Posts for June 13, 2012 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for June 13, 2012

6/13/12 at 6:00 PM
Leftovers
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Kin Shop Hosts Riesling Dinner; National Lobster Day Festivals

• Park Slope’s Palo Santo will host a wine and tapas party on June 28. New York state wines will be paired with tapas made with local and homegrown ingredients. Guests will also get to meet winemaker Barbara Frank of Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars in the Finger Lakes. [Grub Street]

• Mitsuwa Marketplace will host the seventh annual “Umaimono Gourmet Food Fair” from June 21 to 24. Renowned Japanese chefs will fly in for the festival to prepare authentic dishes for guests to enjoy at the store’s Edgewater, New Jersey location. Guests traveling from New York City may take the Mitsuwa shuttle bus service from the Port Authority. [Grub Street]

• Tickets for Cooking Light’s first-ever tasting event, “Light Up the Night” are on sale starting today. The event, complete with an all-star lineup of celebrity chefs and mixologists will take place on September 21 on the Chelsea Market Passage of the High Line. [Grub Street]

6/13/12 at 5:45 PM on Grub Street SF
Pizza! Pizza!
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Things We Didn’t Know We Needed: A Pizza Vending Machine

By Jay Barmann

Were you ever so famished after going through checkout at the supermarket that you just had to eat a hot pizza before you got home? Soon you will be able to do just that. A European company that makes pizza vending machines, which cook up ten-inch pizzas to your specifications in less than three minutes, is bringing the concept to our shores. Soon the company will install them in your nearest mall, gas station, and hospital. But is this a good thing?

6/13/12 at 5:10 PM
Food Network Star
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Where ‘Zou Bisou Bisou’ and Guy Fieri Are in the Same Sentence

By Alyssa Shelasky

"Mad Men’s Megan lights the shag carpet on fire with “Zou Bisou Bisou” and then becomes a shy teeth-caching robot for her screen test, and Food Network Star is, at its most basic level, a collection of screen tests tied together with the string constructs of using a grill and blending smoothies for kindergartners." —One writer's takedown of Guy Fieri, his neck fat, and the show that made him famous. [Grantland]

6/13/12 at 4:30 PM
Openings
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Woo-Hoo: Brooklyn Crab Opens on Red Hook Waterfront

By Alyssa Shelasky

Red Hook's latest.

The much-anticipated Alma sibling, Brooklyn Crab, the open-air seafood "shack" across from Fairway, has finally opened. Getting there is a bit of a problem, however there are free shuttle buses from the Carroll Street F/G subway station to the resto (and doesn't everyone in BK ride bikes now anyways?). Gothamist got a look at the menu, and the mini-golf, bocce, and "cornhole" situation, and it all looks groovy. [Gothamist]

6/13/12 at 3:30 PM on Grub Street LA
L.A. Diet
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The Mars Volta’s Juan Alderete Eats Pre-Tour Fruits De Mer, Takes His Own Coffee to Tel Aviv

By Krista Simmons

Juan Alderete, noodling aroundPhoto: Mars Volta

Juan Alderete, bassist for the Mars Volta, is sort of a super-foodie. And for him, tours mean a chance to map out obscure culinary missions. When he's not busy working on his recently launched music website, Pedals and Effects, or touring around the world with his band, the L.A. native enjoys dining out with his wife, Anne. "I love really clean food that makes you feel good after you eat it, like Japanese cuisine, crudo, and Spanish-style seafood tapas," says Alderete, who spent the majority of last week in his hometown, then left to tour with the band through Tel Aviv and Europe. Read more about his obsession with properly prepared coffee, the joys of housemade bread, and what to avoid on in-flight meals in today's L.A. Diet.

6/13/12 at 2:30 PM
Closings
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R.I.P. to CPK on the UES

By Alyssa Shelasky

CPK bites the dust.

Ruth Madoff will have to take her coupons elsewhere (remember that?!) because the California Pizza Kitchen on East 60th is closing this September; 69 employees will be laid off. The dated chain, which has been there since the nineties, just doesn't fit in anymore with the uptown crowd, even though its neighbor Dylan's Candy Bar is still booming. [Crain's]

6/13/12 at 2:10 PM
Guilt
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Community Board Member Plays the Baby Card

By Mary Reinholz

Joshua Frost, a member of Community Board 2's SLA, brought his wife and infant daughter to a liquor license hearing last night, to guilt trip the committee from approving another wine and beer application near his home. This was specifically directed at Tokana Café, a future venue on 163 Elizabeth Street. Sounds a little childish!

