La-Van Hawkins Redux - Opens Downtown Restaurant - Proclaims 12 More to Follow

**Lowell** · October-09-12, 10:15 PM

Controversial and colorful restaurateur La-Van Hawkins is back with a bang. The creator of Sweet Georgia Brown and former Detroit-area Burger King and Pizza Hut chain owner has done his prison stretch and doesn’t seemed to have missed a beat in bursting back into the scene.

He is on the verge of opening his Detroit's Cheesecake Bistro. Well not quite his. His felon status doesn’t allow him be an owner and have a liquor license, so his long-time partner has his name on the lease and… let’s say it’s complicated.

According to an excellent article by Nathan Skid in this week’s Crain’s he has grand plans for Downtown Detroit that would even make some of the optimists in the forum blush.

He said Detroit's Cheesecake Bistro will serve as a training ground for the management team of Global Hospitality Group, which he says will run the 12 restaurants he has planned for downtown Detroit.

Those restaurants include: Carnivale, based on the Chicago restaurant; Soul Daddy, a white-tablecloth restaurant in Paradise Valley; a reported Michael Jordan's Steak House and an Italian restaurant called Tucci Milan in Greektown; and The Cotton Club, named for the Harlem jazz club, at 1541 Griswold St.

"Detroit is a city that has a spirit that won't die and specializes in comebacks," Hawkins said. "There is a huge opportunity in Detroit right now."

**MidTownMs** · October-09-12, 10:22 PM

Is this good news...

**313WX** · October-09-12, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by MidTownMs

Is this good news...

I'm taking it as Btittersweet news.

**MidTownMs** · October-09-12, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

I'm taking it as Btittersweet news.

Good idea!!

**raptor56** · October-09-12, 11:04 PM

Anybody eat at the cheesecake bistro yet? Real high end prices. Wondering if the food and service match the price?

**Hypestyles** · October-10-12, 12:17 AM

Soul Daddy...? Is this with the gentleman from Detroit who won "America's next great restaurant chain" [[or however the title went)?

**313WX** · October-10-12, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

Soul Daddy...? Is this with the gentleman from Detroit who won "America's next great restaurant chain" [[or however the title went)?

Good question.

The original incarnation of the restaurant failed miserably per Wikipedia. All of the locations, after being open for just over a month [[Soul Daddy began its operation on May 2nd, 2011), closed between June 14th and June 29th, 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Daddy

That said, per an article from September 27th, 2011, Jamawn Woods did say he was coming back to Detroit to try and launch the restaurant again...

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle...130598833.html

So maybe the Soul Daddy restaurant La-Van Hawkins will manage is the reincarnation of Jamawn Woods' Soul Daddy he said he would open here.

**Detwa** · October-10-12, 05:50 AM

If he does this, it already sounds like he's biting off too much at the start, which will lead to failure. Why not just open ONE restaurant and build that? I'm sure the IRS decimated his finances so how is he getting the money to open five different restaurants? I think LaVan is anxious to prove something but he's going to get into trouble again if he starts out too big.

And as much as I rooted for Soul Daddy to win the competition, the restaurants didn't do well nationwide. If he's going to open again then he needs to go back to what made him successful in the first place, real unhealthy soul food, not low fat and fat free sugar free substitutes.

**Detwa** · October-10-12, 05:56 AM

Okay, what?

From the link Lowell posted:

Court fights ahead

Hawkins is currently fighting two lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court of Illinois.

Tonya Van Dyke and her husband, Darnell Johnson, co-owners of Chicago-based VFJ Enterprises Inc. dbaChicago's Home of Chicken and Waffles, filed a lawsuit in November against Hawkins and Kleiner for two counts of breach of contract, tortuous interference with prospective economic advantage, and breach of fiduciary duty.

They are asking the court to set damages on the two counts of breach of contract and are seeking damages of $21 million for the other charges.

The lawsuit alleges that Hawkins approached Van Dyke and Johnson with promises of turning their restaurant into a national chain that would eventually become publicly traded and valued at $1 billion.

The suit alleges that Hawkins said he would withhold $20 million in funding unless Van Dyke and Johnson gave him their recipe for waffle mix and syrup to use in Detroit's Cheesecake Bistro, which then had the working name of L's Cheesecake Bistro.

The lawsuit also alleges Hawkins, after learning from Johnson about a potential new site for another Chicago's Home of Chicken and Waffles location, began negotiating for the site for his own development.

Hawkins and Kleiner deny the allegations, and the lawsuit is pending.

The second lawsuit, filed in June by Ohio-based Cadlerock Joint Venture LP, alleges Hawkins has defaulted on $5.85 million in promissory notes to J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. The suit is pending.

**********************
So he's already into some new mess? Sounds like his financial base is already shaky! And its curious that he's allegedly strong arming another restaurant for their waffle recipe, but doing business with Soul Daddy who is known for waffles.....

**swingline** · October-10-12, 10:16 AM

Posted this earlier in the Jerry Kleiner thread. Probably should be in this thread:

It's amazing that Mr. Hawkins is back on the restaurant scene in Detroit. He [[or more precisely, corporate entities owned by him) owes millions to lenders, investors and vendors in this area. Not very long ago he owed the IRS over $5 million. He conducts business solely with other people's money. How in the world does he persuade rational people to to invest in his projects? Nobody makes any money except him. One certainly shouldn't want failure to befall any new job-creating business in Detroit. But anything involving Mr. Hawkins is bound to end in disaster.

