Keith McNally – the Londoner who runs two of the most consistently fashionable and successful restaurants in New York, Balthazar and Pastis – has acquired the long-established Minetta Tavern, reports nymag.com.

Despite professions a year or so ago, when he launched Morandi, that his empire was complete, he seems to have been unable to resist the battered charms of the Greenwich Village old-timer.

Perhaps reflecting the fact that Morandi, the only Italian in the empire, is sometimes perceived as its least successful member, the tavern – which is to keep its name – is to be relaunched in classic McNally style, à la française.

PS (28 April) And it’s not just McNally who’s adding to his Big Apple empire. Greenhouse W1 proprietor Marlon Abela, 32 – just listed by the Sunday Times as one of the richest men in UK hospitality – is set to open a second outlet of his successful A Voce concept, near Central Park, reports catersearch.com.