Stellar Culinary Team Joins Chef Michael White For Midtown Restaurant Opening This November

In late November, Chef/Owner Michael White and The Altamarea Group will open Ai Fiori, the restaurant located on the second level at The Setai Fifth Avenue Hotel, 400 Fifth Avenue (36th Street). Ai Fiori will feature the cuisine of the Riviera with a core focus on the Italian Mediterranean coast and French Riviera influences.

Working with White and The Altamarea Group is an all-star roster of chefs and beverage professionals, including: Executive Chef Chris Jaeckle (Morimoto and Eleven Madison Park) who will oversee the 2,200 square foot kitchen; acclaimed Pastry Chef Robert Truitt (Corton) creating signature desserts for Ai Fiori; Director of Bar Operations & Innovation Eben Freeman (Tailor) developing the exciting bar program; Beverage Director Hristo Zisovski (Jean Georges and a key memeber of the team that received the 2010 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Service) overseeing the wine program. The restaurant will be directed by General Manager Alfredo Ruiz (Del Posto, Babbo) and assisted by John Paulus (Jean Georges).

Ai Fiori will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and is located on the second floor of the hotel, accessible from the intimate lobby via an elliptical staircase. With seating for 185 and an additional 40 guests at the bar, Ai Fiori will be a destination escape from the hustle and bustle of the Fifth Avenue corridor. The menu will showcase innovative antipasti, White's signature pastas and entrees typical of the Riviera region.

Ai Fiori, which is owned by the Altamarea Group, is a freestanding restaurant property, located at The Setai Fifth Avenue Hotel, a Capella managed hotel. This is the Altamarea Group's first restaurant venture in a hotel and Chef Michael White's first extension into French-based cuisine after spending several years training in Provence and throughout the French Riviera. Together the Altamarea Group and the hotel team promise unequalled hospitality and outstanding guest experiences. The restaurant's sophisticated contemporary interiors by Don Siembieda and Francisco Jove of DAS Concepts will blend understated elegance with a singularly New York ambience, one that will be enhanced by an impressive collection of artworks by established and emerging American and European artists.

Located in the heart of midtown Manhattan at 400 Fifth Avenue, between 36th and 37th Streets, The Setai Fifth Avenue will feature 157 guest rooms that will be among the largest in the city (the majority at 700 square feet or larger), plus 54 hotel suites and three penthouse suites. These will be complemented by an exceptional collection of condominium residences on the tower's top floors. The Setai Fifth Avenue Hotel & Residences is a Bizzi & Partners, LLC development and designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects.

For more information on The Setai Fifth Avenue Hotel, visit: www.setaififthavenue.com or call (212) 695-4005. The toll free hotel reservations number is (877) 247-6688.

The Altamarea Group is primarily owned by partners Ahmass Fakahany and Chef Michael White and is comprised of several properties in Manhattan including recent additions, Marea (2009) and Osteria Morini (2010). Altamarea will next open a restaurant in Hong Kong on the Harbor in late Spring 2011.

Bizzi & Partners Development, LLC Bizzi & Partners Development, through its parent company, BI&DI Real Estate, is a decades-old real estate development firm with a substantial international property portfolio. As a worldwide developer, they developed and marketed more than 20 million square feet of space comprised of residential, retail, and office uses through Bizzi & Partners Development and the related company Bi&Di Real Estate Spa.

Bizzi & Partners Development, LLC maintains offices in key capitals including New York City (USA), Mi