The Curious Case of Sweetiepie and Whatever They're Doing Over There

Sweetiepie, 9:45 AM. Open? Closed? You make the call.

The first time we met with Sweetiepie was almost exactly one year ago, in the last plywood report of 2007. At that time we noted, of its location on West 10th and Greenwich Avenue, "Murray Rubin's Birdbath is two blocks away on Waverly and Seventh, Jack's coffee is half a block around the corner on W10th, and Joe is three blocks South on Gay and Waverly. And none are closer than Lafayette French Pastry, a long-time fixture across the street at 26 Greenwich. So, this isn't a neighborhood in need of coffee and cakes, but a good cupcake could make for an interesting show." Since then, we've confirmed that Mario Batali is consulting on the project and Sweetiepie owners, Julie and Luke Janklow, have ties to and inspiration from Los Angeles (Julie) and the legendary Warner Leroy (Luke).

And that's all the sense we can make of the restaurant. UrbanDaddy had the early opening word on it, at which time they described it as follows:

"Think of Sweetiepie as the imaginary restaurant that your little sister wanted to open when she was 11—but with hard alcohol."

If this is confusing, observe the menu, which includes everything from silver dollar pancakes to spaghetti and meatballs to a $47 'steak.' Note, too, the fact that every night at close they put up sloppy curtains in the windows (pictured atop, this morning), so as, ostensibly, to fend off curious customers?

The point is that the West Village is a neighborhood that embraces restaurants that it understands, from Waverly Inn to Spotted Pig to the more pedestrian Extra Virgin, and absolutely crushes those that confuse, such as the late Jefferson. If someone could help us make sense of Sweetiepie, that'd be swell.
· Sweetiepie [~E~]
· Sweetiepie Restaurant: An Interview With Julie Janklow [Cool Hunting]
· La Cage Aux Folles [UrbanDaddy]