Lafayette Preview Party this Wednesday at the Dutch

Fresh Eggs is a series of special dinners thrown from time to time in the private dining room downstairs at the Dutch. The room is called PS 131, and this Wednesday, Andrew Carmellini and Damon Wise will be serving a six-course dinner of dishes that will be on the menu at Lafayette, Carmellini's highly anticiapted French restaurant, when it opens in a few weeks in the former Chinatown Brasserie space. Dishes include a mushroom and bacon tart, sardines, raw beef with marrow cressonniere, chevre ravioli, and a seafood mouclade with sea urchin amongst others. Bubbles a la Champagne chosen by beverage director Josh Nadel will accompany each course. See the rest of the menu and get yourself a ticket here. At $250, it's a hefty price tag, but the restaurant's going to have a hefty impact on New York when it opens.

Carmellini's NoHo Super Bistro Gets a Name: Lafayette

One of the most anticipated openings to come in the remaining months of 2012 is Andrew Carmellini's French project in the former Chinatown Brasserie space.  Carmellini took over the 380 Lafayette Street address on the corner of Great Jones and Lafayette in June this year.  As the pieces fall into place, Vogue brings us news that the restaurant will be called Lafayette. 

Damon Wise, formerly of Craft and currently at Monkey Bar, was recently welcomed to the team and named chef de cuisine (#CDC).  Other members of that team are Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard, Carmellini's partners in The Dutch, Locanda Verde, and the newly opened The Library in the Public Theater Building up the street from Lafayette. 

Carmellini and Wise will work together to create food inspired by the south of France.  "The menu at Lafayette is Carmellini’s homage to the rustic fare of the southeast and southwest of France (niçoise ravioli with pistou and chèvre and slow-cooked lamb with burnt orange and olives) as Carmellini notes of his emphasis on regional cuisine: “it's the spirit of French cooking.”" 

The Lafayette experience wil be helped by an in-house bakery, a zinc-hooded rotisserie, blue-leather banquets, a private dining room, and a (probably really awesome) wine cellar.  Opening in December.