Raoul’s in SoHo recently celebrated its 40^th anniversary with a dinner party that brought together both patrons and former employees. Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, for instance, used to be a waiter there and now runs the West Village restaurant Bobo. The birthday party continued for 10 hours.

Opened in 1975 by Serge Raoul and his brother, Guy, Raoul’s is a family operation that caters to families in addition to a who’s-who scene in New York. Mr. Raoul has retired from the enterprise and lives in Nyack, New York. His son, Karim Raoul, 37, started to manage the establishment in 2010 and he’s keeping the family legacy alive.

As Karim explained, “We wanted the real regulars in tonight: those people who had 90 reservations and upwards. We have three generations of customers: the parents, the grandparents and the kids.”

Raoul’s got its first real break when Lorne Michaels arrived with his group from Saturday Night Live one night. As James Signorelli, a producer at SNL for decades explained, “At that time we were finishing up our work at 11 p.m. and no one was serving. Then we discovered Raoul’s, and it was like going to heaven, and we were here midnight to 2 a.m. three nights a week.”

In the mid-1980s, Raoul’s really took on a life of its own when headwater, Rob Jones, would get into drag and lip-sync the crowd in a dance. Mr. Jones died of AIDS in 1989 and in the 90s Raoul’s became a hangout for those in the indie film industry. Quentin Tarantino and the “Pulp Fiction” cast celebrated their movie debut at the New York Film Festival here.

And this continues to be the place to be 40 years after it all began.

If you love Israeli and Spanish cuisine, then you’ll love the new Combina opening in SoHo. Chef Einat Admony just opened on November 17th and the restaurant is influenced both by her native Israeli cuisine and her love of Spanish food. As she said, “I really like the way they eat in Barcelona. It’s very simple and casual and fun. It’s not too serious.” She explains that, with the exception of pork, the two cuisines have many similarities. These include that: “Saffron, really good olive oil, many of these ingredients I grew up eating in Israel.”

The space is at 330 W. Broadway and the space looks very artsy. With no storage area, the dry ingredients are all stored on artful wall shelves around the restaurant. There is a colorful mural as well that was designed by Haifa-based psych-pop group Broken Fingaz.

Enjoy!

If you’re obsessed with your cat and you live in SoHo, then you’re in luck. A new cat cafe is opening on Grand Street called Little Lions. It should open in the next two to three months and is actually the result of a crowd-sourcing campaigned launched by cat-loving alumni of the tech industry.

Erin McShane raised even more than the $65,000 that she was hoping for to open her tea house and “cat sanctuary.” Now, it’s not actually a place where you can bring your own cat. Rather, you can cuddle up to kittens from the organization called Angellicle Cat Rescue. She plans to have eight to twelve cats in the space at one time.

Don’t get too excited about being able to cuddle with the cats while you drink your coffee, however. The Health Department rules prohibit animals in the eatery so the cats will be in a storefront that is totally separate from the cafe. The cats will be visible from the cafe behind a glass wall and visitors can pay an admission fee to play with the cats.

Now here’s an awesome thing to enjoy in New York. JumpIn is coming to New York and it’s well worth the experience. This is a ball pit designed by creative agency Pearlfisher and includes 81,000 white balls. Its only goal is to “raise awareness for the transformative power of play.”

The entrance to JumpIn is free with the request of a $5 donation. Reservations for the 30 minute play session can be made online. It will be open at 455 Broadway on the fifth floor weekdays until September 21 from 10-4. Get ready to have a blast!