Almost a month after Florent’s landlord, Joanne Lucas, decided to run the restaurant herself as a 24/7 establishment with more or less the same menu and staff, Florent’s regulars haven’t taken a shine to the new R&L Restaurant. When we were there around 1 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning, the sign behind the counter promised “Good food, energy, service, times, people, day, lovin, atmosphere, y two shoes, karma” and assured “Change is good” as well as “R&L is swell,” but the scene in the dining room was nothing short of grim — there were only two (which soon became zero) people there, despite a blinking LED sign in the window telling folks that the place was “OPEN.” This is during rush hour in the meatpacking district.

We can only assume this is because Florent’s liquor license hasn’t yet been approved for transfer, but with a convenience store around the corner and a lenient BYOB policy, perhaps that shouldn't be a problem. Either way, with no hope of people-watching, all we could do was listen to the tunes playing from the night manager’s laptop. They were as follows.

At about 9:30 this morning, only a dozen people were eating at Florent. That may be because the gas has been out since Monday. Or is it because the restaurant is still in step four of the Kübler-Ross model: Depression? Take a look at Florent's board for some suggested medications. Or stop in before Florent closes on Sunday.

Last summer Ramen Setagaya was clocking half-hour waits, making it, at the time, the Romulus of Ramen. But on Monday Hakata Ippudo assumed the throne with its thin noodles, rich broth, and minimal toppings. We stopped by yesterday evening hoping to beat the dinner rush and were told to wait at the bar.

The first time we dropped in on a batch of new restaurants to take head counts, we hit the East Side. Then we threw it over to the West Side. Last Friday we took it uptown to see what’s doing above 42nd Street. It wasn’t easy hitting half a dozen spots between the hours of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., but luckily we were navigating familiar territory — Mermaid Inn? Magnolia Bakery? Blue Ribbon Sushi? Zak Pelaccio’s new spot? It’s like we never left downtown.

Last time we ran a Spot Check, we dropped in on several newly opened East Village restaurants between the hours of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. to take head counts (though in the case of Cantina, there were no heads to be counted). This Saturday we threw some love to the West Side and repeated the procedure with six new establishments in the West Village and Chelsea.

You’re a brave soul if you plan on checking out that new East Village or Lower East Side restaurant this weekend — if it’s full-up, you’ll be turned onto the streets with the entire teenage population of Strong Island. That’s why last Saturday we hit eight spots between the hours of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. to take inventory — our head counts may or may not hold true this weekend when there will be far less drunken Santas running amok, but we’re pleased to see that the wait has lessened at Momofuku (in fact, there wasn’t one!) and are a bit shocked to discover that Jason Neroni is sometimes pretty much the only person in the dining room at Cantina. Bet he’s counting the seconds till 10 Downing.