By Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Syndicate restaurant and banquet hall complex in Newport is about to get a new identity as the Coconut Grove, and new management by Jeff Ruby.

The restaurateur, who owns four Greater Cincinnati restaurants, including Tropicana in nearby Newport on the Levee, is being brought into the project to save the Syndicate from bankruptcy, he says. His plans are for a new restaurant, called Valentino, a concert hall and banquet rooms.

"We're going to bring back the supper club concept to Cincinnati, giving people a place where they can get dressed up for dinner and see a show from a table with cocktails," says Ruby. "It will also be the first Jeff Ruby restaurant that can hold functions for 500 people, if you want a nice wedding or fund-raiser with our food and service."

Ruby is naming the complex for the Coconut Grove, a famous nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles where Frank Sinatra sang and Hollywood stars were seen.

The look will be art deco with a new facade modeled after Miami's Carlyle Hotel in South Beach. The restaurant will be Italian, similar to Ruby's former restaurant, Spazzi in Covington, but more upscale. It is named for Rudolph Valentino, Hollywood's first superstar and first Italian star, whose movie The Sheik was the source for the original Coconut Grove's decor of palm trees and fountains.

The supper club will be called the Ballroom. The current dance club, Cicero's, will be converted to a party room called the Ambassador Room, and there will be other banquet rooms of various sizes.

Ruby will have an option for an ownership share but is not buying the business. The original group of about 20 investors retains ownership, and majority owner John Whalen is staying on as general manager. The City of newport is loaning money for improvements, and the landlord, Wayne Carlisle, is paying for the new facade, Ruby says.

The chef for Valentino will be Ron Perez, who worked for Ruby at Spazzi. Joe Kimm, the Syndicate chef, will remain as banquet chef.

The restaurant will close in august for remodeling. october is the target date for the reopening.