6/13/12 at 2:00 PM on Grub Street LA
The Chain Gang
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Fast Food Chains, American Eaters, Flipp’n for Snack-Sized Chick’n

By Hadley Tomicki

Popeye's Rip'n Chick'n

We've reached a proud pinnacle in U.S. culture in which no greasy fast-food item goes unmerged with an equally bad-for-you snack. Getting the jump on Burger King's ballyhooed bacon sundae, Popeyes made a big splash last year with a new form of fried chicken that quickly turned into the chain's best-selling, limited-time item. This particular poultry product comes in the scoopable shape of a chip, paired with dipping sauces, and is known by the just-barely-literate name, "Dip'n Chick'n." The Wall Street Journal reports that this type of pint-sized menu monster is just the tip of the beak, too, as the edible genre of "ip'ns," easy-to-eat-on-the-go snacks and sauces sized to your car's drink holder, get set to break through at fast-food restaurants nationwide, following the enterprising example set by Popeyes' dippable chicken-chip.

6/13/12 at 1:00 PM
Cheers
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Andaz Wall Street Bangs Out a Biergarten

By Alyssa Shelasky

Bankers can now kick back at the Andaz Wall Street Biergarten, located in the courtyard adjacent to the hotel. The boozy lawn is open Monday through Saturday from 2:30 to 9 p.m., and can seat 50. Expect German beers, pretzels, sausages, stress-cases, and sugar daddies.

6/13/12 at 12:15 PM
Listen Up
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Bittman Speaks Up For Underpaid, Often Mistreated Restaurant Workers

By Alyssa Shelasky

Give them money, rights, and respect.

While avid restaurantgoers are getting savvier by the sunchoke, Mark Bittman argues there's not enough spotlight on the livelihoods of their servers, bussers, and behind-the-scene helpers. He argues that while chefs have become celebrities, servers are the toilet paper on a Prada loafer leaving some David Rockwell–designed loo. Nice to hear that Five Guys offers sick days for their staff, though most restaurants do not. The sad fact that “The biggest workforce in America can’t put food on the table except when they go to work," is something to seriously chew on. [NYT]

6/13/12 at 11:35 AM on Grub Street Boston
Slideshow
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Check, Please: Ten Tales of Kids Abandoned at Restaurants

By Kara Baskin

Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron did what so many parents long to do and left his young daughter behind at the neighborhood pub. It was an accident, of course, and it happens to the best of us: Sometimes you forget your doggie bag, sometimes you forget your child. In this spirit, we're spotlighting the most tawdry tales of kids who've had to fend for themselves while out on the town. Endless pizza parties, drunken parents, and children with way too many siblings, straight ahead!

6/13/12 at 11:00 AM
Have a Seat
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Mile End Sandwich Adds Delivery and, Perhaps More Crucial, Seats

By Alan Sytsma

A real seat at the sandwich shop. Not Photoshopped!Photo: Courtesy of Mile End

The day has finally come: Since Mile End Sandwich first opened, people have questioned the standing-room-only eating situation. But even back in May, co-owner Noah Bernamoff told our own New York Magazine that he thought the shop "might be losing the experimental battle a little bit." Now we have photographic evidence that stools are officially in place as of this week. Another new development: The shop now offers delivery from Canal to 14th Street between First and Sixth avenues, putting Grub Street a mere block west of the delivery zone. So close! (For the people who are in the delivery zone, the menu is right here.) And, N.B., Rae Bernamoff tells us Brooklyn delivery from the Boerum Hill deli is coming soon, too.

6/13/12 at 10:30 AM
The Other Critics
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Everyone Hates Hakkasan; the Daily News Reviews Restaurants Again

By Sarah Lawson

Nobody loves Hakkasan.

Adam Platt took a break this week, but a few critics echoed his reviews of late. What did New York's professional eaters think of the city's restaurants this week? What they ate and what they thought, straight ahead.

6/13/12 at 10:15 AM
Lawsuits
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Urology Versus Cipriani

Talk about below the belt: A urologist is suing Cipriani for assault and malicious prosecution after getting clocked by the doorman, then framed to look like he started it. Hope the doc gets a good package. [NYP]

6/13/12 at 09:25 AM
Leglislature
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Soda Ban: Could Movie-Theater Popcorn Be Outlawed, Too?

By Alan Sytsma

Still won't be banned.Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

As expected, yesterday the city health board gave a preliminary nod to Mayor Bloomberg's proposed soda ban and voted to hold a public hearing on the plan next month (that should be a fun one). According to The Wall Street Journal, many board members think the ban doesn't go far enough.

6/13/12 at 09:00 AM
Studies
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Get Less Sleep, Crave More Doughnuts

By Alan Sytsma

We got a full eight hours last night, and these still look good to us.

Some new studies say sleep-deprived people want unhealthy food more than people who get a full night of rest. "When you're sleep-deprived, you might not make appropriate food choices," says a researcher from UC Berkeley. The reason is that long ago, people "slept less during summer months, when they had to eat more to fatten up for the winter." But now, says another researcher, "We're fattening up year round." We'd better watch out: If Bloomberg sees this he'll probably ban late nights, too. [MSNBC/Today]