You hear a lot of dark chatter in bars—a lot of conversation fragments, jokes and rumors. After last call, however, you have to take the talk elsewhere. For Michael’s Bistro, the haven for Belgian beers and bison burgers on the Corner, last call was 10 days ago, on Friday, July 18. Now the bar talk has turned into rumor on the streets and the Web, and the doors are yet to reopen.
“I would say ‘closed until further notice,’” said Sean Chandler, a Bistro bartender. When asked whether he was still employed at the bar, Chandler responded, “I am. Well, I was…I’m not sure what’s going on as far as that’s concerned.” Chandler also said that the reasons for the closure seemed complicated and declined to elaborate further.
Bistro co-owner Chuck Adcock, however, explained that the restaurant closed its doors due to a disagreement with his partner, co-owner Michael Crafaik. “My business partner [and I] disagreed on how the operation of the business was going, and so we split our ways,” said Adcock in a phone interview. When asked why the restaurant closed its doors, Adock responded that the entire staff quit their positions at the same time, and that Crafaik needed to find a new staff.
Chuck Adcock, co-owner of Michael’s Bistro, says that a management with partner Michael Crafaik prompted the firing of manager Bob Dorsey and the loss of the Bistro staff.
“Michael did fire the manager, Bob Dorsey,” said Adcock. “That’s sorta what caused the riff in operations. The staff didn’t want to work for Michael—that’s what it comes down to.”
"The way [Crafaik] has been running the restaurant, it’s been hard to keep it running," said Dorsey in a phone interview. "If he has anything to do with the Bistro, I don’t want to go back and work there."
"Bob [Dorsey] getting fired was the beginning of the avalanche," says Adam Brock, another Bistro employee. Brock also mentioned that there was rumor of more firings to come, and confirmed Chandler’s smoky assessment of the situation. "I wouldn’t say we quit, and I wouldn’t say we were fired." Calls to Crafaik as well as the Bistro’s number were not returned by press time.
When asked for his future plans, Adcock responded that he’d “probably lay low for a little bit.”
“The restaurant business has left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth,” said Adcock. “[But] at some point, I’ll probably try to open another restaurant.”
