PX This.

The latest blabber within the industry has insiders recalling that a former employee who worked at Milk Street Cafe (the deli and catering shop who claimed their "booming" business was devastated by Occupy Wall St) since its inception, and who left prior to the protesters setting up camp, had noted upon resignation back in September the eatery likely "wouldn’t last past Christmas." At the time, the dispirited staffer had complained of disorganization and inefficiency, referring particularly to its persistent lack of a Catering Manager and Catering Chef despite the enterprise having commenced operations months earlier in June, which subsequently hobbled its ability to procure new accounts.

It’s also worth noting that a similar "booming" deli/catering business which thrived in the very same location as Milk Street Cafe, continued to operate a full seven years past the undeniably disastrous September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001— which, needless to say, annihilated far many more businesses in the area than Occupy Wall Street.

PX This would like to take the opportunity to express our empathy and sympathy for our fellow laborers and businesspeople whose endeavors are impeded by the audacious efforts of those who actively protest against the grave injustices of our government and the calamitous corruption of our financial systems in hope of recognition, acknowledgement, and change.

But to those who would seek to lay blame on others for their own irresponsibility or negligence, we (as always) declare:

NIZZLES, PLEASE.

"Milk" this.

** See our UPDATE on Milk Street Cafe **

The Blabber in the Trenches

• The latest riveting rumors swirling within the industry have restaurateur Keith McNally "livid" over the news that the lease on Meatpacking District mainstay, Pastis, will not be renewed. Although there’s some disagreement as to the exact date of the lease expiration (Pastis opened in the Fall of 1999), speculators have the restaurant’s impending denouement pegged anywhere from "by the end of this year" to "sometime next year." As long suspected, the air rights over Pastis have proven far too valuable to its owners to extend Pastis’s entitlement, which simply cannot fulfill the estimated cost of retaining its space at its current market value, even if offered the option.

This comes on the heels of the cognition that the latest of several nightlife impresarios to have been offered the Pravda space on Lafayette St, within the last year or so, has also declined.

• And speaking of the latest move in NYC’s fast-paced Tenancy Twirl, sagacious speculators have Andre Balazs waiting in the wings for his crack at the Tony Turf Two-Step. Although his turn still "may be about a couple years" away, insiders say there’s already "talk" of the prime basement level space in Balazs’s perennially posh Mercer Hotel (currently Mercer Kitchen) and are rubbing their hands in glee over the inevitable "infusion" of new blood a Balazs self-owned/operated venue could bring.
And let’s face it; given Balazs’s smashing success at self-sufficient F&B in The Standard New York (and the, ahem— lack of love lost, so to speak), in our percipient minds this prudent rumor practically confirms itself.

• Aaand speaking of the habitual Hotel Hippity Hop, this just in reminded us: Former General Manager Lana Trevisan is no longer at Hotel Americano. She’s at Gansevoort Park now. (You’re welcome, googlie gods.)

• Which! also reminds us: Former Executive Chef Jonnatan Leiva is no longer manning the kitchen at 10 Downing (which also not-so-recently lost three of its managing partners, duh). He’s up the street at John deLucie‘s The Lion now.

• And now that we have chef on the brain, yes it’s true what you’ve heard— Josh Eden‘s Shorty’s .32 is indeed closed for good, and not simply "for renovations" as you’d all hoped. After failing to secure the "roughly $186,000.00" in this troublesome economy that Eden had sought to "buy out" his decisive principal partners and make minor reparations, Eden then accepted one of several major offers for his tremendous talent.

• Finally, as for the you-know-who and the you-know-what due in you-know-when: come on now, peoples. What are we, his mother?
That is all. And we really really mean it; THAT IS ALL. What the hells do you want, a pool or something? christ.

Hope you’re happy now, sheesh. [Thanks, we missed you too.]

* * * * *

Have you heard?
Until the release of PX Me (Spring 2012), this website will henceforth be updated only intermittently (approximately once or twice a week).
Abbe Diaz’s new (daily) blog is now at: abbediaz.com

• Which former "celebrity" chef is (quite apparently) really desperate to find a job?
Anybody hiring? Call us— we’ll… uh… gladly make the introduction, take a standard headhunter’s commission, pat you on the back and wish you good luck (chances are you’re gonna need it).

