March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Destino, a nondescript Italian restaurant that opened last Friday in Manhattan's Turtle Bay neighborhood, merits attention because of four people involved in its operations.

Eytan Sugarman, former nightclub impresario, owns the restaurant. Sugarman's friend, pop star Justin Timberlake, is an investor. The PR firm of celebrity publicist Lizzie Grubman represents Destino. Mario Curko, Destino's chef, was the chef at Rao's in East Harlem, a restaurant that's virtually impossible to get into.

Curko's menu is simple. Dishes such as chicken with lemon and white wine, linguini carbonara and veal marsala are more reminiscent of Rao's home-style cooking than, say, the regional Italian cuisine served at the immensely popular Mario Batali restaurants Babbo and Lupa.

Destino is dark and sleek. A mirror at the end of the dining room makes the space feel twice as big as it actually is. A dimly lit bar area has 11 stools and two small tables. Early during the restaurant's opening night, the bar was loosely filled with a young, professional-looking crowd, none of whom were watching the Olympic curling competition on the bar's flat- screen TV.

Sugarman said he opened Destino to make the style of cooking found at Rao's ``more accessible'' and doesn't see the restaurant as a place that ``tries to be trendy.'' But when an ex-nightclub owner known for hard-to-enter venues like the recently closed Suede opens a restaurant with a teen-idol investor, a publicist known for A-list parties and a chef who used to cook at Rao's, it's easy to imagine that Destino might need a velvet rope one day.

Destino is at 891 First Ave. at 50th Street, (1)(212) 751-0700.

Buddakan

Buddakan, Stephen Starr's warehouse-size restaurant in the meatpacking district, is now accepting reservations.

The 16,000-square-foot, 320-seat Buddakan will serve pan- Asian dishes with strong Chinese accents. Reservations are being taken for as early as March 6.

Buddakan is at 75 Ninth Ave. at 16th Street, (1)(212) 989-6699.

Sascha

Sascha, Sascha Lyon's 10,000-square-foot meatpacking district monster, is also accepting reservations.

The restaurant, which seats about 260, will serve classic American food in the upstairs dining room and the more casual bar room on the ground floor. Reservations are being taken for as early as March 13.

Sascha is at 55 Gansevoort St., between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street, (1)(212) 989-1920.

Closing: 71 Clinton Fresh Food

A tiny Lower East Side restaurant, 71 Clinton Fresh Food, which gave avant-garde chef Wylie Dufresne his first starring role and whose 1999 opening foreshadowed an explosion of new restaurants on Clinton Street, will serve its last meal on March 11. After Chef Jason Neroni said he would leave the restaurant when his contract expired, owner Janet Nelson said she would not seek a replacement and would close the restaurant.

Neroni, who has worked at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House and Blue Hill, said he would take a ``small break'' to visit Glacier National Park in Montana, go surfing in his native California and visit farms in the American West. Neroni added that he would return to the New York restaurant scene ``sometime soon.''

Nelson said reservations are still available for the restaurant's remaining dinner services. Walk-ins can order from a full menu at the bar. The five-course tasting menu is $60.

71 Clinton Fresh Food is at 71 Clinton St., between Rivington and Stanton streets, (1)(212) 614-6960.

To contact the writer of this column: Ryan Sutton in New York at rsutton1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 2, 2006 00:21 EST