Posts for June 21, 2012 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for June 21, 2012

6/21/12 at 6:00 PM
Leftovers
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Russ & Daughters Hosts a Herring Pairing; Todd English Planning a French Restaurant

• Russ & Daughters will host its annual new-catch Holland herring pairing on June 26 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Astor Center. Guest chef Chikara Sono and the appetizing shop have prepared special dishes to celebrate the seasonal catch, each of which will be paired with a cocktail. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased here. [Grub Street]

• Corkbuzz will offer a series of Sunday night clambakes fit for parties of six. Dishes will include lobster, littleneck clams, peel n’ eat shrimp, and grilled corn on the cob cooked by chef Hayan Yi. Master Sommelier Laura Maniec will pair four bottles of wine with the meal. The clambakes will run on July 1, 6, 15, and 22 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. for the price of $400 per table. Make reservations here. [Grub Street]

• Though Todd English’s Crossbar closed, the restaurateur is working with the Dual Group to create Chateau Cherbuliez, English’s second French project in New York. The restaurant will have a wine bar and a vineyard is expected to open later this summer. [Eater NY]

6/21/12 at 5:40 PM
Don't Tell PETA
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Nasty: Tick Spit Makes People Allergic to Meat

By Hugh Merwin

"I'm not vegan, but you are now!"Photo: Courtesy the Centers for Disease Control

A team of researchers at the University of Virginia has linked the bite of the lone star tick, a species that is terrifyingly common, to the sudden onset of severe meat allergies. Dr. Scott Commins and his research team started reporting on the coincidence of lone star tick bites and new, rapid-onset allergies to pork, beef, and lamb last year. The team believes the lone star tick's saliva triggers a histamine reaction that makes people break out in hives a few hours after eating meat. So far there are 1,000 confirmed cases of tick-borne meat allergies, including the author John Grisham. (A food allergy site reported earlier this year that his Charottesville-area plantation is "tick central.") So, how long until PETA gets their hands on some tick spit and weaponizes it once and for all? [ABC News, UVA Magazine]

6/21/12 at 5:00 PM on Grub Street LA
Pizza Pizza
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Big Pizza Trying to Slip Out of Calorie Count Mandates

By Hadley Tomicki

Dominos Pizza, better at math than pizza.

Remember when pizza places were interested in the public good? They used to offer valuable Noid-avoiding advice and sell two pizzas for the price of one. Those days are over, friends. Yesterday, lobbyists for the country's biggest pizza chains (most notably Domino's) tossed their weight around on Capitol Hill in an effort to wiggle out of proposed nutritional guidelines that would force any chain with more than twenty locations to list calorie counts.

6/21/12 at 4:45 PM
Nightlife
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First Look at Toy, Now Open in the Old Tanuki Tavern Space

By Vanita Salisbury

The latest restaurant-nightlife hybrid comes from China Grill Management and Dual Group's Derek and Daniel Koch (of Day and Night party fame) in the former Tanuki Tavern space in the Gansevoort Meatpacking. You won't find toys in the traditional sense, but you will find a 7,000-square-foot playland comprised of an outdoor terrace and a a bi-level dining room serving modern Sino-Japanese fare like shrimp ‘toast’ cigars with golden mustard plum sauce, and "Signature Lacquered Mahogany Chicken." It's serving lunch, dinner, and a smaller late-night menu; tunes come courtesy of a state-of-the-art D.J. booth, but watch your dance steps if you happen to glance up at the insane fractured mirror on the ceiling — we wouldn’t want you to lose your footing.

6/21/12 at 4:15 PM
Homemakers
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Despicable Man Surprisingly Handy in the Kitchen

Rielle Hunter is one lucky lady. Just listen to how great John Edwards is: "He empties the dishwasher. He cooks. I’ve never tasted a better pancake than Johnny Reid Edwards’ — his kids eat them up like there’s no tomorrow." [NYP]

6/21/12 at 3:45 PM
Beef,
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Pink Slime Controversy a Boon to Australian Cattle Ranchers

By Hugh Merwin

Moo, mate.

