New York's Pulino's To Close, French Restaurant Moving In

Pulino's, the pizzeria from Keith McNally that opened with much fanfare in March 2010 but failed to really catch on, will be closing by the end of the year to make way for McNally's next project, a French restaurant that will be called Cherche Midi, Eater is reporting.

"Through no one's fault but my own Pulino's hasn't fully worked and I've decided to change it quite radically," McNally, who's also the brains behind now-legendary Balthazar and Minetta Tavern, told the site. In 33 years I've never had to close a restaurant. So on the plus side I'll finally be first at something."

Pulino's will shut down right after the new year for "extended alterations," and when it reopens it'll be named Cherche Midi, a "small French restaurant," according to McNally. He's lined up current Balthazar executive chef Shane McBride to take on that role in the new restaurant, and Minetta head sous chef Daniel Parilla will come on board as chef de cuisine.

Chef Nate Appleman was the restaurant's original head chef, but he left seven months later to take a job developing recipes for Chipotle.