That was fast! Cafe Angelina, the downtown cafe I wrote about a week after it opened [
Total Pig, Jan. 16:"Sandwiches and Smiles"
], is already defunct. The cafe's owner, Joe Ianero, has taken off, leaving behind a trail of hurt feelings -- and angry creditors, according to his landlord, Charles Gonzales. ***image1***
Looking back at the interview I did with Ianero, it seems prescient and, perhaps, painfully ironic. Here's a sample:
SFR: Have you owned a restaurant before or is this your first venture?
JI:
This is my 17th restaurant.
Like one-seven, 17th? What? How old are you, 90?
Actually, I'm 38.
You're 38 and you've had 17 restaurants. How? what? Are you wanted in several states?
Don't I wish! It would be fun to be wanted by somebody!
It seems like his wish has come true.
Ianero came to Santa Fe and put his restaurant together almost entirely from Craigslist, he told me in that interview. He bought some restaurant equipment, tables, chairs and an espresso machine from the previous occupant, Mi Corazon Chocolates, and assumed the company's lease at the back of Arte del Mundo (839 Paseo de Peralta).
Gonzales, the owner of Arte del Mundo, from whom Ianero had been subleasing his restaurant space, says he was shocked to find Ianero had picked up and gone."He came over to the restaurant and said, ˜I know I owe you some money and I'm going to get it to you, but I have some errands to run.' Then somebody said that they saw that his cars were all packed [with stuff]." Ianero, he says, never returned.
The next day [Ianero] called and said, ˜I'm sorry I owe you that money, but I'm not coming back,'" Gonzales recalls. According to him, Ianero left owing thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and loans. To make matters worse, he says, other creditors are now coming to him looking for Ianero.
I'm just so shocked. I feel like an idiot. But I feel so bad for everyone else he left hanging," Gonzales says, mentioning a list of other companies who have approached him. (Full disclosure: Although I first heard this story from several other sources, SFR's collections department confirms that Ianero owes this newspaper money, too.)
Although Ianero did not respond to a voicemail message, he did reply to an e-mail I sent. In the e-mail he contends that he left the cafe and Santa Fe because of a combination of issues, including a conflict with the neighboring coffee shop, Travel Bug. He claims that as a result of the conflict, he was unable to sell coffee and this, eventually, would lead to a big reduction in revenue.
Greg Ohlsen, the owner of Travel Bug, tells it a little differently. He says Gonzales simply never told their landlord to whom he was renting.
I asked the landlord if he was aware that he was letting a coffee shop in there," Ohlsen says, emphasizing that the cafe was practically next door to his own coffee shop. He denies that he pressured the landlord, recalling,"I just said, ˜It's going to affect whether or not we want to stay here.'"
Gonzales claims he offered Ianero a way around the coffee problem."I told Joe, ˜I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll knock $400 a month off the rent and that'll compensate for not selling coffee. Then, after the lease is up you can move, and if you get a better location we'll move with you,'" he says.
In his e-mail, Ianero contends Gonzales had agreed to buy the business from him and pay some of the bills.
Yeah, well, the money that I loaned him, I didn't expect to get it, so I agreed to purchase the cafe," Gonzales admits."And I told him that I would help him out with a couple of bills -- but in the long run he ran out on everybody." Gonzales says he has a stack of unpaid bills from food distributors, utilities, an equipment supplier, a sign maker and a graphic designer.
Now Gonzales says he hopes to recoup some of his losses by keeping the cafe in business under the name Faith and Addiction Cafe."We're going to keep the same food and the same cooks but add more to the menu," Gonzales says.
He also plans to phase out his store's stock of furniture and transition the business to a clothing boutique called Faith and Addiction. He plans to remodel the space and better incorporate the restaurant area in the back. Eventually, he says, he'd like to bring in some Mi Corazon Chocolates.
In his e-mail Ianero says,"I really enjoyed Santa Fe and the people there are wonderful. I am now in California trying to get my life together once more."
Gonzales says that Ianero told him he was in Texas and he told former employees he was in Las Vegas, Nev. Ohlsen says he heard Ianero went back to New Jersey to take care of his mother.
There seems to be enough interest to this story that I'll probably follow up on it again. If you have any information that you think would add to it, I'd be happy to hear it.
Tell me where to eat! I need your input.
Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to
.
