Sami Ladeki has announced the sale of two of his restaurants, Fresh Seafood Restaurant & Bar in La Jolla and Blackhorse Grille in Del Mar.
Ladeki, who owns the San Diego-based Ladeki Restaurant Group, said in an Aug. 1 announcement that the motivation for selling them is to concentrate on the expansion of the Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza chain and Roppongi Restaurant & Sushi Bar in California and Nevada. Roppongi has one location in La Jolla. There are seven Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza restaurants in San Diego County, two in Los Angeles County, one in Palm Desert and two in Las Vegas, according to the firm’s Web site.
Ladeki said that two Sammy’s locations are slated to open, one each in Point Loma and Las Vegas, by the end of the year. Three more are expected to open by the end of 2007, but locations cannot be revealed, as plans have not been finalized, according to a company executive.
Whisknladle Hospitality LLC, headed by restaurateur Arturo Kassel, acquired Fresh Seafood Restaurant & Bar.
Kassel is a San Diego native whose culinary background includes a postgraduate degree in hotel and restaurant management from Ecole Le Roche in Switzerland, as well as studies at the French Culinary Institute and the American Sommelier Association in the United States. Most recently, Kassel was a manager at Kittachai in New York. He was also employed by the BR Guest Restaurant Group, for which he managed some of the top restaurants in Manhattan, N.Y., including the Blue Water Grill, Ocean Grill and Isabella’s.
Carl Schroeder, who was most recently chef de cuisine at Arterra in Del Mar, acquired the Blackhorse Grille. A San Diego native, he is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and has worked at Le Cremiere in Bedford, N.Y.; Domaine Chandon in Yountville; and the Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur. He also interned at Aqua in San Francisco. He returned to San Diego in 2000 to serve as sous chef at Bertrand at Mr. A’s and in 2002 rejoined the Lark Creek Group, which owns the Lark Creek Inn, to open Arterra.
The Ladeki Restaurant Group did not reveal the prices paid or other terms of the restaurant sales.
, Connie Lewis
