Posts for December 12, 2012 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for December 12, 2012

12/12/12 at 6:05 PM
Leftovers
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Bridge Café Struggles to Reopen; Casa Nonna Serves Up a Traditional Italian Christmas Eve

• The Bridge Café, believed to be New York's longest continually operated drinking establishment, has struggled to reopen in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs, and its 22-person staff has been out of work since the storm. [Diner's Journal/NYT]

• Ex-employees from La Fogata in Bushwick are suing the restaurant for allegedly withholding pay and forcing the waitresses to drink with customers after-hours. As you might guess, the restaurant's owners deny any wrongdoing. [NYDN]

• Casa Nonna is hosting a traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve dinner on the 24th: They will serve a four-course seafood-driven menu for $49 a person. [Grub Street]

12/12/12 at 5:30 PM
Lawsuits
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Man Laid Off From Pink-Slime-Producing Company Sues ABC, Jamie Oliver

By Alan Sytsma

Oliver.Photo: Getty Images

Back in September, South Dakota's Beef Products, Inc. sued ABC News for defamation, claiming investigative pieces on "pink slime" made by the company crushed demand for the product and forced BPI to close three-quarters of its plants and lay off more than 700 workers. Now one of those laid-off workers, Bruce Smith, is also suing a group of people including ABC News, anti-pink-slime-crusader Jamie Oliver, and school-lunch blogger Bettina Siegel (who says on her blog that she hasn't yet been served with the suit). Smith is seeking $70,000 damages, a number he tells the Daily Mail is low enough to keep the case from going to federal court: "I want the people I have sued. I want them here in the locality where the damage is done," he says. "And if that means not suing for everything I can, so be it." [Daily Mail UK, Earlier]

12/12/12 at 4:50 PM
Welcome!
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Say Hi to Sierra Tishgart, Grub Street’s New Assistant Editor

By Alan Sytsma

As of this week, Grub Street's masthead has a new addition: Sierra Tishgart. What you need to know about Sierra: She's originally from Philly ("Team Jim's" for cheesesteaks), her family once built its own wood-fired-pizza oven, she loves octopus and oysters but hates cupcakes, and if you've ever had "the Sierra" Brussels sprout dish at Cómodo, it was named after her. Say hi in the comments, or send an e-mail here.

12/12/12 at 4:30 PM on Grub Street SF
The Chain Gang
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Income Disparity Between Fast-Food Workers and Executives Keeps Growing

By Jay Barmann

Billions served, millions of employees screwed.

Bloomberg brings us a frown-inducing story today about the income disparity between fast-food workers — like one McDonald's employee in Chicago named Tyree Johnson who works at two restaurants, still can't get 40 hours a week, and makes $8.25 an hour despite having been a loyal employee for twenty years — and recent former CEO Jim Skinner, who made $8.75 million last year. As they point out, depressingly, it would take Tyree Johnson working a million hours, or a hundred years, to make what Skinner makes. Worse: That's totally indicative of the growing wage gap between the one-percenters and everyone else.

12/12/12 at 4:00 PM
Community Boards
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It’s a No for Second Bar at Café Select

Community Board 2's SLA committee rejected Café Select co-owner Oliver Stumm's application to turn a service bar into a liquor-serving stand-up bar. The vote followed protests from Nolita locals, including Georgette Fleischer, who described the popular spot as "very destructive to the neighborhood." Stumm said the move was just an effort to better serve dining-room customers, but Fleischer claimed Café Select was already disturbing residents with crowds, "loud noise and long hours" lasting until dawn, saying another bar would add to the problems. Opponents claimed that Select's back room and cellar were operating illegally as a party venue, but Stumm's lawyer denied that allegation, pointing out that the cellar spot was so small and had such a low ceiling that "you'd have to stoop to get into it."

12/12/12 at 3:15 PM
Sandwiches
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George Mendes Makes a Sandy-Benefiting ‘Surf-and-Turf’ Sandwich for No. 7 Sub

By Sierra Tishgart

The sandwich is at the Ace Hotel until Saturday.Photo: Rory Gunderson

Ready for another pork sandwich? George Mendes is the next celebrity chef to create a limited-edition sandwich for No. 7 Sub to help Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. It's tough to top Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who last week made a crunchy chicken sandwich with Asian pear, shiso, and bibimbap mayo. But Mendes’s has pork belly. No. 7 Sub co-owner Tyler Kord says Mendes was actually the first chef he approached for this series of collaborations because “Who the hell has ever gotten to eat a George Mendes sandwich?”

Now you can.

12/12/12 at 2:20 PM
Pizza Huts
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John’s of Bleecker Closed by the DOH, Lucali Closer to Reopening

By Alan Sytsma

Lucali's Mark Iacono.

Per Robert Sietsema, the health department shut down John's Pizzeria on Bleecker for currently undisclosed health code violations (the most recent inspection isn't on the official DOH site, but a November 15 inspection turned up unwashed food surfaces, flies, and the ever-unpopular "Cold food item held above 41º F.") But when God turns off one New York pizza oven, he evidently fires up another: Eater hears that Lucali, recently closed for renovations, was up and running last night for what they're dubbing a "soft reopening," which is great, if unexpected, news considering Lucali owner Mark Iacono said in November that the pizzeria could be closed for much, much longer. [Fork in the Road/VV, Eater NY]

12/12/12 at 1:50 PM on Grub Street Boston
Studies
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Dum Dums: Soda and Candy ‘May Reduce Brain Function’

By Kara Baskin

Put down those Christmas cookies immediately: New research from UCLA concludes that consuming soda, candy, and sugary snacks for just six weeks could render you dumb, reports CBS. Apparently, in addition to causing things like obesity and diabetes, fructose slows cognitive functions, altering the "brain's ability to learn and remember information." This sounds like something we might have expected after, say, five eggnogs. But now Coke and Tootsie pops, too?

