A post on last month's closing of Cafe Gray made a parenthetical reference to where some of Gray's staff may likely wind up. It mentioned a former Le Cirque chef, opening a place in the flatiron sometime in July. Word on the street says chef Alain Allegretti is indeed doing a turn-key deal on a restaurant on 22nd Street off Fifth Avenue and hopes to open his eponymous restaurant in mid-July. Bastille Day peut-être ?
The news of San Domeico's closing and rejuvenation in a new location has been widely reported. Tonight is actually the last evening it is officially open. If you have regret that you forgot to dine one last time - fear not. Tomorrow evening is a very special San Domenico Alumni Dinner featuring past chefs like Benny Bartolatta, Andrew Carmellini, Scott Conant and Theo Schoenegger, hosted by current chef Odette Fada. Amazingly, there are still a few seats available. Full details and press release after the jump.
According to sources, the venue and production for the next season of Top Chef has been changing almost as frequently as Padma's wardrobe. It was New York City, then Toronto, and now back to Gotham. The unofficial word is filming will begin in July and run through August. For those looking to do some Top Chef stalking, I would go back to past seasons of Project Runway and note where those reality-contestants are kept in captivity. I'd also keep eyes open for the convoy of Toyotas that will likely be parked out front of numerous restaurants and likely the green market at some point. It's Top Chef filming in NYC! I expect the Big Apple blogosphere to bring it. Bonus points for the blogger who discover the location of the Top Chef kitchen. Game on.
PS: There have been rumors that New Orleans might be a venue as well. Though I have no specific intell on that - season five finale in the Big Easy would be a good guess no?
Sources say (unofficially) the management honchos up at Cafe Gray and Time Warner had a pow-wow this afternoon. Apparently there were too many farewell reservations on the books to close so abruptly (i.e. loosing the money and creating ill-will amongst customer). So the powers that be met in the middle and set the new closing date for Saturday June 21st.
The imminent closing of Cafe Gray at the Time Warner Center has been widely reported since it was first announce this spring. The last supper was set to be June 29th, ironically the same last day as Florent in the Meatpacking District.
Sources say (unofficially) the landlord has decided - yesterday! to close Cafe Gray on Monday June 16th, a full two weeks early.
While bloggers and journalists love this kind of breaking news story, the thing that is often forgotten is the staff. Word on the street is everyone had agreed to stay through the last hurrah. Some have spots set up for July, though many are still looking for work. So if you're a chef (say a former sous-chef at Le Cirque) planning to open a restaurant (say in the flatiron in July par example) sometime soon, there's a treasure trove of cooks who have become available.
The James Beard Award weekend has officially come to an end. If you want to re-live the glory and see video highlights from the red carpet check out the live blog from last night. It was a collaborative effort between the Foundation and five bloggers and a first for the awards. James Beard 2.0. On my end it was quite fun and gave a new twist to an event I'd been going to for more than 10 years.
I would have liked to blog all the after parties as well but the iPhone does not have a flash and is less than stellar in low light. Perhaps that's best. Who really wants their photo taken at 5am at Florent?
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