By Garth Johnston, ZAGAT.com Staff Writer

The risks of opening new branches can outweigh the rewards.

Southern Hospitality is reportedly thinking of opening a second location.

photo: Emily Capo

As the onset of fall restaurant openings approaches, we find ourselves again lost in memories of those that are no longer with us. Previously we looked at restaurants that, despite oodles of press, never opened their doors. Just as disheartening are those that opened just fine and then expanded beyond their reach.

Once a restaurant concept has been proven, the urge to expand can be tremendous – not the least because bulk ordering can lower overhead. But while many a restaurateur would love to have a chain of successes glittering around the world (or just up and down the fair isle of Manhattan), it doesn’t always work out. Not every restaurant can be parlayed into a BLT, Blue Ribbon, Momofuku or Dos Caminos. In honor of the fallen, come with us on a graveyard tour of those whose siblings just couldn’t cut it – and that in some cases proved to be the egg that killed the goose.

The most recent example is the East Village small-plates hot spot the Tasting Room. After opening in 1999 to acclaim (and a 27 Food rating from Zagat surveyors), the Room team opened a second, larger location on Elizabeth Street in 2006. Unfortunately, that new branch couldn't seem to pull its weight and closed this June, followed promptly by the original. On the plus side, Eater reports that chef Colin Alevras will be back at the stove in the Village soon enough.

The Tasting Room isn't the only restaurant to have followed such a trajectory. In October 2003, Mandler's, a German meats and sandwich shop, opened to much fanfare on East 17th Street. Brisk business led to a second outpost on Eighth Avenue and 40th Street in April 2007. But lightning didn't strike twice and the second shop was gone in six months. Then, six months later in April 2008, the original Mandler's said a hearty auf Wiedersehen.

The East Village Venezuelan Flor's Kitchen opened in 1998 on First Avenue and quickly found a niche for itself with local diners. In January 2004, it expanded into the West Village with a second location on Waverly Place. But the strain of two locations must have added up. The original closed in 2007, followed a year later by its offspring.

A similar fate hit Louisiana import Jacques-Imo's. The Cajun restaurant set up shop across from the Natural History Museum in February 2004 and then opened a second spot in Grand Central less than a year later. But after two years the Grand Central location closed, followed a year later by the Upper West Side site. (Meanwhile, the New Orleans original is doing just fine and is one of the most popular in our Survey there.)

Giorgione

photo: Noah Kalina

Of course, a failed spin-off doesn't necessarily mean the death of the original (the failure of Model's Inc. didn't hurt Melrose Place). Plenty of restaurants do just fine after closing a stumbling second shot. Take Giorgione for example. The SoHo Italian opened in 2002, spun off Giorgione 508 at the end of 2005 and then closed it this past July. Stage Deli, the Seventh Avenue standard since 1937, opened an Upper East Side outpost in 2002 and closed it in 2004. National steak chain Ruth's Chris came to New York in 1993 and opened a second branch 10 years later only to close the second in less than two years. And Murray Hill's Sushi Sen-nin survived too. It debuted in 1998 and opened a second outpost on the Upper East Side in 2004 – then the original moved one block in 2006 and is still open while the sequel closed this past March.

Sometimes it takes a few locations before a restaurateur has to pull back. The Indian mini-chain Cafe Spice started off on University Place in 1998 and added a second location in Grand Central in 2000. It met its match, however, when a more elaborate version opened in 2004 on West 55th Street. That location lasted four years before folding. Similarly SoHo Pan-Asian Kelley & Ping debuted to accolades in 1993 and parlayed that success into a big push a decade later, opening a Murray Hill location in 2004 and another on the Bowery in 2005. The Murray Hill spot closed in 2006 and the Bowery locale closed in 2007 – just as the Bowery began its recent revitalization in earnest.

And then there are the cases where a spin-off isn't exactly what it seems. West Village New American The Place opened in 1998 in a romantic space on West Fourth Street. Then in 2005, during a classic landlord dispute, the restaurant, fearing eviction, decided to open a second location on West 10th Street that November. Once the landlord dispute had been settled and the original's lease had been extended, the sequel was shuttered in July 2007. The original has hummed along since.

Dispite the cautionary tales noted above, there will never be a shortage of eateries thinking of cloning themselves – we're looking at you Southern Hospitality – and plenty do succeed. But sometimes it might be that the best thing a successful restaurant can do is keep its current customers happy.

– With help from Larry Cohn