Winds of change are running rampant again after Sami Ladeki, who operates the Ladeki Restaurant Group, 565 Pearl St., recently announced he would be selling two of his restaurants, Fresh Seafood Restaurant & Bar at 1044 Wall St. and Blackhorse Grille in Del Mar, for $1.5 million.
“The restaurants are being sold so that we can focus on the expansion of Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza and Roppongi Restaurant & Sushi Bar,” said Tom Penn, vice president of operations for Ladeki Restaurant Group. “By concentrating on these two properties, we hope to achieve major growth in the casual dining segment and in the upscale category.”
Change, focus and growth are not new for Ladeki, who just last year announced plans for more Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza restaurants in San Diego and Las Vegas, as well as a full menu renovation, which included 23 new items.
“We are planning on opening several new Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza locations, including Centennial Hills in Las Vegas early in 2007, and then we will open a store in Point Loma shortly after that, and we have several sites that are currently in development for the rest of 2007 and 2008,” Penn said.
Wisknladle Hospitality now owns Fresh, where restaurateur Arturo Kassel will take the lead. Kassel, a San Diego native who holds a post-graduate degree in hotel and restaurant, served as manager at Kittichai in New York City before returning to town, only to have Ladeki approach him with the opportunity to take over Fresh. He leapt at the opportunity and the deal was made.
Carl Schroeder takes over the reins at Blackhorse Grille. He too is a San Diego native who graduated from the University of Redlands with a business degree before deciding he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a chef. His resume includes chef de cuisine at Arterra in Del Mar, garde manager at Domaine Chandon in Yountville, Calif., and sous chef at Mr. A’s and Bertrand.
“We are planning to continue making changes and improvements to Sammy’s, including adding new and exciting additional menu items, as well as evolving the design in the new restaurants,” Penn said. “We are also reinvesting in our management through e-learning and continual education.”
Ladeki opened the first Sammy’s at 702 Pearl St. in 1989. The restaurant continues to receive rave reviews, with awards like the California Restaurant Association Gold Medallion ” Best Pizza, 2006; Las Vegas Weekly Reader’s Choice ” Best Salad, 2006; and Zagat, which rated it one of the top five most popular San Diego restaurants in 2004 and 2005.
“Roppongi is doing very well and will to continue to evolve as well,” Penn said. “It is an excellent concept, critically acclaimed, part of the culture of La Jolla, fun to operate and provides a higher price-point growth vehicle.”
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