The La Palapa Party Bus Starts Rolling TodayEast Village Mexican eatery La Palapa will not let a week’s worth of renovations slow down the fiesta. Instead, they’ve hired a party bus and D.J. Juan Carlos to shuttle dinner patrons back and forth to their West Village location. On the way over they’ll be serving antojitos like chile-and-lime-roasted peanuts and chicharrones with salsa valentina. Not good enough? A bartender dressed like Frida Kahlo will be serving complimentary margaritas, Cosmopolitans à la rosa, and Palomas (tequila and Mexican grapefruit soda). Bus trips start at 5 p.m. on Monday and will continue through the week. It all sounds a little uncomfortably like the start of our spring-break trip to Rosarito. We just hope for the sake of our T-shirts that it ends better. –Lauren Salazar
VideoFeed
Fabiola Beracasa Gets Us Into the Gramercy Park Hotel’s Roof Club
How do you get to the Roof Club and Landscaped Garden of the Gramercy Park Hotel? Just take the elevator. Thing is, you’re going to need a private membership card to key it — and that’s why we suggest you set aside any ambition of seeing the place’s Damien Hirst paintings and amazing view in person and simply let Fabiola Beracasa give you the video tour. Chances are, even if you have $545 for a room or the wherewithal to gain admittance, you’re not going to have a drinking companion as lovely as Fab.
Openings
Restaurant Vets Take Refuge in Chill New East Side Eatery
When Nish went under earlier this week, partner Joe Scalice didn’t have to look far for his next home: He simply walked two blocks over and took up residence as general manager at Solace, a one-week-old “American seasonal” restaurant created by David Regueiro of Aureole, Metrazur, and most recently the Water Club. (Given what Salice just went through at the late Nish, and Regueiro’s years under famously demanding taskmasters like Charlie Palmer and Michael “Buzzy” O’Keefe, Solace would seem to be just what the two men are seeking.) “We wanted to create a space where people would feel comfortable, with food they could understand,” the chef says. We can certainly see standards like salt cod and gnocchi ragout, butter braised lobster, and eggplant, goat cheese, and tomato terrine hitting the spot on a quiet night in the garden (open till 11 p.m.), with our own bottle in tow (Solace is still waiting on its liquor license).
Solace, 406 E. 64th St., at First Ave.; 212-750-0434.
Solace menu
Earlier: Nish, Felled by Its Own Best Efforts
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Behind the Scenes at the Conant-Cannon DivorceAs with Brad and Jennifer or England Dan and John Ford Coley, the professional marriage of Chris Cannon and Scott Conant at Alto and L’Impero seemed perfect to the world until the day it broke up. Both men tell Grub Street that they have oodles of respect and love for the other, but in speaking to both, we were able to gather a basic time line of what happened. Some time in the last year, Conant talked to Cannon about new and ambitious plans outside the restaurant, which we gather are still in play but which Cannon wanted no part of. (Conant is doing a little casual consulting for Il Tutto Giorno, a friend’s tiny, 30-seat restaurant in Sag Harbor, but by Conant’s account, that is a minor, separate affair, and he is certainly not to be the chef there.) “There are things I wanted to do, and he wasn’t necessarily on the same page with that,” Conant says. “I need to achieve my potential. The restaurant business is changing, becoming more fluid, and I need to evolve with it.”
