••• The restaurant going into 77 Worth will be called Compose and is due to open in October, says Metromix: “Chef Nick Curtin, a Perry Street alum who recently worked at Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar, is behind this seasonal Tribeca ‘speakeasy’ […]. The ever-changing menu will feature items like duck fat popcorn, razor clams with almond broth and green tea oil, and foie gras with black pepper chocolate. Owner Jodi Richard describes the restaurant as ‘a speakeasy bar and restaurant that has its roots in American and European cuisine, wine and cocktails. By combining unique flavor pairings, modern techniques and a few touches of whimsy, Compose will reimagine classic dishes and cocktails to create an exciting dining and drinking experience.'”

courtesy Metromix

••• “Sometimes the night calls for a place where the bartenders are bona fide acrobats, singers, actors, jugglers and pyrotechnists, who can not only ignite liquor in midair, but spell out your date’s first name with the flames. That place is Theater Bar in Tribeca, open now for private events and soon for nights of casual liquid infernos. You’ll know you are in the right place when you enter what feels like a vintage upscale vaudeville circus, with red velvet curtains, exposed brick and a tin roof, all surrounding an elevated center bar/stage.” (UrbanDaddy)

••• A blogger named Noah Garfinkel at BestWeekEver.tv wants people to rate a Millennium High School teacher named Noah Garfinkel on a teacher-rating site.

••• “Conservatives opposed to a proposed Islamic center two blocks north of the World Trade Center site have seized on the stalled rebuilding of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church destroyed on Sept. 11 to argue that Christians are being snubbed, while Muslims are favored. […] The simple answer is that the church at 155 Cedar St. sits on Ground Zero, while the Islamic center, Park51, does not. […] After Sept. 11, then-Gov. George Pataki offered the tiny, four-story church a chance to move to a larger Ground Zero site. After years of negotiations, in 2008, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey offered $20 million, plus $40 million worth of subsurface infrastructure, for the church to build a new 8,000-square-foot house of worship at 130 Liberty St. Port Authority officials say the church then asked for more money and approval power over the vehicle security center being built underground. The authority held firm, and the church walked away. That left the church exactly where it started: with the right to build on its original site without public money. But because that land is also part of the Ground Zero footprint, church officials must wait to build until the Port Authority completes the vehicle security center in 2013.” (Crain’s)

••• More on Jeff Gural, the owner of 40 Worth and why he’s helping out the non-profit Innocence Project. (New York Observer)