Food and Drinq

Striped Bass will close at the end of the month as owner Stephen Starr says he'll turn the seafood destination restaurant this fall into a ’40s-supper-club-style steakhouse called Butcher & Singer Steak & Seafood.

Starr told staffers moments ago that they’d be offered jobs at his other eateries, including Parc, the French bistro that he will open July 1 on nearby Rittenhouse Square

Butcher & Singer was the name of the brokerage firm that occupied the space at 15th and Walnut Streets before Striped Bass opened in 1994.

Starr told me that he has an Oct. 1 opening targeted and will put $2 million into renovations including oversize Hollywood-style booths and lamps on the tables. Average dinner check will be $85 a person, about $25 less than Striped Bass.

Starr bought Striped Bass out of bankruptcy in late 2003 for $1.3 million, put a million into renovations and reopened in April 2004.

Striped Bass, the dream of boyhood pals Joe Wolf and Neil Stein, joined the Pennsylvania Convention Center in ushering a new era of tourism-fueled nightlife in Center City under then-new mayor Ed Rendell.

With the showman Stein leading the PR parade, Striped Bass got oceans of ink, especially for its first chef Alison Barshak, who became a star almost overnight. Barshak, who quit in 1996, now owns Alison at Blue Bell and is building a second restaurant in Fort Washington. Stein bought out Wolf in 1997. Wolf is now director of operations for Georges Perrier. Stein, who served nearly a year in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion surrounding the collapse of his empire, is planning a comeback in the biz .