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Breaking News: Farewell Zoe's

June 24, 2008 01:06 PM ET | Rosie Saferstein | Permanent Link

Zoe’s By The Lake was a unique and unlikely success. A country French restaurant, it overcame its remote location in Sparta and the fact that there was at first no lake--it had been drained after a dam burst a few years before Zoe's opened.

Jean-Charles and Marla Saben bought the rundown property and its two-story cabin anyway. They made it a warm and welcoming place. Last year New Jersey Monthly named Zoe's the "Most Romantic Restaurant in the State." 

But now, it seems, Zoe's has closed, and not for vacation.

The phone has been disconnected. Sources told us that the Sabens had negotiated to sell Zoe's, but the sale fell through.

Early this year, chef Scott Jacobson--who ran the kitchen since Zoe's opened in 2003--departed. He is currently the chef at Amsterdam in New York City.

The Sabens named the restaurant for their then three-year-old daughter, Zoe. The dam was eventually repaired and Seneca Lake refilled in 2005. The country French cuisine was delicious.

This remote gem was always worth the ride. It will be missed

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Comments
Zoes by the lake

They have been known to be pretentious and flaky, unwilling to accomodate, and unfair to the staff. The owners used to take a cut of the waitstaff’s tips! Speaking from experience;)

Posted by: Katlyn, None | Jun 15, 2009 21:13:12 PM |

Zoe's Closing

My wife and I were planning to have our wedding reception at Zoe's in June. After the initial arrangements we made in January, we called a couple of months before the date to finalize the menu and guest list but could not get Jean-Charles on the phone. The staff said he was on family vacation. The phone calls continued, but we never got him on the phone. Finally, about 3 weeks prior to the wedding, their phone stopped ringing all together. At this point I drove to the restaurant to find a note pinned to the door saying that there was a terminal illness in the family and they were closed until further notice. So without so much as a simple phone call, Jean-Charles and Marla disappeared - leaving us with no place for a reception only a matter of days before our wedding. Our deposit disappeared with them. I'd feel bad if their story was true, but only a few days later Marla was overheard in another restaurant saying that they simply went out of business.

Posted by: John Previty, | Oct 13, 2008 05:48:44 AM |