Posts for December 18, 2012

A Funny Tasting at City Winery; SantaCon Made Locals’ Naughty Lists

• Basque restaurant Txikito is celebrating Santo Tomás with salt cod croquettes and sausages with tortillas made from cornmeal imported from Spain. Warm up with a cup of consommé and start from there. [Grub Street]

• Comedian and sommelier Laurie Forster will host Something to Wine About at City Winery on January 9. A $45 ticket buys six wine tastings and light fare. [Grub Street]

• Francois Payard Patisserie launched a happy-hour deal last week at its new UES flagship: order a wine cocktail and receive a complimentary croque monsieur. Daily, 5 to 8 p.m. [Grub Street]

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Atera Launching Guest Chef Dinner Series in January

By Sierra Tishgart

Good at sharing his kitchen, apparently.

Fresh off the opening of its swanky downstairs cocktail bar, Atera will begin a guest dinner series next month. Chef Matthew Lightner's going to share his kitchen with David Toutain (formerly of L'Agapé Substance) and Rafael Costa e Silva (Mugaritz in Spain) for a two-part dinner series. First up is Toutain from January 16 to 19, and then Costa e Silva from the 23rd to 26th. Each meal is $185 per head (not too much more than what the restaurant typically charges, and 10 percent of proceeds will go toward Sandy relief). There are two seatings per night at 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. E-mail info@ateranyc.com or call 212-226-1444 for reservations.

Busted: Brunello Vandal Caught; Maple Syrup Bandits Apprehended

By Hugh Merwin

Police in Italy have arrested a suspect in connection with a shocking act of vandalism that destroyed 62,600 liters of producer Gianfranco Soldera's Brunello. The 39-year-old Andrea Di Gisi is a disgruntled former employee, they say, and police are testing his wine-stained jeans to see if they're a match to Soldera's product. Meanwhile, Canadian police announced they've arrested three men in conjunction with the theft of an enormous amount of maple syrup — possibly $30 million worth of stuff — from a Quebec warehouse last August. Authorities are now concerned that the perpetrators actually intended to be caught and arrested so they could end up in jail together. They now suspect this is all part of an elaborate plan to contaminate the world's supply of Brunello with Canadian maple syrup. [Decanted, AP, Earlier]

Watch Aziz Ansari Go On a Po’ Boy Crawl

By Sierra Tishgart
Watch Video

While on tour in New Orleans, the comedian tried a shrimp po' boy at Domilise’s, then chased it with a fried oyster and shrimp variation at Verti Marte. Not the first time we've seen Ansari wolf down sandwiches on-camera; the man can eat. His opening act, Chelsea Peretti, came along for the ride.

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Where to Find Ten Great Eggnog-Flavored Things That Aren’t Actually Eggnog

By Sierra Tishgart

Of course there are eggnog cupcakes here and elsewhere.Photo: Jed Egan

Grub Street's stance on eggnog is that you should stay away if its pedigree is in any way questionable. When it's good, it's really good. But in the wrong hands, the mix of egg yolks, sugar, milk, cream, and nutmeg (and hopefully rum, brandy, or bourbon) can be cloying and heavy. As Christmas gets closer, don't chance it on the real thing. There are a few local places that are turning the spiced flavor into what it really should be: straight-up dessert. We've rounded up some of our favorite eggnog-flavored sweets in the city.

Some eggnog waffles, perhaps? »

Lure Fishbar Is Opening in Miami

By Hugh Merwin

The original NYC location.

John McDonald, Josh Pickard, and Josh Capon will open an outpost of their eight-year-old restaurant Lure Fishbar next year at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Last year, Grub Street reported that McDonald and his partners were looking at potential spaces to open another Lure, and today a rep confirms that the trio has partnered with Loews Hotels Chairman Jonathan M. Tisch and is already hard at work on the new restaurant with plans to open in 2013. We'll keep you up to date with new details as we hear about them. [Earlier]

Shaquille O’Neal Is Making ‘Luv Shaq’ Vodka

Because the world was just crying out for another novelty vodka, the company that teamed up with Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino to bring that ill-fated casein-fortified vodka to the clubs is now developing a new variety with Shaquille O’Neal called "Luv Shaq." The Post reports that the new vodka will not contain gluten or sugar, two things no one should ever anticipate to be in their vodka anyhow. O'Neal's new beverage will be coconut-flavored, easy to drink, and seems ready-made for novelty signature cocktails, but just watch out: Some Sex on the Beach, after all, can now lead to a drink called a Luv Shaq Baby, or worse, a Luv Shaq on the rocks. [NYP, Earlier]

