BiCE’s New Milanese Bistro Open in Midtown West; Gary Robbins PreparingBedford-Stuyvesant: Egg didn’t make this list of top southern eats, but Five Spot Soul Food at 459 Myrtle Avenue was picked as a fave since dishes like Kentucky Turkey Chops and Charleston Low Country Smothered Chicken “sound good” even if they’re not necessarily authentic classics. [Gridskipper]
Chelsea: Klee Brasserie’s open for brunch and dinner on Easter, and you can order the “Thinly Sliced Easter Ham & Bio Egg,” which combines honey-glazed ham, deviled eggs, and capers, at both seatings. [Grub Street]
Lower East Side: The new vegetarian restaurant Broadway East adds to its sustainability cred by featuring local beer and wine. [Zagat Buzz]
Midtown East: The first soft-shell crabs of the season are now available at the Oyster Bar. [Grub Street]
Midtown West: Bistro Milano from team BiCE has opened at 1350 Sixth Avenue, and sidewalk seating opening this spring will double the restaurant’s 70-cover capacity. [TONY]
West Village: “Chef Gary Robins was the best thing to happen to the most recent Russian Tea Room relaunch. So, naturally, he was fired.” But, you’ll be able to taste his cooking downtown this spring, when rustic restaurant Sheridan Square opens at 134 Seventh Avenue South. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
NewsFeed
‘Times’ Building Gets Restaurant, Staffers Get BarThe next restaurant at the base of the New York Times building promises to bring a brace of Milanese swagger to the tower’s inner lobby. Montenapo by BiCE, run by the 80-year-old upscale chain and named for a Milan street full of fashion-design firms, faces architect Renzo Piano’s inner birch-tree courtyard and expects to cater parties in the ballroom space under the building’s auditorium. And while the name may evoke the rag trade, interior designer Studio A is charged with crossbreeding garden-gazing and table-hopping. But a mod look will not necessarily translate to faddish food. “I can’t do anything better than Italian food,” says BiCE CEO Roberto Ruggeri. “Call it northern Gallian classica with influences from American bistro.”