Snuff Mill
Photo: Courtesy of Abigail Kirsch
- The New York Botanical Garden started the $10.5 million renovation of its Snuff Mill facility, which will have new kitchens, bathrooms, and exterior walls when it reopens in spring 2010. [NYT]
- The opening of the W Hotel Downtown's rooms is dependent on when the city completes demolition of the charred remains of the Deutsche Bank building. [NYP]
- Plans to turn nightclub Avalon into an event space appear to have fallen through: On Monday the Chelsea venue opened as a clothing store. [NYMag]
- Will the Atlantic Yards development receive funds from the economic stimulus bill? [NYO]
- If $6 million in renovation funds comes through, Battery Park's Castle Clinton monument might become an outdoor music venue. [NYP]
- Today marks the reopening of the Beacon Theater, which recently completed a $16 million overhaul that included restoring the seats and electrical wiring of the Upper West Side landmark. [NYT]
- The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas has shut down two Rande Gerber-owned clubs over claims that the staff abused patrons. [NYP]
- Frank Bruni awards two stars to the John Dory, the seafood restaurant from chef April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman. [NYT]
- Bruni also visits A Voce, where he declares that Andrew Carmellini's replacement, chef Missy Robbins, "turns out food with grace and gusto." [NYT]
- Robin Rainsfeld and Rob Patronite check out the budget-friendly night at Craft, "a recession-era tactic to wring extra revenue from private dining space" that seems to be part of a wave of "experimental modes of operation" for many restaurants. [NYMag]
- Ryan Sutton also visits Tom Colicchio's flagship eatery, praising the Flatiron district restaurant for being "a four-star American restaurant for the recession." [Bloomberg]
- At Desnuda, a ceviche bar where chef Christian Zammas serves what he calls "ghetto molecular gastronomy," Danyelle Freeman claims that dinner is "completely unpredictable, in the best way." [NYDN]
