Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« The P-I Pee Test | "What Did You Do Last Night?" »

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Chow Cremant: The Lawsuit

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 4:18 PM

Madrona restaurant Cremant's new owner Mike McConnell (of the Caffe Vita/Via Tribunali mini-empire) is suing former Cremant partners Scott and Tanya Emerick—and yikes, it looks ugly. According to the suit, the Emericks "had incurred approximately $302,698.93 in credit card debt" and Cremant's total outstanding debt was that plus a few grand; Cremant "was losing close to $20,000 a month"; McConnell invested $201,105 and assumed 80 percent ownership of Cremant; and then the Emericks allegedly continued to use a company credit card for "their own personal expenses and deliberately withheld the statements," to the tune of $27,094.52. Further, according to the suit:

Mr. Emerick's performance in running the back of the house [as the chef] caused the business to lose substantial money. Ms. Emerick continued to write unauthorized checks, locked management out of the Company office and deleted valuable financial information from the computer system. Expensive wine and food inventory was missing....

There's more—here's the whole lawsuit.

The Emericks have not yet returned an email for comment.

Comments (21) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Was that before or after early January when I had the worst birthday dinner EVER there? Salty piles of quivering fat, braised in grease. Even the salad!

Posted by Chefgirl on March 24, 2009 at 4:34 PM

Chefs drink, okay? They all do and that's how it is.

Posted by elenchos on March 24, 2009 at 4:47 PM

Shame. We had a great dinner there on Sunday. The place was packed, with no drama on evidence. The 3 for $30 thing even worked out well, which is rare in my experience.

Posted by one who dines on March 24, 2009 at 5:16 PM

Not surprising. I walk past this place twice a night during their open hours, and its been really thin there in the past 6 months. The nice door and pork belly do not cut it anymore. The Emerick's have not dealt with the shift in the economy like their neighbors have (Dulces: $25 entree +glass of wine night, Mardona Alehouse: (does it even count?) now has a late night happy hour, Coupage: Slowly morphing into a "nice thai" [construction worker] place. The turkish joint and St. Cloud's may be semi-boring eats but they are reasonable and tasty, honest places. The high end eateries all over will be the first to readjust or fall, and Cremant with only its overly-expensive wine (often mislabeled on the list FYI) and its meat, cream and butter-laden dishes and extremely noisy interior has got to do a lot more than toss in a happy hour her and a vegetarian dish there in order to survive. I hope the proficient/excellent servers can stick around long enough to stay on.

Posted by todaish on March 24, 2009 at 5:24 PM

It doesn't help that "Cremant" sounds like building material made out of human ashes.

Posted by dwight moody on March 24, 2009 at 6:30 PM

I liked this restaurant. Interesting to know what was going on behind the scenes, but the food and atmosphere were good when I went.

@5, I think you're pronouncing it wrong.

Posted by another Andy on March 24, 2009 at 6:39 PM

@4 This place was bought by McConnell in January. The Emerick's were locked out soon after. So I guess any recent criticisms are on his shoulders...

Posted by Treader on March 24, 2009 at 7:02 PM

Bummer. It's been a little while since I've dined at Cremant, but I love (loved?) their cassoulet.

Posted by Luke on March 24, 2009 at 7:36 PM

I think my head just exploded. :(

Posted by kid icarus on March 24, 2009 at 8:07 PM

Oh Dan! Ohhhhhh Dan! I am so excited about your mayoral campaign. I've been combing the Slog archives for your best writings. I want the citizens of Seattle to know the real Dan Savage. Compassionate, thoughtful, empathetic, generous, OH Dan!!! I can hardly wait for the campaign to begin. I'll be there for you Dan. I'll be there for you every day promoting your past musings on matters large and small to the citizens of Seattle.

Must I report my expenditures to your campaign if we don't collude on the message?

Posted by Bobbie on March 24, 2009 at 9:44 PM

@7 The Emericks were locked out the day before xmas.

Posted by xsrvr on March 25, 2009 at 1:17 AM

Scott Emerick is too good for Seattle. People here complain about the fat on rillettes....and want to be taken seriously. I'm surprised McConnell hasn't put an 'e' on the end of Cremant. What a waste, what a shame. Scott is one of the best chefs in this city, and he and Tanya are two of the kindest people I know. In any other real city in the world, Cremant would be cranking, but in Madrona, people want 3$ wine and burgers and highchairs. If they can't pronounce it, they wont eat it.

Posted by porkbelly hq on March 25, 2009 at 7:42 AM

@12 read the complaint, it's ugly.

Posted by Ugly on March 25, 2009 at 7:45 AM

I'm fully aware of the complaint. I read it before it was a legal document. There are always two sides--and Mr. McConnell spins things really well towards his own end. Every company takeover has it's ugly side...feelings are hurt, egos bruised, etc. I fully understand that. But what I witnessed was pure brutal playground bully tactics. The loyal clientele at Cremant noticed when Mike and his crew rolled in. Those guys would come in, and literally bully people out of their seats having dinner, so they could get sloppy drunk. And I mean, S L O P P Y.

Posted by porkbelly hq on March 25, 2009 at 8:23 AM

I wonder if McMafia's lawyer, Brock Gavery, is doing McMafia's drugs, dealing McMafia's drugs, or just banking off of them. It looks like Vita-Via-TheNewCrocodileCafe-Cremante "sponsor" Gavery who doubles as an "ultra-runner." I'm going to go with "doing McMafia's drugs."

Posted by Who Says Seattle Doesn't Have A Real Little Italy on March 25, 2009 at 8:24 AM

well said.

Posted by porkbelly hq on March 25, 2009 at 8:34 AM

hey dwight@5, i thought the exact same thing when i read it, too. i pictured a mont of cremains.

Posted by ellarosa on March 25, 2009 at 10:18 AM

BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT, shame on you. Where is the other side of the story?? I'm afraid you're drinking the same "cool aid" that McConnell served Nancy Leson.

Posted by bobpet on March 26, 2009 at 5:44 PM

@18, as I said, "The Emericks have not yet returned an email for comment." More developments tomorrow.

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on March 26, 2009 at 8:04 PM

@19 just do the right thing - don't get sucked in to this jerk's BS - be objective, make the call

Posted by bobpet on March 26, 2009 at 10:14 PM

statements of fact:

1. mcconnel sucks
2. emerick can cook
3. hebb blows mcconnel (not just the bj way)
4. time to expand the boycott of vita and trib.

Posted by mikemconnel on April 29, 2009 at 9:21 PM