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Monday, July 25, 2011
L’Auberge owner negotiating with investors in attempt to avoid sheriff’s sale after foreclosure
KETTERING — The future of l’Auberge Restaurant — which held a four-star Mobil Guide rating for two decades and has set a standard for fine dining in the Dayton area for the last 32 years — is uncertain after a Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge ruled that the restaurant’s owner defaulted on more than $1.5 million in mortgage loans and ordered the building and property sold at a sheriff’s sale on Aug. 26.
But l’Auberge owner Josef Reif said Monday while preparing to welcome diners for Restaurant Week that he is “very optimistic” that he will reach agreement with potential new partners who would purchase the property prior to the sheriff’s sale and lease the building back to him so that the restaurant can continue uninterrupted operations. Reif said he is engaged in active negotiations with multiple potential investors, and he said he has no plans to close l’Auberge prior to Aug. 26.
“We will continue right up to that date, and hopefully we will continue for years to come,” Reif said.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records show that Lebanon Citizens National Bank of Lebanon, Ohio filed a mortgage-foreclosure lawsuit against Reif and the restaurant’s corporate owner, The Inn Inc., in June 2010, claiming that a large loan dated July 2006 for $1.4 million and two smaller loans in 2009 were in default. Judge Michael L. Tucker granted the bank a summary judgment in May 2011 and ordered the building and property sold at sheriff’s sale.
“If you had told me a few years ago that this would be happening, I would have told you it’s not possible,” Reif said. But the recession has hit l’Auberge hard, as has the loss of Dayton-based corporations such as NCR, Reif said. Competition also chipped away at the Kettering restaurant’s business, he said, and repairs and maintenance to the building also eroded the restaurant’s bottom line.
L’Auberge has carved a niche since Reif and the late Dieter Krug founded the restaurant in 1979, transforming a restaurant known as The Inn, best known for its fried chicken, into a fine-dining establishment at 4120 Far Hills Ave. L’Auberge earned a coveted and rare four-star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide for 19 years through 2002, and has survived even as other highly credentialed fine-dining restaurants such as King Cole in downtown Dayton and the Maisonette in Cincinnati have closed.
It survived in part by changing with the times. In 1994, l’Auberge essentially became two restaurants in one when it renovated a portion of the building and opened Bistro l’Auberge, with a more casual setting and menu than the more formal l’Auberge Dining Room. And there were many more renovations in the last decade: A dance floor was added in 2002; Reif refurbished the formal dining room with new china, silver and stemware in 2005; and an outdoor patio called the Far Hills Cafe was added in 2007.
Lebanon Citizens National Bank officials say no payment has been made on its loans since February 2010, according to court documents. The building and property have been appraised at $825,000, according to the Montgomery County sheriff’s sale web site.
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Reader survey: Eating healthy when dining out
Do you make it a point to eat healthy when you dine out? Many Dayton-area restaurant owners say their customers like to talk healthy, but when it comes to what they actually order, that talk goes out the window. The Dayton Daily News is working on a story about healthy eating and would like to hear from you.
Do you base your choice of restaurant on how healthy its food is? Are you willing to pay more for healthful menu items, or do you expect healthy dining options to cost the same as other menu items? How much do you take into account calorie and nutritional information when you decide what to order? If a dish is labeled as “diet” or “low-calorie,” do you expect it won’t taste as good as other menu items?
Email your responses to me (Dayton Daily News food and dining reporter Mark Fisher) at mfisher@daytondailynews.com or comment on our Facebook page and be sure to include your full name and your town or township of residence.
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