Cipriani Downtown Having a Bit of Work Done; Cupcake Glut Still Centered in theAstoria: La Guli Bakery at 29-15 Ditmars Boulevard serves gelato throughout the winter if you get an irrational craving in this blistery weather. [Joey in Astoria]
East Village: La Palapa is offering Super Bowl catering packages if you decide to pass on the Tostitos and Chi-Chi’s salsa this year. [Grub Street]
Forest Hills: Rouge Bistro has closed. [Grub Street]
Hell’s Kitchen: Newish restaurants like Cooper’s Tavern and Go!Go! Curry mean you can finally find something to eat in the garment district. [NYT]
Midtown East: “I could live — and dine out nightly — for more than 100 years, and I still don’t think I’d come to understand restaurants like Il Nido,” says Bruni about the expensive, hit-or-miss Italian. But over 1,000 words later, he’s explained the survival of old-school inconsistent restaurants quite well. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Soho: Cipriani Downtown will be closed most of this week for renovations to the floor and bar area. [Eater]
West Village: A cupcake bar called Sweet Revenge is opening this spring at 62 Carmine Street near Bedford Street, and the owner’s goal is to sex up the revered city sweets. [Crain’s NY via Eater]
Soto’s Sushi, Straight Outta AtlantaWe don’t yet know what Soto’s menu has in store (they’re keeping it secret until they open), but it’s safe to say this is the biggest sushi opening to hit New York in a while — or so we gather from Rob and Robin’s story of how Sotohiro Kosugi built a national reputation from his original restaurant in an Atlanta strip mall. This week he tests the New York market for his inventive, complex food. If you don’t have the endurance for Kosugi’s fifteen-course, $80 tasting menu, ask about his omakase.
Openings: Soto, Grom, Vestry Wines [NYM]
NewsFeed
Murray Hill Restaurant Set to Make Cinematic Debut
What would Katz’s Deli be without When Harry Met Sally? Tom’s Restaurant without Seinfeld? Trio, without, well, Trio? If the last reference eludes you, that’s because the shoot for director Danny Aiello III’s short film is just now wrapping up at the Croatian-owned Italian eatery in Murray Hill. “The movie is named for the bar, as well as for the trio of characters in the bar,” producer-star Jennifer Bogush tells us. “It’s about a young woman who is haunted by the memory of her ex-boyfriend and can’t move on with her life, but it’s actually much better than that sounds.” Bogush, who knows the owner, wrote the script herself after tiring of auditioning for unappealing projects — which might be why she plays the lead. Aiello — whose father starred as a Tribeca restaurant owner in the movie Dinner Rush — came on board, and they hired David Fumero (One Life to Live) and Amy Carlson (Third Watch, Law & Order: Trial by Jury) as cast members. Bogush, who plans to take the film to festivals like Telluride and Cannes, hopes “the short version will be a vehicle for the feature length for us … I am in the midst of writing that.” Say you saw it first by (quietly) stopping by the shoot this weekend — though we’re sorry to report there’s no orgasm scene. — Lori Fradkin
