Copyright 2001 Daily News, L.P.

                              Daily News (New York)

                September 26, 2001, Wednesday SPORTS FINAL EDITION

SECTION: GOOD LIVING; Pg. 5 CHEZ PASCALE

LENGTH: 553 words

HEADLINE: FOOD & SPIRITS OF '76

BYLINE: BY PASCALE LE DRAOULEC

BODY:
Fraunces Tavern, the Colonial inn where George Washington bade a tearful
farewell to his troops, has survived blasts from an 18-pound British cannonball
and an FALN bomb.

    Its stone walls stood firm through the Revolutionary War. The
tavern survived
a devastating fire in 1832, and one as recently as July. It also came through
the collapse of the nearby World Trade Center structurally intact.

    After a two-year closure and a $2 million face-lift, the resilient
restaurant
will reopen the week of Oct. 8. (Other lower-Manhattan restaurants, such as
Tribeca Grill and Dylan Prime, are also opening gingerly this week.)

    Built in 1719 as a home, the corner building at Pearl and Broad Sts. was
converted to a tavern in 1762 by Samuel Fraunces, a talented chef and warm host
from the West Indies. The tavern quickly became the Cheers of its day, with
Colonists flocking to drink ale and exchange gossip.

    It also became a center of dissent, where revolutionaries plotted strategies
for independence.

    But when the British occupied New York in 1776, British soldiers claimed the
tavern.

    In December 1783, after the defeated British evacuated New York, Gov. George
Clinton threw a lavish party at the tavern for Washington.

    The tavern has been in operation on and off in the nearly 230
years since. In
1904, the Sons of the Revolution (descendants of those who fought for
independence) took over the deed.

    Since Fraunces' time, the tavern has never been known for its cuisine.
Critics, in fact, have suggested that Washing-ton's may have been the last
memorable meal there.

    When the family who leased the tavern retired two years ago, the owners saw
it as an opportunity to return the inn to its Colonial - and culinary - glory.
Michael Rakusin, an accountant and part owner of Sweet Basil and the
Red Parrot,
and his partners beat out 40 other restaurateurs to lease the space.

PAGE 2
               Daily News (New York) September 26, 2001, Wednesday


    With the help of designer Jeanne Hewitt, they have graced the dining rooms
with period reproductions, such as handcrafted Windsor chairs. Moldings and
walls have been scrubbed and refurbished in Federal hues.

    Nowhere is the tavern's tenacity more evident than in the 16-foot-long mural
of a 1747 engraving of the New York Harbor seen from Brooklyn Heights. In the
1975 FALN bombing, the mural suffered a 6-foot crack, which it wears like a
battle scar. Singed in the July fire, the mural was recently restored by artist
Janet Hanchey.

    When chef Kenneth Pulomena (Blue Water Grill, John Clancy's) heard
the tavern
was being restored, he rushed over his resume. Not only is Pulomena a history
buff, his late father worked at the Anglers' Club upstairs. To create the menu
(which had to be approved by the Sons of the Revolution), Pulomena consulted
historic cookbooks, including those of Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
No possum pie, but you can expect other early American classics like beef
Wellington and duckling with cider crabapple sauce.

    Pulomena said he's overcome by the sheer historical weight of the place.
"Sometimes it just hits you, all the historic events that have happened here,"
he mused, leaning against the original mahogany bar, which has been
painstakingly restored.

    Tavernkeeper Rakusin fought hard for the tavern's new phone number: (212)
968-1776.

    E-mail: [log in to unmask]



LOAD-DATE: September 26, 2001

--