Grub Street

Tyler Florence, who recently said that overnight success takes fifteen years, is the father of three young children with wife and business partner Tolan Florence, and he's released his first children's book today, Tyler Makes Pancakes! Here's an excerpt: "Tyler and his dog, Tofu, are hungry for blueberry pancakes." Adorbs!!

Shake Shack's burger offerings have stayed pretty constant as the chain has expanded (consistency across locations is Danny Meyer's whole goal, after all) — until now. Grub noticed recently that the UES Shack seemed to have newcomer to the lineup, and reps confirm that both the Upper East Side and Madison Square Park locations are offering the SmokeShack, "a cheeseburger topped with Niman Ranch applewood-smoked bacon, cherry-pepper relish, and ShackSauce." We're drooling. Has anybody out there given it a chomp?

That there's a "regular" who invented 1-800-LAWYERS, has a burgundy limo, and spends $4K a month at random-ass French Roast is interesting in itself, but also in this story about repetitive dining at New York restaurants, Danny Meyer thinks back to Tabla, "the only restaurant he has closed," because it wasn't sustainable. DM says, "You need fresh blood because, look, regulars die. They divorce. They move. They become regulars at other places. Things happen." [WSJ]

Andy Ricker tells us that once Pok Pok Ny is fully running (it's five nights a week right now, you'll recall), he plans to roll out an outdoor lunch service. The chef-owner mentioned selling food from a cart in the side yard, bringing out a big rotisserie for grilling game hen and the like. He also plans to offer simple fare like khao soi (the curry-broth noodle soup) and papaya salad — dishes that won't require disturbing the kitchen as it preps for dinner. Diners will be able to eat outside or inside, most likely purchasing drinks from somebody walking around with a cooler. Might as well start inventing your excuses to take an extra-long lunch break now.

An exclusive excerpt of Andy Cohen's memoir, Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture, has been released, with memories of BravoAndy eating entire boxes of Entenmann's Pop'Ems donuts while infatuated with Erica Kane on All My Children, and discussing Pine Valley all throughout dinner while his Dad listened to his own "smooth-jazz station in his head." Sounds about right! [Bravo]

If you've checked out the lineup for this year's New York Culinary Experience, put together by New York Magazine and the International Culinary Center, then you know that chefs like Mark Ladner, Floyd Cardoz, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten will spend this coming weekend teaching ticket holders the ins and outs of their trade. And we have good news: Grub has two tickets to Jacques Torres's Chocolate Extravaganza session on Saturday afternoon, and we're giving them away to one lucky reader.