Mark Lindsay's Rock & Roll Cafe closed down on Monday. I drove past the place earlier tonight. A middle-aged couple was peeking in through the windows. Meanwhile, someone over at the Hollywood Burger Bar across the street was standing in its doorway, enjoying possibly a celebratory smoke after having watched its chief competitor crumble. While the museum/restaurant/radio station was a cool idea on the conceptual level, numerous problems ranging from bickering among the owners to poor food and service to a downturn in the economy quickly sunk the cafe. In hindsight, I feel pretty bad about being an early naysayer when it first opened last August. A lot of love was poured into the place and it's a shame all involved couldn't get the project to work.

Here's hoping the best thing to come out of the cafe, Lindsay's Saturday night radio show on K-HiTS, will carry on.

In other sad local restaurant news, Peanut Butter and Ellies, a neat family cafe near my parent's house, has closed down as well.

Labels: restaurants