LA Laments Loss of Palate Food + Wine with Tears/Spears

There's a mixture of anguish and anger with regard to the abrupt shutter of chef and owner Octavio Becerra's Palate Food + Wine in Glendale. Some morn the loss of a farm-to-table establishment once considered a top new restaurant in LA, meanwhile others -namely employees - feel confused, hurt, and angry at the precipitous nature of events. Becerra, however, has yet to return email correspondence and state his piece.

One employee writes in to say: "I worked for Palate for a year and last Friday I came to work as scheduled and found everything packed up and moving out. I knew we were having problems but was very surprised especially since I received no warning. I have to say that I respected Chef Octavio until this happened. We all have hard times in our lives and I know the closing of his restaurant has been difficult for him but we are his employees. We respected him and took care of his restaurant even when times were hard, we stuck by him but he didn't even have the respect or integrity to call a meeting to inform us of his decision." Another former employee claims to be "still a little fuzzy on the details." Word on the street, and in the comments, is that staff, wine distributors, and purveyors have gone unpaid for some time. Despite the claim of "re-organization," it seems unlikely that Palate will reopen. On another note, here's the State Board of Equalization hold on Palate's 47 license. Looks like the State wasn't getting paid either...
·Palate Food + Wine Shuttered For "Re-Organization" [~ELA~]