...Breathe easy Beard Papa. Puff & Pao, the former cream-puff and Brazilian cheese bread destination (we never got it either) has given way to i sodi, a rustic Italian eatery from first-time restaurateur Rita Sodi. Chef Michael Genardini, who worked at l'Impero circa Scott Conant, is in the kitchen, riffing on Sodi's family recipes for braised meats (rabbit, wild boar) and housemade pastas. The man to know though is Håkan Westergren, a Union Square Café refugee who is acting as GM. You'll find him inside, tending a bar fashioned of reclaimed cherry oak from a South Carolina barn. Opening projection: Early March.
