The Times pens a love letter to Donatella Arpaia and reveals that her new restaurant, Donatella at 184 Eighth Avenue, near West 19th Street, will be a Neapolitan-pizza joint, and it’ll open in July with an adjoining lounge, DBar. Also in the works: “A Food Network reality show on Donatella-the-restaurant-consultant, if the pilot clicks.” For the most part, the piece is fawning: “Her universe is about not only brand extensions but also hair extensions. If her business dealings reveal her as the culinary incarnation of Carly Fiorina, she also dips into the walk-in closet of Carrie Bradshaw.”
But her former partner David Burke (who shelled out $1 million for her share of david burke & donatella) says of her plan to be executive chef at Donatella, “everyone wants to be a chef [but doing so in a top-level restaurant] is something that takes years and years of practice and experience.” So there! Meanwhile, “lawsuits are possible” over the division of Kefi with her other partner, Michael Psilakis.
Donatella Arpaia Is Putting Chef’s Whites Over Her Prada [NYT]
