IT’S hard to imagine that Jack and Grace Lamb would (or could) open anything smaller than Jewel Bako – their 31-seat, impossible-to-get-into sushi restaurant in the East Village. But the couple’s next project will be a cozy 16-seat raw bar across the street at 246 E. Fifth St.

Down East, expected to open by the summer, will feature the freshest and most exotic raw seafood available, much like its sushi counterpart.

The new restaurant will be designed by Hiromi Tsuruta, the creator of Jewel Bako, which is Japanese for “jewel box.”

* Trendy Asian restaurant/club TanDa will serve its last meal Saturday. Brothers Andy and Chris Russell and Chris’ wife, Jennifer, will close the eatery at 331 Park Ave., remodel, then reopen in March as an American bistro called Sage.

The Russells opened TanDa just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, having sold their interest in celeb-studded Moomba two years earlier. The place morphed into more of a lounge than a dining destination after a while, much like Moomba.

The new place will have a “homier” feel, says Chris Russell. Stanley Wong, whose cooking credits include the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, will stay on as executive chef.

* Frank Pellegrino Jr. has made Baldoria even more of a family restaurant now that he’s announced his wife, Carla, will serve as its executive chef. Frankie Jr., whose family has operated famed Rao’s of Harlem since 1896, praises his wife’s “home-style, traditional approach to Italian food.”

Carla, the restaurant’s former hostess and sous chef, replaces Massimo Cagliari. She’s already added several new dishes to the menu.

* The Glazier Group is opening a Strip House steakhouse in Livingston, N.J. The sister to the Greenwich Village chop house opens officially next month, but beginning Feb. 24 it will offer a sneak preview – and a 25 percent discount.