So, here's the thing. We're the first to admit that pulling the Deathwatch switch these days is like shooting fish in a barrel, but calls for the DW have shot up tenfold, and said bloodthirst is wholly warranted: Dining rooms are increasingly turning into ghost towns (even Mozza's seen a slight downtick), more and more places are on the market, several newbies have already earned stillbirth status, while promotions get more desperate. Paychecks are bouncing, heavies are bowing out, and investors are thinking twice, thrice, about funding those new projects. Toss in the cost of doing business in the city, and we've got the worst state of affairs in years for the restaurant biz. Odds are it just going to get worse. Sounds like tons of fun, right? Yeah, not really.
How the Deathwatch factors in here: We weren't as quick to DW restaurants around LA as our brethren, but as you can see in New York, an emergency meeting of the Deathwatch Committee was called, with the upshot being that the Deathwatch has been suspended until further notice (but absolutely not—no way in hell—permanently). In its stead, Eater will be bringing you some new features in the coming weeks, one of which shall be called Rally Cry, which has you nominating restaurants we then collectively try to save.
The point is that we know that you know that we know that we're all in this together. What will we do with fewer restaurants to obsess over anyway? So here's us doing our part.
Your thoughts—and maybe even some early Rally Cry nominations?—are very much welcomed in the comments, naturally. And now, back to our regularly scheduled, less nicey-nice programming.
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