Oak Room Closing At The Plaza. End Day & Night Brunches?

The Oak Room at New York City’s landmark Plaza Hotel is set to close on July 31, reports the NY Times! Eli Gindi, an Oak Room owner, says that rent negotiations with the hotel broke down in March, but it may have more to do with the current lawsuit the Plaza has against them.

The Plaza’s owners have sued the Oak Room’s owners for $33.3 million for what a spokesman called “numerous violations of the lease.“  Gindi says the dispute centers on the Koch brothers  “Day and Night.” While the events drew plenty of revelers ready to pop champagne and dance on tables,  the noise disrupted the hotel's hoity-toity guests and full time residents. We can only guess Eloise was also caught trying to get in for some under-aged drinking.

[First Day & Night Brunch At The Oak Room Is...Transformative]

An excerpt from the court papers, accuses the Gindi brothers of classing down the iconic hotel: according to the NY Post, owners Jeffrey and Eli Gindi have allowed the reputation of the legendary eatery to falter, hosting regular Burlesque shows and encouraging:

"raucous and/or vulgar" behavior, loud music, and illegal drug use, in addition to failing a city health inspection and garnering less-than-stellar restaurant reviews, the suit alleges.

The Times has an excerpt that states the Gindi brothers have hindered the:

"costly efforts to restore the landmark Plaza Hotel to its former glory, in a city where the amenities and manners of cosmopolitan society have increasingly given way to the rude and ordinary."

Could what they say have any credence?

The Oak Room before:

[pics via HuffPo]

The Oak Room During Day & Night:

["Best 2K I Ever Spent" Day & Night Brunch Warms Up The Plaza]

The Gindi brothers say they needed the boozy brunches for survival. Their first chef had poor reviews, th rent is $50,000, and they put in some $50,000 into the restaurant per week. Each boozy brunch pulled in an average of $180,000 per Saturday afternoon.

Robert Lynn, a lawyer for Mr. Gindi, told NYT that if anyone was besmirching the Plaza’s good name, it was the hotel’s own guests. “The reality is, worse things go on upstairs in the Plaza than whatever went on in the Oak Room.”

Paging Charlie Sheen. This is called Losing.

Where Day & Night will be held next in the city is unknown. Formerly held at the shuttered Merkato 55, they briefly moved to the Garden at Revel before finding their new home at the Plaza. News that their parties were so wild they closed down an iconic space, and have another closing under their belt with Merkato 55, could either work in their favor or against. Luckily, it's Hamptons season, which means the parties will be heading out east. [Despite Chapter 11 Filing, The (Brunch) Party's Not Over At Merkato 55] [BREAKING: Group Behind Bagatelle To Take Over The Merkato 55 Space] [BREAKING: Day & Night In The Garden At Revel! The Koch Brothers New Brunch Spot Is Revealed!] [Boozy Brunch Wars--Back With A Vengeance!] ["Best $2K I Ever Spent!" The Last Sunny Champagne Shower At Day & Night] ["Best $2K I Ever Spent!" Bubbles And Bubbly At Day & Night Brunch]