• Which popular impresario’s shotgun wedding has insightful insiders scratching their heads at the peculiarly matched couple and hasty nuptials? Well, try checking back with them around December of this year— or hell, you should get pretty obvious "hints" even earlier. All your burning perturbed questions should be answered by then, duh. (Yea— it’s just about as… uh… typical as you can get.)

• Which new beleaguered hotel has a whooole new mess of problems to contend with? Their already-delayed opening is very likely to be postponed further. (Also, maybe expect a significant concept modification.)

• Which nightclub impresario (and friends) were tossed from his table at a tony East Hampton eatery? Evidently, this person is unaware of some basic restaurant rules. For example, when you go out to dine, you should always 1) actually order some FOOD, 2) NOT usurp tables meant/reserved for other patrons without permission, 3) LEAVE when even all your water glasses have long been cleared from the table, and 4) NOT be an obnoxious tool for absolutely no good reason. Or, ya know— take that cheap, self-entitled, arrogant attitude of yours back to downtown Manhattan where it belongs.

• This just in: The awesome team behind Miss Lily’s has beaten Subway® Sandwiches to the punch, and have taken over the corner storefront next door. The commodious adjacent space will house an extension of Miss Lily’s fresh juice bar, a record store, and Miss Lily’s To-Go. It is expected to be in operation by late Summer / early Autumn of this year.

• Longtime F&Bulous operator Jean-Marc Houmard (Indochine, Bond St, Kittichai, Republic) has joined forces with former BlackBook magazine publisher and Black Book List author Evan L. Schindler to open a new eatery in the former Acme Bar & Grill location at 9 Great Jones St just west of Lafayette St.
We’d tell you more, but then we’d have to… oh for fuck’s sake you know how it goes. I dunno— maybe try checking the The Post tomorrow or something.
Let’s just leave it at: we know all about the food (not Italian, thank gawd), the tentative name (not complicated/exotic), and the anticipated opening (not until maybe at least the Fall) but as usual, we’re not allowed to say anything about it. Why mention it all then, you ask? Ha ha aha hah duh, are you kidding? P X THIS 4 EVA BITCHEZ
(Sigh, now we’re in trouble.)

• Here’s a blind item for you: What "very private" hospitality executive allegedly very quietly gave birth to her second child at 3AM on a weekend morning at The Standard Hotel? Sssh, you didn’t hear that from us.

Hey, did you hear about Mark Birnbaum getting sued for sexual harrassament? [No? Oh, you must live in a fucking cave.]

Discuss.

Cuz you knooow you want to.

COMMENTS ARE OPEN.

How’s this, I’ll start— maybe I’ll just fill in some of the ones I’ve heard out and about so far (jump on in anytime) :

[ Keep scrolling... ]

Following relatively recent news of shakeups at The Box, EMM, and Bagatelle, PX This has learned that Managing Director Ian Nicholson is the latest executive to decamp The Standard Hotel here in NYC. Following the earlier but unrelated departure of F&B Director of Operations Lana Trevisan (currently GM of soon-to-open Hotel Americano), Nicholson resigned from Hotels AB to forge a partnership deal with hotelier Alan Faena, most notably of Philippe Starck designed Faena Hotel+Universe in Buenos Aires.

Prospective projects of Faena and Nicholson include the somewhat beleaguered Cipriani Ocean Resort & Club location at 3201 Collins Ave in Miami Beach, as well as a future NYC site, currently still in its early stages of development. They are backed by Russian-American billionaire, Len Blavatnik who also, mere weeks ago, purchased Warner Music Group for a reported $3.3 billion.

Nicholson has served as The Standard’s Managing Director since May 2007 and as Vice President – Hotel Operations of Andre Balazs Properties since January 2010. Prior, he maintained the General Manager position at The SoHo Grand, Tribeca Grand, and The Hudson Hotel.

