Perino’s Bites Off More Than It Can Chew, Closes Complex

Not quite 18 months after it opened, a five-restaurant complex in downtown Los Angeles, operated under the golden patina of the Perino’s name, has gone out of business.

And Frank J. Esgro, president of Perino’s Downtown, which has now retrenched to the shelter of the original Perino’s dignified, 50-year-old Wilshire Boulevard premises, thought he had a reason: “Maybe we were a few years early.”

The five restaurants, offering everything from Perino’s venerable continental classics to alfresco deli sandwiches, opened in July, 1983, in anticipation of a rejuvenated downtown night life and brisk Central City hotel business.

It didn’t materialize, or rather, Esgro believes, it hasn’t materialized, at least not in time to keep the five restaurants afloat.

“The lunch business was fine, but the night business left a lot to be desired,” explained Esgro, who bought out the original Perino’s about 15 years ago. “It’s a great retail spot. . . . We really enjoyed it, but it just didn’t work out financially for us.”

So the downtown complex filed for bankruptcy last May, Esgro said, and patrons ate their last lunches there on Dec. 7. Three days before Christmas, the original Perino’s, which had been used only for banquets and private parties during that 18-month hiatus, reopened as a full-service restaurant.

The legal and financial wrinkles are still being ironed out, Esgro said.

“One of the big fights was over the lease, which has a lot of value down there,” said Esgro of the spacious Wells Fargo Bank property, whose 30-year lease was worth about $10 million. “We were having problems servicing the debt as early as May.”

Of the financial losses, “I don’t even want to talk about it,” said Esgro, who acknowledged that there is “plenty” involved.