and now all of a sudden, it’s closed,” said Jennifer Murdoch, a stay-at-home mom who lives across the street.
Her friend, Katie Staggers, offered the classic Brooklyn shrug. “Oh well, so much for that,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Chow bailed out of a business. He owned F. Martinella for several months, but said he gave that up because “the hours were too long,” he said.
Chow said he had no plans for a new business, and is merely trying to lease the site for now.
Interested parties should be prepared for hard work.