According to a report, Australian cattle exporters are set to experience a windfall as an indirect result of the pink slime controversy in the United States. Imports of beef and veal from the land down under have increased by 28 percent. Meanwhile, exports of domestically produced beef to Taiwan practically stopped altogether after pink-slime-related headlines dominated the news in March, and scientists discovered ractopamine, a substance that's banned pretty much everywhere except the U.S., within their supply of beef produced in the United States. It's not all good news for the Australian beef industry, however: Exports to Indonesia are on the decline after an undercover news video depicted Aussie workers engaged in the inhumane treatment of live cattle headed to Indonesia for slaughter. [Courier Mail, Earlier]

6/21/12 at 3:20 PM on Grub Street Boston
Crime Scenes
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Rolling: British Chef Allegedly Doses Kids’ Desserts With Ecstasy

By Kara Baskin

Most people want to die at children's birthday parties, so kudos to one chef for finally making things fun and spiking the food with drugs! British chef Neil Iron got frisky when making chocolate mousse for toddlers at the Red Lion pub in north London (which sounds like a totally legit place to have a kids' soiree). In fact, Iron allegedly laced the mousse with Ecstasy. Things got even wilder when the truffles came out; one parent claims to have had an "out-of-body experience" after eating them.

6/21/12 at 3:00 PM
Consider the Oyster
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Shuck Yeah! New Oyster Happy Hours

Months with "R" be damned, now's the time of year that demands a tray of plump, glistening oysters and a glass of cool white wine. Lucky for you, over on NYMag.com, the slurpers-in-residence have rounded up the latest in rock-bottom oyster happy hours, with options in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Toggle on over and check it out. [NYM]

6/21/12 at 2:30 PM
Steak Yums
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‘Vegas Strip Steak’ Is Less Sinister, More Business-As-Usual

By Hugh Merwin

Today Slate dissects the recent and heavily orchestrated launch of a top secret, patented new cut of beef — the Vegas Strip Steak — and reports that the USPTO hullabaloo may be a PR stunt, but really, all kinds of patents are filed every day. The Vegas Strip Steak is the result of a collaboration between a scientist, a researcher, and a David Burke Primehouse chef; because of trademark secrecy, it's still unclear what cow part harbors this mysterious, four- to twelve-ounce steak. The hype and fanfare for its "discovery," however, might lead one to mistakenly believe some dense genome had been sequenced, or some kind of cancer cured. Slate says the patenting may seem silly, but it's all about protecting industry secrets like Popeyes’ Rip’n Chick’n, which derives from a specific cut of breast. So then, we suppose there's no such thing as the Beeferati, either. [Slate, Earlier]

6/21/12 at 2:00 PM
Market Watch
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DeKalb Market Will Have to Decamp in the Fall

By Jenny Miller

While Smorgasburg boozes it up, here comes word that another Brooklyn merchants hub, DeKalb Market, will be forced to move out of its current location in the fall. It seems the landlord of the lot DeKalb occupies wants to build a retail and residential complex there (side note: does this mean Rambo is finally happening?). Shop and restaurant owners including Maharlika, Robicelli's, and others had reportedly been told they'd be ousted eventually, but not for about five years. Eater has a copy of the full letter sent to tenants. Meantime, if you know anywhere the little-shipping-container-market-that-could should move to, do speak up. [Eater NY]

6/21/12 at 1:30 PM
Quote of the Day
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Chrissy Teigen, Reservation Con Arist

By Angelina Fanous

"I use other people’s names, more famous people. I say, “Uh, this is Beyoncé. Jay and I want a seat.” —Chrissy Teigen tells Grub Street how she gets good tables, at last night's To Rome With Love screening.

6/21/12 at 1:00 PM
Tea Set
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Tea Party: Starbucks Serves Up First Tazo-Only Store

By Alyssa Shelasky

Move over mocha latte, Starbucks will open its first non-coffee, exclusively tea Tazo shop this October in Seattle. The tea boutique will sell more than 80 varieties of loose-leaf tea and serve as a test store to float the idea out there. The tea news comes just a month after the Bay Bread deal. Maybe a biscotti spin-off or chocolate-graham-cracker café is next. [Bloomberg]

6/21/12 at 12:15 PM
Overnights
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Around the World in 80 Plates Recap: Fifty Shades of Stone

By David Rees

"My inner goddess is swaying and writhing to some primal carnal rhythm."Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

I never meant to fall in love. When I agreed to recap Around the World in 80 Plates because my dear friend and roommate Katherine was too sick, I had no idea what I was in for. It seemed innocent enough — a quick way to make a little money and have a few laughs. I had heard about the show’s host, a mysterious young chef named Curtis Stone. People said he wasn’t American, that he had come from a distant place called Australia. Some said it was an island, which explained his strange accent — but not his dazzling blue eyes. Sure enough, when I first heard his voice, my ears felt like they had been touched ... down there. They burned with longing. They wanted more.

