Kitchen Dish
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

GRAZING IN THE PARK
Find out what’s happening in Union Square’s culinary scene tomorrow night when more than 40 restaurants in the neighborhood dole out food paired with wine and beer in Union Square Park. The annual tasting event, Harvest in the Square, lasts from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Participating restaurants include old standbys such as Union Square Cafe and Candela, newcomers like Pure Food and Wine and Casa Mono, fine dining establishments such as Gramercy Tavern, and casual eateries like Heartland Brewery. Buy tickets for the event at the door for $95, cash only, or buy them in advance for $85 at www.telecharge.com. Visit that Web site, too, for a full list of participating restaurants. Proceeds from the event go to the Union Square Partnership’s capital campaign for improvement of Union Square Park.
NEW NAME, NEW STAFF
Table XII (109 E. 56th St., between Park and Madison avenues, 212-750-5656), the new name for the restaurant formerly known as Etoile, has beefed up its culinary team. Owner John Scotto Jr., whose family also owns Fresco by Scotto (40 E. 52nd St., 212-754-2700) and neighboring Fresco to Go, has appointed Benedetto Bartolotta as sous chef under executive chef Sandro Fioriti.
Mr. Bartolotta previously was executive chef of San Domenico (240 Central Park South at Columbus Circle, 212-265-5959). Mr. Fioriti also has connections with San Domenico: The Roman chef gained popularity in New York cooking at Sandro’s on East 59th Street, which he ran in partnership with San Domenico owner Tony May. Table XII has a new pastry chef, too: Luciano Inova, who ran the pastry kitchen at Limoncello (777 Seventh Ave. at 51st Street, 212-582-7932), which is closed for renovations until the end of October. Mr. Scotto also has added a tier of captains to raise the level of service at Table XII, and he has brought on a sommelier from Rome, Fermo Meloni.
EAT FOR RELIEF
Visit www.restaurantsforrelief.org before making your dinner reservations for September 27. There you’ll find a list of restaurants participating in a nationwide hurricane-relief fund-raiser. They are donating all or part of their earnings for that evening to Share Our Strength’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. SOS, a hunger-relief organization, will donate all proceeds to local organizations in affected areas.
DOWNTOWN EATS
TriBeCa has another high-end Japanese fusion restaurant. Ninja (25 Hudson St. at Duane Street, 212-274-8500) has been opening gradually over the past couple of weeks and now is up and running. The sister of a restaurant of the same name in Akasaka, Japan, Ninja features design elements meant to transform the 6,000-square-foot space into an 18th-century mountainside village. The restaurant’s chef, Michinobu Okamoto, apprenticed under Iron Chef Japan Kihachi Kumagi. His food competes for attention with entertainers dressed as ninjas, who mysteriously appear at tables to perform magic tricks.
FRENCH DOWNTOWN EATS
TriBeCa has a new French bistro and raw bar, too. Cercle Rouge (241 W Broadway between Beach and White streets, 212-226-6252) reunites chef David Feau and maitre d’ Fabrice Warin, both formerly of Orsay, under the ownership of Cafe Noir (32 Grand St. at Thompson Street, 212-431-7910) and Bistro Jules (65 St. Marks Pl. at First Avenue, 212-477-5560) owner Georges Forgeois.
Mr. Thorn is food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. bthorn@nrn.com