From the South Florida website: Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten will be opening his first Miami-area
restaurant in 2012, with a J & G Grill at the upcoming St. Regis Bal
Harbour hotel. The restaurant will be similar to his ABC Kitchen, which
opened in New York in 2011. The St. Regis Bal Harbour is slated to open
in January 2012. [more]

From the April issue: Spring — the time when New York City usually begins to welcome millions of tourists — has finally arrived. Unfortunately, when I look at my crystal apple, it shows a lackluster short-term future for the restaurant industry. That’s largely the result of events well beyond the pale of the New York real estate recovery. For one, the cost of travel has risen by as much as 30 percent since the beginning of the year due to the rise in gas prices. With turmoil in Libya and Egypt, many fear that the price of oil might exceed the record $140 a barrel, which could mean a major slowdown in travel. Combine this with the significant reduction in travelers from Japan, which is reeling in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake and tsunami, and things do not look good for the industry. [more]

At left: 610 Park Avenue; Top center: Nautica founder David Chu; Bottom center: Listing broker Carrie Chiang, of the Corcoran Group; At right: Penthouse 16E

The duplex penthouse at the former Mayfair Hotel, which belongs to Nautica founder David Chu, officially hit the market yesterday at $32.8 million — roughly $4,260 per square foot. The price tag makes it one of the top 10 most expensive condo listings in the city, according to data from Streeteasy.com.

The penthouse is one of two in the 15-story, prewar limestone and brick building, now known as 610 Park Avenue. Investment firm Colony Capital purchased the property for $15 million in a 1996 foreclosure sale and teamed up with Donald Trump in the condo conversion project, which was designed by architect Costas Kondylis.

Chu, the Taiwanese-American apparel mogul, and his wife, Gina, a philanthropist and trustee at the non-profit Asia Society, purchased penthouse 16E at 610 Park Avenue in 1999, city property records show. It had been combined with the unit below, and while sale prices for apartments before 2003 are not publicly available, the pair took out a $5 million mortgage at the time to pay for at least some of the home, according to the records. [more]

Could a lack of counter space be forcing one of New York’s premier chefs to pack his bags for a new home? Daniel Boulud, the French restaurateur, has put his three-bedroom condominium unit at 610 Park Avenue, above his famed restaurant Daniel at 65th Street, on the market, brokers say. The 2,500-square-foot Upper East Side apartment, which has three bathrooms, is on the market for $6.5 million, according to a listing at that street address that first appeared two weeks ago on Brown Harris Stevens’ Web site, without pictures of the kitchen (see accompanying slide show). That listing does not have a unit number, and the agent for it, John Burger, would not confirm that the apartment is Boulud’s. “I can’t comment on any of my clients,” Burger said. But city property records indicate Boulud does own a condo in the building. And one of the photos in Burger’s listings shows some furniture upholstered in striped animal-hide-like fabric that would seem to match the “zebra-print couch” Boulud refers to in a 2003 interview in the New York Times interview about his home. [more]

Michael Shvo (left) celebrated his birthday at Abe & Arthur’s restaurant (right), with Elie Tahari vice president Rory Tahari (top center) and restaurateur Daniel Boulud (bottom center) in attendance

Marketing wunderkind Michael Shvo, who has been off the radar
for a while, celebrated his 37th birthday at Abe & Arthur’s restaurant
last night with a party of 15 including real estate developer Charles
Yassky and restaurateur Daniel Boulud, according to sources. Other
attendees at the Meatpacking District gathering included Rory Tahari,
vice chairman of clothing designer Elie Tahari, and hospitality
designer Adam Tihany (note: correction appended). Reports say that singer John Legend was at the neighboring table. Shvo was not immediately available for comment and representatives from Abe & Arthur’s declined to comment. TRD [more]