Damon Dash (center), photographed by Raquel M. Horn (courtesy Village Voice)

••• The Village Voice takes a long look and the rise, fall, and current status—as head of DD172, his gallery/event space/music studio at 172 Duane—of Damon Dash.

••• “In its decor and its menu, the new hotel restaurant Plein Sud evokes a bistro in Provence. The farmhouse planks on the ceiling, lavender sprouts in the window and long list of French classics all seem to celebrate rustic tradition. Despite the restaurant’s premise, chef Ed Cotton (last of BLT Market) appears to have little interest in authenticity, cooking up an enormous menu of both classic and reimagined French standards—neither executed with particular aplomb.” (Time Out New York)

••• “Demand has been so strong that Regus [a provider of outfitted office suites] is expanding into neighborhoods where it previously hasn’t had a presence, including Columbus Circle and Tribeca. It will open a 33,350-square-foot center at 3 Columbus Circle in October and an 11,728-square-foot center at 99 Hudson St. [between Franklin and Hudson] sometime in the fourth quarter.” (Crain’s)

••• Tribeca Treats made Serious Eats‘ list of the top 12 cupcakes in New York City: “The red velvet had frosting that had a ‘nice cream cheesiness,’ a rare characteristic among the red velvets we tried.”

••• The intersection of South End and Liberty now has what’s called a Barnes Dance—in which all traffic lights go red so all pedestrians can cross. Even diagonally! Although that’s much more fun against the light. (Broadsheet Daily)

••• “A small painting of a pale-skinned woman with huge blue eyes and a bob of red hair is coming to Battery Park City [at the Museum of Jewish Heritage] for three weeks on July 29 before going back to Vienna, Austria where the woman, Valerie Neuzil, and the artist, Egon Schiele, lived in the early years of the 20th century. The ownership of Schiele’s ‘Portrait of Wally’ has been a maelstrom of legal controversy for 12 years.” (Broadsheet Daily)

••• Blaue Gans‘s Kurt Gutenbrunner offered beer, restaurant, and market advice at Find.Eat.Drink.