••• “Famed Financial District bar the Dead Rabbit will soon be more than twice as big. Owners Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry are adding final touches to the 2,500-square-foot building they expanded into next door, at 32 Water St. […] The first piece of the expansion—the ground-floor taproom—opens a week from today on Thursday, December 20. The space will accommodate 125 additional people. The smaller, second-floor cocktail parlor is also gaining some space, but that portion will only open in February.” —Eater

••• Daytonian in Manhattan on the history of the 1870 building at 117 Varick.

••• I came across a current print edition of Downtown Express, so it’s just the website that has gone dormant.

••• “Chef Marc Forgione […] is branching out again. The chef-restaurateur is teaming up with his decorated and influential father and chef Larry Forgione and the Butter Group of popular clubby spots like 1Oak for a new restaurant called Davide. The restaurant will serve Italian-Mediterranean food in the former space of Meatpacking District restaurant Spice Market, the seminal Jean-Georges Vongerichten Asian-ish clubstaurant from the Sex and the City era that closed in 2016.” Not sure “seminal” should be applied to restaurants…. —Eater