Click to enlarge. Credit: Stephen Alesch, Roman and Williams.
MIDTOWN WEST—Scott Ekstrom, who has Daniel and Oceana on his CV (chef de cuisine at Oceana when Bruni three-starred it) will run the kitchen at Brasserie Forty Four, the restaurant opening in the rechristened Royalton on West 44th Street. By way of further update on the space, the bar and lounge is on schedule to open early October, with Ekstrom's restaurant (rendered above) to follow by the end of the month. Our two cents, if they've got the time: Send Scottie to Lure to be hazed by Josh Capon. With any luck, the new guy will come out of it without a limp. [EaterWire]
WEST VILLAGE—A week after an irate Don Pintabona phoned to say we were bat shit insane for thinking the progress at his temporarily closed Dani was anything less than exactly on schedule, word comes in from official sources that the restaurant will not reopen for dinner on September 17th, as had been the plan. While they're still expecting to reopen for lunch at that time, dinner service won't resume until, wait here for the reveal, October. [EaterWire]