Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Urban pL8 86'd on the Westside

Urban pL8 has closed.

Less than ten days after abruptly closing mid brunch service following a bizarre kitchen mishap, Urban pL8 has closed for good.  Urban pL8 closed July 27th after the "kitchen catastrophe," and then brought back chef Jamila Tobias who had been one of the restaurant's original employees.  Urban pL8 reopened Wednesday July 30th and seemed to be on the road to recovery.

Instead, a message posted to Urban pL8's facebook late today (8/6) says:

"Thank You!! And we love you! Our lease is up and Urban pL8 officially closed.  We are taking an exciting new direction, Betsy will be publishing all of her recipes soon enough.  Stay tuned! Thanks again for everything!"

Urban pL8 opened on Huff Road in July 2009 and after a slow start, gained a following in the local food community, especially amongst the area's crossfit community.  Urban pL8 was the first eatery for chef and owner Betsy Pitts, who previously was a sous chef at both Bacchanalia and Floataway Cafe. 

Before Urban pL8, a number of eateries had tried and failed in their space.  

Pangaea closed in December, 2007.  A few months later, Milk & Honey opened and then closed less than a year later. 

The West Midtown/Westside community is definitely a more diverse and more populated area than it was when these other concepts opened.  Even just since 2009, hundreds of additional apartments and homes have been built in the surrounding area.  

It's seems rather odd that the restaurant would close and bring back a favorite employee, reopen, only to close a short time later due to a "lease."  

What are your thoughts on this closure?  Will you miss Urban pL8 or was it the the sinking ship readers have claimed it was?  What would you like to see open its place? 

Please share your thoughts below.  

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, uh, is somebody gonna tell us what this "bizarre kitchen mishap" or "serious kitchen catastrophe" was exactly?

Anonymous said...

No

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