DOWN-TO-EARTH DINING: [CITY Edition]

CORRECTION: The restaurant Mekka is at 14 Avenue A, between Second Street and Houston Street in Manhattan. One of the cross streets was incorrect in yesterday's Down-to-Earth Dining column. Pg. A02 C 2/9/95

IS IT THE cold snap that makes shuttered restaurants look so forlorn, or are more eateries closing lately?

But there's some good news: Owners of Shark Bar have opened a Downtown place, Mekka, 14 Avenue A, CORRECTION: The restaurant Mekka is at 14 Avenue A, between Second Street and Houston Street in Manhattan. One of the cross streets was incorrect in yesterday's Down-to-Earth Dining column. Pg. A02 C 2/9/95 between Houston Street and Second Avenue, [phone], to warm the winter blues with soul food.

And soon, Joseph Bastianich, son of star chef Lydia Bastianich of Felidia and Beco, is set to open a casual restaurant with down-to-earth prices and brick-oven pizza, baked pastas, draft beer and wine. Simple, Bastianich said, is the key word, but he won't divulge the location, for fear of jinxing it, until the lease is inked. Open and Closed

This summer,...