The Blabber in the Trenches

A Sommelier, a GM, a Restaurateur, and a Blogger walk into a bar… order some drinks, get a little tipsy, and— what else? — start gossiping like a bunch of sewing bee bitches. It went down a little something like this:

Blogger: … because I had lunch with _____ yesterday.

Sommelier: Oh you did? Where is she now? What’s she up to?

B: The new Hotel Americano. It looks good. Sounds nice. A restaurant on the main, two indoor bar/lounges, and another restaurant/lounge on the roof, with a little lap pool. Great views. It’s cute. The rooms are hip and chic, kinda like a more boutiquey Standard or something. Good high end exotic mini-bottles in the fridge and fancy gourmet snacks with adorable packaging, that sort of thing. Patent leather architectural bean bags and crooked "melting" trash cans. Even the robes are cute… and I must say they got some great creative marketing ideas…
It’s too bad Sleep No More [next door] has got such a short run… it’s really good. I heard they want to stay but Bagatelle already has a lease on the building… in May, I think…?

GM: … Ohhh! Speaking of hotels, guess whose lease is almost up? Your boy, ______! They only have about another year or so left. And the contract is NOT being renewed. _____ already started talking about it, he’s doing so well with [the F&B] at ______, he sure doesn’t need ______ anymore. Whooops! There goes a biiig money-maker…

Restaurateur: Well, that makes sense. And it would be better for ______ anyway, that place needs an infusion of new blood; it’s just old and stale now. It’s only that great location that keeps them going…

GM: And all its former glory…

S: …. hahahahaha, buh-bye!

GM: Considering they just closed _____, I mean, ouchie! That’s gotta smart.

R: Tsk, what a shame.

B: … And EMM lost the contract at _____ to Strategic.

S: Oh wow, they can’t be happy about that. What is up with those dudes? Can’t they all just get along?

B: Is Aalex Julien going to join Strategic now? I think I heard some whispers about him talking to them…

S: Whatever, wouldn’t be surprised…

B: … Oh you know who I ran into the other day— Pichet Ong.

GM: Ah, how’s he doing?

B: Good. He wants to blog about his jeans.

S: Whut—?

B: His jeans. Apparently he bought some "broad denim"— is that the right term? — jeans at the Liquor Store the other day. The hard ones, I guess? And the salesman told him he has to wear them sitting in the tub like three or four times, and then once they properly mold to your ass, you can’t wash them for like three months or some shit.

GM: Get the fuck outta here.

B: No, really. That’s what he said. And then he’s gonna blog about it. Ha ha ha aha hah food-pros blogging about fashion. Who ever heard of such a ridiculous thing?

GM: The things people will do for press these days…

S: Yeah, I wanna see Pichet’s cake-making ass in a pair of molded jeans.

The Blabber in the Trenches

• Longtime operators Aymeric Clemente and Remi Laba have been ousted from Bagatelle, Kiss & Fly, and RDV. Apparently ejected on the night before Christmas, the duo, despite their partnership agreement and impressive track record (earnings at Bagatelle are estimated in the $8M per year range), have been summarily dismissed without warning or justification. The two are expected to pursue legal recourse.
Bagatelle, Kiss & Fly, and RDV are not affiliated with their other undertakings, Villa Pacri and La Petite Maison.

• Legendary F&B Superstar Artan Gjoni‘s new venture is in soft-open mode. Albert Hall Tavern is located at 508 9th Ave between 38th and 39th Streets. Tell ‘im we sent you. Ha ha haa, no actually—- don’t.

• Chronic cool dude and nightlife impresario Armin Amiri is slated to open his new enterprise someplace "in Chinatown." We’d tell you where, but then we’d have to kill you. (Stay tuned.)

• Which newest enterprise is the top contender for the industry’s famous and sagacious Dead In Eight [months] award? News is already trickling in from "Friends & Family," and the forecast isn’t pretty. (Don’t quit your day job.) Place your bets!