**DetroitPlanner** · October-10-12, 10:27 AM

I have two strange recollections of this guy.

1. His Pizza Hut commercials where he would get on the TV holding a slice saying "it's crusty AND lusty!" [[really???)

2. Seeing his Bentley convertible parked illegally all around the financial district at different places collecting parking tickets. I later found out it was his Bentley when I saw his fat head behind the wheel! I thought "that jack-@$$!"

**Wesley Mouch** · October-10-12, 10:39 AM

I remember is Burger Kings around the ghetto. Or should I say my stomach does.

**Lowell** · October-10-12, 11:03 AM

LaVan's partner from Chicago appears to be as colorful as LaVan. [His name is on the lease for Cheesecake Bistro.] I like the sands of time touch in the foreground.

The restaurateur Jerry Kleiner with his companion Marisa Molinaro in their living room, 2000. “The State of Illinois hired me to do portraits of tons of people for CITY2000, a giant photo project to celebrate a year in the life of the city. Jerry and I have been friends for a long time. He’s a nice guy; he’s a hustler. from ChicagoMag.com by Marc Hauser

**Zacha341** · October-10-12, 11:15 AM

Arghh! I'd forgotten that one: "it's crusty AND lusty!"! I hate to paint with a broad brush but there's so much greed and failure associated with the food business... What does he plan to do alternatively to that? More of the past?

I went to a few of his fancy 'click-and-tick' spots downtown in the past and the sullen, surely staff and bad food made a return a NO! But then perhaps the chefs and serve staff were poorly treated, and unpaid, etc. Still, I am not going down the Hawkins food road again...

And, umm, these be new times in the D! He park that car in the wrong spot it's gonna be gone or pending to get gone with a big yellow BOOT! He's not got-it-like-that to be immune from our very own parking MONEY GRAB!!

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

I have two strange recollections of this guy.

1. His Pizza Hut commercials where he would get on the TV holding a slice saying "it's crusty AND lusty!" [[really???)

2. Seeing his Bentley convertible parked illegally all around the financial district at different places collecting parking tickets. I later found out it was his Bentley when I saw his fat head behind the wheel! I thought "that jack-@$$!"

**Islandman** · October-10-12, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Lowell

LaVan's partner from Chicago appears to be as colorful as LaVan. [His name is on the lease for Cheesecake Bistro.] I like the sands of time touch in the foreground.

Just looking at the layout of this picture, this guy has some major issues. I love how he's sitting in a chair in the forefront like King Jackass, while his "partner" might as well be in another area code. He should have just stuck her all the way upstairs by the railing.

**Lowell** · October-10-12, 11:20 AM

Interesting side note to the soft opening of Cheesecake Bistro on Sept 27 was that "VIP guests that included the Detroit mayoral trio of Dave Bing, Dennis Archer and Kwame Kilpatrick."

**Detroitnerd** · October-10-12, 11:30 AM

I'm just going to say that this guy doesn't understand what's working in this market right now. Only a few white tablecloth restaurants with menus of steaks and lobster can eke out a living. The whole category of formal, sit-down dining with service in elaborate liveries and sumptuous surroundings is taking a huge hit. To open one of these restaurants is a mistake. To attempt to open a dozen of them in one downtown is either a mistake -- or something much worse disguised as a mistake.

**trotwood** · October-10-12, 11:48 AM

La-Van Hawkins.....talk about a blast from the past. I'd forgotten he was in the world.

**313WX** · October-10-12, 12:44 PM

**trotwood** · October-10-12, 01:41 PM

Now I want pizza lol.

**MidTownMs** · October-10-12, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by trotwood

Now I want pizza lol.

Me too. I wonder if I can stiil get that Crusty Lusty Pizza...

**trotwood** · October-10-12, 02:15 PM

"I wonder if I can stiil get that Crusty Lusty Pizza... "

Lol!!!
mtsmtsmtstmst

**Zacha341** · October-10-12, 07:10 PM

Goodness! That's the ultimate 'click and tick'!

Originally Posted by Lowell

Interesting side note to the soft opening of Cheesecake Bistro on Sept 27 was that "VIP guests that included the Detroit mayoral trio of Dave Bing, Dennis Archer and Kwame Kilpatrick."

**Det_ard** · October-10-12, 10:14 PM

Can't trust Hawkins. The only reason he's talking about opening 12 restaurants is that you can skim more of your investor's funds with 12 restaurants than with one.

This guy is bad news, put him on a one-way train to Chicago.

**Zacha341** · October-11-12, 04:07 AM

Yeah, what a mess! Like finding 'Waldo'... who, what companion WOULD tolerate that?

INDEED that photo says alot...

Originally Posted by Islandman

Just looking at the layout of this picture, this guy has some major issues. I love how he's sitting in a chair in the forefront like King Jackass, while his "partner" might as well be in another area code. He should have just stuck her all the way upstairs by the railing.