Bowery: Palà Pizza put up the requisite window paper indicating that it was closing … temporarily, that is. They’re apparently remodeling and will be reopening this Wednesday. [Bowery Boogie]
East Village: An outpost of Bareburger has arrived at 248 East 5th Street (the sight of former Sin Sin space). [EV Grieve]
King Gyro, the variously Middle Eastern quick service restaurant, is now closed. [EV Grieve]
A new Momofuku cocktail bar designed by food-tech whiz Dave Arnold is slated to open in their former Momofuku Milk Bar space. This “technology-heavy cocktail lounge” will use “liquid nitrogen and high-tech toys (a rotovap and centrifuge among them)” to craft their varied drinks. [Zagat Buzz]

Lower East Side: Alias is kicking off their Monday Night Pop-Up Dinners on January 16 with a Tuscan-themed meal by chef Marcellus Coleman. The dinner runs $40 per person and begins at 7:30 p.m. To make a reservation, call 212-505-5011. [Grub Street]
Midtown: The Smith will now serve breakfast from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., Monday through Friday. Items include BLT + E Sandwich, Ranchero Scramble, and Vanilla Bean French Toast, in addition to lighter fare like granola and oatmeal. [Grub Street]
Steak ‘n Shake opens its first NYC shop this Thursday at 10 a.m. The first 150 customers who head over to their new location at 1695 Broadway (near West 53rd Street) will be treated to free Steak ‘n Shake for a whole year. [Grub Street]
Murray Hill: Paul Grieco of hot spot Terroir has instituted Heavy Metal Mondays at his Murray Hill location where you can “enjoy drink specials such as $2.00 shots of sherry, flagons of mead, Terroir bombs and skull cups of wine, along with general metal revelry.” [Grub Street]
Soho: treasure&bond’s in-store coffee shop opens today serving Stumptown beans and Balthazar pastries. [Grub Street]

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, alias, bareburger, closings, king gyro, momofuku, openings, pala pizza, steak n’ shake, terroir, the smith, treasure&bond

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Opening January 18.

Not that baby. New dad Jay-Z has taken over the Internet since his daughter was born this past weekend (mazel tov, HOV!), and now reps for the fully renovated 40/40 Club write in to confirm the rumors that “Page Six” of all places first heard last month: The club will reopen on January 18 during an invite-only grand opening party with a new look (rumored to have cost $10 million) and an updated menu. Unfortunately, no word on whether Jay plans to commemorate the club with a new song, too. [Earlier]

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Filed Under: reopenings, 40/40 club, blue ivy, jay-z

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Out with the old, in with the Pok Pok.

The very-much-anticipated NYC expansion of Portland’s Pok Pok continues today with the installation of new signage onto the old 5 Burro space on Columbia Street in Brooklyn. Andy Ricker, Pok Pok’s chef and owner, has left a note addressed to the sleepy Columbia waterfront community that starts off with a cheerful “howdy, neighbors,” and ends with a brief explanation of what kind of food Pok Pok Ny will serve. (”Ny” is a double entendre, we noted a while back, referring to a Thai phrase for “in the city,” and of course, our city.) Ricker will also be going up before Community Board 6 tonight to discuss the Brooklyn restaurant’s on-premises liquor license application.

Meanwhile, sources say Ricker’s other new restaurant, Pok Pok Wing, which you’ll recall has just been blessed by Thai monks, could be officially open as early as tonight.

If all of this is making you hungry, do not despair and instead head on over to Bon Appétit to check out their primer on home-style Thai food, which is compiled by none other than … Andy Ricker. Dude’s everywhere.

Andy Ricker Thinks It’s Time You Learned to Cook Amazing Thai Food (and We Agree) [BA]
Earlier: Fear Not, Pok Pok Wing Has Been Blessed by Thai Monks

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Filed Under: openings, andy ricker, other magazines, pok pok ny, pok pok wing

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You blowing up that’s good fantastic.

A fire fueled by two improperly stored gas canisters inside the kitchen of an Italian restaurant in southwest Moscow has killed two people and injured as many as 39 more, according to an Associated Press report. News channel RT reports that two gas canisters are thought to have ignited during the initial gas explosion, spreading the fire throughout the building. Both of the victims were employed by restaurant Il Pittore; two criminal investigations have been launched in the fire’s aftermath. Not good, and not the kind of scenes one would want any part of. Following last week’s mushroom foraging misadventure in Australia and that poisonous cat stew, 2012 already has a few too many unfortunate restaurant incidents. [AP, Earlier]

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Filed Under: explosions, bomb, explosion, moscow, restaurant trajedies

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Ring, ring.