The Blabber in the Trenches

If the recent flurry of new restaurant openings (at a dizzying pace of approximately a half-dozen per week) hasn’t satiated your dining-out ennui yet— rest assured, there are a lot mooore coming. Longtime operatives from all over the industry continue to vie for spaces, investors, and the all-important SLA OP license. With impressive pedigrees from such popular venues as: The Box, Rose Bar, La Esquina, Balthazar, Mercer Kitchen, and 66, these seasoned veterans of the F&B industry are sure to keep you wooing reservationists (or mooing in "cattle-calls") through 2011 at the very minimum.

We’d love to give you all the details, but as usual, we promised to keep it "off the record."

Oh but wait! Here’s one bible we didn’t swear on:

Unconfirmed reports have surfaced that historically perilous chef Jody Williams is on track to open another venue on her old stomping grounds, this time at the diminutive former Pink Tea Cup space at 42 Grove St, possibly partnered with rumored companion Rita Sodi (of neighboring West Village eatery, I Sodi).

That is all.

As news spreads about Anna Wintour‘s apprehension over Serge Becker’s latest enterprise (New York Post‘s "Page Six" has confirmation from Ms. Wintour’s office), comments and suggestions have been pouring into our inbox. (Thank you!)

Several have asserted we were perhaps remiss in neglecting to divulge the name and/or location of said enterprise, which was, in fact, intentional. As it has come to our attention these details are hardly a "secret" (many of the e-mails received contained the particulars within), we no longer find it necessary to maintain our initial furtiveness.

The aforementioned entity is said to be dba Miss Lily’s and is located at 132 West Houston St (contrary to further speculation).

Thank you for your kind support and advocacy.

:)

**Miss Lily’s graphic design logo by Carmen Montt

***See also (earlier):

• The Blabber in the Trenches [Volume 3]

The Devil Eats Jerk Pork. NOT.

The latest captivating chatter in and amongst the industry has Anna Wintour rumored to have already slapped Serge Becker‘s latest not-yet-open downtown "café" with a preliminary smackdown. As you may recall, one of Becker’s other establishments, La Esquina, was recently unjustly obstructed from doing business for three days, and some speculation seems to place an irate neighbor at the core of that unwarranted temporary shutdown. Unfortunately for said neighbor, La Esquina was quickly found to be "in compliance with New York City building codes," and the Department of Buildings is said to have "scrambled" to rescind their erroneous judgement after an attorney and judges from as far away as Washington DC were consulted (presumably to help expedite the matter faster and more efficiently than New York’s frustratingly backlogged bureaucracy) on the arguably distorted assessment of celebrity-haven La Esquina’s "imminent… peril… to life."

Well!
Here we go again? The recent salacious out-and-about tittle-tattle has Anna Wintour allegedly warning Serge Becker to refrain from throwing "parties" at his new currently-under-construction exotic eatery, located (perilously?) close to Ms. Wintour’s abode.
LOL! Silly Anna. Every night’s… ♪♪ a holiday at Huuurleeey’s! ♪♪ [Quick: name that movie.]

In any case, Serge Becker & Co. might best hope a set of new $10,000.00 soundproof windows can propitiate Ms. Wintour. But frankly, we can’t help but suggest they get down on their knees and pray she doesn’t decide to implement a strategy that could conceivably be classified a "C*ntyNasty," whereby she would perhaps exert her powerful influence to contribute to the restaurant’s undoing, only to open her very own ‘hotspot’ hash house located conveniently close to her residence.

Does Anna Wintour have 311 on speed dial? Would downtown NYC be better served by a more subdued bistro, with a menu based entirely on supermodel-satiating lettuce leaves and water, than a "café" offering up callaloo and whatnot? Stay tuned!
Ahh, so starts the wintour of our discontent…

*************************************************************

For more details on Graydon Carter and the strategic implementation of “the C*ntyNasty” read PX This – The Revised Edition and PX Me – The Sequel to PX This (Coming Soon in the Spring of 2012)

** See our latest UPDATE on Serge Becker’s newest enterprise **

• Rumor has it David Bouley has "let go" of corporate chef Shea Gallante. This report has not been confirmed, however, as further inquiries have merely resulted in eye rolls and knowing smirks. Besides, it’s not really our job nor inclination here at PX This to sweat and/or verify these things (we’re not a fucking foodie blog, dammit!) but, you can feel free to bear in mind that since its 2004 inception, PX This has never been wrong.

