If you only know Graham Elliot from his "Top Chef" and "MasterChef" appearances,
you may not be aware of some of the difficulties he's faced
with his Chicago restaurants. Here's where things went wrong.
Even if a restaurant's food is near perfection, patrons will remember the overall experience,
not just the cuisine. Much of that has to do with happy employees,
which was an area where Graham Elliot has seemed to falter. Elliot saw a lot of success with his
self-titled Chicago restaurant, which opened in 2008. It eventually earned two Michelin stars,
but it also faced some serious accusations from former staffers.
In 2012, 14 former waiters filed a lawsuit against Elliot, accusing him of pooling the
waiters' tips and redistributing them among all the employees, including bartenders and
food runners. Not only is this alleged practice a violation of federal law, but the lawsuit also
claimed the restaurant failed to compensate employees with the required minimum wage.
Elliot and his former employees reportedly reached a settlement
in the suit. Though details about the settlement amount remain undisclosed,
Elliot agreed to pay the former employees and did not publicly comment on the matter. It is
unclear whether this dispute had an impact on Elliot's hiring procedures for staff at his other
restaurants. But the scandal has certainly remained a blemish on Elliot's reputation.
Elliot opened Grahamwich in Chicago's River North
neighborhood in 2010. It was meant to be a casual sandwich shop where patrons
could enjoy their orders with a side of truffle popcorn or chips and craft soda.
Unfortunately, three years after it opened with a lot of fanfare,
Grahamwich unceremoniously closed. After serving unique sandwich offerings including
grilled cheese with cheese curds and tomato marmalade or twice-cooked turkey
and stewed cranberries with candied yams and sage mayo, Elliot simply announced:
"Ladies and gentlemen, Grahamwich has left the building."
Grahamwich's last service took place at the 2013 edition of Lollapalooza,
the annual music festival for which, at the time,
Elliot served as culinary director. The details of why the shop closed remain undisclosed
Grahamwich did take some lumps while it was open,
though. Time Out restaurant critic Julia Kramer wrote of the eatery,
"[The menu is] a dilettantish assortment of international sandwiches that reflect
not just repeated failures of execution but a lack of care in their conception."
Elliot tweeted the retort:
"sweet, the line gets shorter by one less person."
Elliot's namesake restaurant was the crown jewel of his culinary empire.
When the 120-seat establishment first opened, it was breaking barriers and
upending tradition in the food service industry. Elliot told Chicago Magazine:
"It was one of the first restaurants where everyone wore a T-shirt in the front of the house.
Beams and ductwork and loud music. It seems a lot of people took that same model and ran with it."
Over time, though, those features were eventually phased out to provide more
of a fine-dining experience, earning the restaurant two Michelin stars in 2013. But
the accolade wasn't enough to keep the doors open, and the restaurant closed that same year.
Unfortunately the changes to the atmosphere seem to have altered the consumer experience
a little too much. In its final weeks, the menu consisted of dishes from what seemed to
be another reinvention of the restaurant, as well as a selection of some of Elliot's culinary hits,
which included the foie-lipop, truffle popcorn, and his signature Caesar salad.
Launched to demonstrate that simplicity can be a hallmark of good food, Graham Elliot Bistro's
2012 opening came with a menu that celebrated technique over artsy gimmicks. Featuring chops,
steaks, and plates made for sharing, each dish showcased three seasonal elements to
enjoy along with unique cocktail and wine pairings. Then, in April 2016,
the restaurant closed for three days for some minor changes. Its final closure came
only a few months later, with its last service at the end of August.
Over the years, Graham Elliot Bistro underwent multiple rounds of closures
for decor changes and menu modifications that included incorporating items that had
previously been featured at Graham Elliot restaurant. Unlike previous
restaurant closures that were shrouded in silence or mystery, when the Bistro closed,
it was to change the name and concept, becoming Gideon Sweet. Elliot told Chicago Eater:
"We've made some great updates this spring and the restaurant is doing
fine as a result. Yet we're not satisfied. We want to do more and we want to push more. And
we learned the only way to do that is to make a bigger opportunity for ourselves."
Gideon Sweet launched in 2017 and touted itself as the place to get a bite before
a night on the town along Chicago's prominent Randolph Street. The restaurant was a joint
venture between Elliot and Matthias Merges, specializing in small plates and cocktails.
The opening came with considerable hype. The restaurant touted a rock 'n' roll vibe,
which included candles molded into various rock-star "saints" and a cocktail called
Ghostface Killah. The menu also focused on unique ingredients, from pigtails to fish collars,
to celebrate foods that might ordinarily be given the culinary cold shoulder.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Gideon Sweet called it quits in
2018. Restaurant management released a statement that read, in part:
"After a wonderful year of partnership between long-time friends Chef Matthias Merges and Chef
Graham Elliot, Gideon Sweet has closed as they pursue new time-intensive projects."
Despite his restaurants all closing, Graham Elliot has proven that he is
capable of picking himself up and dusting himself off to try again. In October 2022,
Paper City reported that the celebrity chef would be joining Chef Felipe Armenta to make
culinary magic at a new Fort Worth, Texas, steakhouse, The Duke. Armenta told the outlet:
"We have so many new restaurant openings.
I thought it was time to bring on someone to oversee it all."
He further shared that he would be working on the menu together with Elliot.
"We brought on Chef Graham Elliot to, uh, help us button down the menu and
give us his vision on where, what direction it should go."
Soon after, the Star-Telegram reported that Elliot would be joining Armenta in his
expansion of two other restaurants, Pacific Table and Tavern Bar & Grill. At the time,
Pacific Table had already been crowned The Best of Dallas Fort Worth by Trip Advisor.
Armenta had set his sights on an additional 10-restaurant expansion with Elliot by his
side. The collaboration definitely sounds like the start of an empire,
but one definitely has to take Eliot's track record of closings into account.