By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
PRINCETON — The demise of JL Ivy, the upscale Alexander Street restaurant that was closed for good May 18 due to fiscal issues, has left a Pennsylvania family that had plans for a May engagement party at the eatery frustrated and on the hook for $500.
Dr. Barry Korn, a Pennsylvania physician, said his family was scheduled to hold a much-anticipated engagement party for his daughter, Brittany, the same week JL Ivy was closed. Investors have said shareholder Ed “Jean Luc” Kleefield’s fiscal mismanagement doomed the eatery.
The sudden closure of the restaurant caused the family to lose a $500 deposit and seek out a new location for the event, which eventually was held at West Windsor’s BT Bistro.
A new site for the party meant new invitations and urgent communication with the 60 to 70 guests were needed, according to Brittany’s sister, Kimberly, who said many guests were traveling a considerable distance to attend the party.
The invitations, which needed to be printed in a hurry, resulted in more costs on top of the lost $500 deposit.
”It was just a nightmare,” Dr. Korn said.
Dr. Korn said another restaurant, the Metuchen Inn, offered to honor the $500 deposit, but the last-minute nature of the change meant a location many miles north of Princeton wasn’t feasible. The number of guests who already had made travel and lodging arrangements meant BT Bistro was the only option.
Dr. Korn recalled eating at JL Ivy several times in the weeks before May 18, even talking with restaurant staff days before about changing soups and other items that were planned for the engagement party menu. Even then, he heard nothing from management.
The Korns eventually learned of the closure not from the restaurant’s management or investors, but from a JL Ivy chef who had knowledge of their party and offered to help them have the event moved to BT Bistro.
”There was never any contact” from management, said Dr. Korn. “We heard nothing from these people.”
JL Ivy employees were also displaced by the sudden closure.
Adam, a former employee who asked that his last name not be used, said he lost a couple hundred dollars in uncollected tips. Other members of the wait staff lost more, he said, recalling workers who staffed a private party at the restaurant the weekend before May 18 received no money for their work.
”They didn’t see a dime,” Adam said.
Firms that provided maintenance and snow removal services are on the hook for thousands of dollars for services rendered, he said.
Adam said employees, who came to management with concerns about the restaurant’s future, were assured of its continued operation only days before the closure.
JL Ivy investor Ted Golfinopolous and property landlord Toby Laughlin, contacted by The Packet following the restaurant’s closure, both blamed Mr. Kleefield for the restaurant’s demise. They both said the New York restaurateur had spent millions of dollars with little documentation, and Mr. Golfinopolous said Mr. Kleefield wrote “hundreds, if not thousands” of bad checks.
Mr. Kleefield, who rejected their accusations and attributed JL Ivy’s demise to the actions of the other investors, continues to grab headlines on Long Island where some of his other restaurants are located.
The Southampton Press reported Wednesday that Southampton Village Police were summoned to one of Mr. Kleefield’s restaurants, Madame Tong’s, for the 12th time this year because of an ownership dispute between Mr. Kleefield and businessman Lyle Pike.
Mr. Pike said he bought the lease to Madame Tong’s and three other Kleefield establishments in a deal with Mr. Kleefield, allowing the restaurateur to run the eateries as he raised funds to buy back the leases, according to The Southampton Press.
Mr. Kleefield, however, said he borrowed money from Mr. Pike but never turned over the leases.
Earlier this year, Mr. Pike filed a complaint with police about $300,000 in bad checks, which resulted in Mr. Kleefield’s arrest.
gforester@centraljersey.com
