Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

It looks like Joanne, the restaurant venture from Lady Gaga’s dad (aka Joe Germanotta) and celebrity chef Art Smith is getting ready to open.

First mentioned back in October, they were shooting to be open by Thanksgiving. That got pushed back to Christmas, and now word is they’ll open sometime around January 1st.

Grub Street had a full write-up the other day. There’s some background there on how Smith and Germanotta got hooked-up with each other, but as for details on the actual restaurant:

When Joanne does open, expect a 65-seat space that Smith calls “very small … very inviting,” and a menu that combines Germanotta’s Italian heritage with Smith’s Southern upbringing in dishes like a Caprese salad with fried green tomatoes and grits instead of polenta, Grandma Germanotta’s zucchini fritters, wedding soup with liver dumplings, homemade pastas, oven-roasted chicken, rosemary-focaccia bread, and, according to Smith, “a lot of pies and tarts and things of that sort” for dessert.

Joanne is located at 70 West 68th, between Columbus & Central Park West. This is the former home of Italian restaurant Vince & Eddie’s, which had been open for 20+ years. Lady Gaga and her dad took an ownership stake in November of 2010 and the restaurant was shuttered by March of this year. In April, employees sued for labor law violations.

Will post an update when they actually open.

In a small closing update… mentioned earlier in the month that the Subway Sandwich shop at 2595 Broadway (near 98th) had unexpectedly closed. It wasn’t clear at the the time if the closing was temporary or permanent, but I think I’m ready to call it the latter at this point. MUW reader @JamieLee74 followed up on her initial report with this news earlier today:

Subway opened its metal gate today. Inside, the menus have been taken down, the prep line is taken apart & its a mess in there.

I supposed it’s conceivable they’re simply renovating, but I don’t see how a place like Subway can afford to just close shop for a month (at least). And who remodels a Subway anyway?

Not huge news, unless you’re a die-hard Subway fan… and I know you people are out there.

Jamie also reports that construction is progressing across the street at 2600 Broadway (NE corner of 98th). This is the future home of the Upper West Side’s second 16 Handles, mentioned last month. No firm opening date yet, but in November they said “a few months.”

Filed under: Celebrities, Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 3 Comments »
Tags: 16 Handles, 2595 Broadway, 2600 Broadway, 70 W 68, 70 West 68, celebrity, Chef Art Smith, Closing, Joanne, Joe Germanotta, Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga's dad, Lady Gaga's father, New York City, NYC, Opening, subway sandwich, Upper West Side, UWS, Vince & Eddie's