Looking for hope in the dramatic David Bernahl-Rob Weakley-Coastal Luxury Management breakdown.

Turns out much of the eye-catching legal conflict between Monterey-based Coastal Luxury Management partners and long-time besties Rob Weakley (of Carmel) and David Bernahl (also of Carmel) starts with a swanky restaurant in…Los Angeles.

For all the chaos allegedly happening at Faith & Flower in L.A.’s ever-gentrifying downtown—with co-owners CLM and Cindy and Jeff Troesh swept up in a maw of lawsuits and countersuits, accusations of fraud and embezzlement, and even rival security guards jockeying for control of the space—my dinner there Friday, Jan. 2, tipped off none of the grief.

Conversation crackled from the gilded sunburst in the chandelier-hung back room, along the 100-foot plush upholstered bench seating, and into the hip bar area beneath muralist Robert Vargas’ huge portrait of a woman’s shadowy face.

Tender kampachi ceviche, oxtail agnolotti and dungeness crab toast from Exec Chef Michael Hung intrigued with its fresh ingredients and imagination.

Corporate cocktail chief Mike Lay, who once ran Restaurant 1833’s bar for CLM and recently won best new cocktail of the year from Esquire for his English milk punch, stopped by our table. 

“Business is building,” he said. 

In fact, on Dec. 31, Faith & Flower made a last push for James Beard Foundation votes for Best New Restaurant, Best Chef West and Best Bar Program.

Behind the curtain, though, things aren’t quite as appetizing.

••• 

Originally, Bernahl and Weakley didn't have much more than Burgundies and business dreams.

At one point they visited a dry cleaning conference looking to finalize a scheme for a clothes laundering venture.

Then a vacuum came to Monterey County, custom created by Masters of Food & Wine leaving for Argentina after a 21-year tenure at what is now Hyatt Carmel Highlands.

The chef contacts Weakley (and, to a lesser extent, Bernahl) made during his time as a Hyatt operations chief (and Bernahl as a successful retail clothing salesman and gourmand) remained.

They'd drink the wine while hatching the ideas at one another's homes and by the fire pits at Bernardus Lodge. 

At one point as things evolved—and after a key partnership was brokered with Pebble Beach Company—Weakley took a $40,000 personal line of credit against his Carmel home to hire CLM’s first employee and start planning the first Pebble Beach Food & Wine in earnest.

Later Weakley sold off part of his wine cellar to keep it solvent. (“Like selling my babies,” he said.)

The kaleidoscope of star chef demos, opulent tastings and pioneering dinners that has been seven years of Pebble Beach Food & Wine is an accomplishment by itself. (Check out a recap of the first five year's highlights with "Defining moments from Pebble Beach Food & Wine’s first half decade, and how Miami crab fits in.")

The co-founders and directors would go onto launch Cannery Row Brewing Company, Restaurant 1833, Los Angeles Food & Wine, then insane Rose.Rabbit.Lie restaurant/club in Vegas and finally Faith & Flower.

Then, last July 9, Weakley suddenly left the CLM firm, taking a buyout for an undisclosed amount.

He called it “an opportunity to step away” and “just a good time.”

“I couldn’t be sadder to see him go,” Bernahl announced.

Fast forward to Dec. 19 and the next stunner: In Monterey County Superior Court, Weakley sues the partner who replaced him, wine magnate Charles Banks, for $250,000 Weakley says he’s owed from the second of multiple buyout payments, plus $25,000 in “late fees.” (They won’t say how many payments are coming.)

Meanwhile the Troeshes, who made their fortune in real estate, have been busy down in L.A.

They sold the 35-story luxury apartment WaterMarke Tower that houses Faith & Flower for $160.5 million last summer. They deflected what CLM reps call a generous buyout offer from Bernahl and Banks, and decided against making them an offer when asked.

Oh, and one other thing happened between then and now: They accused CLM in general, and Bernahl in particular, of using Faith & Flower as a personal “piggy bank” to fund other restaurants and Bernahl’s lavish travels.

CLM has countered each complaint, including a particularly climactic moment yesterday (Tuesday, Jan. 6) in L.A. County Court. 

•••

In trying to digest all the drama, I spoke to current and past employees of Coastal Luxury, called some of their longtime collaborators, talked with Bernahl, swapped texts with Weakley and—after he met my repeated calls and voicemails with an email from his lawyer that was as dry and helpful as a bucket of sand—drove to Weakley’s house. (Turns out it’s now his old house, now a rental, and his new one is in a gated community.)

I spoke with lawyers for hours, had a chat with polarizing Cindy Troesh herself, and gnawed through at least seven legal complaints, hearing summaries declarations and memorandums, some of which ran 60 pages, and a forensic audit for dessert.

So I get it when Bernahl says, after a dizzying year that has included the opening of genre-busting Rose.Rabbit.Lie restaurant/club in Vegas, the seventh annual Pebble Food & Wine, Faith & Flower’s debut, the fourth annual Los Angeles Food & Wine, hiring a new chef for Restaurant 1833, Weakley’s departure, the consequent reorganization and now the legal mess, that “normal would be exciting.”

•••

Faith & Flower was founded on faith and a 50/50 split, with CLM running ops and the Troeshes furnishing the impressive space. Just this Tuesday, Jan. 6, when the Troeshes’ and CLM’s lawyers met in L.A. Superior Court, at issue was the latest of many motions over the last two months, this one an ex parte application in which the Troeshes asked for an independent receiver—basically an outside accountant—to manage F&F’s books and put the Troeshes in control of day-to-day operations.

