Kenichi Closes

The restaurant that the late Billy Rieger and Kenichi Kenada turned into the hottest place downtown for some time is calling it quits. This is a sad one. Always admired the work of Shane Stark and those amazing Dynamite Shrimp.

As much as I enjoyed Kenichi, I don’t think it really ever was able to overcome its investment structure. It had a lot of limited “celebrity” partners, and that model almost always goes south over time. Mike Reynolds and his group took the place over 3-4 years ago, but they were not able to make it work either.

Many foodies will miss this place at 5th and Colorado. It seems like that for every hot new restaurant that opens in Austin, another formerly hot restaurant closes. Is there a lesson here?

Rumor is that a Ft Worth concept called Lonesome Dove will take over the space.