Jason Denton's new Italian restaurant, Bar Milano is readying itself for a late March debut. Once slated for East 20th Street, now locked in at 24th and Third Avenue, the venue will be Denton's biggest effort to date, and, as he's described it, it'll be less like Otto and more along the lines of Lupa—a casual, but sophisticated spot, with wine, pedigree and price point high enough to get the Bruni through the front door.
Which brings us to the point of today's edition of the Bar Milano watch. The most recent intel has Lupa vet and Denton apprentice Steve Connaughton as a partner at Bar Milano. We're also hearing, though Denton denies it, that two of Connaughton's underlings at Lupa, Eric Steele and Hillary Sterling—neither the current executive chef, it should be noted—, have signed up for camp Murray Hill, too. That puts a real ton of Lupa firepower on 24th street, in a venue that will absolutely get reviewed. (On the matter of chefs leaving Lupa, Batali and Bastianich had no comment for us and we don't blame them: dudes have always had an excellent farm system.) And leads us to this: Lupa has to date never gotten the 2-3 stars from the Times is deserves, and is currently listed as a $25 and Under, absurdly enough. Are Lupa's stars going to go to Bar Milano?