The meatpacking district is buzzing — yesterday brought news that Kyky and Unik, the team behind the defunct club PM, opened Bijoux underneath the restaurant they had a hand in, Merkato 55. (To score a table, we’re told, you should e-mail the lounge manager, Nathaniel, at rsvp@bijouxlounge.com. Note that being fiscally able to afford the requisite bottle service isn't enough to gain entry.) And today, Eater checks in with Florent and finds that landlord turned owner Joanne Lucas has removed the restaurant’s logo as she readies to reopen at 8 a.m. tomorrow with the same wait staff, a new name (R&L), and a new telephone number (212-989-3863). UrbanDaddy also informs that the Brass Monkey, a reliable alternative to the surrounding hype (and after the Hog Pit closes in December, pretty much the only alternative), has opened a characteristically low-key rooftop, where films will be screened. You’re up on your meatpacking news for the next time you’re talking about it while drinking far, far across town.

Vital R&L Update: Florent Excised, Opening Tomorrow! [Eater]
Brass Tacks [UrbanDaddy]

When we arrived at Florent late last night early this morning for the restaurant’s final, friends-and-family farewell party, we couldn’t help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, all the drama surrounding the legendary meatpacking-district institution’s closing would be revealed as some kind of grand prank. After all, just a few days earlier it had been announced that Florent’s landlord, Joanne Lucas, would be reopening the space as R&L Restaurant, the greasy spoon that Florent replaced 23 years ago. Was the whole thing a ruse dreamed up by Florent’s owner? Florent Morellet, after all, is a disarming man whose propensity toward mischief is largely responsible for what made the restaurant such a beloved institution.

Florent has received a stay of execution of sorts, and boy, is it an ironic one: Landlord Joanne Lucas has heretofore been portrayed as killing history in order to make an easy buck, but Eater reports that she’s now turning back the clock on the Florent space, by reopening it as R&L Restaurant in two days. (The original R&L, a diner that Florent replaced, was owned by Lucas’s father.) It’s unclear whether the restaurant will still be a 24-hour operation and Florent Morellet will not be involved, but it will retain, for the most part, the same staff and menu. Of course, this may not be the final chapter: There’s always the possibility that R&L will eventually become a Varvatos store.

Update: Eater gets Florent's reaction, and he's pleased (and not surprised) that Lucas is reopening the space as a restaurant, since her family has an emotional attachment to it. "I was curious to see what would happen when push came to shove with Joanne when the big bucks came to the door," Florent tells Eater. "It would have meant tearing down the inside...This was not a decision based on capitalism."

BLOCKBUSTER Exclusive: Florent to Re-Open as R & L Restaurant on Tuesday!! [Eater]

Ironic that John Varvatos would celebrate soon-to-be-gone Florent (if you’re curious, there’s no wait for a table at the moment) even as his store in the former CBGB is protested by folks chanting “Die yuppie scum,” but that’s the city we’re living in. Copyranter points out an ad that appears in Time Out — maybe someday it’ll appear on the Gansevoort Hotel billboard the neighborhood hates so much. Now that would be ironic.

Varvatos continues desperate NYC cool grab [Copyranter]

Stephanie Izard is the favorite to win Top Chef, at least in some quarters. Today, the Chicago Sun-Times salutes its hometown heroine with ten reasons why Stephanie will win. Most of these, predictably, involve Chicagoland virtues (“You gotta love a chef who knows how to pair food with beer and throw a tailgate party”) or her not being Gorgon Lisa (“She has the best personality of the remaining contestants”). More wishful thinking appeared on Eater yesterday, when a tipster wrote in to note that Stephanie was eating with Daniel Boulud at Florent late Friday night. “Could this mean Stephanie might have won Top Chef?” the tipster asked. Let's not jump to conclusions, gang. We actually stumbled upon Stephanie and her boyfriend hanging around in front of the Spotted Pig that night; they weren't planning on socializing at Florent, but after a little persuasion, they were up for some spontaneous hobnobbing. So while she did nab a seat at the periphery of Boulud’s Last Supper, she's not waltzing around with a golden ticket to the inner circles of celebrity chef–dom, either. At least, not yet.

Our Top Chef [Chicago Sun-Times]
TC Sightings [Eater]

Frank Bruni delivers a epoch-marking piece on the death of Florent in the Times today, one of the largest, and best, such features we can remember reading in the paper. For Bruni and a lot of other people, the restaurant’s owner, Florent Morellet, symbolizes a New York that is rapidly ceasing to exist – especially in areas like the Meatpacking District, which has now priced out its original pioneer. Bruni talks to everyone from actress Jackie Hoffman to former New York critic Hal Rubenstein, to Roy Lichtenstein’s widow Dorothy, and comes up with a mosaic of memories that does lasting credit to both the restaurant and the man. Read it — and then eat at Florent.

Genre-Bending Hangout Takes Its Final Bows [NYT]
Complete Grub Street Coverage of Florent

With Florent and the Hog Pit closing because their rents have been raised to a reported $50,000 and $40,000 a month, respectively, Shecky’s charts what it calls the “de-evolution” of the meatpacking district — putting the peak at 1999–2000, when Pastis, Lotus, APT, and Passerby opened. Ah, what a time it was. But don’t get too teary eyed — in a video interview, Florent says that he doesn’t have a nostalgic bone in his body (though he wants to write his memoirs) and that, after all, he came to New York because it was all about flux. For those who are prone to wistfulness, we’ll be there to film Florent’s last night of business, on June 28.

Racid: The De-Evolution of the Meatpacking District [Shecky’s]

Is it safe to say now that Florent is history? The last we heard on the story, the meatpacking pioneer was engaged in a death struggle with the landlord over the rent. According to the Observer, Florent’s lease, signed in 1995, was for $6,018 a month. The landlord wanted to jack up that monthly rent to somewhere between $43,000 and $70,000. This broker’s ad is asking for $700,000 annually, or $58,333 a month. Not even a recession can keep the meatpacking down!

Meatpacking Restaurant: 69 Gansevoort Street [PDF]

Related: Will Meatpacking Pioneer Have to Pack It In? [NYO]
Earlier: Florent Will ‘Be Around for a Little While’

Yesterday Eater broke news that Florent’s landlord has been showing the building to potential tenants (Eater originally misidentified the landlord, so take that rumor for what it’s worth). Florent’s future has been tenuous for some time now — a June 2007 Daily News item mentions owner Florent Morellet trying to renegotiate his lease while neighbors closed shop. We’re hearing from one source that Florent’s lease is up in May, after which Florent will close. Another source says that Morellet planned to sell the business because his health is worsening (his T-cell count is displayed on one of the menu boards). So was it the Florent space that Anthony Martignetti was referring to when he told us he was considering opening a restaurant near Pastis? Who knows, it may also have been the old Rhone space, abandoned by Double Seven. Morellet wasn’t available for comment today, but we’ll keep you posted on what may be a double blow (remember, Passerby will soon close) to the meatpacking district.

Update: Asked whether Anthony Martignetti is considering the Florent space, a rep tells us she has no new information at this time. Note: She didn't say, “No.”

Related: SHOCK CLAIM: Florent Restaurant to Close This Year? [Eater]
Paris Shaped by the Pen [NYDN]
Earlier: Anthony Martignetti Plots a New Restaurant Over Croissants at Pastis
Passerby Hasn’t Quite Passed On