amy-sacco

Amy Sacco (Continues to) Cling to the Dream

cityfile · 02/02/10 01:16PM

It's looking increasingly unlikely that Amy Sacco will ever reopen Bungalow 8, which closed last fall. Although she sent out an email blast in December that promised a "GRAND RE-OPENING" in time for Fashion Week, she now admits that won't be happening. And although she now claims that she should have things ready to go in March, Eater points out that the venue's liquor license has expired and she's yet to file for any construction permits. [Eater, previously]

Happy Birthday

cityfile · 12/30/09 07:01AM

Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer share more than a studio at Rockefeller Center—they're both celebrating their birthdays today, too. (She's turning 56; he's 52.) Embattled nightlife entrepreneur Amy Sacco is 42. Fox News' Sean Hannity is turning 48. LeBron James is 25. Allen Grubman, the mega entertainment lawyer and father of Lizzie, turns 67 today. Patti Smith is 63. Comedian Tracey Ullman is 50. WCBS reporter Marcia Kramer is turning 61. Movie director Bennett Miller is 43. Norman Goodman, the city's county clerk and the man responsible for sending you those jury summonses on a regular basis, is 86. Actress Eliza Dushku is turning 29. R&B singer Tyrese is 31. Former madam Heidi Fleiss is turning 44. And a golfer by the name of Tiger Woods is celebrating his 34th birthday today.

Amy Sacco Is Not Easily Deterred

cityfile · 12/23/09 12:43PM

Amy Sacco sent out an email blast on Friday announcing—once again—that she plans to reopen Bungalow 8 in the near future. ("SAVE FEB FASHION WEEK FOR THE GRAND RE-OPENING OF THE NEW BUNGALOW 8 NYC!") Anything is possible. Although if she really is planning to bring the former hotspot back, it's probably going to look exactly like it did before it closed this fall. Sacco still hasn't filed for any of the city permits she would need to do renovation work on the West 27th Street club. As you can see below, she hasn't proposed to make any substantial changes to the venue since way back in 2002:

cityfile · 12/21/09 07:01PM

Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 closed a couple of months ago, but now she says "the grand reopening of the new Bungalow 8" is planned for February. [NYM]
• More on the rumored return of Beatrice Inn, if you're interested. [Gawker]
• Le Pain Quotidien is expanding to Rockefeller Center and Central Park. [NYO]
• Govind Armstrong has left Table 8, but the eatery is still open, FYI. [NYT]
Andre Balazs's Boom Boom Room will host a very special affair on New Year's Eve. For $250-750, guests will get to watch Courtney Love "perform." [Eater]
• A Hamptons real estate broker has filed a lawsuit against Bobby Flay. [N'day]
• If the 2007 Times article about what restaurateur Drew Nieporent does in his spare time at his New Jersey home didn't satisfy your obsession for all things Nieporent, here's pretty much the same info from yesterday's Times. [NYT]

Amy Sacco Goes to Court, Wins!

cityfile · 12/16/09 02:12PM

Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 went out of business in October. But she just had some great news come her way! Sacco prevailed in a long-running legal battle against Bungalow 8's onetime insurance company.

cityfile · 11/03/09 06:59PM

Jean-Georges Vongerichten will close down Vong on Saturday. [Eater]
• A new restaurant/wine bar has popped up at the Four Seasons Hotel. [GS]
• A tour of Danny Meyer's Maialino, which opens in a couple of weeks. [Eater]
• Both Le Souk and The Mott have been closed their doors. [GS]
Amy Sacco hasn't obtained a permit to renovate Bungalow 8, as we reported a couple of weeks ago. Her reality TV show is looking unlikely, too. [NYP]
• As if Tavern on the Green didn't have enough of a mess on its plate, it was also the scene of epically messy Halloween party on Saturday. [NYDN, Crain's]
• Another sign of a recession: Le Cirque is offering up free fried chicken to people who come watch the Yankee game there tomorrow night. [Zagat]

Bungalow 8: 2001-2009

cityfile · 10/15/09 01:40PM

Bungalow 8's demise has been rumored for a couple of years now—and years since it's been a serious hotspot—but the venue that helped revitalize the western edge of Chelsea (and turned it into a mob scene) is finally finished, a source tells us. Amy Sacco's lounge supposedly closed "for renovations" a couple of weeks ago. But after nearly nine years in business, we've been told that Sacco does not have any plans to reopen the club that served as celeb central in the early to mid-'00s. We contacted Sacco's publicist by phone and email for comment and have yet to hear back. But a call to Bungalow 8 confirms the obvious: The line has been disconnected.