The new restaurant collaboration between chef Art Smith and Lady Gaga’s dad Joe Germanotta is now taking reservations. West Side Rag reports the restaurant’s front door now sports a sign instructing customers to call 212-721-0068 for dinnertime tables starting February 1. Upon calling we were promptly offered a choice of weekend and weekday spots for the 65-seat restaurant, whose menu will reflect a combination of Germanotta’s Italian heritage with Smith’s Southern upbringing. [West Side Rag, Earlier]

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Filed Under: openings, art smith, daddy gaga, joanne, joe germanotta, lady gaga

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The space in question.

Not long ago we told you that Souvlaki GR founders Abby and Pavlos (Paul) Sierros had left and were planning a new restaurant, and today Bowery Boogie spots signage that gives a name and location: FORGTMENOT, at 138 Division Street. Abby Sierros confirms the news to us via e-mail, saying the place is slated for the end of February and will be a “cozy little neighborhood joint and a labor of love for us.” Sierros herself will be in kitchen turning out “simple, unpretentious comfort food” with a Mediterranean bent, cooked mainly over a large grill (trend alert!). The plan is to serve brunch and dinner daily; look for a late-February opening on this one. [Bowery Boogie, Earlier]

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Filed Under: coming up, abby sierros, coming soon, forgtmenot, lower east side, pavlos sierros

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It’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze in a couple for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Meat Specialists.

Blue Smoke (Menu)
212-447-7733
Two for eight? Yes

BLT Steak (Menu)
212-752-7470
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:15 p.m.

Craft (Menu)
212-780-0880
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:30 p.m.

DBGB Kitchen & Bar (Menu)
212-933-5300
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:45 p.m.

Manzo (Menu)
212-229-2180
Two for eight? Yes

Minetta Tavern (Menu)
212-475-3850
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10 p.m.

Peter Luger (Menu)
718-387-7400
Two for eight? No
Best available: No answer

Quality Meats (Menu)
212-371-7777
Two for eight? Yes

Seasonal Restaurant & Weinbar (Menu)
212-957-5550
Two for eight? Yes

STK (Menu)
646-624-2444
Two for eight? No
Best available: 7:45 p.m.

Filed Under: two for eight,

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L’Asso EV opened last week in an increasingly crowded pizza landscape, but co-owner Greg Barris isn’t worried. He wants his pizzeria — a spinoff of L’Asso on Kenmare — to be less a slice joint and more a “community hangout,” with a backroom that acts as a gallery and screening room, plus healthier-than-usual offerings. To wit: Both the dough and the sauce are organic, and any pizza can be ordered with a hemp-based gluten-free crust. But don’t worry, it’s not all seeds and granola: One of the five new pies is the Polish, featuring kielbasa from Polish G.I. next door, along with pickles, mustard oil, mozz, and oregano. The smoked salmon is another nod to the neighborhood, with a bagel-like mix of fish, capers, onions, cream cheese and dill, plus mozzarella.

Speaking of bagels, the restaurant plans to start making them soon, around the time they launch breakfast and lunch service. Barris tells us he’s focusing on Montreal-style, to be baked in one of the two wood-burning ovens. And a second wood-burning oven is handy for more than just bagels: Chef Claudio Tristofoli is firing many non-pizza offerings, including steak, quail, and chicken entrees, meatballs, and lasagne.

Beer lovers will find twelve kinds of suds on tap and six in bottles (the rotating lineup is overseen by Barris’s brother, Thomas, a cicerone, or beer sommelier). The space is larger than L’Asso on Kenmare, with 75 seats to the other one’s 48, and custom light fixtures by the artist Kacper Dolatowski. See photos in our slideshow, and scope out the full food menu below. Oh, and if you liked those pizza calendars from last year, another edition of pizza pinups is out for 2012, available in the restaurants or online for $10 a pop.

Menu [PDF]

L’Asso EV, 107 First Ave. nr. 6th St.; 212-837-2045

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Filed Under: openings, east village, l’asso; slideshow, pizza

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Dufour, with nachos, last year.

While one postmodern diner is set to open this weekend, M. Wells is beginning the process of resurrection. Part of those new plans apparently involve Mastercard, too: Yesterday, team M. Wells dropped a Facebook link to a special, Mastercard-sponsored M. Wells 2.0 preview brunch to be held next Sunday at MoMA P.S. 1, where Dufour and partner Sarah Obraitis will soon operate the museum’s cafeteria. Needless to say, the $75-per-head event sold out very quickly, but don’t worry, there’s also a heaping portion of M. Wells news just ahead for your delectation.

