The Good New Days
Italy via London, via SoHo...via WeHo

Troubled pasts can be tough to surmount, but so can legendary pasts.

In the former home of Morton's, where deals were made and Pitt-attended Oscar parties were thrown, a new stunner is here to give it a shot. Cecconi's opens tonight.

Joining the empire that includes NYC's famed SoHo House and the original Cecconi's in London, this is the kind of Italian spot that aims to balance an airy, open-all-day ease with some elegance…even at 7am, when sometimes you can't yet spell "elegance."

Past the new sun-drenched terrace, good for those summer days even if it's not summer yet, you've got a few indoor options. To the right of the dominant central bar is the casual cafe area where, in the morning, you can grab some pastries from the counter and hang out with your paper and a cappuccino.

To the left is the more formal dining room, which is better for some Ricotta Hotcakes, Fresh Blood Orange Juice and that exec you want to impress. Later on, the bar's Cicchetti menu of smaller bites will bridge the lunch-dinner gap. And come sundown, you could start with tuna tartar, custom-prepared tableside in the private room under a giant heart-shaped painting by Damien Hirst—it goes for over a million, but your meal tab will likely be lower than you think.

Unless you realize you've just had four meals.