Buzz: Marc Orfaly to Open Eatery at Louis Boston

We at Chowder still aren’t sure how we feel about mixing food and fashion (apart from our love for billowy trapeze dresses, which let us put away a seven-course tasting menu with no telltale bulge). We like Michael Leviton‘s Persephone, which shares space with the Achilles Project and all its upscale wares. But we were never entirely sold on Boston Public, a.k.a. the boite in Louis Boston, which shut its doors in May (presumably for nonpayment of taxes).

So we’re intrigued by a bit of buzz that came our way today: that chef-about-town Marc Orfaly will be taking over the indie retailer’s now-empty restaurant. Apparently, all outstanding tax issues have been resolved, and they’re ready to get cooking.

We hear that Orfaly plans to resurrect the restaurant’s onetime name, Restaurant L, and that the menu will combine some of the best elements of his three other ventures (the much-loved French-ish spot Pigalle, romantic Italian hideaway Marco, and the Mediterranean-influenced Summer House bistro on Nantucket). We’re not quite sure what that means, but it sounds tasty.

One item of concern, however, is just how long it’ll last, given Louis Boston’s uncertain fate. But that doesn’t seem to be holding anyone back: The target opening date for the new Restaurant L is in just three weeks. (Yikes!)

Then again, a newly relaunched restaurant might be just what the doctor ordered for Louis. After all, $500 shoes aren’t exactly flying off the shelves these days, and $25 plates of pasta just might get folks in the door.