Restaurant Openings - Off the Menu Opening ALISON EIGHTEEN Alison Price Becker's return to the Manhattan restaurant scene after an absence of almost 10 years conjures memories of her previous restaurant, Alison on Dominick Street. The same chef, Robert Gurvich, is back, and the same designers, Asfour Guzy, have created the new Alison. But here, the velvet curtain at the entrance is deep aubergine, not navy blue, and the setting is airier, with whimsical wallpaper. Dark wood chairs alternate with aubergine leather banquettes. In keeping with current trends, the restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and has a cafe area in front with a marble counter for pastries, sandwiches and other food to go. Downstairs there is a spacious private dining room. The menu is American with strong French accents like herb-steamed mussels with crème fraîche, halibut with chanterelles, and a pot-au-feu. Rotisseries in the kitchen will turn out chickens, lamb shoulder and other meats. (Opens Tuesday): 15 West 18th Street; (212) 366-1818. 606 R & D Ilene Rosen left City Bakery last summer after 15 years of supervising the savory dishes. Along with Sara Dima, who managed the bakery, she is opening a small homestyle restaurant and bar. "It will also have a mini-market, as much as we could find the space for, to sell breads, cheeses, cured meats and a few things we make here," Ms. Rosen said. The restaurant, with about 30 seats at sleek white tables set with linen napkins, will eventually be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seasonal, local ingredients are the mantra in new American and retro fare, including celery with chopped liver, carrot-parsnip pancakes, steamed littleneck clams, turkey meatloaf and rotisserie chicken with watercress and lemon. Fresh cake doughnuts will be available all day. It will be open for dinner from Wednesday through Sunday to start. (Saturday): 606 Vanderbilt Avenue (Prospect Place), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; (718) 230-0125. BAR CORVO More pastas and a little less of Venice distinguish this rustic-looking sibling of Park Slope's ever-popular Al di Là. Carla Martinez, the chef for the new venture, and Jacob Somers, the managing partner, both worked at the original under the chef Anna Klinger. Expect frequent menu changes here, too. (Thursday): 791 Washington Avenue (St. Johns Place), Crown Heights, Brooklyn; (718) 230-0940. FORT RENO Jacques Gautier, who owns Palo Santo across the street, presents barbecue at the counter and six small tables. Lia Forman, who was the sous-chef at Palo Santo, is the pit master, slow-smoking meats from Heritage Foods U.S.A. The Greenmarket supplies many of the ingredients for the sides: 669 Union Street (Fourth Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn; (347) 227-7777. JBIRD COCKTAILS This Upper East Side spinoff of a theater district cocktail lounge is less speakeasy style and more of a restaurant. In addition to 29 inventive cocktails, there are small plates like roasted bone marrow on toast and a bacon burger, as well as full-size dishes: 339 East 75th Street; (212) 288-8033. LULU & ME GASTROBAR Longtime residents of the Upper West Side might remember Amsterdam's Bar and Rotisserie. Now the owners, Michael Miele and Karen Fohrhaltz, have opened this informal restaurant with an 18-seat bar and an Italian-Mediterranean menu of small and large plates: 253 Fifth Avenue (28th Street); (212) 290-2460. MOLYVOS After weeks of redecorating, a lighter, brighter dining room and bar, done in Aegean blue and white, reopens with some new menu items: 871 Seventh Avenue (55th Street); (212) 582-7500. PAMPANO BOTANERIA The ground floor of Pampano has been turned into this Mexican-style tapas bar: 209 East 49th Street; (212) 751-4545. Chefs on the Move BEER TABLE Jamie Klotz, who worked at Roberta's, has been hired as chef. On Wednesday evenings she will prepare family-style meals, with $200 set menus for parties of four to eight. Reservations are required 48 hours in advance: 427B Seventh Avenue (14th Street), Park Slope, Brooklyn; (718) 965-1196; events@beertable.com. Looking Ahead FRANNY'S and MARCO'S Next fall, Francine Stephens and Andrew Feinberg will move their restaurant, Franny's, across Flatbush Avenue to a space with 80 seats instead of 50. The new restaurant will break with tradition and accept reservations for parties of six or more, and will have two brick ovens for the pizza, and a private dining room. In spring 2013 they plan to transform the original Franny's into an Italian restaurant named Marco's, for their son. Mr. Feinberg, the chef, plans to emphasize fresh pasta dishes. A wood-burning grill and rotisserie will be installed: 348 Flatbush Avenue (Sterling Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn. REVEL At this resort, to open in May, along with Marc Forgione's American Cut, Alain Allegretti of La Promenade des Anglais will open Azure by Allegretti, and Robert Wiedmaier of Washington will open a Belgian-style pub, Mussel Bar. Twelve restaurants are planned for the resort: 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City. A report in the Off the Menu column last Wednesday misstated, at one point, the name of a restaurant planned for Brooklyn. As the report correctly noted in the first reference, it will be called Marco's, not Marco.