The Garces restaurants at Ocean Resort Casino “will open and operate as normal - as all Garces restaurants are during this process,” the rep says. Garces Group holds the management contracts and the contracts are included as assets in the sale of Garces’ restaurants (likely to Louisiana-based food company Ballard Brands). As a representative for Garces Group explains, Ocean Resort Casino owns the restaurants. The restaurants themselves are not directly part of the bankruptcy proceedings. Garces is providing “culinary expertise and menu consultation” at Amada, Distrito, and a barbecue restaurant, Pit Boss BBQ & Beers, under a restaurant management agreement, says Ocean Resort Casino owner Bruce Deifik. The chef, who is filing for bankruptcy and cites the casino closure as the start of his financial woes, gets a partial comeback to his name when Ocean Resort Casino opens in the former Revel space later this month with 16 bars and restaurants, including outposts of Garces’ Amada and Distrito. When the Revel casino-hotel in Atlantic City shut down in 2014 after just two years in business, it took four of Jose Garces’ restaurants with it.
