Despite denying a heap of rumors that her restaurant was up for bidding, City Café founder Mardi Schma has sold her 17-year-old operation to Karim Alaoui, former general manager of Lombardi Mare (as well as one-time GM for the defunct Bistro A, the defunct Venus Steakhouse & Supper Club, Mediterraneo and the defunct Toscana), and partner Paula Bruton, former catering director at Lombardi Mare. Alaoui says he has been sniffing around Dallas for a restaurant for the past nine months. "Mardi had different [potential] buyers, and she was basically looking for the right people," Alaoui says. "I spent a lot of time with her...and you know she liked me very much. She made her choice." Alaoui, who says Schma has since relocated to St. Helena in California's Napa Valley, will take on the role of general manager...Rocco's, the New York-style pizzeria launched by Franki Carabetta and partners Ed and Michael Ruibal, operators of Landscape Systems of Texas, has been sold to Majed Khalaf, owner of Milano's Pizza in Seagoville. Carabetta and the Ruibals still operate McKinney Avenue Tavern and Corner Bar, also on McKinney. Khalaf says he plans to juice up Rocco's pizza and pasta fare with meat: Philly cheese steak sandwiches, Stromboli and steaks...Geode, the global tapas bar installed in the former Bistral space on McKinney Avenue in the spring, has shut down. Also succumbing to the McKinney Avenue death aura is the Scented Geranium, the Vietnamese restaurant that settled in the large space once inhabited by Chihuahua Charlie's.