Closing of Don Coqui-MacMenamin’s Grill Leaves Trail of Wreckage

Written By: Robert Cox

MacMenaminsGrillCookingSchool4.jpgPeter Zisser, an attorney who represents Robert Gelzter, the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the bankruptcy filing of MacMenamin’s Grill, was in court recently to explain why Geltzer shut down the restaurant.

Trustee says Don Coqui restaurant was losing money

The trustee appointed to oversee the bankruptcy of Don Coqui Restaurant in New Rochelle closed the restaurant March 19 because it was losing money, the trustee’s lawyer told a judge today. Peter Zisser said that for each $1 in sales, the restaurant, formerly known as MacMenamin’s Grill, was spending $1.10 to $1.15.

Court records show the restaurant bouncing over 50 checks, mostly to employees but also a $10,000 retainer check for their own lawyer while leaving a trail of debts to a long list of restaurant supply companies.

Meanwhile, our old pal Aman Ali is reporting that a Yonkers charity is unlikely to get back a $2,000 deposit it put down to hold an event at Don Coqui restaurant, the former MacMenamin’s Grill which was shut down last month by a Federal bankruptcy trustee.

Deposits at bankrupt restaurant may be down the drain

Earlier this year, a local charity that funds scholarships and restores playgrounds for children in the area put down a $2,000 deposit to hold an event at the Don Coqui restaurant. But now that a bankruptcy court has closed the Cedar Street restaurant, lawyers handling the case said there’s a chance that groups such as the Jennifer Fante Foundation won’t be getting a refund. [The charity] planned to hold a fundraiser at Don Coqui on April 23. The group said it found out about the restaurant’s bankruptcy by reading about it in The Journal News.

The foundation gave the restaurant a $2,000 deposit in February. On March 19, U.S. Bankruptcy trustee Robert Geltzer shut the place down, saying it was continuing to lose money and had several irregularities in the way it ran the business.

You have to wonder what went on with the $2,000 deposit. Why would any charity risk putting down thousands of dollars on deposit with a restaurant in bankruptcy? It has been in paper for months yet the story makes it sound as if the first the Jennifer Fante Foundation heard about the problems at MacMenamin’s was when Geltzer shutdown the restaurant. This makes me wonder whether anyone at Don Coqui/MacMenamin’s Grill told the foundation that the restaurant was in bankruptcy proceedings, that a special trustee had been appointed, that past depositors had already filed to get their money back. Had the foundation thought to check the public records related to the bankruptcy they would have found this list:

Statement of Financial Affairs – Amended 11/26/08
Property Held for Another Person (funds listed as “on account, non refundable”)

  • James DeVary/Gunn Allen, New York, NY: $500 to be applied towards party on 12/2/08
  • Marnie Korpi Rye Brook, NY: $100 to be applied towards party on 12/4/08
  • Jacqueline Bucello/Fidelity Investments, Scarsdale, NY: $5200 to be applied towards party on 12/4/08
  • Rob Grieve/Sanofi Aventis: $350 cash and $9.69 credit to be applied towards party on 12/4/08
  • Valco Energy Systems, Port Chester, NY: $450 to be applied towards party on 12/6/08
  • Sherry Kibel, Rye Brook, NY $100 to be applied towards party on 12/7/08
    Vicki Schoell/USTA Eastern, White Plains, NY: $490 to be applied towards party on 12/11/08
  • Samantha Quinn/Schiavetti, New York, NY: $600 to be applied towards party on 12/12/08
  • Liza Karsten, Irvington, NY: $1000 to be applied towards party on 12/13/08
  • Bill Spinner, Larchmont, NY: $175 to be applied towards party on 12/13/08
  • Jane R Pollack: $100 to be applied towards party on 12/13/08
  • Wyatt Mason: $450 to be applied towards party on 12/14/08
  • Pepsi Bottling Company, Somers,NY: $2000 cash $800 in credits to be applied towards party on 12/17/08
  • Rita & Sarah Morgan, Mamaroneck, NY: $200 to be applied towards party on 12/18/08
  • Lara O’Loan/Cengage Learning, Stamford, CT: $1200 to be applied towards party on 12/18/08
  • Jennifer Skrapits/UBS: $1200 to be applied towards party on 12/18/08
  • Wendy Herrick/Unilever: $270 to be applied towards party on 12/18/08
  • Dana Sherman/Hegedorn Communications: $250 to be applied towards party on 12/19/08
  • Spyros Halaris/Advance Technologies Group: $455 to be applied towards party on 12/19/08
  • George Roach/GER Industries: New Rochelle, NY: $1200 to be applied towards party on 12/23/08
  • Leckey Sherryl/Jem Architechtial, Bronx, NY: $250 to be applied towards party on 12/24/08
  • Ken Chenault/American Express, New Rochelle, NY: $500 to be applied towards party on 12/25/08
  • Ann Gallegher: $660 to be applied towards party on 12/27/08
  • Barbara/Comizio Orthodontics, Eastchester, NY: $250 to be applied towards party on 12/3/08
  • Mark Varian. White Plains, NY: $500 to be applied towards party on 12/6/08
  • Nectar Vega, Bronx, NY: $950 to be applied towards party on 1/10/09
  • Lisa Walsh/Pepsi Co, Charlotte, NC: $700 to be applied towards party on 1/14/09
  • Nancy Hardy/Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, New York, NY: $586 to be applied towards party on 1/28/09
  • Randy & Claire Ross, Larchmont, NY: $3500 to be applied towards party on 2/7/09
  • Linda Volpano: $8000 to be applied towards party on 4/18/09
  • Aaron Stern, White Plains, NY: $3000 to be applied towards party on 3/27/10
  • Amy Lieberman, Larchmont, NY: $1000 to be applied towards party on 2/12/11

A reviewer on Yelp which now lists MacMenamin’s Grill as “closed” took a parting shot:

Nice, Brian.

Operate a decent place for years, rake in the bucks, then fleece the people and close down your new place which advertised a TIME LIMIT on dinner, and now steal money from charities.

Real nice, Brian.

Ouch!

2 thoughts on “Closing of Don Coqui-MacMenamin’s Grill Leaves Trail of Wreckage”

  1. cooking class
    Merry Christmas to my daughter

    the class was cancelled and no reparation was even mentioned, only a rescheduling ————- good luck rescheduling a class with macmenaman’s and it looks like they had already filed —- guess i’ll ck it out with american express

  2. damn!!! people who ate at
    damn!!! people who ate at the new Don Coqui’s said they loved it… Unfortunately i didn’t get to go….

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