Opening
KIBO Joël Robuchon, the famous French chef, is the unlikely consultant for this first Japanese restaurant from the BR Guest Restaurant Group. But he does have a Japanese restaurant in Monaco, Yoshi, with a Michelin star. He has been working on the menu with Kibo’s executive chef, Darrell Raymond, who came from Buddakan. The restaurant will have a robata grill and a sushi bar serving a 200-seat dining room, a ground-floor lounge and one upstairs with a D.J. for late nights. The menu will also feature soba, ramen and udon noodle dishes and a take on the Korean rice dish bibimbop. (Opens Tuesday): 111 East 18th Street; (212) 824-2770.
DESI SHACK Skewered meats are the specialty of this Indian-Pakistani takeout spot with a few seats: 331 Lexington Avenue (39th Street); (212) 867-3374.
JOLIE CANTINA The French bistro Jolie has moved from Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn to a smaller storefront and tweaked the name to accommodate the Mexican flavors that the chef, Eliseo Gonzaga, has introduced: 241 Smith Street (Douglass Street), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; (718) 488-0777.
LE PADDOCK There’s atmosphere to spare in this new bistro, which offers mostly classic French with a detour into pan-European pizza-like preparations baked in a wood oven: 1235 Prospect Avenue (Reeve Place), Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn; (718) 435-0921.
Looking Ahead
GIOVANNI RANA This major Italian pasta company will open a restaurant and marketplace this winter, with Odette Fada, formerly of San Domenico and SD26, in the kitchen. The space was once Nicole Farhi’s 202 shop and cafe: Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue (15th Street).
CAFFE STORICO Finally, the Venetian-style restaurant that Stephen Starr is opening next month has a name:
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (77th Street).
VITAE By the end of the year, Edwin Bellanco, who worked in the kitchens of David Bouley, Thomas Keller and Tom Colicchio, expects to offer refined seasonal fare in a restaurant that will have a cafe and bar up front and a mezzanine with a wall of wine, in addition to the main dining room: 4 East 46th Street.
WHITEHALL Brian McGrory and his partners, who own Highlands and Mary Queen of Scots, will channel England, not Scotland, for their latest project, to open in about a month: 19 Greenwich Avenue (10th Street).
Chefs on the Move
HADLEY SCHMITT, who was the chef de cuisine at John Fraser’s short-lived What Happens When, now heads the kitchen of the Northern Spy Food Company in the East Village.
IAN CHALERMKITTICHAI has replaced Pichet Ong at Spot Dessert Bar on St. Marks Place in the East Village and is creating Asian-accented desserts like smoked coconut cheesecake, along with some savory items like honey-glazed pork-belly waffles.
RICHARD BROWER, who was a sous-chef at Le Bernardin, is now an executive chef at the Four Seasons restaurant, sharing the title with Pecko Zantilaveevan, formerly the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, who has been in that post.
Closed
MIA DONA, on the Upper East Side, has closed. Its owner, Donatella Arpaia, who has a new baby, will concentrate on Donatella, her Chelsea restaurant and pizzeria.
The Michelin Guide
The tally of restaurants in New York City with three Michelin stars has risen to seven from five in the company’s 2012 Guide, which goes on sale Wednesday. Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, which had two stars last year, and Eleven Madison Park, which had one, now have three, joining Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Masa and Per Se. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon and SHO Shaun Hergatt were added to the list of two-star restaurants, and Picholine was demoted from two to one. Brushstroke, Danji, Heartbreak, Junoon, Rosanjin, Tamarind, Tori Shin and Tulsi are the new one-star restaurants, and Shalezeh, a Persian restaurant, lost its star.