After Café des Artistes closed last summer, everyone from Graydon Carter to Drew Nieporent to the team behind Dovetail were said to have eyed its hallowed Upper West Side digs, but now The Wall Street Journal reports that the fifteen-year lease (and the Howard Chandler Christy murals) has gone to Gianfranco Sorrentino, owner of Il Gottopardo, BiCE, and Sette MoMA, among others. He tells the Journal he plans to reopen it as a southern Italian restaurant and will spend $1.5 million to “update the place, give it a few contemporary touches,” such as better lighting for the murals. Most everything else was auctioned off, but some workers, at least, are ready to return: The union (which some say was the restaurant’s downfall) says it plans to reach out to Mr. Sorrentino.
