The Chocolate Grille goes dark

August 2, 2006

 Quite a few Old Town resident were shocked on Monday to learn that one of the city's most popular restaurants, The Chocolate Grille, had quietly closed over the weekend. Now, as the news begins to sink in, there are more questions than answers about the reason for the sudden closing of the five-year-old dining establishment. Most of the questions concern the fact that The Chocolate Grille's owners, George and Martha Gervais, had also recently closed the other two restaurants.

      Jodie Muenster, who was the manager of The Chocolate Grille, says that she found out yesterday morning that her place of employment had closed.

      “I knew it might happen,” she said, “but George kept it open until the last minute because he was trying to do everything he could to not close it. The Gervais loved that restaurant so much. Everyone did.”

      Another restaurant owned by the Gervais, also called The Chocolate Grille, operated out of Searsport. It closed sometime between May 12 and 13, according to Searsport's tax assessor Bill Terry.

      "It basically closed overnight, with no warning," Terry said. "Since then, there has been no activity whatsoever. The building has been completely dark. Right now, there is a 'For Sale' sign on the building."

      A third Gervais-owned restaurant, an Italian-style eaterie called Evo's located on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor, closed earlier this summer.

      “The Gervais want everyone in Old Town to know that the only reason they closed the Grille was that the restaurant in Searsport didn’t do well,” Muenster said. “So even though Old Town and Bangor were successful, they had just incurred too much debt to stay open. They feel terrible because they considered all of the patrons like family. They considered the restaurant a second home. They appreciated so much the support and patronage of the community.”

      Much of the Chocolate Grille's appeal stemmed from its location on the banks of the Penobscot River front and its panoramic view of the dam. A choice of outside seating and inside dining was also considered a plus by Grille patrons, who represented a wide spectrum of local citizenry.

      "I just found out it closed a few hours ago," former patron Torrey Quartermarsh said. "I couldn't believe it. I was there just last week. But the parking lot is totally empty and there's a paper sign that says 'Closed' taped to the door."

      The sign, which reads "Closed until further notice," offers no hint of when that further notice will come. But Muenster is confident that there will soon be another restaurant doing business on the same spot.

      “Everyone wants a restaurant there, so if the Gervais can’t open again, someone else will lease the place and open their own restaurant,” she said.

      A more familiar sign-the one bearing the name "The Chocolate Grille"-has already been taken down, leaving only the pole with its festive three-dimensional images of bread, wine, and olives. Muenster says that the sign was removed to keep people from thinking the restaurant was still open.

“We didn’t want them to keep driving up to it and thinking that they could go in,” she said.