Broadway Deli: SRO in SM, RIP in SFV

Merely two months into a 10-year lease, Broadway Deli partners Michel Richard, Bruce Marder and Marvin Zeidler have called it quits in Encino. The original Santa Monica Broadway Deli remains open.

“Nothing like this has happened to me before,� says Doane Liu, who represents the Courtyard Shops where the deli was located. “It’s being handled by our lawyers.�

The deli, which was not a traditional deli but rather a trattoria/ bistro with deli cases, never seemed to catch on in the Valley, where people have a preconceived notion of what a deli should be. It wasn’t Jerry’s. Or Fromins. Or even Bagel Nosh.

“We just couldn’t get enough people to eat at our concept in the valley,� says Zeidler. “It took two years to put the project together. I guess nobody thought the recession would hold on that long.�

Industry sources have another theory. “Broadway Deli Encino was like a stepchild,� says one. “Nobody paid any attention to it.�

THE MOST BUSY CHEF: See Roger Verge. See Roger run. See the three-star chef from France first at Champagne Bis, where his show premieres on Friday (the run lasts through Feb. 12). You won’t see him cooking at Sophie Healy’s Century City restaurant, but you will see him signing copies of his book--at dinner time on the 6th. “Verge’s wonderful menus will be prepared by his long-time chefs, Serge Chollet and Daniel Desavie,� Healy says. “But it’s his dishes, his creations.�

See Verge next at Merci Julia! in Marina del Rey next Sunday. No, he won’t actually be cooking at the benefit, either. But he will be there to eat and honor Julia Child.

Then see Verge at the Ritz-Carlton’s Club Grill in Rancho Mirage on Feb. 12 and 13. “We have signed contracts and everything,� says the hotel’s Deborah Long. “Verge will be working side-by-side with our chef.�

Finally, see Verge at Wolfgang Puck’s Granita (after a stint in San Francisco). “The Verge dinner should be of special interest to people, since it is his only guest chef appearance in the Los Angeles area,� says a press release issued by the Malibu restaurant. That exclusive engagement takes place Feb. 19 through 21.

LAW AND ORDER: “I am prepared to take this to the Supreme Court,� says the owner of Orleans Restaurant. Mary Atkinson is talking about her reluctance to remove three of the 10 larger-than-life figurines she installed in front of her Cajun restaurant to celebrate Mardi Gras, which begins Feb. 23.

The vice squad, which received several calls from women in the West Los Angeles neighborhood complaining about the bare-breasted females on the restaurant’s second-floor balcony, has ordered Atkinson to remove the offending figurines. “They are beautiful, authentic, and they’ve cost me a lot of money,� says Atkinson, who commissioned the work. “At Mardi Gras women do stand on balconies and expose themselves from the waist up.�

Atkinson contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which informed her that nudity is not considered obscene when it’s from the waist up. “They told me not to do to take them down,� says Atkinson. “These women are violating my first amendment rights.�

EXILE ON MAIN: Gerri Gilliland, who owns the California-Irish Gilliland’s and Lula Cocina Mexicana, will open her third Santa Monica restaurant. Jake & Annie’s American Cafe, located in the former Merlin McFly’s space, will open March 1. Like Gilliland’s other restaurants, it is on Main Street.

CHANGES: Remember Pyramid on La Cienega? The 3-month-old California Cuisine restaurant is now serving soul food. Menu items include a Black Caesar salad, fried chicken, mesquite-smoked barbecued spare ribs and Kool-Aid. . . . The 4-year-old Indigo restaurant has a new chef--Craig Pincus (he previously cooked at the Hollywood Canteen)--and a new menu. “We needed new ideas and some energy,� says co-owner Karen Salk, who plans to open her Los Angeles restaurant for breakfast.

STOCKPOT: Eat Rose City Diner’s three-pound hamburger in under an hour, and the Pasadena restaurant will tear up the check and throw in a free slice of chocolate cake. . . . Truly Yours Restaurants in Northridge and Tarzana are featuring “American Classic Meats� through Feb. 15. Menu items include venison sate with peanut dipping sauce, buffalo fajitas, wild boar stir fry and pheasant breast over mushroom hash. . . . And the Original Cattleman’s Wharf in Anaheim claims that it serves Australian Lobster Tails that are “bigger than your shoe, for $29.95.