Rumor milling: Thomas Keller not opening in Miami

By Lesley Abravanel | Lank@aol.com10/1/2012

Not quite Newton's Third Law of Motion but with every new month comes a new or regenerated restaurant rumor. The one we're tackling today involves Thomas Keller and Azul, which has been spinning around in the vast rumorsphere for a while now.  At one point we heard the stellar chef was planning to open in the Mandarin Oriental space as a Bouchon or Bouchonesque restaurant. Then we heard he wasn't. And now we hear that the entire plan (or lack thereof?) has been scrapped and that, categorically, no, Thomas Keller is not opening at Azul or anywhere in Miami for that matter.

Despite that,  some Azul insiders have reported to us that they've seen people walking around the space with blueprints, none which had TK emblazoned on them, but still. We asked the Mandarin's spokeswoman Alexandra Wensley, who has offered us absolutely nothing over the past few months and true to her ways, again offered us, and we quote, "nothing to share at this time." We also contacted Keller's people, who took a bigger page out of Wensley's book and offered us nothing, too, not even a reply. Yay, nay or maybe? Verdict: seems highly unlikely at least this week.

Update: The Keller camp has spoken and, alas and unfortunately, it's true. Or not true. Thomas Keller is not opening in Miami. Keller's Communications and Media manager Gerald San Jose told us yesterday that, "Yes, that is correct. There are currently no plans of future expansion to Miami." So there you have it.