The restaurant was closed that day, but they prepared a small seasonal supper for their new chef ("I'm, like, holy shit, family meal and we're having white truffles!"), and, eying him warily, introduced him to the members of the family.
That means Mondays on East Broadway are crowded because many restaurants are closed that day.
That restaurant closed in 1974 (not, as far as I know, because of my antics).
That restaurant closed, but at 5 Ninth, which opened a month ago, Mr. Pelaccio gets to showcase his seasonal, eclectic, Asian-accented cuisine on what may be a sturdier stage.
He learned that Chinese people brought babies into the pediatric E.R. between 11 p.m. and midnight, apparently after restaurants closed, that Pakistani babies showed up between 3 and 5 a.m., when cabdrivers changed shifts, and Hasidic babies seemed to arrive at 10 p.m., for reasons no one could explain.
Ms. Bergquist, who — like much of the guest list — is half-Swedish, half-something else (Colombian, in her case), has cooked at Gramercy Tavern, Tabla and Merkato 55, the pan-African restaurant, now closed, that Mr. Samuelsson helped to open but did not own.
The storm, which came three years after a devastating fire that closed the restaurant for nearly a year, was a second knockout, said Ms. Balzano, 62, a retired teacher, whose grandparents started the no-frills, 44-seat restaurant.
Its d?r cunningly evokes the interior of a supersize yacht -- you can almost imagine an ocean breeze streaming through the dining room -- and whatever damage was caused by a fire that closed the restaurant for four months last year has been erased.
The next time I see anyone in religious garb, I'll just hope that they are closer to the spirit of that restaurant in Crown Heights that the synagogue in Borough Park.
