Left Bank handler shakes up managementLeft Bank handler shakes up management

Alan J. Liddle

CORTE MADERA Calif. Vine Dining Enterprises Inc. said it has reorganized its executive team following the closure of two of its five trademark Left Bank brasserie restaurants.

Vine Dining chairman Edward Levine said last week that he has resumed his role as chief executive following the resignation of Richard Miyashiro as the Corte Madera-based company’s CEO and president. Miyashiro, a veteran of Pat Kuleto Restaurants of San Francisco, joined VDE late last year to free up Levine to spend more time on his Vine Solutions Inc. restaurant consultancy.

Vine Dining sources also noted that former vice president of restaurant development, Thomas Bunker, had rejoined the group after five years as a consultant to serve as its chief operations officer.

VDE controls the name and trade dress of the 15-year-old Left Bank brasserie concept. It licenses them to limited liability partnerships that own individual Left Bank restaurants. The company also contracts to provide management support.

Left Bank units in the San Francisco Bay Area cities of San Mateo and Pleasant Hill were closed June 22. Vine Dining officials said those restaurants were “victims of the severe recession that has impacted our clientele and the nation.” They added that Left Bank brasseries in nearby Larkspur, Menlo Park and San Jose remained “vibrant” and “less impacted by the recession.”

Levine has said that the Left Bank group, when there were five units, generated aggregate annual sales of about $20.5 million.

Vine Dining Enterprises also is involved in LB Steak, “a modern American steakhouse with a French twist,” that opened last month in San Jose. LB Steak, which the company said Miyashiro played an instrumental role in developing, is in the space previously occupied by another VDE-engineered concept, Tanglewood, a high-end American cuisine restaurant.

Chef-restaurateur Roland Passot of San Francisco’s La Folie, is a Vine Dining co-founder and shareholder.

Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].