EAST VILLAGE— A little pre-plywood news over on Grub Street: Cru's chef Shea Gallante is applying for a liquor license for the old Sea Salt space: "Orhan Yegen had trouble clinching a full liquor license before he ejected from the space earlier this year, and the CB has been no-nonsense about the Sin Sin zone (think Mercury Dime), but if anyone can charm them at the November 12 meeting, it’s a Michelin-starred chef..." [GS]
UPPER WEST SIDE— Ed Witt is launching a Chef's Table at Bloomingdale Road. Starting the third week of November it will be available to book on Tues - Sat (but you can try it now Tues - Thurs). He'll serve six courses for $55 with wine pairings starting at $40. His menu for tomorrow includes Tasmanian salmon, lamb head, wahoo, hen, pork neck, and pound cake. [EaterWire]
MARK UPS— Slate is predicting that this recession could significantly reduce wine markups: "Kevin Zraly, a New York-area wine educator...says that at this point, restaurants just need to fill seats and should scale back their wine markups as a way of attracting diners. 'Wine is a tool to get people into restaurants, and in this economy, wine prices need to be dropped to do that,' he says. 'We had adjustable-rate mortgages, now we need adjustable-rate wines.'" [Slate via TFB]
ROCK CENTER— The Sea Grill in Rockefellar now has a new execuive chef, Jawn Chasteen. He has been with the restaurant for three years, working closely with the former chef Ed Brown.For more stories from Eater, go to eater.com.