Even the Maccioni family—proprietors of Le Cirques and other fancy restaurants around the world—are getting budget-minded. The outpost they’re planning for the Beekman Tower Hotel will be a lower-priced, 100-seat bistro. They’ll call it Maccioni. “It will be simple, no white tablecloths, and homemade pastas,” says Marco Maccioni, whose brother Mauro will run the operation. “If these were the Reagan years, it would be a different restaurant.” The family is also trying to take over the terrace bar, at the top of the Deco-era tower and overlooking the East River. They hope to open in January 2009. “We’re just ironing out details,” says Marco, “but there is still one giant detail: signatures on the dotted line.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Beth Landman
• Table of Contents: Aug 11, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!