Central Park's iconic Tavern on the Green, one of the highest grossing independently owned restaurants in the U.S., is headed west. Look for a branch in San Francisco in the Metreon (a retail/ restaurant/entertainment hub) with Yerba Buena Garden views. Although the opening is slated for summer 2009, the LeRoy family is already on the hunt for an A-list chef to run the kitchen. • As of June, talented chameleon Gary Robins, last seen at the Russian Tea Room, now presides over a stage-prosceniumed wood-burning oven at Sheridan Square (138 Seventh Ave. South), where salvaged wood from upstate New York barns and white wainscoting lend rusticity to an otherwise minimalist bobo ambience. • Bar Fry, Josh DeChellis' fiery comet tempura venture, was barely dark when Fatty Crab partner Rick Camac snapped up the lease and retooled it in May as Cabrito ("kid," as in gloves, in Spanish). David Schuttenberg (who worked both at Craft and Fatty Crab) is doing slow-roasted goat and cemitas (traditional Pueblan sandwiches). Meantime, Camac and chef Zakary Pelaccio have thrust their fingers into yet another pie, this time a Southeast Asian themed barbecue venue, Fatty 'Cue, opening this summer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with Robert Richter (late of Hill Country) as partner/pitmaster. And word on the street is Camac and Pelaccio are scouting out locations in D.C. for a Fatty spin-off. • In other Brooklyn news, Abigail Hitchcock and husband Jason Noble, who together own Greenwich Village standby Camaje, branched out in May to the up-and-coming Prospect Heights neighborhood with the launch of Abigail, serving a light cafe menu bolstered by an ample wine list. • Harbour Drive (290 Hudson St.) debuted in June with food inspired by such tony vacation escapes as St. Tropez and St. Bart's. The setting takes its upscale nautical cues from yachts. Alex Garcia, who was chef when the space housed Novo and more recently worked at Calle Oche, is exec chef. • In Harlem, more specifically 701 W. 135th St., an abandoned freight house retooled as a multirestaurant building, opened in June as Talay, an Asian sharing-plates playground. Co-exec chefs are Soulayphet "Phet" Schwader (who hails from D.C.'s BLT Steak) and King Phojanakong (also owner of Kuma Inn). • Another tenant of the 701 W. 135th St. complex is Body Restaurant and Lounge. • In April Pichet Ong unveiled Batch (right next door to P*ong), peddling take-out cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, and other sweets individually or by the batch. • Sam Martinez, who shuttered Rialto last winter, partnered with first-time owner architect/designer Jeff Mancini and reopened the space as Elizabeth, with an updated interior (courtesy of Mancini) and a trendy menu of contemporary small plates. John Iconomou, previously chef de cuisine at Country, is exec chef, and Doug Psaltis, also a Country alum, is consulting chef. • Café Gray in the Time Warner Center closed in June. Gray Kunz, who also owns Grayz, is looking for new Manhattan digs for Café Gray and will export the concept to Asia in 2009. Stepping into the space is an offshoot of A Voce, slated to open early next year. In related news, as of June Andrew Carmellini is no longer exec chef at A Voce. • When Seiji Maeda, owner of Duane Park Cafe (157 Duane St.), decided to sell the space last winter, his gm, Marisa Ferrarin, partnered with former Pittsburgh Steelers–turned–restaurateur Frank Locker and snapped it up. They reopened as Duane Park with a refreshed interior and a reasonably priced Southern menu. Exec chef Shawn Knight has worked locally at Natchez and with NOLA luminaries Emeril Lagasse and Susan Spicer. • Hotelier André Balazs' next project is The Standard New York, coming early next year to 848 Washington St. Dan Silverman, who ditched Lever House in April, is slated to be chef at the yet-to-be-named