You may recall rumors about the team’s MoMA P.S. 1 plans started pretty much immediately after Obaitis and Dufour announced they were closing their diner. You might also recall that when Dufour confirmed the move to the Canadian publication Canoe last October, he also disclosed some more ambitious, long-term plans. M. Wells would open a second restaurant and build a catamaran, he said, which would eventually take to the water and serve food. “The idea is to build the boat in a large hangar,” said Dufour, “where people could come and eat around the boat at various stages of construction.”

So now, during a CBC radio story broadcast over the weekend, Dufour calls the MoMA P.S. 1 cafeteria “a very beautiful space,” adding that because they’re largely without gas service at the new location, M. Wells at P.S. 1 will cook most of the menu sous vide. “We’ll serve things in bags,” he tells a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, with “bento boxes you can stack up and build your own meals.”

But there’s more: “We want to do a roe bar,” he says in the interview (M. Wells reboot talk starts at around the 6:18 mark), “not a raw bar.” What’s a roe bar? It’s “when you have all sorts of caviars and urchin,” Dufour says, adding he wanted “to do some sort of sushi counter without any pretension of being Japanese.” The new M. Wells will be “playful, in the image of the museum,” and is set to open at the end of February.

And about that catamaran? Dufour says that when M. Wells closed last summer, he and Obaitis fielded “many great offers,” and that the steakhouse and catamaran combo was just too good to pass up. Dufour says he considers the catamaran as feminine, so he “wanted something really masculine” to complement it, “almost like a men’s club.” Hence the plans for a steakhouse, which include renovating a large industrial garage (maybe this one) and building the 64-foot boat inside, essentially in view of diners, over the course of a few years. “Isn’t that going to be a distraction from the food?” asks the Cinq a Six interviewer. “Yes, I hope it is,” says Dufour. “I don’t want people to be too anal. In life you eat: you have dinner, and after that you have a snack. The next days you’re going to have breakfast. You eat all the time,” he says. “To build a boat while you’re creating menus, I think that’s beautiful.”

Chef Hugue Dufour and the future of M. Wells [CBC]
Earlier: M. Wells Is Headed to P.S. 1 — and to a Boat?

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Filed Under: openings, hugue dufour, long island city, m. wells 2.0, m. wells diner, p.s. 1

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“We’re sorry, sir, you’re going to have to leave.”

This week at the mother ship, a server from Per Se dishes on some of the restaurant’s worst customers (including those who are strictly forbidden from ever going back to the restaurant again). Some of the acts committed: sex in the bathroom (”that happens quite a lot,” says the server), cheating on your spouse with your dinner date, describing your blow job technique for your waiter, and there was one woman who threw up on the table mid-meal, but then finished dinner after a quick cleanup. She evidently doesn’t get credit for rallying. But of course Per Se isn’t the only restaurant with bad customers.

Empellón Tacqueria chef Alex Stupak takes to his restaurant’s website to address a similar issue: He’s wondering when it’s okay to “fire” customers, and he has his own short list of activities that will get you eighty-sixed: don’t snap photos of celebrities you might see in the restaurant, don’t bring a “horrendous” store-bought birthday cake when you could instead order a good one in advance at the restaurant, and don’t ask for “melted yellow cheese” on any of the restaurant’s dishes. But while Stupak doesn’t explicitly mention throwing up on your table as a dining-don’t, we’ll go ahead and guess that it will probably be frowned upon, too.

The Per Se Waiter on Diners Who Vomit Up Their $500 Meals [NYM]
WHEN IS IT TIME TO FIRE A CUSTOMER? [Empellón]

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Filed Under: horrible people, ask a waiter, empellon, per se

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The very first week it opened, Butcher Bar was such an overwhelming hit that lunch service had to be suspended simply…

Butcher Bar

3708 30th Ave, Astoria

(718) 606-8140

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Never cheap.

Speaking of truffle hucksters: A Times reader is wondering what to do after going to notoriously expensive UES restaurant Nello, ordering the truffle-pasta special, then being floored when he’s charged $275 for the dish. Oops! His first mistake: eating on the Upper East Side. Didn’t he know that only rich people eat there? [NYT, Related]

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Filed Under: sticker shock, always ask how much specials cost, nello, no duh

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