Sirio Returns to Le Cirque, Grand Sichuan Closes on St. Mark’s, and More Intel

— New York’s most famous maitre d’, Sirio Maccioni, returned to the dining room of Le Cirque this week, after a year-long absence due to an injury. While the 85-year-old restaurateur was celebrating his wife Egidiana’s birthday at Le Cirque, Michael Bloomberg and Henry Kissinger — who were having dinner together at the restaurant — stopped by his table to say hello.

— The St. Mark’s Place location of dependable Chinese mini-chain Grand Sichuan is now closed. EV Grieve notes that a 30-day notice of termination is taped to the window of the restaurant. In January 2015, former staff members protested alleged wage violations and other labor practices outside the restaurant.

— David Chang and his partners at delivery-only restaurant Ando raised $7 million in their first round of venture capital financing. According to the Times, the Momofuku chef plans to expand the restaurant to other markets in a way that will "dwarf all of his previous accomplishments." Chang says that with this project, he hopes to figure out how to solve some of the issues that plague restaurateurs: "How the restaurant industry at large has operated will not work moving forward....The cost structure just doesn’t work. I don’t know what the answers will be, but I’m not going to stand idle."

— Steve Cuozzo loves his meal at the hottest restaurant in the Queens Center Mall: The Cheesecake Factory. The Post critic writes: "Gooey mac ’n’ cheese tucked inside a sphere of crisp-fried breadcrumbs laughed at lesser versions. Thai lettuce wraps arrived in the form of a floral-like platter of crisp bibb leaves, satay chicken strips, carrots, coconut-curry noodles, and sweet and pungent sauces. We assembled them into crackling starbursts of flavors and textures."

— Yorkville Italian restaurant Bar Prima was closed by the DOH this week after an inspector tallied up 50 violation points for things like evidence of vermin and the lack of a required hand-washing sink.

— Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito, two veterans of Dinnertable in the East Village, are hosting a series of "pasta omakase" dinners at New York Sushi Ko on Sunday nights from November 6 through December 18. Ten courses of pasta, plus unlimited wine and sake, will set you back $150.

— Voice critic Zachary Feldman is a fan of Sohla and Hisham El-Waylly’s quirky Greenpoint Diner, Hail Mary: "Echoing how souvlaki and gyros wound up populating Greek diner and lunch counter menus, the El-Wayllys tip their hats to Middle Eastern shawarma. But instead of lamb or chicken, there's octopus, the coins of spiced tentacle crowded around pistachio tahini, fried potatoes, and a pickled-onion salad that pops with citrusy Iranian barberries."

— On Halloween, East 79th Street restaurant Sojourn hosted a seance for Harry Houdini, who once lived in the building, but his ghost didn’t show up.

— Another sushi bar is coming to the East Village space that previously housed Iron Sushi.

— And finally, here’s a look at the breakfast spread at Two Hands Cafe on Mott Street: