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Little Italy

  1. the morning line
    Bloomberg Goes for Mexican • The mayor is visiting Tepoztlán, Mexico — the site of the slightly kooky, yet reportedly very effective, cash-for-good-behavior program that he’s hoping to implement here. Hey, if it’s good for Tepoztlán …NYT] • NYU Student Council president Meredith Dolgin, 21, is in hot water for (a) tampering with elections, (b) using school funds for a personal trip, and (c) getting her own grandmother a paid speaking engagement at the university. [NYP] • We may get to read more by former journalist Peter Braunstein. His journal has been deemed admissible at his trial, and it reportedly contains detailed plans for the costumed kidnapping and assault that made him infamous. [NYDN] • It’s not all luxury condos for Brooklyn: A blockwide affordable-housing complex will be built in Fort Greene, the city says. More than 300 apartments of the 434 total units will be subsidized. [amNY] • And, here’s an idea how to save Little Italy: high-end Italian boutiques! A neighborhood activist, working with the Medici Foundation, wants Armani, Fendi, et al, to give Mulberry a “Little Milan” tinge. Too bad they’re all five blocks away, on West Broadway. [MetroNY]
  2. Restroom Report
    Mirrors, Mirrors in the Stall at Umberto’s Clam HouseUmberto’s Clam House is best known as the place where mobster Crazy Joe Gallo was gunned down while eating scungilli with clam sauce; these days the pasta mill is a couple of blocks away from its original location and the only thing likely to kill you is the massive plate of butter-bombed linguine Alfredo (though just as cheesy maritime décor may well blind you). Still, after eating with our backs to the wall we decided to check out the restrooms in order to see a side of New York City to which only tourists are, well, privy.
  3. Mediavore
    Worst Celebrity Tip Ever; San Gennaro All Done?If the community board’s street-events committee has its way, the San Gennaro festival may get the boot from Little Italy. [NYDN] Jeremy Piven is now banned from all Nobu restaurants for taking a table for twelve in Aspen and then tipping the waiter with an Entourage DVD. [Jewtastic] A morbid look, inspired by the DeMarco’s tragedy, at the history of restaurant shootings and their aftermaths. [NYS]
  4. the morning line
    Mother of Mercy, Is This the End of San Gennaro? • Now that’s not very Italian! A subcommittee of Little Italy’s community board voted against approving the annual San Gennaro feast, calling it a noisy nuisance. (The CB’s votes are merely recommendations to the city, though.) Zeppoles will fly! [NYDN] • Every night can be a night at the museum if you’re the lucky (and rich) person who paid $276,000 for a dinosaur skull, or $4,500 for a mummy’s hand, at yesterday’s I.M. Chait Gallery natural-history auction. [NYT] • Hillary sets a new early fund-raising record, trotting out five-star attraction Bill and netting an Obama-and-Edwards-are-gagging-worthy $10 mil over four events in one week. [NYDN] • Not just the real thing, but kosher, too. The just-for-Passover version of Coca-Cola — made with real sugar, not corn syrup, because corn’s among the Passover no-nos — is again available in area supermarkets. [NYP] • State Senator Jeff Klein wants to rat out (ha!) dirty restaurants by giving eateries an A-through-F health grade they must post at their doors. Can penitent taco chains earn an “E” for effort? [amNY]
  5. NewsFeed
    GoldBar Doesn’t Want You to Steal Its Soul We thought we had witnessed the height of GoldBar’s arrogance when we peeped the oil paintings of the owners opening night, but walking by recently, we noticed something else: The de rigueur velvet ropes have been replaced by gold chains barely fit for blinging out a sucka MC. We would’ve photographed them, but according to not one but two plaques, there is NO PHOTOGRAPHY PERMITTED. What does this place think this is, the Vatican? And what’s next, a no flip-flops rule? —Daniel Maurer
  6. Openings
    GoldBar Finally Emerges from the Vault You might have heard a little bit about GoldBar lately. It’s the hottest thing since Death & Co. two weeks ago and until Star Lounge goes into soft launch … this weekend. We were pretty confident the décor of this Cain offshoot would be gold, and the involvement of skulls seemed likely. But until last night’s opening to “friends and family,” all details were little more than informed speculation. Now, finally, the truth can be told.
  7. NewsFeed
    Is GoldBar Readying Its Blowtorches for Cain’s Biggest Spenders?The plot grows thicker in the curious case of Little Italy hot-spot-to-be GoldBar: A tipster says the owners of Cain (who are joined in the secretive opening by David Tetens, former operator of Lotus) have been tracking that bar’s biggest spenders so they can give them VIP cards for the new place. (“As for Cain tracking top clients, of course they do …” e-mails a publicist. “But are Cain clients getting VIP cards to GoldBar? NO.”) So what can we expect when it opens on February 1?
  8. Openings
    Cain’s Secret Project to Bring a Whole Lotta Bling to Little Italy Cain’s owner Jamie Mullholland says he isn’t spilling the beans on his new Nolita joint Gold Bar until it opens in January, but James Famularo, broker for the space’s former tenant, Odea, reveals that designer Robert McKinley (PM, Cain) has completely draped what’s to be a Pangea-like restaurant and bottle lounge in its namesake element: Gold-leaf ceilings, gold chains separating railroad-style rooms (unlike Odea’s enclosed areas), and the coup de grace, 3,000 gilded fake skulls covering the walls. Plus, there will be captain chairs at a low-slung bar. In other news, trendsetter La Esquina and newcomer Bar Martignetti will soon have more company in their area: Famularo says he’s talking to major operators about four other spaces within a three-block radius. “A year ago all the calls we got were for the meatpacking and West Chelsea. Now it’s all for the Little Italy–Nolita area.” Lot attendants, we suggest you learn how to park an H2. — Daniel Maurer
  9. Three Blocks
    Cops and Professors Get Their Pick of Chinese and More Around Mulberry and CanalCops and city workers rub elbows with professors, bankers, and the courthouse crowd in the micro-micro-neighborhood around Mulberry and Canal Streets. In addition to fine Chinese, you’ll find everything from Malaysian and Vietnamese to Italian and New American.
  10. The Other Critics
    Chef Goes From ‘Gag’ to GreatThis week, the food scribes turned in more raves than rants. Naturally, we lead with a rant. • Frank Bruni, bucking the beau monde and betting odds, comes down with both feet on Freemans, the hipster hideaway beloved by downtown boulevardiers. (NYT)