Telepan on 69th was remodeled by a design team called hOme, with leather banquettes and new massive produce images on the walls. The color scheme is still green. “The hOmE team is also designing Telepan Local, which is scheduled to open in Tribeca in November.” Have a look at Grubstreet.
Dovetail on 77th has been having a bad few months. It got a C in a recent health inspection and is now dealing with a lawsuit: “Roldan Monzon, a busser and runner at the Michelin-star eatery on W. 77th St. since 2008, claims the hotspot violated labor laws by using a tip pool to share gratuities with nontip workers, including assistant managers,” says the Daily News. A lawyer for the restaurant said ““We firmly believe that the restaurant has been in full compliance with all state and federal wage and hour laws and that its position will be vindicated in the courts system.”
Casa Pomona on Columbus between 84th and 85th has reopened after an extended closure due to a water main break that also shuttered Kefi next door. “The struggles we have faced have tested our dedication, but our setbacks have allowed us to invest even more time in the development of Casa Pomona, and we are pleased to present the restaurant with an even more inspired menu and program than we had originally envisioned,” said owner Sid Gupta. Here’s the description: “The restaurant reopens with Executive Chef Don Flores, an accomplished and enthusiastic culinary artist who hails from Momofuku Ssam Bar, Morimoto, and Mercat Tapas and Wine Bar...The menu that Flores presents at Casa Pomona features authentically prepared Spanish Tapas, with a selection of options that will allow guests to discover new flavors as well as simple standards that allow familiar ingredients to shine. Signature dishes will include Albondigas, a traditional savory meatball; Fideua, a paella featuring fideos noodles from Valencia; Suckling Pig; and numerous traditional preparations of vegetables including beets and calcots, a Catalonian green onion.”
Corvo Bianco got a pretty weak review from the Post’s Steve Cuozzo, although we’ve heard lots of good things: “Sweet, flavorful prawns in light romesco sauce promised more good things to come. But tiny, dry and flavorless meatballs arrived tucked into stale profiteroles propped open to resemble Pac-Man…This jolly new Italian jumbo on Columbus Avenue is on its way to finito if palate challenged locals ever catch on.”
The Subway sandwich restaurant on 72nd street near Columbus closed suddenly about a week ago.
AG Kitchen now serves brunch every day of the week starting at 11:30 a.m.
A history of Windows on the World in the World Trade Center’s North Tower includes an interview with Michael Lomonaco, the last chef before the twowers collapsed. He now runs two Time Warner Center restaurants, Porter House and Center Bar. “That day, aside from the fact that I survived it…the greatest thing I could offer is doing what I was doing before, so that the memory of my friends and colleagues lost that day have honor. I feel privileged to wake up every day and do what I do. What I do, in part, is a tribute to my friends and colleagues.” Read it here.
