Yes, it seems even Palm Beach can't escape the iron clutch of impending economic doom. Fortunes strip-mined by Bernie Madoff, trendy uber-boutiques slinking off Worth Avenue like mangy dogs, billionaires reduced to poverty-stricken multimillionaires. And now an affordable restaurant is heading for the streets-paved-with-18-carat gold island.

Oh, the horror. . .

Actually, it's Da Francesco at 251 Palm Beach, a casual, moderately priced Italian eatery that's partnered up with 251, the newly debuted, hipster wannabe next-door lounge. DF's daddy is Frank Cilione, who knows a thing or two about hipster wannabe hangouts, having operated the once chic, now shuttered Tsunami on the wrong side of the Intracoastal in proletarian West Palm Beach.

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Set to open at the end of April, DF will dish all the usual Italian culinary suspects -- think lotsa pizza, pasta and the like -- with an emphasis on local and organic-slash-natural. And here's the kicker: no entree will make you fork over more than a $20 bill, which in fatter times the average Islander used to blow her bobbed, shaped, surgically perfected nose. Welcome to the recession, folks.