On Monday, Nino Selimaj, owner of Nino’s Tuscany (along with three other Nino’s and two other NYC Italian restaurants) filed for Chapter 11 for that restaurant, and he’s expected to seek bankruptcy protection for the rest as well, writes Crain’s. This is the next chapter in a long saga involving legal woes over wage disputes that had Selimaj paying over half a million dollars in back pay in 2010. Before that, his was a classic American-dream story: Albanian dude moves here with nothing, works his way up in the restaurant world, and eventually builds an empire. It’s sad to see that kind of thing crumble, though we do wonder if his style of older-school Italian restaurant is destined to give way to the Batalis and Michael Whites of the world at some point. [Crain’s]
