As one Bank Street restaurant gets an artistic overhaul, another closes its doors

New London ― As the former Hot Rod Cafe prepares to reopen as an art gallery, another Bank Street restaurant abruptly closed its doors this week.

Cafe owner Rod Cornish said Wednesday that construction and renovation work to transform his 114 Bank St. building from a popular casual eatery into a showcase for local artists is nearly complete.

Meanwhile, New London Eats, a quick-service restaurant which specialized in loaded potatoes, nachos and hot dogs, closed its doors Sunday, just over a year after it opened at the corner of State and Bank streets.

Both restaurant operators said the numbers just weren’t working.

Cornish, 59, closed Hot Rod Cafe in October citing high operating costs and declining revenues.

“At one point, I thought about selling the building, but it would have broken my heart to see someone rolling paint over the murals,” he said, referring to the colorful pastiches and images covering the side of an exterior wall.

Instead, Cornish, a children’s book author and art collector, said he opted to tear out all remnants of the restaurant and replace the fixtures with white gallery walls, blond wood flooring and hanging spotlights.

The new space, renamed The Local, will feature a rotating assortment of art created by local painters, authors, sculptors and others. Several paintings were displayed on walls this week near a metal Gumby sculpture.

Cornish said his goal is to become part of the city’s small, but spunky art scene anchored by such Bank Street mainstays as the Expressiones Art Center and the Hygienic Art gallery.

“There’s so much talent here in New London, and I want to be part of that renaissance with a focus on locals,” he said.

Cornish, who said he’s already met with several artists ready to exhibit their pieces, hopes to open the gallery later this summer. He expects the space to be open from Thursday to Sunday and by appointment.

The back half of the former restaurant is being turned into a three-bedroom apartment Cornish plans to rent to college students and, when school ends, as an Airbnb in the summer.

“I’m in a place in my life where I can do pretty much what I want,” said Cornish, who owns Charlie’s Place Restaurant in Niantic. “This is all new for me; I know how to sell wings and beer, but I definitely didn’t want to run a retail or restaurant and bar here again – or be a landlord for that.”

High electric bills, slumping foot traffic

As Cornish continued to reimagine his former restaurant, several doors down at 2 Bank St., another storefront was dark and devoid of customers.

The abrupt closure of New London Eats was announced in a Saturday Facebook post to “our Loyal New London Eats Customers” days after smiling staff were serving lines of customers outside the shop during this month’s busy Sailfest event.

Co-owner Miguel Gautier on Wednesday said a one-two punch of “crazy high” electric bills and anemic foot traffic proved too much to overcome.

“I put a lot of it on Eversource,” he said. “Our bill for the last couple months was $1,800, double what it was prior. We even disconnected some of our basement coolers and freezers, but the bills stayed the same.”

Gautier said he got conflicting responses by Eversource meter readers and the company’s billing department about the utility charge spikes.

Compounding the issue, Gautier said sales started slumping in November and never rebounded.

“We went from about $1,800 a day to $500 on a good day,” he said. “At first, we thought it was just the cold weather, but our sales at Sailfest were also half that of last year. So, I told my partners I wanted out, and we agreed to close.”

Gautier said he’s not ruling out reopening a similar business outside of New London at some point.

“People have suggested Groton or East Lyme,” he said. “Maybe.”

j.penney@theday.com