Bite Me

"It's going to be accessible American stuff," Yontz says of the fare at the Cherry Creek joint, which will be called Sketch, after one of Morreale's favorite West London hangouts. "You know, chops, oysters Rockefeller, crab Louie." He and Morreale are still in the market for a sommelier to handle what's looking to be a nicely upscale wine list. "That's not something I can do or Jesse can do," he adds. "We don't know enough. I drink beer and tequila, you know? I'm not an expert."

While Yontz already has his work cut out for him at Mezcal and Sketch, he also has another project in the works -- this one all his own. And in Belmar, of all friggin' places.

He won't tell me the name (although he does have one in mind), but says he's looking at an October opening, in advance of Sketch. And while he won't give any specifics about the food, he will say that it's mid-range Mex with another Mezcal-style kitchen. And the joint will be big, seriously big: 210 seats and right on the plaza, which will put him in direct competition with P.F. Chang's, Ted's Montana Grill and the Elephant Bar, which pack 'em in by the hundreds every night.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with a place like P.F. Chang's," Yontz says. "It gets people down there, into the area. If I can do a third of the kind of numbers that Chang's does, I will be a rich man. We're going to be doing high volume in a really nice atmosphere, and there's no reason why I can't compete."

He pauses, thinks for a second. "Well, so long as I don't fuck this up."

Leftovers: It looks like we've lost Ink!, the coffee shop at 970 Lincoln Street right next to the original Spicy Pickle and across the street from Nine75. The joint is locked up tight, with a sign on the door advertising all the other places where you can still get a hit of Ink! coffee and calling the closure a "strategic repositioning," or some other Orwellian business-speak. While I was reading it, an Inker (Inky? Inkoid?) rolled up in his SUV and tore down a few other signs that had been posted by enterprising coffee-pushers from Java Moon, over at 1116 Broadway, imploring suddenly DT-ing caffeine tweakers to walk (or run) the couple blocks down to their place for a fresh hit of the hot and black. It was excellent guerrilla marketing -- but I think I may have seen a few vultures circling over Java Moon recently, as well.

All this maneuvering may be a moot point, anyway, because the signs are already up at the Beauvallon heralding the coming of Aviano Coffee. And once the yuppies can get their lattes without ever leaving the building? There goes the neighborhood.