Ago: This Robert DeNiro–backed Tuscan hot spot, with locations in West Hollywood and South Beach, is opening an outpost in TriBeCa's forthcoming Downtown Hotel – a six-story luxury property at Greenwich and North Moore streets – in May.
Bar Boulud: Daniel Boulud's Upper West Side wine bar (1900 Broadway) now has a name, and its simplicity belies its serious food-and-wine program (even if it is casual by Boulud standards). The cellar will boast some 500 wines, and "reverse pairings" will match the Burgundy-heavy list with a New French menu showcasing homemade artisanal charcuterie. Look for a September 2007 debut.
BLT Market: Laurent Tourondel's latest NYC location is still on track for a spring opening, likely in May. Housed in the former Atelier space in the Ritz-Carlton Central Park (50 Central Park S.), it will offer a rotating seasonal menu that could change as often as once a month. The breezy, elegant setting will feature paintings of figs, heirloom tomatoes, pomegranates and other market bounty, large windows that open onto the street in classic bistro style, outdoor seating and a separate exterior entrance on Sixth Avenue.
Insieme: In other naming news, Hearth chef Marco Canora has settled on a sobriquet – it means "together" in Italian – for his forthcoming project in The Michelangelo hotel (152 W. 51st St.). It's a nod to the old-world-meets-new-world menu, in which fairly straightforward preparations will sit side by side with more experimental dishes merging Italian cooking techniques with seasonal, less traditional ingredients. The opening is now scheduled for April.
Mercat: Like Boqueria and Casa Mono, this newcomer will marry Catalan cooking and a hip setting, to include an open kitchen and a downstairs tapas lounge; it's set to debut in Noho (45 Bond St.) in mid-March.
Southern Hospitality: Justin Timberlake is reportedly opening this BBQ restaurant on the Upper East Side.
B.R. Guest Restaurants confirms it has taken over the former Park Avenue Country Club space (381 Park Avenue S.) a few doors up from Dos Caminos, where it plans to install a steakhouse in fall 2007.
The deal to open Park Chinois with London restaurateur Alan Yau having fallen through, Ian Schrager is now negotiating with chef Yuji Wakiya of Tokyo's Wakiya Ichiemicharo to partner on an upscale Chinese restaurant in his Gramercy Hotel (2 Lexington Ave.).