In this week’s issue of the magazine, things are a little topsy-turvy. Back from London after sampling (and writing about) that city’s burgeoning restaurant scene, Adam Platt eats at a place that hasn’t technically opened, and Rob and Robin provide some choices for killing time at one that reopens this week. And if the winter weather is keeping you home, the Underground Gourmet provides a recipe for little purple potatoes, cooked simply up and smashed with a fork, just the way they do it at Gramercy Tavern.
• As part of our investigation of all things London, Platt explores the city’s restaurants, high and low, and finds them much better than he expected: “After four days of eating my ass off,” the big man writes, “I’m gobbling Tums and my jacket smells of pork fat and tandoori smoke.”
• Back in New York, Platt goes to the kind of restaurant we might expect him to reflexively loathe: the ultra-exclusive, beyond-self-satisfied Waverly Inn. But the Gobbler got caught up in a web of social seduction: “And who were all these other people? Who knew? Who cared? Tonight we were all members of the same select and cozy club,” he exults. The food, he says, isn’t bad either.
• This coming Wednesday, Shake Shack will be reopening, which will no doubt mean endless lines, even in the cold. Rob and Robin share the almost universal consensus about Shake Shack’s greatness and provide a list of five diversions to keep from going insane (or starving to death) while waiting for your first Shack Burger of 2007.
• Have you seen those little purple potatoes at the Greenmarket? They’re getting more and more popular with chefs, and in this week’s “In Season,” the Robs give a recipe for the little spuds, courtesy of Michael Anthony, Gramercy Tavern’s vegetable-centric chef.
Has the Food Over There Really Become Edible?
Vanity Fare
The Party Line
In Season: Purple Majesty Potatoes [NYM]
