(Photo: Lawrence Lucifer/Filmmagic)

Justin Timberlake is opening an Italian restaurant in midtown with Eytan Sugarman, the owner of the Chelsea nightclub Suede. “It’s going to be a real-deal restaurant called Destino, a tablecloth place,” says Sugarman, who opened Suede in 2002 in partnership with the hip-hop producer Timbaland. Former Rao’s chef Mario Curko will head the kitchen, establishing the spot’s New York Italian bona fides. Destino’s won’t be Timberlake’s first foray into the restaurant business—this summer, he was reported to have vomited at the bar of his now-defunct L.A. dim-sum joint, Chi, though Timberlake denied it. The opening will coincide with the closure of Sugarman’s Suede in January. “Clubs have a certain shelf life, and we’ve come to the end of our shelf,” he says. “It’s time to put the little doggy to sleep.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Emma Rosenblum
• Table of Contents: December 12, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!