David Pisor Faces Foreclosure Suit Over Aya Pastry in West Town

As the new owner of Etta Collective attempts to distance itself from the bankruptcy filings of former owner David Pisor, the banks are pressing forward with efforts to collect debts. Records show Pisor has defaulted on the $1.4 million mortgage for the West Town building that houses Aya Pastry.

Wintrust Bank has filed a lawsuit against Pisor and also lists his former business partner, Jim Lasky, in the complaint. Lasky’s attorneys have reiterated that their client has been long removed from Aya’s operations stemming from an acrimonious split between the parties in 2023. The two also founded Maple & Ash in Gold Coast and Etta. The latter had multiple locations while a Bucktown restaurant remains open under the new ownership of a Texas tech company. Johann Moonesinghe is the founder of InKind and took over Aya Pastry earlier this year after he won an auction for Etta Collective’s assets. Moonesinghe is now the tenant at 1332 W. Grand Avenue and tells Crain’s he’d be interested in buying the Aya building if it were made available. In Scottsdale, Arizona, an Etta outpost was recently sold to RDM Hospitality, an Austin, Texas company. The restaurant will relaunch in late September with renovations and a new modern Italian menu, according to a news release.

Back in Chicago, Aya Pastry’s namesake, acclaimed pastry chef Aya Fukai, left the bakery in 2023, but her name remains on all the branding. Fukai, who worked with Laksy and Pisor at Maple & Ash, opened the bakery with the pair in 2017. Her recipes also remain and several local coffee shops stock their pastry cases with doughnuts and croissants from the bakery. Fukai isn’t listed as a defendant in Wintrust’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, September 10 in Cook County circuit court. Pisor kept Fukai’s departure quiet while dealing with the fallout from separating from Lasky. Over the summer, Lasky and chef Danny Grant announced expansion plans for the bar inside Maple & Ash, called Eight Bar. There’s hope of opening multiple locations across the country, and the duo has plans for Maple & Ash and Eight Bar combo in Miami. The steakhouse holds the cachet of being one of Restaurant Business Online’s highest-grossing independent restaurants in the country and tops in Chicago.

Last year, several former Etta workers protested, citing lapses in healthcare coverage and other operational concerns with Pisor. Meanwhile, Pisor tells Crain’s that he looks forward to resolving the matter concerning Wintrust quickly, describing the bank’s lawsuit as a baseless attack and a “technical default.”