Ideal’s Element To Close Sunday

Three months after a revamp that brought a name change and a remodeling, Ideal’s Element in Huntington plans to close its doors Aug. 15.

By Carl Corry

Just three months after a revamp that brought a name change and a remodeling so that restaurant seating was easily accessible from Main Street, Ideal’s Element plans to close its doors on Sunday.

“It seems that Huntington has lots of choices for dining and the business has not done as well as we expected after our latest renovation in May. We tried our best to please our customers and hopefully a new owner with a different concept can do better,” owner Julius Binetti said Friday.

Binetti said a group has made an offer on the business that Ideal Element’s has accepted. A contract is going out today.

“If all goes well, we can close on the deal the latter part of next week,” Binetti said.

The prospective buyer liked the idea of another restaurant, he said.

Ideal’s Element, located 308 Main St., had hoped to capitalize on Huntington’s growing nightlife, especially on weekends. The restaurant, which opened in Huntington in 2013, was the outgrowth of the Binetti family’s Ideal Cheese shop in Manhattan, which it purchased in 2003. It expanded to Huntington in 2012 in shared space with The Crushed Olive before moving out on their own.

The business will close for good 8 p.m. Sunday.

“You need to have a business in these locations that can support the rent,” Binetti said, noting that some restaurants in Huntington can fetch $150 for a two-person ticket. “Our business and the way we marketing the business was not able to support the rent.”

The property’s owner, Howard Novick of Huntington, was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Jason Lee contributed to this report.