• The Chelsea Improvement Company is looking to set up an outdoor market at Chelsea Plaza, and is currently searching for businesses to manage and operate it. [DNAinfo]
• Rai Rai Ken moved to a larger space two doors down and opens to the public on Sunday. [EV Grieve]
• Um Segredo's Dave Santos is offering a beer dinner in support of start-up company One Dude Brew tonight at 8 p.m. for $85 and also tomorrow. Contact Dave at umsegredo12@gmail.com for location and reservations. [Grub Street]
"It is useful for stirring things, and, of course, for beating people." —Fergus Henderson on why a "wooden spoon" is his favorite kitchen utensil. [Independent UK]
Rene Redzepi: Everyone's favorite mentor.Photo: Courtesy of the Embassy of Denmark, London
Gone are the days that an ambitious young chef seeks out Guy Savoy or Michel Bras or a Michelin three-star restaurant in Paris to do a stage that makes their CV look fancier. Nowadays, you need to be able to claim having done some time with René Redzepi at Noma in Copenhagen in order to feel cool. At least that's what we've learned today via both Adam Platt's review of New York's Atera, run by a Noma alum, and a piece in the Wall Street Journal about all the ex-Noma cooks (Nomads?) who have spread around the U.S. and the world opening up new, geographically specific restaurants in a similar vein — including recent Food & Wine Best New Chef honoree Blaine Wetzel of the Willows Inn, on Lummi Island near Seattle.
M. Wells will show its much-missed face this Saturday (!) at Brooklyn Flea's Smorgasburg. The highlight: Foie Gras Poutine. Wash it down with La Casa de Camba's Mocochinchi, "a chilled peach cider made with dried peaches from [the owners'] Grandmother’s farm in Bolivia." Also new, popcorn that promises to not get stuck in teeth. All good things. [Brooklyn Flea]
Atera.
Atera, Matthew Lightner's tiny, tasting-menu-only restaurant in the old Compose space has drawn its share of curious reactions since opening last month, and now New York Magazine's own Adam Platt renders his verdict: It's fantastic. Platt gives Atera four stars (out of five), writing that Lightner "wants to stimulate, to educate, and to entertain, and in terms of range, technique, and quirky inventiveness, he does as good a job of this as any chef in New York since the glory days of the great molecular gastronomist Wylie Dufresne."
Lobster rolls and more at Mad Sq Eats.
'Tis the season, at long last, for all your favorite food markets: As of the past few weeks, Hester Street Fair, Smorgasburg, New Amsterdam Market are all up and running. Now comes word that Mad Sq Eats, with its twenty vendors including Red Hook Lobster Pound, Arancini Bros, and Asiadog, will kick of next Friday in Madison Square Park and go for a month. If Rambo's more your scene, DeKalb Market has launched something called Twilight Market, fun times at night. It's the perfect chance to try Robicelli's new brownie gelato sandwiches, made with Il Laboratorio del Gelato, in flavors like ricotta gelato with blackberry-Cabernet compote, and malted milk balls with chocolate ice cream and malted fudge sauce.
Here are thirteen ways to write/blog/pontificate on the New York institution that is the "plush vanilla, wafer cone, thick swirl," and sometimes "a swoosh of concupiscent shit," Mister Softee. [Columbia Spectator]
Wave good-bye.
We knew that the Waverly Inn's executive chef Eric Korsh was leaving to develop Calliope, and now his replacement at the who's-who (in 2009) restaurant has been revealed to be the understated-chic Ashley Merriman. Besides being an extremely cool ex-cheftestant on Top Chef, Merriman is also known for her work under Alex Guarnaschelli at Butter and the Darby — where food comes second to scene. [Eater NY]
Even though several dozen drunk idiots are arrested for public urination on your average meatpacking weekend, the Sixth Precinct police are getting even tougher after intolerable noise, vomit, and liquid-idiocy from Provocateur has disrupted several neighbors' REM sleep. [DNA Info]
Classic cocktails and more.
A tipster tells us that much-anticipated Paris import the Experimental Cocktail Club held its friends-and-family last night and should open to the public this weekend at 191 Chrystie. A peek at the bar's website reveals that it's currently taking reservations for the new Chinatown location: E-mail madameandmonsieur@experimentalcocktailclubny.com for that. Bowery Boogie ran some pics of the unfinished space a few weeks ago, to give a rough idea. And if you want to know more about the fuss, here's the Times' 2009 write-up about the Paris location, which serves drinks that pay homage to Pegu Club, Death & Co., and other NYC bars. Bienvenue a New York for realz, ECC.
Earlier: Experimental Cocktail Club Has Almost Crossed The Pond
Blue Bar: still blue.Photo: Courtesy Algonquin Hotel
Powers that be shuttered the Algonquin early in the new year, you'll recall, promising that the historic hotel and its famed watering holes would reopen May 1. Well, that plan seems to be only slightly behind — Grub learns the hotel should be running again the first week of June. Reps sent along this rendering of the famous Blue Bar, which has some new blue touches, including spruced up carpeting and banquettes, and a blue-lit cast-stone bar. Neo Round Tables might want to add this to their list of meeting spots.
Bey got her dance on.Photo: Thelonius / Splash News
Hey, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are dating, just in case you forgot. Anyway, the two found themselves out — after nearly a month (!) together — with Kim's family this past week. We don't need a relationship expert to tell us that things are going well. Some other celebs made their way into the New York nightlife this week, including Beyoncé, dancing the night away. All this, and more of our weekly roundup of celebrity dining, straight ahead.
Sundays at Martha's entail green juice, cappucinos and a horseback ride.Photo: Rob Tannenbaum/The Martha Stewart Show
We already knew that Martha Stewart is as much a brand as she is a person — and that Martha (the brand) doesn't so much sell her vision of rustic, perfectionist homemaking as she simply embodies it. But we also knew that, every now and then, Martha (the person) can be really funny and quirky, especially when it comes to food, and especially if you catch her with her guard down. So when she agreed to tackle this week's New York Diet for us, we didn't know which Martha we'd actually get: Eccentric or robotic? The answer is both. She sent us a diet that's momentarily revealing (a day trip to Tennessee is a chance to try the best local barbecue) yet simultaneously scrubbed clean of much of its personality, with a nifty plug for her new book, Martha's American Food nicely folded in. In many ways, it sums her up perfectly. So, with that in mind, read on for tales of a ramp-and-favas springtime feast, the Time 100's "inedible" fish, and that barbecue pig-out with the people.
Eat Cheap for Under $25
Adam Platt’s Where to Eat 2013
Best of New York Eating 2013
DIY Pie
Potage for a Princess
Cranberry Caipirinha
Grub Street Chicago: The Song of Johnny O
