Another great restaurant option opening!

The buddakhan place has stood empty and padlocked for at least 5 months - I'm so glad someone is taking up residency, and someone who can make the place work! I never understood how people thought the food at Buddakhan was any good, i personally kind of found it greasy, and was totally confused by the atmosphere in there - rock music, tv screens and an eastern decor? Didn't get it - hopefully this will work well for Jean Robert, and he can use the money he'll make to buy the old Gajah Wong West building in Northside (seriously, that building is a GEM, even if the location is kind of off the beaten path....)

Jean-Robert de Cavel to open restaurant
New eatery will take over former Buddakhan location by Dec. 1
By Polly Campbell • pcampbell@enquirer.com • October 13, 2009

Jean-Robert de Cavel says he will soon be back in the restaurant business. And back Downtown.
He plans to open Jean-Robert’s Table at 713 Vine St. by Dec. 1.

This time, the French-born chef said, he will be the sole investor in the restaurant, and he will not be re-creating the brand of fine French cuisine that he was known for as executive chef at Maisonette and more recently at Jean-Robert at Pigall’s. Both those Downtown restaurants have closed, although Pigall’s reopened last month as Local 127. De Cavel is not involved with Local 127.

He said he wants Jean-Robert’s Table to be more down-to-earth than his previous places.
“This will be a place where people will feel comfortable. You will be able to dine casually at a moderate price. But it’s Jean-Robert style.”The restaurant will take over the former location of the bar Buddakhan. De Cavel said he likes the space because it’s close to good parking, attracts a lot of foot traffic and is near the Garfield Suites hotel at 2 Garfield Place, which caters to businesses. He said he looked at locations in other parts of the city and the region, but his preference remained downtown Cincinnati. He said he had offers to go to other cities in the U.S. and France, but Cincinnati pulled him to stay.“I love Cincinnati,” he said. “The support we have from friends here means so much. That’s why I stay. I want a little restaurant, where I can feel it is mine, where people know me, and I can be a part of the community. I’m an urbanite. I want to give the city the restaurant that it deserves.”He said the restaurant will seat 80, with room for 20 at the bar. He does not plan to invest heavily in a redesign.“I’m recycling a restaurant,” he said. “It already has a nice feeling, and I want to focus on the food and service.”

His menu will be French, but casual and flexible. He said it will include some French bistro classics but won’t be bound by tradition. He plans to make the menu seasonal, inspired by French regional cooking. The average check might be $30, but he said that if he wants to put foie gras on the menu as a special for $25 or offer sweetbreads, he’ll do it. Lunch will be less expensive than dinner, he said.

Since Jean-Robert at Pigall’s closed in February, de Cavel has worked as an adviser at the Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State, has done catering and is currently preparing Friday night dinners before Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concerts at Music Hall.He said he will stay involved at Midwest Culinary, and the symphony dinners will continue.“But I need a home base,” he said. “A place that’s good fun, where the service is attentive.”