restaurant. Meantime, he's spending the summer cooking at Sunset Beach, a Balazs property on Shelter Island, NY. • Speaking of Lever House, the new exec chef is Bradford Thompson, who last cooked at Mary Elaine's at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, AZ, where he won a James Beard award. • Sushi-loving luxury hounds take note: Nobu Hotel and Residences, which will include a David Rockwell-designed Nobu restaurant, is sprouting up at 45 Broad St. in the financial district. Pencil in a 2010 opening. The NYC–based Swig Equities is the real estate development firm engineering the mixed-use encampment that will house the property. Nobu Hospitality Group aims to develop similar properties worldwide. • Cavernous Guastavino's, owned by NYC–based Rose Group and U.K.–based D&D London, reopened after extensive renovations as a private event space in May with Rose Group exec chef John Stevenson at the helm. • Arlene Feltman Sailhac, cofounder and director of the 28 year old De Gustibus at Macy's Cooking School, sold it to Salvatore Rizzo, formerly of The James Beard Foundation and Italian Culinary Institute, in April. Sailhac continues as De Gustibus' host and consultant for the next year and offers culinary trips under the rubric Foodophiles (e-mail: grtcooks@aol.com). • Get ready to pick your jaw up off the ground (you'll need a forklift): Florent, a meatpacking district institution since 1985, closed in June due to rents that have sky-rocketed to over $30K a month. A month! • Gualtiero Marchesi, the first Italian chef to garner three Michelin stars in 1985, announced at a reception for Italian Relais & Châteaux properties at the organization's Manhattan headquarters that he will no longer accept "the ups and downs of points." Citing the injustices of the system for young chefs, he declared, "The guidebooks are free to mention my restaurants; Gualtiero Marchesi is free to not recognize the inevitability of their judgments."
Later this year Larry Forgione will bring an offshoot of An American Place to Wynn Las Vegas, replacing Tableau (which will remain open until late summer). As for Tableau chef Mark LoRusso, by December he will unveil a yet-to-be-named restaurant in Wynn Las Vegas' Encore, a new luxury suite hotel packed with dining and drinking venues, plus shopping, a nightclub, a spa, and so on. • In July Laurent Tourondel returned to Las Vegas (where he ran his first restaurant as exec chef at Palace Court Restaurant) with his BLT brand in hand. He opened a high-energy BLT Burger at The Mirage Hotel & Casino.
Randy Zweiban has left his chef/partnership at Nacional 27 to open Province at 161 N. Jefferson St. in September. As for the menu, he promises modern American cuisine with light South American and Spanish influences. Longtime Nacional 27 kitchen vet Francisco "Chico" Vilchez is now exec chef there. • The June debut of Dana Hotel and Spa (660 N State St.) includes the opening of Ajasteak, pronounced "asia steak," a steakhouse with pronounced Asian underpinnings. Anchoring the menu is imported Japanese Kobe beef, although other pedigreed meats and high-end sushi are also on offer. Greenwich, CT–based CB5 Restaurant Group developed this project and recruited an all-star kitchen crew: culinary director is Angelo Sosa, best known for his work at Spice Market and Yumcha in NYC; exec chef Joshua Linton and Asian specialty chef Jennifer Huynh are both vets of Philly's Starr Restaurant Organization; and gm Josh Moulton was previously chef de cuisine at Union Square Cafe and service director for Gramercy Tavern, both in NYC. In August look for Vertigo, the hotel's rooftop lounge serving small bites by the Ajasteak team. • Replacing Suzanne Imaz, the new pastry chef at NoMI is Colombian born Andrés Lara, who's been making chef circuit news at Noma in Copenhagen; Lara had worked at NoMI when it first opened In 2000.
