La Maisonette est morte

Yesterday I noted with regret that Cincinnati's world-reknowned five star restaurant, the Maisonette, has closed its doors for good, according to owner Nat Comisar.

The Cincinnati Post, in its article, Maisonette will not reopen by Greg Paeth (9/24/05) stated:

The contents of one of only 14 Mobil five-star restaurants in the country will be sold to the highest bidder October 21 and 22, when the Great American Group of Los Angeles auctions off furniture, furnishings, equipment, glassware, china and an extensive collection of original art that had distinguished Maisonette from many of its competitors.

Comisar said the art includes a number of valuable paintings by American Impressionists.

The restaurant, founded in 1949, has been ranked five stars by the Mobil dining guide for an unprecedented 41 years. Mobil describes a five-star restaurant as the source of "one of the few flawless dining experiences in the country."

Comisar said that the decision to auction off the contents of the building, which is owned by other members of the Comisar family, was made by a Mason investment firm that had planned to work with Comisar to open a new Maisonette off Montgomery Road about a quarter mile south of the Kenwood Towne Center.

"The investors decided to call it quits," Comisar said.

Going to the Maisonette was always an experience I looked forward to with great anticipation. From my very first visit as a naive 17 year old, intoxicated by the romance of studying French language and culture, to my last, a Christmas holiday luncheon with my best friend and his parents, the staff and proprietors of this fabled restaurant treated first time visitors with the same courtesy and impeccable service as they did longtime denizens.

From my first tastes of onion soup gratinee, crepes au poulet in mornay sauce, and baked Alaska to the decadently self-indulgent pleasure of gateau St-Honore, the Maisonette was always a grown-up treat.

Who Is Nat Comisar