Starr's Chris Painter getting his own restaurant

Stephen Starr is partnering with his culinary director, Chris Painter, for a food-driven restaurant at Third and Bainbridge Streets in Queen Village, previously Ansill and Judy's Cafe.

The name: Il Pittore. (Go to your translator.)

Painter says it will be Italian "from Tuscany north," with a small, focused dinner menu and comfortable surroundings. Not over the top," he said, citing the menu at NYC's Locanda Verde as a loose example. Pastas will be made in-house.

Opening: September.

Painter, whose early background was Napa Valley's French Laundry and Washington's L'Espinasse, started with Starr by opening Tangerine in 1999 and worked for him till 2005. Painter left to consult and do menu-development (Kitchen 233, Izakaya) before returning to the Starr fold in late 2008. He set up Steak 954 in Fort Lauderdale and was the key hand in developing Pizzeria Stella, while working on menus at Pod, both Continentals, Parc, Barclay Prime, and .

To run down the current Starr stuff:

El Rey/Ranstead Room opening April 21 at 2013 Chestnut St.
Stella's expansion this summer.
The unnamed biergarten at Frankford near Girard Avenues, due to open in October.
Unspecified pizzeria next to Parc, on the 1700 block of Locust Street.