Jeffrey Chodorow opened Kobe Beach Club, a vacationy spin-off of his NYC steakhouse, in East Hampton (44 Three Mile Harbor Rd.). Paul Williams, recently of Borough Food & Drink, is exec chef. • Tutto Il Giorno ("All Day") reopened in May in Sag Harbor with a new interior by Gabby Karan De Felice (daughter of Donna Karan) and Maurizio Marfoglia, formerly of Barolo Restaurant (NYC), in the kitchen. Original co-owner Steve Florio passed away last winter, leaving Larry Baum as sole owner. • Armed with new owners and Top Chef hottie Sam Talbot at the helm, Surf Lodge (Montauk) relaunched this season with a splash. • Ed "Jean-Luc" Kleefield (JLX Bistro and Madame Tong's) added to his Hamptons fiefdom with the June opening of Grappa Wine Bar at 62 Main St. in Sag Harbor. • Southampton Inn (South Hampton) opened its first full-service restaurant, Oso, a moderately priced Italianate steakhouse, in May. Peter Dunlop is exec chef for the overall property.
In July Stephen Starr opened Parc, his first new Philly venue since 2004, Parc, at 227 S. 18th St. A menu loaded with such Francophilic delights as steak-frites and garlicky escargots by French born chef Dominique Filoni (Seasons Restaurant at the Four Seasons, Washington D.C.) coupled with mahogany paneled walls and handsome red leather banquettes, recall classic Parisian brasseries. • The Fort Lauderdale, FL–based Chima Brazilian Steak- house opened an outpost in Philly at 1901 JFK Blvd. in May. • Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar is expanding its concept to Orlando next fall with a third location (number two is in Atlantic City) at 9101 International Dr. in Pointe Orlando, a mixed-use development.
David Myers is taking his Frenchie-pants concept Comme Ça to Orange County in November. The new venue, tucked into the Offices of South Coast Plaza, will be larger then the original, seating 322. • Govind Armstrong, Chris Heyman, and Joshua Woodward shuttered Table 8 in May, with plans to relocate to 8155 Melrose Ave. by the end of summer. In June the trio respun the original location at 7661 Melrose Ave. as 8 Oz., a gentrified burger joint where house-ground Black Angus beef gets designer treatment (it's stored in a Himalayan salt tiled meat locker before hitting a wood-fired grill). • Tim and Liza Goodell (Domaine Restaurants) and partners director Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol, local real estate developer Chris Brigandi, and singer Mark McGrath last year acquired one of Newport Beach's oldest restaurants, The Arches, and transformed it in May into A Restaurant, with a retro design and a menu of refined comfort food by exec chef Vartan Abgaryan (a Red Pearl Kitchen alum). Shelly Register, corporate pastry chef at Domaine Restaurants, is doing A Restaurant's desserts and is culinary director at A Market, the gourmet shop next door.
In September the indefatigable Alain Ducasse will unveil a sibling of his NYC hit, Adour, going into the old Lespinasse space in the recently restored St. Regis Washington, D.C. Details are few, but thus far we hear that The Rockwell Group is designing the 60 seat dining room and 40 seat bar. • Gus DiMillo, David Wizenberg, and exec chef Jeff Tunks, partners of Passion Food Hospitality (operators of Acadiana, Ceiba, DC Coast, and TenPenh), are adding a global seafood concept, PassionFish, to their roster in September at the Reston Town Center (Reston, VA). Christopher Clime will leave the Acadiana kitchen to helm PassionFish as chef de cuisine. • To refine their new British gastropub concept opened in July, Commonwealth (1400 Irving St. N.W.), chef/owner Jamie Leeds (Hank's Oyster Bar) and operating partner Sandy Lewis (who's also partner at the Alexandria outpost of Hank's) underwent a fact-finding culinary reconnaissance mission to London. The result is an updated farm-to-table approach to such classics as potted shrimp, Scotch eggs, and fish and chips, a broad selection of beer, and board games and live music to divert. • After a $12 million face-lift, The Liaison Capitol Hill, An Affina Hotel reopened in April. And in September, Art Smith, who made his name as Oprah's personal chef before opening Table Fifty-Two in Chicago (and who's said to be refueling the Obamas), will be chef at the yet-to-be-named 248 seat restaurant that will honor the Southern threads in mid-Atlantic cuisine.
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