It’s much more fun to sit back and watch others do the work, anyway. Imagining the PR people and whanot suddenly scrambling to send appeasing press releases to Florence Fabricant is always good for chuckle.

• John deLucie responds via SMS to the persistent e-mails PX This has received that he was "fired" and not simply "on leave" from The Waverly Inn. He writes, "I’m a partner. How can I be fired?"
Mmmkay? Got that? We hope you’re satisfied now. Just sayin’.

• John McDonald replies to an inquiry about the renovation of Chinatown Brasserie: "Eh, we haven’t even started yet… you know how it is."

• Lastly, our two nightlife impresarios on the subject of their latest venture: "The Russian is out… but we got this other guy from Belarus…"
Just in case you were wondering.

MORE on Sevigny & Khan (& Civetta. Sort of.)

When we broke the story on Civetta’s closing, little did we realize it would become the *Nightlife Bloggers’ SAT on Reading Comprehension. Or maybe that’s more like the Jellus Bloggers’ SAT on Integrity and Pettiness? Whatever! We digress.

This just in from a tipster: "Did you see your old buddy Steve [Lewis]‘s column today? Funny how Nur [Khan] supposedly denies working with Paul [Sevigny]… from what I hear, they maybe are looking into a space in SoHo together, and Brad Zipper is their money guy… I don’t know how (or if) he fits into Civetta, though."

Another source adds: "…I have seen Brad [Zipper] at Civetta a couple times — he does live around the corner and is quite friendly with the staff… but I wouldn’t say that he’s involved in Civetta…"

And yet a third ‘insider’ speculates: "If I had to make a semi-educated guess, I’d say it could be possible there are two deals in the works? If the so-called SoHo space with Zipper is a go, it might still be a ways off… the Civetta thing would be a way for them to start up now, get their feet wet, then move along to the next project once that’s in the swing of things…"

*By the way, what does "the new Beatrice" even mean? As far as we know, The Beatrice Inn is CLOSED, indefinitely— just as we predicted (despite various uninformed opinions throughout the blogosphere contrary to our deduction). When Eric Goode & Co opened MK, did they call it "the new" Area? When Peter Gatien built Club USA, was it called "the new" Limelight? Hmm, perhaps they were— by those who were narrow-minded, shortsighted and ignorant.
The Beatrice Inn was the name of the space at 258 W 12th St, long before Matt Abramcyk and Paul Sevigny took over. For anyone to take that very same name and apply it to another location would, in short, be asinine.
Might we suggest pulling your head out of your navel for a change, and try some real erudition on for size. You might be amazed at what you can learn about reality and our industry if you just freed your hands from that circle jerk, and say (for example)— picked up a book every once in a while.

This just in from a tipster: Civetta has abruptly laid off most of its staff and is closing for one month to make way for a new concept that will tentatively be manned "…by Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny." The termination comes as quite a surprise to the majority of those involved, as Civetta was just building its mostly-word-of-mouth reputation as a "pretty darned good restaurant."

Apparently, an unnamed very deep-pocketed "investor" with "ties to several projects in downtown" Manhattan, including possible "involvements" with such high-profile operators as "Andre Balazs and Serge Becker," is the primary impetus behind Civetta’s sudden shift in momentum.
Civetta will close its doors next week on December 1st.

Gee, and we hadn’t even had the chance to try it yet.
Oh well, maybe next concept.

