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Volume XIX • Number 5 • February 9 - 15, 2012 •
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Progress on long-stalled apartment tower By MIAWLING LAM It is Riverdale’s answer to Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia, but Tulfan Terrace is finally set for completion in January 2013. The skeletal building, located at 3620 Oxford Avenue, has remained a construction site since work stalled in 2006. However, a representative from mortgage owner Ox-3620 LLC appeared before a Communit Board 8 land use committee meeting on Monday to say the end is finally near. Developer ER Holdings president Michael Goldberg announced the expected closing date and said that once construction is complete, the 30 units could be sold as condominiums. Providing the first update on the project in several months, Goldberg said construction has moved along steadily, thanks to a warmer-than-usual winter. He revealed plumbing and electrical work is now complete and that windows have been installed. “I don’t want to overestimate or underestimate, but we should be enclosed within six to eight weeks,” he
said, adding that he, like the rest of the community, was eager for the project to finish. “We just want to get it done. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “My money is invested in this, and the longer it takes to finish, the longer it’ll take to get my money back.” During a brief question-and-answer session with board members, Goldberg said he’ll apply to sell the units as condominiums. Once completed, Tulfan Terrace will boast 30 threebedroom, two-bathrooms residential units with on-site parking and recreational facilities. “It depends on the market, but if we can do it with the low rates, I think we can sell it,” he told the Riverdale Review after the meeting. Goldberg, who took ownership of the property in March 2010, said he is finishing the long-awaited project per the original plans with one minor tweak. “There’s a big courtyard off of Tulfan that is a big expansive area,” he said. “I’m having someone draw plans of possibly having a grassy area with trees, so it’s
like a park-like setting.” The high-rise building, which has become an eyesore in Riverdale, has seen its fair share of dramas. In 2006, James Murray, one of the three original owners, was slapped with fraud and embezzlement charges relating to another site. The legal dramas meant his two other partners, Robert Wagner and Michael Bookle, were drained of the funds needed to finish the project, causing construction to stall indefinitely. Neighboring residents, fed up with the ongoing construction, have also complained about the safety hazards around the site. Many expressed concerns about the tower’s unsafe scaffolding and how debris was flying off the building during winter snowstorms. After hearing the latest update, CB8 land use committee chairman and former Department of Buildings commissioner Charles Moerdler was hopeful the developer would finally come through. “I hope you’re the good guy we’ve been waiting for,” he said.
Oregano, eagerly anticipated Johnson Ave. eatery, welcomes new chef By MIAWLING LAM A new chef and a more refined menu are among the changes afoot at Oregano Bar & Bistro, the eagerly awaited FrenchLatin restaurant due to open on Johnson Avenue later this month. The Riverdale Review can reveal Swissborn chef Claude Alain Solliard has been hired as the restaurant’s new executive chef. Solliard brings a depth of experience rarely seen outside Manhattan. Classically French trained, he boasts an impressive resume, with previous posts in the kitchens of some of the city’s most prominent restaurants including Le Cirque, Raoul’s and the now defunct San Domenico and L’Espinasse. Between 2001 and 2010, he was also the chef-owner of Seppi’s, a white-tablecloth French bistro in the Le Parker Meridien Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Solliard replaces celebrity chef and Riverdale resident Ricardo Cardona, who assisted in developing the Latin portion of the menu. In an interview last week, Solliard said although he was still discovering Riverdale, he was excited to work in the area. “When I first saw the restaurant, I thought it was so beautiful and I thought it would be a good chance for me to work out of the city and a good opportunity to do something different,” he said. Solliard added that he was raised on a small family farm and winery near Sion, Switzerland, with “two cows, one pig and one goat” and that he grew up picking chanterelle mushrooms. Restaurateur Erick A. Caceres said he hired Solliard after deciding to shift the menu toward more traditional French dishes.
“He has vast experience and has served as executive chef in many French bistros and restaurants,” Caceres said. “He’s truly a brilliant chef as well as a very nice guy.” Caceres called Solliard a hands-on chef who likes to make appearances in the dining room to greet guests—a practice he will encourage at Oregano. “He may even serve something off the top of his head and personalize the menu for a random table. A lot of owners don’t like their chefs to do that, but I actually do.” Caceres said each dish would now be grounded in traditional French cuisine, with Latin and Spanish influences sprinkled throughout. He said diners could expect to order Civet de Cuisse, braised rabbit legs over soft polenta and pearl onions, or Caldeirada, a Portuguese seafood broth containing squid, mussels and shrimp. Steak tartare, a French onion soup and an Oregano burger served with homemade sliced lamb sausage, onion rings, Gruyere cheese, tomato relish aioli and Parmesan matchstick fries will also be on the menu. Plates will be moderately priced, with the restaurant aiming for a $40-per-person ticket. Asked about the delays that have plagued the restaurant—it was slated to open in the fall—Caceres said Oregano was now working with the New Business Acceleration Team. He said representatives from the citywide program, which speeds up the permit process, were helping him navigate through layers of red tape.
“I want to apologize to the public for the delay,” he said. “At the end of the day, this has to be done right, not only because the neighborhood demands it, but also because I
wouldn’t have it any other way. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes— the end product must be exceptional.” Caceres said if all goes according to plan, Oregano should open its doors by Feb. 28.
Chef Claude Alain Solliard will man the stoves at Oregano Bar & Bistro when it opens this month. He previously worked with Jacques Torres at Le Cirque in Manhattan.