••• The New York Times wades into the drama around Albert Trummer and his Chinatown bar, Apothéke. Trummer’s new Tribeca bar is decribed thusly: “The décor is somewhat Moulin-Rouge-ish and Venetian opera-house-y, with a proscenium above the bar, heritage movie-house curtains and a balcony with the look of a Venetian loggia. ‘I want to bring back the theater of the bartender, the charisma,’ Mr. Trummer said. Cocktail waitresses will dance and one of the four performers behind the bar will be a magician-slash-bartender known for his card tricks, his cup-and-ball misdirections using cocktail shakers and his eerie levitation of lighted cigarettes. Mr. Trummer said he had now evolved from bar chef to ‘chef producer,’ and the bar is officially titled ‘Theater Bar by Albert Trummer.'”

••• Paging NYU…. “M&T Bank is trying to sell 375 Pearl St., an almost entirely vacant tower that Verizon once used to house telephone switching equipment, sources close to the deal said. The bank is hoping to get $125 million, but sources said it was unlikely the price would be that high. The bank is selling the 1.1 million-square-foot building because Taconic Investment Partners, which bought the tower back in 2006 for $172.5 million, stopped paying its mortgage. Taconic had planned to convert the 32-story tower into a Class A office tower. However, most of the potential buyers showing interest are firms that would convert it to residential use or companies that would use it for a technical or industrial purpose. The building’s floors can hold up to 400 pounds per square foot, while the typical office building can support about 150 pounds a square foot. It also has 15-foot ceilings that can accommodate large equipment.” (Crain’s)

••• “The retail space at 30 Broad Street, which was once being eyeballed by Barneys, is going to become a custom suit-maker called MySuit. The chain already has locations in Herald Square and on Madison Avenue.” (Racked)

••• Food truck Mexicue, often in Tribeca, gets reviewed by the Times: “Winning combinations and smart deployment of sauces make this truck worth seeking out. Terrifically tender brisket, dressed in a barbecue sauce spiked with chilies de arbol, is tucked into a soft sweet Parisi Bakery bun with creamy avocado and spicy slaw, which adds essential crunch ($3).”

••• Marc Forgione’s business partner, Chris Blumlo, gets profiled by his hometown paper: “Blumlo’s aunt, Lisa Holden of Rochester, tipped me off to her godson’s success in a recent e-mail. She also revealed that there’s a SouthCoast connection to the rustic charm of Marc Forgione’s interior, which Blumlo, given his interest in architecture, had a hand in creating. ‘The restaurant is designed with cedar wood from Chris’s grandfather Lincoln Rounseville’s property in Rochester … the restaurant has photos of the family’s sawmill that sat on the Mattapoisett River until 1962, and the family homestead,’ Holden wrote.” (SouthCoastToday.com)

••• The Nassau Bar, where bartenders where skimpy outfits. (EV Grieve, via Eater, on an article that ran in the NYT)

••• “Walk through the center of West Thames Street’s cul-de-sac at night, and you may notice dancing lights at your feet. These are part of a disco manhole functional art piece, “Light Tracks,” that Tribeca architect Audrey Matlock began planning in 2002 and finished installing last week. The piece, commissioned by the Battery Parks City Authority, features a circular manhole motif with radiating arms, each arm of which is highlighted by blue and yellow LED lights. At night a central beam is set to shine upward while the other lights are set to go on and off at regularly timed intervals in one of four computerized patterns.” (Broadsheet Daily)

••• “Joseph Chetrit just won a round in his court battle with Charles Dayan over the future redevelopment of the Temple Court at 5 Beekman St. In order to ex tend and reduce their mortgage commitment from about $53 million to just over $20 million, Chetrit had to lay out both his and Dayan’s share of additional monies. Now, a state Supreme Court judge has ordered Dayan to pay up. Stephen Meister, Chetrit’s lawyer, said he will start enforcing the judgment, which encompasses about $2.55 million. Meanwhile, the project by City Hall Park and the new Frank Gehry tower at 8 Spruce St. remains in limbo. Dayan said he disagrees with the court ruling and intends to appeal.” (New York Post; beware the full-screen açai berry pop-up—my word, the Post is downmarket)