Eating & Drinking: Monday Edition

cityfile · 08/24/09 04:01PM

• In its fall preview issue, New York surveys the nine spots opening soon in the meatpacking district, four of which happen to be at the Standard. [NYM]
• Related: Metromix's fall restaurant preview is now online. [Metromix]
Amy Sacco is on the move: She's opening a Bungalow 8 in Amsterdam. [P6]
• A sneak peek at Yerba Buena Perry, which opens later this week. [Eater]
• Musical chairs: Ryan Bartlow, formerly of Sam Mason's Tailor, is now running the kitchen at Bar Carrera, the sister restaurant to Bar Veloce; and Shlomo Kashy is the new executive chef at Cafe at Country. [TSB, NYT]
Danny Meyer finally tackles the questions that have been on your mind forever: He prefers flat water to sparkling and pancakes over waffles. [YaH]
• Speaking of Meyer, a few new details on his upcoming Maialino. [Zagat]

Is the Celebrity Set Abandoning Amy Sacco?

cityfile · 08/11/09 12:14PM

Bungalow 8 proprietress Amy Sacco has a reality show in the works. (Or at least Bravo is now "testing" out such a concept.) Less than a month ago, Sacco told WWD that she'd recruited a big bunch of her friends to take part in the program—so many people, in fact, that Sacco told the reporter that while it's technically a reality show, "I don't know if anyone's going to believe my reality." Today the Daily News throws a little water on the concept, suggesting that very few famous faces will ultimately appear on the show, since many of the boldfaced friends Sacco calls her friends "don't want to be seen on camera doing reality TV."

Twilight's Ashley Greene Becomes the Internet's Newest Nude Starlet

The Cajun Boy · 08/11/09 07:26AM

Nude photos of Ashley Greene hit the net, Oprah eats Manhattan, Lilo and Samro get back together, Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper vacation in Spain together, Leighton Meester and Sebastian Stan are in love and Kate Moss is aging rapidly.

Amy Sacco and Nello Balan: The Feud Goes On

cityfile · 08/07/09 11:57AM

It's been more than two years since restaurateur (and drama magnet) Nello Balan filed suit against Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8, accusing the club's bouncers of beating him up during a visit to the former hot spot back in May 2006. Nello came forward in the spring of 2007 to say that a bouncer had punched him in the eye and hit him over the head with a metal object (he also said his 21-year daughter was pushed), and the altercation left him with 10 stitches and a fracture to his eye-socket.

Amy Sacco Gets Ready For Her Close-Up

cityfile · 07/23/09 08:17AM

Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 has certainly seen better days. But you can expect the club to get a jolt of publicity in the months ahead. Sacco is filming a reality show for Bravo about her efforts to take the faded franchise to Amsterdam as well as open a new "as-yet-unnamed New York club." So what's it going to be like? "It's a reality show, but I don't know if anyone's going to believe my reality," Sacco tells WWD today. "It's going to be funny. It's about what's so awesome about this city, and the great characters I've gotten to know. We've shot with Yvonne Force Villareal, Patrick McMullan and Donna Karan." Just wait until Bravo's marketing department begins to meddle and Bethenny Frankel and Danielle Staub start making regular appearances at the club. [WWD]

Eating & Drinking: Tuesday Edition

cityfile · 06/23/09 04:00PM

• Is Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 about to broke? That's what some former staffers claim, who say they haven't been paid in weeks now. [Gawker]
• Ward III, a new "saloon" by the team involved with Macao, The Odeon, and Grace—and decorated with Wakiya cast-offs—opens on Friday. [Thrillist]
• A roundup of spots that have closed in recent days. [Eater]
• The feud between Mr. Chow and Philippe is heating up, it seems. [GS]
• Raines Law Room has opened a "clandestine garden," not that anything can be very clandestine when it appears on Vogue's website. [Vogue]
• Michael Huynh has another East Village Baoguette planned. [EVGrieve]
• Wolfgang Puck's latest, quasi-food related venture: He plans to take control of the top-level domain .food and then sell off the Internet addresses to chefs and restaurateurs. Sounds, uh, interesting. [WSJ/Speakeasy]

The Friday Party Report

cityfile · 06/05/09 04:17PM

The Cinema Society and Details magazine hosted a screening of The Hangover last night at the Tribeca Grand, which was followed by an afterparty at the Soho Grand. Details editor Dan Peres, Cinema Society's Andrew Saffir, and Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha, who both appear in the film, welcomed Rachel Roy, Amy Sacco (left), Nicole Miller, Will Arnett, Zach Braff, Gerard Butler, Molly Sims, Chris Meloni, Caroline Rhea, Alan Cumming, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, Albert Hammond Jr., Jill Hennessy, Jesse Eisenberg, Hilary Rhoda, Dan Abrams, Danny Masterson, Byrdie Bell, Kelly Bensimon, Rob and Marisol Thomas, Caroline Winberg, and Doutzen Kroes, Alexandra Richards, and Paula Abdul. [PMC, WWD, Wireimage, VF]

Eating & Drinking: Friday Edition

cityfile · 05/29/09 03:22PM

• State tax agents shut down H&H on the UWS for three hours today over an outstanding tax bill, but it's now back in business. [NYT]
• Zoë in Soho has filed for bankruptcy protection. [Crain's]
• Sad: A roundup of recent closings around town. [Eater]
• Happy: A roundup of places opening in the Hamptons this weekend. [Curbed]