Michael White To Open All-American Restaurant

Michael White is one busy chef — after opening a second Osteria Morini in New Jersey and starting a pizzeria in Manhattan's East Village, team Bianco has decided to try all-American cuisine.

Called The Butterfly, White's latest digs will open at 225 W. Broadway in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood, with 55 seats plus a bar. The team is pitching it as "a mid-century style cocktail bar with a supper club feel," with "traditional American classics, i.e. a great steak, burger, fried chicken."

Tribeca Citizen has called it a "Wisconsin-style" resto, noting an unfinalized menu from a community board meeting. There's fried cheese curds, potato chips, chicken wings, French bread pizza, a spinach and artichoke dip renamed "Crock Pot," stroganoff, meatballs, fish fry, pot pie, etc. An Altamarea Group representative has told us the menu has since been altered and abbreviated, saying that "Butterfly is by no means a 'Wisconsin-themed' Supper club."

They have promised, however, prime rib dinners on Wednesdays and a fish fry on Fridays. These American classics may not be too far-fetched, given White's homey Italian food, as well as his Wisconsin upbringing. The Butterfly is slated to open in summer 2012.

White's next opening, Nicoletta Pizzeria, has been pushed back to the end of April, a representative says.