[Bella's (R), Southside (L)] Anthony and Tom Martignetti will toast the 1st birthday of their Soho club, Southside, on November 5th (invite below). But what are they really celebrating? Besides its name, little about the venue has changed since the brothers brought a loyal preppy crowd to 1 Cleveland Place in 2006 with Bar Martignetti and its downstairs bar, Bella's.  More»

Towards the end of January, we reported on the closing of Bar Martignetti's, our neighborhood joint on Broome street with the downtown Dorrian's (Southside) in the basement.  We decided to check in on the place today, which was supposed to be reopening "in a few weeks" according to the sign posted on its doors on Jan 28th.  And what did we find? Not much.  Take a look for yourself at the progress of the place.  Perhaps Anthony Martignetti has his hands full with all of the ruckus downstairs, or maybe they are spending their time worrying about the rumored location out east they are opening this summer?  Or, maybe, just maybe, they have a case of the recession blues like the rest of us.

In any event, whatever happened to those ambitious "plans" Martignetti told Grubstreet about a few months ago is anyone's guess. More photos after the jump....  More»

[Windows papered at BarMart]

A tipster sent in word today that our neighborhood joint, Bar Martignettis, the place which started Bellas then Southside has CLOSED!  Didn't notice?  Probably not since the restaurant has been virtually empty the past couple of months.  But don't worry, it's only for a couple of weeks for "renovations" (apparently the place is going to have a much more "pub-like" feel with a new bar in the back of the restaurant), but we are wondering if anyone will care?

More including note from owners below:

More»

[Don't worry, be happy! Photo from NYT]

• In troubled times, we always have our 'happy place' [NYT]
• First person to buy one is gonna get a banker beatdown [Material Interest]
• This Santos is not like that Santos [NYMag]
• Another "hidden" bar is revealed [NYBarfly]
• Noooooo! Burritoville is no more [Gothamist]

Young social deb Larissa Whitney (known to her friends as Lali or simply La) celebrated her 2? birthday last night with a group of close friends and relatives. Among the guests were her charming brother Maximillian Whitney, Bar Martignetti owner Tom Martignetti, heiress Kingsley Woolworth, jewelry designer Jennifer Nunez de Villavicencio, Fern Senior, and Fay McGettigan and Morgan Roberts, both of San Francisco.

More»

Go HERE for more photos from the event.

It was another busy night for us. We started the evening by stopping by the BR Concept store, which recently launched their summer collection. Our good friend Aloisio Vilas Boas is a co-owner and he showed us around the store. The store carries Brazillian brands such as Tufi Duek, Rosa Cha and Colcci. (one of my photographers at Artwing, Gui Paganini just shot the campaign with the amazing Giselle!) We sipped champagne as we shopped-very chic.

More»