Posts for August 17, 2012

See Chateau Cherbuliez’s New Brunch Menu; Pudge Knuckles Coffee Open in Williamsburg

• Hipsters on high: The Jane Hotel's rooftop bar has quietly opened, but sorry, general public, it's invited downtown scenesters only. [UrbanDaddy]

• Todd English's new restaurant Chateau Cherbuliez launches a new brunch menu this weekend with a garden party. The belle of the ball will be the new bill of fare, including pork belly eggs Benedict and lobster with Creole sauce. [Grub Street]

• Dunkin' Donuts now has an app, which unfortunately enough, does not produce doughnuts for users on command (not even holograms!). It does, however, allow iPhone and Android users to pay from their phones and send gift cards to friends. [NRN]

• Childhood friends Terence McNicholas and Jared Adler have opened a Rockaways food truck near Jamaica Bay — the Fisherman's Dog — which specializes in "down and dirty food," like a fried fish hot dog with lemon-dill aïoli and a hot dog topped with peanut butter and bacon. [NYDN]

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What to Eat at Sugar and Plumm, Now Serving Savories and Pastries on the UWS

By Jenny Miller
View Slideshow

The newest addition to the Upper West Side's dining scene is Sugar & Plumm, which opened last night with a menu of pastries by Pichet Ong (Spot Dessert Bar), plus savories on the comfort-food end cooked by chef Steven Ferdinand. Think savory crepes, house-smoked salmon, waffles with pulled pork, and a "hot dog built for two." On the sweet end: airy macarons and other delicacies, all of it served in a clean, bright space for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Scope it all out in our slideshow, straight ahead.

See the menu. »

Looks Like Recette’s Jesse Schenker May Try On Flatiron for Size

By Hugh Merwin

Recette's dining room.

The agenda for Community Board 5's meeting on August 29 lists Recette chef and co-owner Jesse Schenker, who is seeking a new, on-premises liquor license for 28 West 20th Street in Flatiron. The name of the proposed restaurant, according to the schedule, is the Goose, and its address is a six-story landmarked building in the Ladies' Mile Historic District, most recently home to a lounge called Embassy. We'll keep you posted on any details as we hear them; it is almost cassoulet season, after all. We're hoping it's that kind of goose, anyway — if Pork Slope is loosely based on Roadhouse, a brasserie with hints of Top Gun and F-14s can't be too far behind. [Community Board 5]

Ron Burkle Nemesis Gets Soho House Boot

A man suing supermarket gazillionairre Rob Burkle has not-so-coincidentally been kicked out of the Soho House — which Burkle owns. Allegedly the two events are not related, and the guy's membership has been revoked because he's not "creative." [Page Six/NYP]

Biang’s Jason Wang Shares His Flushing Favorites

By Jenny Miller

Even bánh mì makes the list.

Speaking of Asian noodles, Serious Eats accompanies Biang and Xi'an Famous Foods's twentysomething impresario Jason Wang on a tour of his favorite Flushing haunts. For once it's not the same old dollar duck buns (not that those aren't delicious). Wang takes SE to scarf his favorite giant plate of dumplings in the Flushing Mall, scores a $6 pork-and-rice lunch special, slurps some lamb noodle soup, and even hits up a Vietnamese joint for bánh mì and roast duck. [Serious Eats NY]

Local Purveyors and Pickled Marrow for Tavern on the Green

By Hugh Merwin

Now with a 21st-century menu.

After Diner's Journal reported yesterday that the next twenty-year license to operate Tavern on the Green had been awarded to the operators of Philadelphia's Beau Monde, one of the first comments was, "I hope the food is good." The site has updated its post with a sample menu by chef Katy Sparks, and it looks like that filmy veil of primavera will be lifted from the historic restaurant once and for all when it reopens in the fall of 2013. We've got some rib eye with pickled bone marrow, leeks, and romesco over here; fresh sardines with lemon and sumac there, on the plancha. The Meat Hook will supply the chorizo spiking those shrimp and grits, and who's that wheeling out the chocolate torte with burnt orange ice cream? OMG, the Mast Brothers! [Diner's Journal/NYT, Earlier]

Heinz: Dip & Sued

By Jenny Miller

Causing all the fuss.

Chicago inventor Scott White, who patented something dubbed the "CondiCup," is suing Heinz over the brand's "Dip & Squeeze" packaging, claiming it rips off parts of his invention. Chiefly, White's condiment revolutionizer offers two different ways in — one for dipping, and one for "squirting or squeezing," according to patent documents. It does sound a bit suspicious, since the guy actually e-mailed his idea to Heinz a number of years ago and was invited to present his idea to executives ... who may or may not have ripped off parts of it. Can't really blame White for seeing red. [WSJ]

Jeremiah Tower Attached to Massive New Rochelle Food Hall Project

By Hugh Merwin

He doesn't mean to brag; he doesn't mean to boast.

Depending on whom you ask, Jeremiah Tower was either an immaculately dressed supporting player in those early goat-cheese-and-chioggia-beet salad days of seventies California Cuisine, or a visionary chef whose menus made Chez Panisse one of the most influential restaurants ever. Last seen writing books, playing This Old House, and eating tacos in Mexico, the chef is apparently now involved with a bid to open a restaurant and market complex at the Echo Bay Armory in New Rochelle, just a short trip away on the Metro-North. So, basically: Jeremiah Tower in New York!

