Final call is near at Zazios, open for 30 months at Birmingham's highest-traffic intersection.
The flashy restaurant at the southwest corner of Maple and Woodward has switched from upscale dinners to pub grub until it shuts Jan. 31, Nathan Skid of Crain's Detroit Business reports first at his Table Talk blog.
The parent company's corporate chef tells him Zazio's couldn't hit its $4-million yearly revenue goal.
"The concept just didn't get that large of an audience. It was a huge restaurant done beautifully. There just weren't enough patrons supporting that large dining room."
One distinction -- or gimmick, it could be said -- is a "chef's table" stage arrangement with gallery seating and overhead video monitors that let diners watch food preparation, Food Network-style.
Zazios serves its last pizzas and beers three days after the start of Birmingham Restaurant Week, a promotional event it joined in 2011 and 2012.
An old-school Birmingham tradition is next to the snazzy-design newcomer based in Kalamazoo. Peabody's, a family-owned restaurant directly south of Zazios, opened in 1975 on the site of its owners' former Peabody Market (1946-74). That third-generation business has its own parking lot, a definite advantage. -- Alan Stamm
