NORTHERN BOOT Bar Milano (323 Third Ave. at 24th Street, 212-683-3035), Joe and Jason Denton’s latest venture, opened on Friday. It features the food of northern Italy executed by cochefs Steve Connaughton, formerly of Lupa, and Eric Kleinman, who was previously at ‘inoteca. The restaurant is even open for breakfast, starting at 7 a.m., serving crêpes, frittatas, poached eggs, and the like. The dinner menu includes fried rabbit with dried apricots and carrots, diver scallops with caviar and celery root, and about eight pasta preparations, plus risotto and polenta options. Cocktails are by Tony Abou-Ganim, who is a big fan of gin fizzes and similar drinks.

FRENCH CLASSICS The owners of the Serafina restaurants, as well as of Lollipop and Geisha, are now serving French food, too, at Brasserie Cognac (1740 Broadway at 55th Street, 212-757-3600). Executive chef Florian Hugo, a native of Provence who cut his teeth working for Alain Ducasse — including a stint as sous chef at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House — is dishing up French classics. Rita Jammet, who owned the Midtown stalwart La Caravelle, which is now closed, consulted on the restaurant.

FRIED OUT BarFry (50 Carmine St. at Bedford Street, 212-929-5050), chef Josh DeChellis’s tempura boîte, has closed after eight months of operation. Mr. DeChellis gained acclaim in New York at his Japanese-oriented eatery Sumile, which later became the slightly more downscale Sumile Sushi, and then closed last year, shortly before BarFry opened.

According to the Web log Eater.com, Mr. DeChellis is working on another venture, possibly next to BarFry at 48 Carmine St., with chef Zak Pelaccio and pastry chefs Will Goldfarb and Robert Truitt. But Mr. Pelaccio denies involvement in anything but his own Fatty Crab-related projects, which include a new Upper West Side location and Fatty ‘Cue, to open in Williamsburg. Mr. Goldfarb said the rumors were only rumors at this point. Mr. DeChellis and Mr. Truitt were not reached for comment.

BACKTRACKING Contrary to what Kitchen Dish reported last week, Scott Bryan, the former chef of Veritas, will not be taking over from Dan Silverman at Lever House (390 Park Ave. at53rd Street, 212-888-2700) after all. Mr. Silverman is still leaving, but owner John McDonald said, “Scott is not going to be the chef.” He said Mr. Bryan had a tentative offer to be a chef and partner elsewhere and, it turns out, was not fully committed to being the chef at Lever House. Mr. McDonald said he is looking at other applications and will probably name the new chef in a week or two.

NOODLES, FAST AND HOT Jerry Joseph, the man behind the much loved (but now closed) SoHo brunch spot Jerry’s, is opening a restaurant in TriBeCa specializing in Asian street food. YourAsian (90 Chambers St., between Church Street and Broadway, 212-608-1700), is scheduled to open today.

FROM THE TREES Fig & Olive has opened its third restaurant, this one in Midtown (10 E. 52nd St., between Madison and Fifth avenues, 212-319-2002), serving straightforward Mediterranean food and priding itself on its wide array of olive oils.

SPICIER MORNINGS Alexandra (455 Hudson St., between Morton and Barrow streets, 212-255-3838) has revamped its brunch menu, adding Latin-inspired items, including a chorizo omelet with goat cheese and spinach, a torta Cubano with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard, and pork taquitos with avocado crème fraîche.

Mr. Thorn is food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. He maintains nrnfoodwriter.blogspot.com.