Are Ian Shrager and Jeffrey Chodorow flirting with a new hookup? With his Mariott Hotel Group marriage looking rocky, Ian Schrager, the man who invented the boutique hotel at Morgans, has focused on launching Public in Chicago. It’s the first of his newest boutique inns and Chodorow, the mate who made Asie de Cuba a hit at Morgan’s, says he’s helping Ian.

        Just a few weeks ago Chodorow picked up $20 million in a split from Morgans Hotel Group,  freeing him to play around with Ian again. Reached yesterday he was still marveling at a totally gratuitous rave from Sam Sifton in the Wednesday Times review of Imperial #9 – Sifton singled out the consistency of Asie de Cuba. Chodorow insisted he had merely signed on to oversee the opening mechanics of the Chicago Public’s restaurant, the Pump Room, which will be run by Jean Georges Vongerichten but has not been built yet.  “I’ll be the owner’s rep,” he said emphasizing the limitation of the restored liaison. “I’m there making sure it opens.”  

        And what about Asie de Cuba or China Grill at future Publics? All that is undecided, he insisted, saying he needed to be focused on FoodParc at the Eventi, the new Red Farm free standing store in the West Village he’s backing, his deal for a Kutscher’s Deli in Tribaca and overseas expansion for his formidable money-makers, China Grill and Asie de Cuba.

        “Arabic?” I asked. And he agreed. “Qatar, Aba Dhabi and Dubai are where you want to be.” Nothing is signed, he insisted. “But I can promise you they will be spectacular.” 

        Meanwhile calls left for Schrager were not returned.

        If Shrager’s surprising and highly publicized engagement to the giant Marriott group trumpeted in 2007 were in trouble, Schragers friend's and exes would not be surprised. Marritt embraced him as the avatar of a new market. Unfortunately the economy then took a dive that clobbered the hospitality business and sent hotels reeling. Though Marriott said several Editions were supposedly in the works, the first to open, Waikiki Edition Hotel, felt abandoned, and filed suit against Shrager and Marriot May 26 for tens of millions of dollars.

        According to Hotel Checkin’s Barbara Delollis in USA Today the suit alleges that, "What Defendants [Marriott and Ian Schrager] represented would be a fully supported new lifestyle hotel brand in the Marriott family of brands has turned out to be a nonexistent hotel chain." Promised revenues never materalzed and room rates plummeted, the suit charges.

Click here to return to Short Order Listings.