Chronicling The David Myers Kingdom, Past, Present, Future

Today the LA Times pens a lengthy piece tracking the ups and downs of David Myers' crumbling empire. Sona, once Myers' flagship eatery, shutters this weekend, though Myers plans to reopen the restaurant in a different location. The Myers reign has spanned from Sona to Boule (Boule, then Boule Atelier, then a second Boule in Beverly Hills) to Comme Ca (another will open in Vegas) to Pizzeria Ortica, though starting next week only Comme Ca on Melrose and Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa remain. Interestingly, Myers "denies that Sona's closure is related to the economy." According to Otto Schmid, a key player in Sona's former managing company, FoodArt Ventures Inc., "...[Myers'] way of managing companies, managing people and accepting cost controls needs some further development." On the subject of Boule, Myers opened the high end patisserie with then wife and pastry chef Michelle, though the two have since divorced which clearly could not have helped the business. Schmid chimes in that "Boule never made money and finally had to be closed to stop the bleeding."

[Photo: Food Marathon]

Early last fall Sona filed for Chapter 11, and when queried as to why he split with FoodArt, Myers replies "I don't know. My previous partners wanted to exit the fine-dining business. They were from a different country." Meanwhile Schmid says that "financial and operational processes and procedures...were nonexistent" and that the business simply didn't work.

This year, Myers when on to clean house at Comme Ca, hired a new chef, new employees. Most recently he has signed on to open Comme Ca at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, and through the grapevine comes word that he has been looking at spaces downtown for a third branch. He also reveals plans to "push into Tokyo, where he says he will be opening a pastry shop and a 'Sona-esque' cafe in September at Mitsukoshi department store in the Ginza shopping district."

So, that's where the "empire" stands now. It appears that Myers has lofty goals with plans for many new eating establishments on the horizon. Will they come to fruition? Only time will tell.
·David Myers' culinary empire in flux [LAT]
·All David Myers Coverage [~ELA~]