New York has lately embraced a rave of nostalgia. New hotels have taken over beaux arts buildings and old time-y names have cropped up en masse. Also, plenty of intriguing new ventures have erroneously co-opted lodge-evoking names, despite a lack of beds and pillow mints. Like Graydon Carter's Waverly Inn, the almost open Hotel Griffou is not actually a hotel…it's a restaurant.

As a blurbist, I am an authority on the printed word, so take the next sentence as an expert opinion: newspaper writing was more exciting back in 1906. For instance, look at these two 1906 New York Times headlines/sub-headlines that I discovered while looking into Hotel Griffou: "Hotel Griffou Suicide was Louis G. Hampton - The Elderly Banker First Shot the Young Woman with Him. Had Promised to Wed Her but Had a Wife and Daugther - Angry Jealousy Ascribed as the Cause of His Act" and follow-up, "Buried By Matchlight in Old Trinity's Yard." Both refer to the same case and come from Autumn of the aforementioned year.

Aside from elucidating the bluntness of early 20th century reporting, and its disregard of actual words ("Matchlight?"), the two combine to give the current Hotel Griffou a sordid and layered background story. Gotham historical allusions have become a trend as of late.

Taking over the long-defunct Hotel space on West 9th Street (and, more recently, Marylou's), the new Hotel Griffou doesn't have any beds. However, it does have an old New York connotation. Disregarding the murder suicide (perhaps I shouldn't have led with that), the departed hotel was a well-known, esteemed last-century stalwart. Recycling its name gives the new venture throwback allure, which the confines mirror.

Apparently, the new restaurant features a number of different and novel spaces, all draped in old school aesthetics. Six rooms and a terrace make up the space, presumably creating disparate yet dogma-sharing spaces. Though not yet officially open, the restaurant has already received plenty of online buzz thanks to a stream of tacit celebrity endorsements. Menu details are still forthcoming, but desserts and fondues have already been trumpeted. Regardless, the décor and early clientele alone should make it popular.