Cipriani Downtown Having a Bit of Work Done; Cupcake Glut Still Centered in theAstoria: La Guli Bakery at 29-15 Ditmars Boulevard serves gelato throughout the winter if you get an irrational craving in this blistery weather. [Joey in Astoria]
East Village: La Palapa is offering Super Bowl catering packages if you decide to pass on the Tostitos and Chi-Chi’s salsa this year. [Grub Street]
Forest Hills: Rouge Bistro has closed. [Grub Street]
Hell’s Kitchen: Newish restaurants like Cooper’s Tavern and Go!Go! Curry mean you can finally find something to eat in the garment district. [NYT]
Midtown East: “I could live — and dine out nightly — for more than 100 years, and I still don’t think I’d come to understand restaurants like Il Nido,” says Bruni about the expensive, hit-or-miss Italian. But over 1,000 words later, he’s explained the survival of old-school inconsistent restaurants quite well. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Soho: Cipriani Downtown will be closed most of this week for renovations to the floor and bar area. [Eater]
West Village: A cupcake bar called Sweet Revenge is opening this spring at 62 Carmine Street near Bedford Street, and the owner’s goal is to sex up the revered city sweets. [Crain’s NY via Eater]
Openings
Thanks to Go!Go! Curry, ‘#55 Alive’ in the East Village
Go!Go! Curry caused curry craziness in midtown when its store opened there, and now it’s poised to open at noon (oh, sorry, 11:55 a.m.) in the East Village this Saturday. Or you can try to, ahem, curry favor with the restaurant and get invited to the opening party from 5:55 p.m. till 7:55 p.m. on Friday. You’ll remember Go!Go! is a little fixated on Matsui’s number, 55, and that’s why they’ll be offering 55 cent curries to their first 555 customers. High five! Er, fifty-five?
GoGo Curry, 117 Second Ave, at 7th St., 212-777-1086
The Other Critics
Richman Flings Feces at Monkey Bar; Soto Drops the Sushi BallAlan Richman gives it to Monkey Bar, and means it to stick. He gets that the place is supposed to be fun, but the bottom line is that the food sucks: “The dishes are incoherent and the food is thuddingly heavy. No focus. No finesse. Lots of salt.” [Bloomberg]
Soto seems to have shot itself in the foot, dazzling Frank Bruni with its composed dishes, “vibrantly seasoned and intricately composed works of culinary and visual art,” but disappointing with the sushi, and screwing up the service (proof that lack of anonymity doesn’t matter). Now they have to settle for the same catchall two-star rating as Franny’s. [NYT]
Randall Lane seems to have bestowed four (of six) stars on Wakiya more out of a sense of duty than anything else — the restaurant described in his review sounds infuriatingly stuck-up, and the food, by his account, spotty at best. Wakiya is still getting the benefit of the doubt, but it can’t hold up for long. Something tells us that a slam is coming. [TONY]
Related: We Catch Wakiya’s First Guests on the Street
Neighborhood Watch
Treats Truck Will Grace the East Village With Its Presence TomorrowAstoria: GoWasabi at 29-11 Ditmars Boulevard will serve sushi with a side of live jazz tonight. [Joey in Astoria]
East Village: The Treats Truck is bringing its freshly baked (in Red Hook) sandwich-cookies, brownies, and crispy confections to Bond Street at Lafayette on Saturday. [The Treats Truck] Are you extremely kind, and do you love the smell of offal in the morning? Prune is looking for someone really nice to be their next hostess. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Hell’s Kitchen: Terrance Brennan’s Artisanal Premium Cheese Center is holding a tasting course on cheeses of the newly trendy Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, June 19. [Artisanal Premium Cheese Center]
Midtown West: Curry craziness has died down at Go!Go!Curry, but should rev back up if Hideki Matsui (its namesake of sorts) hits a homer any time soon. [Gothamist]
Park Slope: The newly opened Hotel Le Bleu will house a restaurant with views of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty; it’s aptly named Vue. [NewYorkology]
Openings
Just In: Curry Craziness in Midtown
Reports from the scene of the newly opened Go!Go! Curry indicate that lines for the first branch of the Japanese takeout joint are at lengths unseen since the days of Beard Papa’s opening. “Over 40 people in line,” said one curry craver about half an hour ago. “I had to get lunch elsewhere.” We just called the restaurant to discover the line is still down the block. “Maybe you will wait 30 minutes,” we were told. Is it worth it? Well, it’s true that servings of curry over rice (with your choice of shrimp, chicken, pork, etc.) are just 55 cents until 9:55 tonight, but wait till nightfall and you’ll get even more bang for your half-buck: The Website attempts to curry favor by informing us that there’s free parking on 38th Street after 7 p.m.!
Go!Go! Curry, 273 W. 38th St., nr. Eighth Ave.; 212-730-5555.
Neighborhood Watch
Chumley’s Will Be Back to Its Old Tricks in the West VillageCobble Hill: Employees at the Key Foods deli counter apparently don’t give a damn if you want your Sausalito turkey sliced thin, or they don’t know how to recalibrate the machine. [Clean Plate Club via Brooklyn Record]
East Village: Sex in the bathroom of Angels & Kings predicted to be less “grotty” than it was at CBGB’s, further lessening the spot’s rocker cred. [Gawker]
Midtown West: The Japanese chain Go-Go Curry, which translates 5-5 Curry, will open at 273 West 38th Street on May 5, unless straining to create quirks that involve the number five delay opening. [NYS]
Soho: Wash your hands and more next to your date in the FR.OG restrooms. [Restaurant Girl]
Tribeca: A divorce is behind the name change of Sosa Borella to Estancia 460. [NYT]
West Village: A former Bungalow 8 bouncer will open a Cuban social club in the former Salon space (with help from Giuseppe Cipriani) that’s supposed have a neighborhood feel. [Eater] Chumley’s plans to reopen June 1, after a partial wall collapse threatened to shutter the historical watering hole permanently. [NYT]
Williamsburg: Bling Kong bandmates Liz “Shredder” Schroeter and Scott “Steakbomb” Gold will demonstrate their recipes featured in the rock-star cookbook at the Brooklyn Kitchen tonight. [Brooklyn Record]
