Posts for April 19, 2012 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for April 19, 2012

4/19/12 at 6:00 PM
Leftovers
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Score a Private Dinner With Danny Meyer’s Chefs; Martha Stewart Signs Her New Book Celebrating American Eats

• Five Leaves is now serving pitchers of rum punch. And the frozen-drink machine is kicking on this weekend for the summer, with frozen drinks available for brunch and night service. [Grub Street]

• Shuttered Mex spot Gonzalez & Gonzalez will reopen in a smaller space. Ole. [Eater NY]

•The Food Truck Bazaar at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market kicks off this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and continues one Sunday per month through October. This month's rotation: Kelvin Natural Slush, Kimchi Taco Truck, Taim Mobile, Red Hook Lobster Truck, and Frites 'n' Meats. Retweet a Flea Market blurb for a chance to win a free tasting. [NY Street Food]

•Get a $1 coffee with any morning purchase at Pie Face, or an espresso and any pastry for $5. [Midtown Lunch]

4/19/12 at 5:30 PM
Discipline
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Victoria Beckham’s Birthday Cake Is a Fruit Plate

When you hear the words posh and spice, you might think of something a bit more sublime (like carrot cake, or a goddamn ginger snap), but ... not even close. To celebrate her 38th birthday, Victoria Beckham had a wee bit of berries and melon. Bananas. [People]

4/19/12 at 5:20 PM
Penn Station Chic
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The Liberty NYC Opens Tuesday, May 1

By Alyssa Shelasky

West 35th Street now socially acceptable.

Remember that I'm-too-sexy-for-Herald-Square bar-restaurantwe told you about called the Liberty? Well, the Aussie-owned hang opens Tuesday, May 1st, and they're gearing up for greatness with a 4,000-square-foot bar and restaurant set over two soaring levels. Cocktails include the Bronx Cocktail (Plymouth gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, orange juice, Reagan’s orange bitters) and the South Bronx Fizz (Pisco 100, lemon juice, simple syrup, mint, soda, Angostura float). Menu items will include rock-shrimp toast, grilled lamb ribs, and baked mac n' cheese carbonara. Eat your heart out, Macy's shoppers.

Menu [PDF]

4/19/12 at 5:15 PM on Grub Street SF
Video Feed
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Comedian Maria Bamford: Paula Deen’s Recipes ‘Are Like a Suicide Note’

By Jay Barmann

Los Angeles–based comedian Maria Bamford has some fresh material about Paula Deen in which she says she's "worried" about the famously diabetic celebrity chef, and that her recipes read like an elaborate, fudge-covered suicide note. We've got to hand it to Bamford for still managing to make us laugh as she mocks the over-mocked Deen in a style that can only be described as ... unique. Check it out, straight ahead.

4/19/12 at 4:25 PM
Lists
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When Did ‘Best Of’ Lists Get So Random?

By Jenny Miller

Did you know that several of the world's best sandwiches are lurking, little-known, in our very midst? According to Travel + Leisure, the globe's choicest ham-and-cheese hails not from the heart of gai Paris, but rather ... East 78th Street, at Lady M Cake Boutique (so says Martha Stewart, anyway). And possibly the top veggie burger on the planet (per Mike Myers) can be found on Rivington Street, at Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop. Who knew! Slightly more credibly, several of our city's rooftop bars have been nominated by Departures as among the country's best: Jimmy at the James, Top of the Strand, and the guests-only private garden on top of the Surrey. If this hasn't sated your best-of tooth for today, we know another not-so-random 'Best of' list you should feel free to peruse, not to mention a pretty epic lineup of sandwiches. [Travel + Leisure, Departures]

4/19/12 at 3:40 PM
Celeb Eats
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Marisa Tomei, Forever a Di Fara Fan

By Alyssa Shelasky

True to her pizza roots.

Last night at the Brooklyn Artist Ball, Grub Street asked Marissa Tomei, who does not get naked as often as you might think, if she ever hits her old stomping grounds in Flatbush: "Well, I do, because, you know, Di Fara Pizza is, you know, one of the best pizzas in the five boroughs. But I’m sure you’ve heard! But now the word is out. My local — now everyone goes, but I still go back." And plenty of people would want to inspect that.

4/19/12 at 3:00 PM
Quote of the Day
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Girls Just Wanna Have Snacks

By Alyssa Shelasky

"I snack while I do most things. I like gluten-free crackers and soy cheese, even though I’m not allergic to the traditional version of either." —Lena Dunham of Girls on what she does while she reads books like Diane Keaton's autobiography Having It All. [NYT]

4/19/12 at 3:00 PM on Grub Street Chicago
Ew
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Starbucks Vows No More Bugs in Bevs

By David Hammond

No longer in your frappuccino.

In response to a petition started on Change.org, and in a shocking rebuff to insectivores everywhere, Starbucks announces they will no longer use cochineal coloring derived from crushed bugs in their drinks.

