Alex Plotkin, who owns the steakhouse Chops in Bala Cynwyd, confirmed that he will indeed open a restaurant in the former Oceanaire at 700 Walnut St. on the northwest edge of Washington Square, on the ground floor of the St. James.
Bullet points:
Plotkin, whose interest in the space was rumored several months ago, obtained it for a tiny fraction of the $6 million that Oceanaire spent in 2005-06 to convert it into a restaurant. Oceanaire, open just 2½ years, closed in July after the Minneapolis-based company filed for bankruptcy protection.
As for Plotkin: He's a Culinary Institute of America grad who worked at Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., and at Windows on the World in NYC before he entered the wine game as a sommelier/maitre d'. He worked for the Four Seasons properties in Dallas, Houston, and Toronto, and then landed at the one in Philly. (He was on the hotel chain's wine-buying panel.) After six years on Logan Square, he moved to the Palm in the Bellevue, where he became general manager and national wine buyer for the Palm restaurants. He left in 2002 to open Chops, at 401 City Ave.
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