i'm definitely going to dine at colors, the first week that it opens...

not only is colors a restaurant started by some of the former employees of windows on the world at the world trade center, it is also a cooperative enterprise. cnn reported the story about a year ago, but anthony depalma has a follow-up in today's new york times. here are some highlights:

"Restaurants open in New York all the time, but there has never been one like this. Mr. Moog and 50 other waiters, busboys, bartenders and dishwashers, many of them immigrants who worked at Windows, have formed a cooperative that will run one of the city's first worker-owned restaurants.

Each one of them will claim a piece of the restaurant, called Colors, as their own and share in any profits. Each one submitted a family recipe to help shape the restaurant's eclectic menu - which they describe as American fare with a global twist...

Rarely has one project had to carry so many expectations. Besides memorializing the 73 who died in Windows, which was atop 1 World Trade Center, the co-op is trying to do no less than change an industry.

Nobody in the restaurant, not even the dishwashers, will receive less than $13.50 an hour, far higher than average restaurant wages. They will share tips and be eligible to receive overtime and vacations. Eventually they will be covered by health insurance and have pensions.

And, of course, each will share in the profits of the restaurant, if and when there are profits...

The new restaurant will feature 1930's decor because the workers feel that era represented the height of labor power in New York. The name Colors reflects the 22 nations from which the members come, as will be shown on a giant mural in the restaurant.

These veteran restaurant workers realize that the emotional link to 9/11 will bring in diners, but it will become secondary to the things that really determine a restaurant's success - service and food."