Wolfgang Puck Shutters Vert at Hollywood & Highland: restaurant was the only mid-level operation among chef's locations.

BRASSERIE Vert, a Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Hollywood & Highland Center, closed at the end of last month so Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Inc. can allocate more resources to the company's catering business in the landmark complex.

"Vert wasn't living up to the expectations as we would have hoped, but it wasn't doing terribly," said Carl Schuster, the chief executive of Wolfgang Puck Catering Inc., the entity that owned Vert. "It was just moving along and being somewhat successful. I hate to close anything but in this case it is probably for the best."

Vert was opened in 2002 after the developer of Hollywood & Highland, TrizecHahn Hollywood LLC, asked Wotfgang Puck to open a midlevel restaurant at the location.

The mid-level concept was one that Wolfgang Puck hadn't explored. Nearly all of the company's restaurants are either upscale dining, including its famous Spago location in Beverly Hills, or they are quick, inexpensive chains such as Wolfgang Puck Express. Vert was the only one of its kind, Schuster said.

Vert never reached the level of renown that some of Puck's other ventures have achieved.

The restaurant empire's catering business, which maintains operations in some of the largest entertainment venues around the U.S., is the exclusive caterer for the Kodak Theater and recently signed an agreement to continue in that position through 2017.

The decision to abandon the concept came after the announcement that Cirque du Soleil had signed a contract to perform at the Kodak Theater in the Hollywood & Highland complex starting in 2009. The deal promises more work for Wolfgang Puck's Catering business, which occupies the entire fifth floor of the Hollywood & Highland complex.

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