Tom Patrick-Odeen

After three years of court fights with booze- and noise-wary neighbors over its liquor license and live music program, embattled Lola restaurant at 5-15 Watts Street has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In addition to mounting unpaid legal bills -- nearly $100,000 and counting -- proprietors Gayle Patrick-Odeen and Tom Patrick-Odeen also owe landlord Vornado Realty more than $100,000 in back rent, "as a result of [their] inability to generate significant income from [the restaurant's] trademark live performances," according to court papers.

On Aug. 20, Vornado threatened to terminate the restaurant's 15-year lease if the money was not paid in full. The restaurant has filed for bankruptcy in order to "preserve its valuable leasehold interest," the court papers show.

The restaurant is now "holding 3 nightly performance sets in hopes of successfully rebounding from their financial setbacks."

Embattled Soho restaurant Lola will just have to make do without live music, the State Liquor Authority informed the eatery's owners on Thursday.

Proprietors Tom and Gayle Patrick-Odeen have said that their business—which has been the subject of a nasty, three-and-a-half-year legal dispute with neighbors, who have protested the place's right to sell booze—is "struggling" without live performances.

The couple recently told The Villager that they were "hanging on by a thread."

Live music had been a staple of the drinking and dining experience at the couple's prior location on West 22nd Street. But upon moving to the corner of Watts and Thompson streets, the duo initially applied to play background music only.

The owners insist that this was a clerical error and that the application was later "orally amended" by the SLA.  read more »