Downtown Rundown: Restaurants And Bars To Look Forward To This Fall

It's the last day of August, which means the city's summer doldrums are (hopefully) drawing to a close. And with Mario Batali, Keith McNally, Taavo Somer, dive bars and more making big moves, things are looking up for the fall.

To review some of the day's dizzying developments:

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Eataly, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich's monstrous Italian food emporium, opens today. Co-owner Oscar Farinetti expects the 50,000 square foot food hall to attract up to 6 million visitors a year, or double the attendance at the Museum of Modern Art.

Per Eater, the agenda for a September 16th meeting of the Village's Community Board 2 hints at an expansion of sorts for Keith McNally's Pulino's. Pulino's Cafe is up on the State Liquor Authority docket, with an address listed at 18 Greenwich Avenue, near West 10th Street. Guess McNally wasn't interested in our advice regarding future neighborhood colonizations.

Peels, Taavo Somer's Bowery newbie, is open for full service breakfast and lunch today. And another Bowery bum bites the dust.

A pair of neighborhood Italian joints is making smaller waves. Avenue B's delicious and shockingly affordable Max is looking to take over the old European Union (and current Tonda) space at 235 East 4th Street. And the folks behind Frankie's Spuntino 17 (on the Lower East Side) and 457 (in Carroll Gardens) might give Pulino's Cafe some local competition with a proposed space at 570 Hudson Street, which is also on the CB2 agenda.

Change is in the air. It's a lot to absorb. Why not soak up the news with some cheap hooch at beloved, miniscule East Village dive International Bar, which, per Grieve, is seeking Community Board 3 approval for roomier digs at the old Lily Coogan's spot next door?

[via Eater]