**See our UPDATE for more information on Khan, Sevigny and Civetta.**

a blogger (that’s me), a restaurateur, and an operator walk into a bar…

… order a couple of josé-cuervo platino margaritas on the rocks with salt, get a little tipsy, and —what else?— start gossiping like a bunch of sewing bee bitches. it went down a little something like this:

midway through the night, i suddenly spot a proprietor of aforementioned bar. so i remark to nobody in particular "oh! look who it is…" and as he approaches, a scenario from a recent encounter abruptly replays in my head, wherein a certain chef in whose restaurant i dine in practically EVERY WEEK urges me not to blagh about "the cockroach" or he’ll "kill [me]." but when i counter "fine. then give me something else to bloog about instead," he responds with some stupid already relatively prevalent opinion about a different fellow restaurateur (which i essentially can’t blog about anyways cuz then two prominent colleagues of the industry would just be beefin with each other for absolutely no valid substantial reason whatsoever. and believe it or not, i’m not that kind of "blogger") rather than just allowing me to blerg about his new upcoming project. which then evidently gets "scooped" by the biggest fucking ass sucking jerkhead on the face of cyberspace instead. but whatever
i digress.

anyhoo. so the proprietor approaches and after initial pleasantries about the family, lugano switzerland, and the prevailing astrological planetary alignment— the conversation turns to the current progression of the new underground ChinatownBrasserie.
unfortunately, there isn’t much fascinating enlightenment left to dispense. except for maybe:

it may (or may not) open "in four or five weeks." because "once construction is started, it should be boom boom very fast bang it out very fast" seeing as "it’s really just a tweak" anyways. once that room opens, the current ‘chinatown’ upstairs will close down to allow for construction of josh-capon‘s and robert-collins‘s new project, but that will take "much longer" since the architect isn’t "entirely 100% sure" what he’s going to do yet, despite having already "bought some things" for the space.
also, he evidently aha ha ahaa "[has] ADD" so you know how that is.
but all in all "it should be fun" (yes i’m sure). no really— it "should be a lot of fun."

that’s it.

ahahahahaa well. i mean
actually that’s not IT— but as usual, everything else all the really good shit is off the fucking record.

yah so. everybody‘s been buzzing bout theBoomBoom! and evidently, pxthis was no exception (it also seems we were the ones who got the information correctly the quickest, but hey what else is new).

then apparently yesterday, our ole buddy steve-lewis (and then grubstreet) broke the news "Kamil Parchomienko will handle the room…" !!

wow! and yay!

those of us who know and love and/or remember former original subMercer GM/Maitre d’ kamil-parchomienko (also of MercerKitchen, SunsetBeach, StandardMiami, and StandardLA) are of course totally delighted that kamil, the prodigal son, has returned to NYC after a loooong time away. hooray!
oh but i kinda feel a little bad for him though, cuz i don’t know whether or not kamil will appreciate his name being alls out there right before he is about to open the hottest spot in town. i mean like for example,
we alls know the WaverlyInn’s emil-varda has a fake name (and business cards). i also know two of my pals who run LaEsquina refrain as best they can from giving out their names too. and for sure, back in the day, i rarely ever gave peoples my real name either.
not that "the press" ever gave a shit who the GM or Maiterdees were before, so that’s a new one, but whatever.
but i digress.

anyhoo. steve-lewis goes on to describe "They want to do two seatings, 4–9 for small plates and 10–2/3 for late night. Super high-end Rainbow Room/Rose Bar/Windows on the World style $18–25 drinks and DP by the glass…"

wow again! and uhhh… kinda… THANK GAWD (?!)
i don’t know about you, but i’m a little sick of places that only cater to young unkempt insomniac kids whose trust funds haven’t quite kicked in yet. not that i ever went to any of those places (mostly cuz ha ahaa i couldn’t get in), but i just think it’s really really great somebody is finally thinking of us "olds" (ya know— the ones with TASTE) and giving us a place we can go and have fun before one o’clock in the fucking morning.

oh! yah— and since you were wondering
the answer is YES! that’s the kamil you’re thinking of. of course it is! who else would it be.
he’s also one half the character "michael" in the series (the other half is current BlueHill@StoneBarns GM, philippe-gouze) and if all goes well, he’ll be played by actor (and former clubUSA bartender) darren-kendrick.

hmmm how many is that now? ha ha ha ahaa haaah i’ll give a crisp new benjamin to the first person who can correctly identify every person in the book who now works at theStandard.