They said it would never happen. »

Danny Meyer, Life Coach

"The night before I was due to take my final law exams I had this dawning realization that I didn't want to be a lawyer. I was out to dinner with my uncle, who said 'Life's too short to do anything you don't love.' The thing I'd always loved was restaurants." — ... And the rest is history, thank goodness. Danny Meyer gives the best advice, about everything. [Big Hospitality UK]

Ramadan Fasting in the Age of Chowhound

By Hugh Merwin
Watch Video

During the monthlong observance of Ramadan, which ends tomorrow evening, Muslims abstain from all food and drink, including water, from sunrise to sunset. The fast is meant to be meditative in a way, a streamlining of the soul, but it invariably affects those who love to eat. Rollo Romig writes in The New Yorker about a run-in with a jumbo cardboard cheese sandwich and an old and flirty Forum of the Twelve Caesars menu at the public library. Through it all, Romig is undeterred: "This is not a juice fast," he writes, "this is not giving up candy bars for Lent." Meanwhile, City Spoonful takes a look in the video below at how Islamic street-food vendors have been coping this hot summer with hot grills and full sun. Yassir Raouli of Rustic and Bistro Truck says he's used to it, even if that means having to work the galley kitchen inside his food truck all day long without hydration.

"Water is the main issue to me." »

A Balut-Eating Contest? Let the Barfing Begin!

By Jenny Miller

Blarrgh!

Considering that many people can barely stomach one of the embryonic-duck-egg delicacy that is balut, we're wondering how New York's first-ever balut-eating contest will go down. Maharlika's Nicole Ponseca (who definitely made a balut face in this video) is organizing the showdown, which so far has eight participants, GMA News reports. The contest happens August 25 at DeKalb Market, and you can still sign up to play until the 23rd. Somebody call the Gastronauts! [GMA News]

Pok Pok Wing Will Become Pok Pok Phat Thai

By Hugh Merwin

Changes on the LES.Photo: Jenny Miller

Andy Ricker will close the closet-size Pok Pok Wing on Sunday and reopen the space, after some minor renovations, as Pok Pok Phat Thai, Diner's Journal reports. The new menu will consist of pork, prawn, vegan, and prawns and pork varieties of phat Thai, all of which (except the vegan option) will be stir-fried in rendered pork fat (there's no chicken version, since chicken is for "tourists," Ricker tells DJ.) After next week, the popular fish sauce and garlic-marinated fried chicken wings will only be available at Pok Pok Ny on Columbia Street, in Brooklyn.

There's just too little space to do wings. »

Diners, Drive-ins, and Your iPhone

By Jenny Miller

The app in action.

If you're the type who drives hundreds of miles to bombard visit the restaurants shouted out by favorite Food Networks stars, a new app could make life easier. FN's On the Road, now available for free at the iTunes store, lets you sort by show, chef, or cuisine, for those times when you just want to hit some diners and drive-ins, or maybe have a $40 food day. [TUAW]

Jen Aniston Gets Engaged at Blue Hill; R Patz Copes at PH-D

By Sarah Lawson

Wedding bells for Jen at last!Photo: Kevin Winter/2012 Getty Images

This week, Olympic stars made their way back over the pond from the Summer Games, and New York's nightlife scene was decidedly Olympic-tinged. The Fab Five showed up at the Yard, Cullen Jones went on a bender that included Goldbar, and King Lebron James & Co. partied at Del Posto and Avenue in a New York romp fit for champions. In other news, Robert Pattinson held back tears of grief during a whirlwind New York tour that included a mo(u)rning TV appearance, a screening, and an after-party for his new film Cosmopolis at PH-D. Oh, and Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux got engaged at Blue Hill. All this and more hard-hitting news in our weekly roundup of celebrity dining, straight ahead.

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Five Guys Closes in Cobble Hill

By Hugh Merwin

This is what happens when you take too many free napkins.

Burger joints are like hydras, you know, one closes, squirts a mess of ketchup, then five others open up and start melting cheese in the same hood. Except, it seems, in Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, where JB's Burger and Dubuque have closed in the past year, and let's never forget the brief and wondrous life of Vinzee's Magic Fountain. Five Guys at 266 Court Street is now closed as well, with a sign in the window directing the hungry to the chain's Montague Street location. With Mooburger and Burger on Smith both nearby with griddles at the ready, and Root Hill Burger opening next month, there's no borough burger shortage, but seriously, a Five Guys closing? Oh my dayum. [Related, Earlier]

Action Bronson Eats Blowfish at Morimoto, Pot-Infused Branzino at Home

By Vanita Salisbury

"I've been experimenting a lot with cooking weed."Photo: Roger Kisby/Getty Images

Rick Ross might be the most profilic food rapper right now, but Action Bronson is close. In fact, the Queens rapper started out in the food biz, as the son of a restaurateur and with an education from the New York City Art Institute's culinary program. Now, with his album Dr. Lecter earning him comparisons to Ghostface Killah and news this week that Bronson signed with Warner Brothers imprint VICE Records, the music business is treating him well, but Bronson still sees himself opening up a restaurant of his own, "a small exclusive joint with ten seats or so, where people can enjoy what I give them and that's that." Until then, you can check him out next Thursday when he headlines a free Converse Rubber Tracks show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. But first, read about pit-roasted goat, weed-infused vinaigrette, and a weekend trip to Chuck E. Cheese's in this week's New York Diet.

"Weed for breakfast, and strictly weed." »

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