If you’re wondering why 19 Kenmare Street is still under plywood over a year after Little Charlie’s Clam Bar vacated (broker James Famularo’s banner still hangs on the building), here’s why: After Ivan Kane abandoned his Forty Deuce plans upon failing to get Community Board 2’s approval, Chris Eddy, who we reported was planning to install a sushi restaurant there, is said to have failed to come up with enough capital to open. At last night’s community-board meeting, Danae Cappelletto revealed her and her brother Dustin’s plans to install a Mediterranean fine-dining restaurant, Travertine, there. She tells us that, contrary to one report, she isn’t aiming to occupy the entire space, just half of it (indeed we’ve heard that a clothing boutique will soon open on the cornerside of the property), and she’ll only use one level (Ivan Kane had planned to turn the ground floor into a mezzanine overlooking the basement but never got that far). Cappelletto tells us that the board’s licensing committee endorsed her liquor-license application despite concerns among certain neighbors that it would be used for a club. On the contrary, she says she’s aiming to find a chef who will make it a three-star restaurant — more on this as it (we hope!) comes together.
