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Bugatti’s Ristorante, a stalwart of West Linn’s dining scene for more than 30 years, will serve its last plate of pasta on Nov. 3.
The restaurant announced its closure on Facebook earlier this week.
The restaurant business is notoriously difficult and places close all the time, but Bugatti’s, which opened in 1991, is notable for more than its loyal following (which took to Facebook to express sorrow at the news). The restaurant and its sister location in Oregon City (which remains open) are owned by industrialist Robert Pamplin Jr.
Pamplin is better known for his ownership of Ross Island Sand & Gravel and for Pamplin Communications, which until earlier this year owned the Portland Tribune and 24 other Oregon newspapers. Pamplin’s company, R. B. Pamplin Corp., also owns Mt. Vernon Mills, a textile business in the South and, closer to home, Columbia Empire Farms in Yamhill County and Pamplin Vineyards, among other holdings.
As WW has reported, Pamplin has made more than 70 highly unusual transactions, selling or transferring real estate from various R.B. Pamplin companies to the R.B. Pamplin Corp. pension plan, which pays retirement benefits to more than 2,000 current and former Pamplin employees. Those transactions appear to violate federal pension laws prohibiting related-party transactions and conflicts of interest. The U.S. Department of Labor, which regulates pensions, sued Pamplin and R.B. Pamplin Corp. in U.S. District Court in Portland in September, seeking the return of tens of millions of dollars to the pension fund.
Related: Federal Regulators Sue Robert Pamplin Jr. Over Massive Pension Fund Abuses
That’s the backdrop for what otherwise might seem just a routine restaurant closure.
Bugatti’s manager Cheryl Russo told the West Linn Tidings, which first reported the closure and which Pamplin sold earlier this year, that her staff is saddened, but some will move to Bugatti’s Oregon City location.
“We are a tight knit group who have been through good and hard times together,” Russo said. “We are grateful to Dr. Pamplin for the time that we had.”