6/21/12 at 11:50 AM
The Feeding Tube
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Here’s the Trailer for Ottavia Bourdain’s Employees Only [Updated]

By Hugh Merwin

A trailer for a TV pilot produced by ass-kicker Ottavia Bourdain has made its way onto the web. Employees Only takes place during the manic opening days of a fictional Flatiron restaurant called Zio, (which is actually the Flatiron restaurant Zio). Things get crazy when the soft-opening hits: Elegant ladies arrive, and downtown fixture and foodie host Debi Mazar stops in, as does Mr. Bourdain himself. In a companion interview, writer/director Tania Van Pelt and producer Bourdain say the show was inspired by their down-and-out days in the New York restaurant scene. They'd read books about the restaurant industry's seamy underbelly — cough, Kitchen Confidential, cough — the craziness they experienced in real life, however, made that stuff seem like fiction.

Pill poppers, nervous chefs, and rude customers.

6/21/12 at 11:00 AM on Grub Street Boston
Interviews
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Mad Men’s John Slattery Isn’t Actually a Fan of Gibsons

By Kara Baskin

"One water, extra onions."Photo: Sylvain Gaboury/PatrickMcMullan.com

Massachusetts native John Slattery was in Boston last night to toast his appearance on the cover of Boston Common magazine. He made the scene with his preteen son, ~~Henry~~ Harry, and his wife, Talia Balsam (who plays Roger Sterling's aggrieved ex, Mona, on the show). Grub Street hunted down the sweaty — yet suave! — silver fox on the magazine's 100-degree red carpet, where he discussed his teetotaling on-set ways.

6/21/12 at 10:45 AM
Hunger Games
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Don’t Judge the Waifs, and Other Model-ish Eating Disorder Musings

XOJane — the site that just shed itself of a druggie writer who doesn't eat or own plates — examines the resurgence of the don't-feed-the-models issue, a conversation that Vogue and Tyra Banks have also reopened. XOJane is, of course, pro-women who eat, but concerned that naturally tiny women are being judged based on appearances. [XOJane]

6/21/12 at 10:15 AM
Expansions
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Radish Planning Williamsburg Supper Club and Event Space

By Jenny Miller

A dinner in the space before it was remodeled.

Two-year-old Bedford Avenue picnic favorite Radish doesn't currently have any seats to offer you, but when it launches its event space and supper club this fall, it'll be able to host dinners for 75. Co-owner Amy Marks says the shop's burgeoning catering business led her and partner Laura DeRemer to seek a larger kitchen space. The one they found on 190 North 14th Street (between Berry and Wythe) has a 1,500-square-food venue attached, so they snapped that up too. The pair will rent it for corporate meetings and events, weddings, and other parties, when it's not in use by night they'll host the occasional ticketed supper club, with a seasonal, global menu.

6/21/12 at 09:45 AM
Pioneers
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Jim Meehan Will Attempt the Impossible at Má Pêche Tonight

By Hugh Merwin

Prepared for the impossible.

On August 16, 1960, a USAF pilot named Joseph Kittinger took a plunge from a specially designed helium balloon gondola hovering 102,800 feet above the New Mexico desert, falling four minutes and 36 seconds and hitting a speed of 614 miles per hour before deploying his parachute and setting a record. Tonight, the bombardier barman (and new JBF award winner) Jim Meehan will similarly stretch the limits of human understanding during a one-night engagement behind the Má Pêche balcony bar. That's right, in addition to serving the now famous fat-washed Benton's Old Fashioned, Meehan and John deBary will take the Momo-PDT collaboration to the next level by serving Cereal Milk Punch. Remember this day, boys, remember this day. Details here. [Momofuku Long Play]

6/21/12 at 09:00 AM
Cart-ography
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Urban Rustic Adding a McCarren Park Cart This Saturday

By Jenny Miller

Urban Rustic's Daniel Cipriani and Luis Illades with the cart.

With the years-awaited return of McCarren Park Pool slated for June 28, nearby restaurants are sure to see a boost. One shop, the local-foods hub Urban Rustic, is determined to take advantage, with a food cart they're setting up at North 12th Street between Union and Driggs in Williamsburg that will be open Saturday mornings for the Greenmarket and noon to 7 or 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. On the morning menu are iced coffee and several kinds of breakfast sandwiches, plus a seasonal omelette. The rest of the time they'll serve hamburgers/veggie burgers and hot dogs ranging from plain to bratwurst to the "L.A. Street" dog, with bacon, pico de gallo, and American cheese. The grub-slinging starts Saturday. See full menus below.