In short, staff would report to them (i.e. Cindy) and not CLM (i.e. Bernahl). 

The reason for that, the Troeshes allege: Bernahl and CLM “have and continue to loot the bank accounts of Faith & Flower Restaurant.”

This came on the heels of a testy back-and-forth that went from the Troeshes alleging embezzlement and stealing, and CLM counter complaints alleging fraud and slander.

A flash point came Nov. 22, when Bernahl flew from Monterey to confront a sudden hostile takeover at Faith & Flower. After Cindy Troesh appeared with security guards and a letter from her attorney asserting her right to run the restaurant, Bernahl and other CLM execs, acting on the advice of their attorneys to demonstrate practical control, brought in even more security and went back to directing the front and back of the house.

Within two days, the courts allowed for CLM’s right to run things, while keeping the Troeshes in the loop, until a more in-depth hearing could take place; that’s scheduled for March.

But things won’t likely get that far.

With the Jan. 6 complaint, the Troeshes hoped a judge would grant them authority over day-to-day staff, payroll and human resources.

Their main beefs: CLM owed rent, and was inappropriately borrowing from Faith & Flower accounts to pay other restaurants.

CLM counters that a deal both sides approved allows them to pay managers’ health care and get reimbursed, and that they aren’t drawing the management fees they’re owed.

It’s worth noting CLM has requested an independent forensic audit that shows everything Bernahl and company has done is defensible.  

That request from the Troeshes was rejected by Judge James C. Chalfant.

When CLM counsel Scott Vick offered to hire an independent third party to administer the payroll and HR duties traditionally handled by CLM, the Troeshes agreed.

Troesh attorney Jeff Farrow calls the Tuesday ruling “exactly what we wanted: transparency.” 

In response, CLM counsel Vick compares Farrow to the Black Knight in Monty Python and The Holy Grail after he’s had his arms chopped off.

“He is delusional. That’s like [the Black Knight] saying, ‘It’s a flesh wound.’”

Later he adds, “They’re jockeying for better position for a buyout.”

All this, and Faith & Flower only opened in April.

How’d things get so nasty so fast?

To understand that, it’s better to go back in the beginning.

•••

There they were, on the Weekly’s cover, circa January 2008, in the first of many high-profile portraits together, ahead of the very first Pebble Beach Food & Wine.

Weakley and Bernahl would so often be seen together and so frequently photographed on each other’s hips, grinning madly at the camera, that many assumed they were lovers. 

In a May 2010 cover story I wrote, detailing brave plans for Restaurant 1833, Cannery Row Brewing Company and farther-flung food ventures, they both admitted to a form of resourcefulness that foreshadows the current scramble for cash: They’d make deals knowing they’d have some time to make the payments after the events had drawn in capital.

“It’s called paying it forward,” Bernahl said at the time. “Stealing from Peter to pay Paul.”

Weakley would often describe the partners’ roles in an interesting way: “Dave sells people the dream. I finance the nightmare.”

In other words, Bernahl did a lot of the politicking and fundraising, Weakley coordinated the chefs, other staff and overall operations and both enjoyed a beautiful business-planning and brainstorming chemistry.

In L.A., that meant Weakley was the one on the ground and ultimately the only one on the CLM team who dealt with Cindy Troesh, a feisty sort of L.A. multi-multi-millionaire more gifted at talking than listening.

“Rob and I had a better relationship because he was present,” she says.

After July 9, in the midst of a rocky opening—and without Weakley there to tell Cindy Troesh everything was going to be alright—things suddenly weren’t.

She started looking for a way to win control as her faith in the restaurant and investment left with Weakley.

Weakley signed a note promising $150,000 to the Troeshes—after he was done at CLM, according to a CLM countersuit. That marked one of a number of stark disagreements between the Troeshes and CLM, and a major point of distress for Weakley and Bernahl. 

•••

Something has happened a lot lately: I ask a lawyer involved in this tangle a direct question, and he tells me, “Just let me give you the context.” 

Things get complicated quickly. 

But there are some things that are clearer than others.

What isn’t as clear:

1) Why Weakley has sided more with the Troeshes than his longtime friends and allies: When he signed a note benefiting the Troeshes, after a pretty meaty buyout, he could've checked in with CLM, especially when he was down in L.A. near a restaurant and a team he invested so much in. Apparently he didn't.

2) Why Weakley, outwardly happy about his exit, really wasn’t. And why Bernahl says the July split was “absolutely the best possible outcome.” 

This much is clear: 

1) There have been a lot of legal complaints levied against Bernahl and CLM, and they have answered each complaint quickly and vigorously. They requested an independent audit to show money transfers were used to pay managers’ health care, and a judge recently ruled to keep CLM running the restaurant. 

2) The bottom line is the bottom line: People want to get paid what they feel they’re due. With a crazy-opulent restaurant’s start-up costs, that can take time. 

3) Systems—from budget management to travel and entertainment policies to accountability protocols to accounts payable—are leaner and meaner at Faith & Flower with new CLM chief operating officer Anand Menon at the controls. 

4) Coastal Luxury Management, Pebble Beach Food & Wine, 1833 and Cannery Row Brewing Company aren’t going anywhere.

5) Amid all the disagreement, one element is consistently agreed upon, from Weakley to Cindy Troesh to Bernahl: They all want resolution, and it could come as quickly as this week. Really. Bernahl and Weakley have met several times within the last few days. “If it doesn’t work out,” Bernahl says, “Nobody wins.”