When the original Caffé Dante opened on Macdougal Street, in 1915, neighborhood Italians anointed it their second home. In the seventies, sidewalk tables faced Bob Dylan’s front door. So when the beloved café closed this spring, and the sprightly Australian restaurateur Linden Pride promised a replacement with “aquatic delights” and “kicked-up” cocktails, such as a Pimm’s cup “garnished extravagantly with ‘salad,’ ” he became the neighborhood’s de-facto villain. But on a recent evening at the revamped Dante, Pride was embraced by newcomers and locals alike. A woman in her sixties presented him with a decades-old photo of herself waitressing in the café. Nearby, a group of young professionals raced to order Negroni Coffee Swizzles—“tastes like tobacco,” one said admiringly—before the Negroni happy hour ended. “It wasn’t the Australians who lost Dante,” the former waitress said. The old owners’ Hail Mary renovation, in 2014, vacuumed away the charm and replaced it with airport-lounge sameness. At least Pride’s swanky Dante—imagine an Italian aperitivo bar designed by Wes Anderson—has life again. Two regulars from Montenegro approved, despite nostalgia’s hefty price tag: most cocktails will set you back fourteen dollars. One said, “We always sit out here, facing the street. Could be whatever behind us.” His friend said, “I still expect to find the Adriatic on the other side of Macdougal.” ♦
