This week the Times's Frank Bruni has a mouth-watering rave for Southern Italian restaurant Convivo (pictured), chef Michael White's revision of the stuffy L'Impero in Tudor City. He declares that Convivio has emerged from the transition "as a pasta lover’s dreamland...soulful and unpretentious...Mr. White can do it all...and is doing even better work with pasta at Convivio than he has done at Alto." Skip the seafood, though: "Roll-ups of fried swordfish with a yogurt sauce tasted too much like some tarted-up refugee from Long John Silver’s."
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Last month chef Michael White and his business partner Chris Cannon opened Convivio in the space formerly occupied by L'Impero, which White took over after the abrupt departure of chef Scott Conant (who has since opened Scarpetta). Where L'Impero was perceived by some as stuffy and overly formal (Times critic Frank Bruni said it evoked "the upholstered interior of a very large coffin"), Convivio aims for a more casual, though still elegant, atmosphere, with "burnt orange" upholstered banquettes, lacquered ceilings and a copper bar top. (Photo after the jump.)
Delicatessen: Opening last night in SoHo, this snazzy new restaurant/lounge from the owners of Cafeteria had a soft-opening Thursday with an Interview Magazine party. Grub Street reports: “There’s not much new about the sleek surfaces, backlit back bar, and the cabinlike (odoriferous!) wood panels upstairs, but we were wowed by the square, eight-table room downstairs, where there’s a D.J. booth, a wall mural by José Heredia, and a sunroof offering a view of the tenement buildings above.” Chef Doron Wong’s cosmopolitan comfort food menu ranges from a breakfsast-time Delicatessen Benedict, made with pastrami and spicy spinach hollandaise sauce, to Matzoh Ball Chicken Soup and Cheeseburger Spring Rolls for dinner. 54 Prince Street, (212) 226-0211.
The Brooklyn Paper isn't the only one who has missed Woody Allen's "quirky, oh-so-New-York films." On the verge of releasing his latest movie, Cassandra's Dream (in theaters Friday), Allen talked to The Daily News about when he might bring his New York to celluloid again.
Yesterday, Con Edison removed the tow truck sitting in the crater where a steam pipe explosion ripped a 15' by 25' hole in 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. The utility will investigate the damage in hopes of getting a better idea of what caused the Wednesday night explosion. Other clean up crews were working on other parts of the damaged area. One contractor who will be washing the facade of a building told WNBC, "It's a mess. Blown windows and a lot of stuff like that."
What gets hotter than a summer day? Fights between tenants and a building board, when a board throws out various air conditioning units. The Post reports that the board at 304-324 East 41st Street in Manhattan's Tudor City removed AC units, claiming that the building's masonry needed to be redone and that the units violated an landmarks ruling. From the residents:
"They told them they either remove them or we'll take them out," [resident Peter] Clemente said. "And, in fact, several of the units were removed when tenants weren't even in their apartments."Continue reading "Conditioned to a Fight Over A/C"
Open House New York opens the doors to many New York spaces that you wouldn't likely ever see. Past tours have included 7 World Trade Center and the Lost City Hall Subway. Each October these tours are free, and throughout the year the series costs money. The Spring tours will include:
What is a Presidential trip to New York without protest? During President Bush's United Nations General Assembly address (in which he tried to emphasize that the U.S. wanted a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program), protesters rallied outside to speak out against the war in Iraq. After initially being prohibited from marching by the NYPD - which then allowed the march to take place if only on the sidewalk and on a different route - 3,000 people joined in. am New York reported that one marcher was disappointed in the turnout: Paul Rosa said, "I understand people have to work, but there are four or five million people in this city who are against the war. For protests to be effective, they have to be massive and sustained." Which makes us wonder how many people would have liked to marched but couldn't because of work. The police reported 15 arrests.
Zoe Schneider, Writer and Clothing Designer
Law & Order
In the lives of New Yorkers, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the makers of Law & Order, who consistently churn out topical, interesting, and entertaining programming; and the Law & Order fans, who eagerly watch the show and its offshoots on NBC, TNT, USA, and wherever else possible. These are their stories.