12/12/12 at 1:15 PM
Alarmists
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Will Climate Change Wipe Out the World’s Pasta?

By Alan Sytsma

Possibly, says Newsweek (a mag that probably knows a thing or two about being wiped out). In a way-long story called "The End of Pasta," this helpful bit of info appears: "Pasta is made from wheat, and a large, growing body of scientific studies and real-world observations suggest that wheat will be hit especially hard as temperatures rise and storms and drought intensify in the years ahead." Scary! But here's the thing: If climate change gets so bad that it destroys the world's wheat crop, spaghetti will be the least of our concerns, as we'll also be unable to produce things like, uh, bread. [Newsweek]

12/12/12 at 12:10 PM
Grub Guide
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Thirteen Spectacular Pork Sandwiches That Aren’t the McRib

By Grub Street

The McRib wishes it could be as good as Bark's crispy pork sandwich.Photo: Ryan Monaghan/New York Magazine

Hey, maybe you heard that McDonald's is once again rolling out its McRib sandwiches for a limited time only. It's true that people go crazy for this thing, but ick. We have a tough time abiding. Pork purée that's been molded into a strange rib facsimile and slathered with too-sugary (and way-too-red) barbecue sauce just isn't our idea of a great sandwich, especially in a town that's as pig-crazy as New York. In fact, this city is stuffed to the brim with juicy, fatty, makes-life-worth-living pork-and-carb excellence. Below is but a small sampling of our favorites. Check them out, then, as always, let us know what your favorites are, too.

12/12/12 at 11:40 AM
What to Drink
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What to Drink at Atera’s Downstairs Lounge

By Alan Sytsma

Last night, Atera opened its downstairs cocktail bar. Don't expect a big, boisterous bar scene though. The tiny twelve-seat spot is as subdued as the upstairs restaurant: There are only a couple of stools at the bar itself, and the rest of the seating is dark leather chairs and a sofa. As for the drinks: Check out the full menu below, but look for drinks concocted by chef Matthew Lightner like the Meyer Shrub, a lemon-vinegar-and-saison mixture infused with vanilla-y tonka beans; the Sour Sumac, which is like a pisco sour dusted with its namesake shrub; and the hot, hearty-sounding Old Fashioned ale, a combination of brandy, beer, cream, ginger, and egg yolks. No food, yet, but the the place should start doing cheese by the end of the week and bar snacks shortly thereafter. People looking to snag one of the seats should e-mail for a reservation.

Some drinks, and the space, straight ahead.

12/12/12 at 10:45 AM
Openings
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What to Eat at Salvation Taco, Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield’s Taqueria in the Pod 39 Hotel

By Hugh Merwin

Skirt steak with pecan and chipotle at left; caulifower and curry crema taco on the right.Photo: Victor Prado / New York Magazine

A taqueria isn't the most obvious next step for Spotted Pig, John Dory, and Breslin restaurateurs April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, yet here is Salvation Taco, a collaboration at the Pod 39, with input from Fonda chef Roberto Santibañez and bartender Sam Anderson, who also created the cocktail list served at the hotel's rooftop bar. The restaurant makes its own corn tortillas and naan, drafted here in the service of grilled skirt steak, confit chicken thigh, and Moroccan-spiced lamb tacos and tortas. If you're looking for something more traditionally nose-to-tail (read: Bloomfield-esque), don't worry — you can get a snack of crispy pig's ears here, too. The restaurant is open for lunch now, and dinner service starts next week.

Call it tacos without borders.

12/12/12 at 10:10 AM
The Other Critics
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The Other Critics: Pete Wells Loves Chinatown; Cheshes Slams the Beatrice Inn

By Max Thorn

Little Pepper Hot PotPhoto: Victor Prado/New York Magazine

This week, New York's Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfield took to Flushing for Little Pepper Hot Pot, and found it worthy of four stars. But where did the other critics dine this week? Read on to find out.

12/12/12 at 09:40 AM
Brrrr
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New York’s Upcoming Ice Bar Pushed Back Until Spring

By Alan Sytsma

The spot is famous for its nightly penguin-beheading ceremonies.

Way back in July, we told you about Minus5˚ Ice Bar, the all-frozen tourist haunt that will open in the Hilton hotel in midtown. At that time, the place was slated to open in November, but now the Times brings word that the spot won't open until the spring. In the meantime, New Yorkers looking to drink in sub-freezing conditions are advised to just wait until January and drink outside. [Diner's Journal/NYT, Earlier]

12/12/12 at 09:00 AM
White Chocolate
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Woman Uses Toblerone Bars to Smuggle Seven Pounds of Cocaine

By Alan Sytsma

Oops! A woman flying in from Trinidad was recently arrested at JFK after her duty-free bag was reportedly found to be full of cocaine-stuffed Toblerone bars. According to the Post, she had eight boxes full of "foil-wrapped, solid sticks of packed cocaine, as well as what looked like coke stuffed into other chocolate bars." [NYP]