Customers found the restaurant closed without notice Monday night. Below right, chef David Burke with chef Pat Trama during post-Sandy relief efforts in Sea Bright. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Star chef David Burke has closed his Rumson restaurant, Fromagerie.
Callers and visitors to the fine-dining establishment, which Burke acquired nine years ago, were given no reason for the closing in a message posted on the restaurant website Monday.
It said:
We thank you for your loyalty to our business in Rumson and for allowing us to serve and support the community for over a decade. Fromagerie has played an iconic role in Rumson, New Jersey’s culinary and social scenes even far greater than under our reign, and we look forward to passing on the legacy.
A request for comment emailed to the David Burke Group was not answered Tuesday morning. [UPDATE: A David Burke Group spokesman said the company “has engaged to sell” the Fromagerie but declined to offer additional details Tuesday morning.]
Burke, who hails from Hazlet, apprenticed briefly in the Fromagerie kitchen as a teenager, according to New Jersey Monthly magazine. But he was well-established as a culinary brand by the time he bought the Fromagerie from brothers Markus and Hubert Peter in 2006.
The David Burke Group has restaurants in New York City, Connecticut, Chicago and Las Vegas, and is planning to open one in Aspen, Colorado this year, according to the website.
The restaurant property, at 26 Ridge Road, is assessed at $2.2 million by the borough.
