Food; Home @ 13 Feb 2008 02:04 pm by Christina Waters
No kidding - Paul Cocking told me that he’s interested in moving on, changing the pace of his life — the exhausting hours involved in restaurant work! — and perhaps even changing careers entirely.
Gabriella Cafe is definitely for sale, so if you can put together a group interested in keeping the culinary genius of chef Sean Baker in our downtown, give Paul a call at 831/457-1677.
(Check out my profile of Gabriella’s pastry chef Jessica Yarr in last week’s Metro Santa Cruz.)
Poor Sean Baker. The closing of Garielle may be a merciful death simply because Santa Cruz is a difficult market for any restauranteur. It seems to me that Paul Cocking has probably been losing money for a very long time. Any prospective buyer would do well to look careflly at the P&L statements of the past, nevermind a pro forma.
Paul deserves some ease in his life: he is such a wonderful person. Fifteen years is a good run.
When is Oswald opening again? The saints will come marching in for that, won’t they?
P.S. Great piece on Jessica. She is so talented!
my wife and i love this place. the chef (who i don’t know personally) is amazing. we dined here recently for valentine’s day. the wait staff was also top notch. i’m amazed that this place does poorly in regards to the finance… i don’t know anything about the restaurant world. i guess being good doesn’t always mean being financially sound.