4/19/12 at 2:20 PM
Shilling
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Jason Alexander: Plenty of Soup for You

By Jenny Miller

Not only are folks at the Seinfeld-famous Original SoupMan downright friendly these days, but they're cozying up to onetime souper non grata Jason Alexander, who'll rep the line of slurpables the company is introducing to grocery stores and franchised restaurants soon, writes "Page Six." Ongoing rep Reggie Jackson, along with Shaq, are also set to promote the brand. Okay ... oh, and how does shilling for SoupMan's many cream-based soups fit with Alexander's whole post-Jenny Craig sveltitude? [Page Six/NYP]

4/19/12 at 1:30 PM
Resurrections
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Chinatown Fair Arcade to Reopen on Mott Street May 5

A year after Chinatown Fair Arcade shut its doors and moved to Sunset Park, Bowery Boogie gets wind that the arcade will reopen May 5 at 8 Mott Street under new management. The arcade's signature grime will be conspicuously absent (it's getting a paint job as we speak) and it'll sport some shiny new pinball machines — no concrete word thus far on the status of the tic-tac-toe chicken. [Bowery Boogie]

4/19/12 at 1:05 PM on Grub Street Boston
Bookshelf
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New Kids’ Book Says Veganism Is Patriotic, Rugged

By Kara Baskin

Let's be serious: Nobody's asking kids to eat zebras.Photo: ABC

Ruby Roth's kids' book Vegan Is Love appears fun and innocent — just look at those happy, Lion King-esque animals on the cover! Indeed, per ABC, Roth says the book is meant to introduce kids to a lifestyle of "compassion and action" and that "veganism is one of the most patriotic, American things we can do." But others — no doubt parents with kids who really love ice cream and hot dogs — have their doubts.

4/19/12 at 12:45 PM
Gross-Outs
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A McDonald’s Worker Hawked a Loogie in Someone's Order

By Alyssa Shelasky

The last straw.

Disgruntled customers mumble it all the time — "He'll probably spit in my food." Well, careful what you wish for, rightfully-pissed-off people, because a McDonald's worker actually did spit in someone's food. Or rather, drink. In the McNastiest story ever, a mother and daughter found mucus in their Sweet Tea down in South Carolina. God save us all. [NYDN]

4/19/12 at 12:00 PM
The Feeding Tube
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Martha Stewart Gets New Cooking Show on PBS

By Alan Sytsma

Always got something in the works.Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Earlier this year, Martha Stewart's show on the Hallmark channel got dumped, causing Grub Street to wonder if it was the beginning of the end for the iconic homemaker's brand. If anything, it gave her a chance to spend some free time with her prize-winning chow chow. Well, it looks like Stewart won't be off the air for very long: She has a new weekly series that will debut on PBS this fall.

4/19/12 at 11:30 AM
Gangster
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Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Mafia Is Back on Mulberry

By Alyssa Shelasky

A loaded conversation.

These fine days, Mulberry Street evokes innocent memories of ice-cream cake at Parm and burrata at Balaboosta — but not so fast, sweetheart. A report says that Mafia corruption is cutting through the streets again, especially around the San Gennaro festival, claiming that "on Wednesday federal prosecutors charged an alleged mobster — who also ran a cannoli shop — with shaking down vendors at the fair in 2008." Maybe it's not so "in the past" after all? [NYT]

4/19/12 at 10:45 AM
Doghouse
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Nutso Nello Strikes Again

By Alyssa Shelasky

No, no, no, Nello.Photo: Patrick McMullan

Didn't Nello Balan read the Ryan Skeen interview: " ... when servers and staff are not getting paid ... bad things happen"? Because now he's being sued, yet again, by workers — not celebrity collage artists — who say he's either stiffing them, screwing them, not paying them at all, or worst of all, disturbing their digestion with rushed (and obviously uncompensated) fifteen-minute lunch breaks. Thus, eight current and former staffers have come together in a lawsuit, involving both the Madison Avenue and Southampton locations. Sounds like Nello best get down on his knees. [NYP]

4/19/12 at 10:00 AM
Schemes
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Dave Arnold and David Chang Planning a Secretive Chinatown Lab for Booker & Dax

By Jenny Miller

The red-hot poker is cool, but you won't be able to buy your own.Photo: Travis Huggett

Grub heard a rumor that Booker & Dax was developing something along the lines of Momofuku's secret lab, so we got co-mastermind Dave Arnold on the phone to confirm. "The original idea of Booker & Dax was to build equipment. The bar came first, but it’s an offshoot of the space we haven’t started yet," he told us. However, that's set to change. The team has secured a 700-square-foot workshop and laboratory space on Eldridge Street, where they'll soon begin developing "kitchen stuff and stuff for the home bar."

They'll be playing around with carbonation, for one.

4/19/12 at 09:35 AM
Excessive
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Beauty & Essex Just Got Naughtier

New York Diet late-night eater and chef-owner of Beauty & Essex and Stanton Social Chris Santos had this on his mind before the rest of the world even unwrapped their morning Luna Bars: "Yes I just ordered a bacon wrapped, deep fried, cola-tempered Reese's peanut butter cups. Yes I did." [SantosCooks/Twitter]

4/19/12 at 09:00 AM
Food Style
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Ice Cube Has Never Tasted Sushi, Will Slather Hot Sauce on Anything

By Alyssa Shelasky

Actor, rapper, and star of 21 Jump Street Ice Cube tells Bon App all about his stomach's desires, which are purely primal and not at all pretentious. Edgy as he is, guacamole just entered his orbit; he's a total, unapologetic sushi virgin; and the concept of juicing (à la co-star Jonah Hill) is completely out of his realm of understanding. He's awesome. [Bon Appétit]