the cafe around the corner; To the relief of locals, art dealers, and celebrities alike, an Upper East Side enclave reopens its doors.(Sant Ambroeus)

Byline: Dodie Kazanjian

Arestaurant is loved for mysterious reasons. The legendary art dealer Leo Castelli had lunch and dinner at Sant Ambroeus almost every day because it reminded him of his European childhood. "It was very familiar," says Barbara Castelli, Leo's widow, who still lives in their apartment around the corner. "Plain and simple dishes, no surprises, like the food he grew up on." Judith Goldman, who is writing Castelli's biography, describes the place as "urbane and quintessentially metropolitan in a New York way." Children were given pride of place. "There was something about seeing baby buggies and Bill Aquavella that was too good to be true," she says. Ileana Sonnabend, Larry Gagosian, and other art-world biggies table-hopped at lunch, and there was always at least one museum trustee sitting on a banquette, checking out the room.

Three and a half years have passed since Sant Ambroeus sold out to Fauchon and broke the hearts of a select group of art dealers and other regulars who, for two decades, had treated it as their private club. "It was a huge loss," gallerist Lucy Mitchell-Innes, of Mitchell-Innes & Nash, tells me, "and a huge loss to my waistline." Now it's coming back: same address, same family ownership, same chef, same no-reservation policy, and same gelateria, pasticceria, and stand-up coffee bar in the front and restaurant in the rear-an authentic slice of Milan on the Upper East Side. "But no coffin in back," says Dimitri Pauli, the charming 40-year-old son of founder Hans Pauli, who is bringing it back in partnership with Gherardo Guarducci. Instead of the signature ruched-fabric canopy that shrouded diners (the dealer Sam Green once said it was "like being under Scarlett O'Hara's skirt"), there will be polished woods, Venetian mosaic tiles, and contemporary Italian fabrics designed by Etro.

It's a funny thing to have ...