Michael White Heads to Soho, Takes Over Dodgy Bar The Falls

A few weeks ago, sources close to Michael White whispered that America's Top Italian Chef and his partners had signed a lease on a space in Soho for a new, long planned restaurant that we hear will focus on pasta and steak. Well today, a tipster reports that the space in question is the former home of the controversial bar The Falls on Lafayette between Spring and Kenmare. If that name sounds familiar, it's because the bar had a fairly notorious history as the site of the abduction of Imette St. Guillen by Falls bouncer Darryl Littlejohn. Later it reopened as Midnight Cafe (or 218) a club pretending to be a bar, much to the chagrin of its neighbors and landlord.

Well perhaps 218 Lafayette can finally turn a new leaf. As discussed yesterday, it's not always easy for people to forget violent pasts associated with some spaces, but by the time White & Co. are done with it, we doubt anyone will recognize it. Watch out La Esquina and Balthazar.
· The Drying of NYC: More Trouble for the Old Falls Space [~ENY~]
[photo credit]