"Michael of Gino's" May Become a Reality

I know it must seem, over the past week, that I report on nothing but the death of Gino. What can I say? I can't help myself. Plus, I don't think I exaggerate when I say that it's a big story. It really is. What that place has got, we ain't never gonna get back.

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Scenes From The Last Night at Gino

Chef and co-owner of Gino, Michael Miele, who worked the kitchen on the restaurant's last night, accepts the ovation of the house.

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Today Is Gino's Last Day on Earth

Your last chance to eat and drink among the zebras, among the red-jacketed lifer waiters, to ask a Martini of the white-jacketed, hulking, white-haired bartender, to make a call from the wooden phone booth, to smell the plastic flowers, to check your coat, to pass through the yellow double doors, to order something from the same damn menu that's been there for decades—is today.

Gino (or Gino's, as everyone calls it), Upper East Side landmark for 65 years, will shutter after tonight.

Lost City Asks "Who Goes to La Traviata?"

Places like La Traviata in Brooklyn Heights make me wonder things about restaurants. Like, how can you have so many things on your menu and be able to produce any one of them fairly quickly? And, what's the trick of making your place last a long time when you don't seem to put a lot of effort into making it or the food special? The owner of La Traviata knows the answers. Here the Eater column:

Who Goes There? La Traviata

One thing I've noticed about the time-marking restaurants I feature in these columns—the owners are almost always on the premises, usually somewhere near the bar. They're not making personal appearances somewhere or busy planning the opening of their next place. They're checking on the kitchen, checking on the customers. During my entire dinner at La Traviata—an improbably steadfast storefront (33 years and counting) on changeable Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights—I never lost sight of my host, Ralph Tommaso. He was rooted to a bar stool, talking to a couple of friends, an old guy in a white shirt and a woman in a blonde, Peggy Lee wig.

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Fultummys Needs To Bring Its "A" Game

I like Fultummy's, the new "international" sandwich joint on Columbia Street in Carroll Gardens West. The sandwiches are yummy and well-priced. The iced coffee is as good as any in the area, including Cafe Pedlar. The folks who run it are nice. And the atmosphere is great.

But—and I say this out of concern and caring—they need to get their act together.

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Some Stuff That's Interesting

Clifford Grodd, the president of the old-style, private-label, Manhattan clothier Paul Stuart (where I once bought a wonderful sweater in 1989 and haven't been able to afford anything since—though I still like the place), died. He is credited with creating the chambray dress shirt, and was a bow-tie advocate. Bloomberg is a regular shopper. So why doesn't he look better than he does? [NY Times]

Lee Lee's Bakery, a Harlem shop known for making the best rugelach in the City, will close its doors next week. [Harlem Bespoke]

Slumlord Sam Suzuki turned himself in to the authorities. [VV]

H&H Bagels' employee-cheating owner Helmer Toro gets 50 weekends in jail and a $500,000 fine. [Grub Street]

Degraw Street Can't Catch a Break

The tiny block of Degraw Street between Hicks and Columbia in Brooklyn has seen more than its share of construction over the last five years. There's been a major condo conversion/creation and at least three renovations of old brick homes on the south side of the street (including one of the uglier revamps in the nabe). At times, it's seemed as though every single structure on the block has been surrounding by scaffolding, blue plywood and construction vehicles. You'd think the street had finally attained a well-deserved rest.

But no. The short thoroughfare is currently being ripped up from side to side, barring any traffic. According to Word on Columbia Street, its part of a renovation project that will green a stretch of Van Brunt Street. How much can a tiny street take?

MTA Thinks Carroll Gardens Doesn't Need Any Buses

Carroll Gardens has one month left of having bus service.

Among the Brooklyn bus route cuts being instituted by the MTA are the elimination of the B71, which traces Union Street from Van Brunt to Eastern Parkway, and the B75, which follows the length of Court Street. Those are the two buses that serve Carroll Gardens. The only two. 


I sort of understand the axing of the B71. No one rides it. I personally love it, and don't understand why it's not popular. It takes you to Park Slope, to Prospect Park, to the Botanic Garden, to the Brooklyn Museum. It's a great route. But people seem not to realize it.

The B75, though? It's the lifeline of Court Street, and packed most of the time. It's apparently going to be replaced along Court by an extended B57. But we all know what extended lines mean. Longer waits.

(Thanks to Pardon Me for Asking for the photo.)

Corn on Smith Street

A peculiar Greenstreets program has cropped up on Smith Street in Brooklyn, near the Bergen subway stop. It's an elevated, stone-lined garden called Sassian's Maize-Land. Sounds like an agricultural theme park.

Sign sez: "In the 17th century this area was part of a native cornfield cultivated by tthe local Marechkawich Indians. It was know as the "Sassian's (Sower's) Maize-Land" and it extended roughly from what is now Atlanntic Ave. to Baltic Street and from Court to Hoyt Street. This summer we are planting a traditional three sisters garden in this spot with corn, bean, and squash varieties that are part of the heritage of native people from this region."

The "field" is a public art project by the artist Christina Kelly. She's planted another garden in Canarsie. Who gets the corn?

Good, But Strange: Sprinkles Cupcake Chain to Keep Gino's Zebra Wallpaper

Hard to know how to react to this.

"Sprinkles does plan to keep the zebra wallpaper in some form and certainly pay homage to Gino,” according to a rep for the California cupcake chain that will take over the home of the Upper East Side institution when it goes out of business on May 29.

Guess I should be happy. But that wallpaper only worked for a weird, set-in-its-ways, red-sauce place like Gino. I think I'd get ill staring at those jumping beasts while eating a cupcake.

Danger clause: "in some form."