Saveur Editor James Oseland’s Husband Cannot Get a Green Card

Saveur editor-in-chief James Oseland's husband, Daniel, who is from Brazil, writes about the complications that have resulted from their marriage and DOMA, the law that prevents the federal government from recognizing the legitimacy of their relationship. Daniel cannot even get a green card because of the way the law is written. Their story is a thoughtful, heartbreaking read. [DOMA Project, Earlier]

Go Westy, Young Man: Chasing the Beer Nerds’ White Whale

By Clint Rainey

The only.Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Last Wednesday, Pat Johnson went directly to the Top Hops beer shop on the Lower East Side at 9 a.m. after his overnight cab shift. When Top Hops’ owner Ted Kenny arrived at ten, he felt so bad for Johnson that he gave him a chair. Soon others joined him, and a long line formed. By 1 p.m., it stretched beyond Shake Shack lengths and into Depression-era breadline territory. At one point, a passerby stopped to ask just what was going on. The group was there to buy beer, someone in line said. The passerby looked incredulous. But it wasn’t just any beer. The group was waiting to buy Westvleteren XII, a beer many consider the world’s best and also quite possibly the rarest.

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The Rainbow Room Is Really, Truly Landmarked Now

By Hugh Merwin

Landmarks Preservation voted unanimously in October to grant the interior of the iconic Rainbow Room landmark status, meaning that every last bit of the Art Deco restaurant's interior design, including its fixtures, must be preserved. The Rainbow Room closed in 2009, and the search for a new operator has been delayed at times by the Landmarks Preservation approval process. There's no excuse now that the City Council has voted to approve the Rockefeller Center restaurant's landmark bid, and the Post says that landlord Tishman Speyer is searching for a restaurateur to revive the Rainbow Room. Great. What time are martinis? [NYP, Earlier]

Watch Pro Wakeskaters Ride a Cranberry Bog

By Sierra Tishgart
Watch Video

Red Bull invited two professional wakeskaters — they're like wakeboarders but more hard-core since they're not bound to the board in any way — to travel to Wisconsin and surf a cranberry-covered bog. It's part of the energy drink's video series about extreme, winch-powered sports, which by definition is almost too marketing-driven to actually be extreme. But still, the video is great.

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José Andrés Really Thinks You Should Learn More About Spanish Food

The lauded chef and newly appointed dean at the International Culinary Center wants you to know Spanish food isn't all just tapas and boquerones. The school has announced that — in partnership with Campofrio Food Group, the entrepreneur Sam Nazarian, and the chef's own Think Food Group — José Andrés is offering three generous scholarships for its inaugural Spanish food program. Students cap off ten weeks in the classroom with a weeklong trip through Spain with Andrés himself to meet the country's finest food producers. Wanna make some Cabrales? The deadline to apply is January 11; all the details are here. [ICC, Earlier]

Instagram Now Owns All of Your Food Porn

By Hugh Merwin

Why won't someone think of the truffles?Photo: Everett Bogue

Come January 16, you will no longer own all of those quasi-tilt-shift sirloin-steak photos, washed-out croquembouches, and artfully blurry Thumbelina carrot snaps you took on your phone. It turns out that Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, is changing its user policy so that it can use all public photos taken with the app at any time, for any reason it wants to. The good news is that your cake pops may soon be in Everyday With Rachael Ray, but the bad news is that no one will pay you for that and your career as a cake-pop photographer will never take off.

Why is this happening? »

Directors Guild of America Has Party at West Village Gun Club, Nixes Guns

The Directors Guild of America held its New York office party last night at the members-only Tiro e Segno on MacDougal Street in the West Village. The 124-year-old social club serves food and alcohol, but it also has a shooting range in its basement, where guests are typically invited to fire off a few pre-dessert rounds (it's a favorite of chef Mario Carbone, who told us the club has strict rules). The idea of a bunch of movie types having a party and shooting guns isn't an image the organization wanted to promulgate less than a week after the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School. "Out of sensitivity to the tragedy in Newtown," a source from the organization told Deadline Hollywood, adding that the event was booked in October, "no one will be using the range." [Deadline, Related]

Adorable Kid Convinces Hasbro to Make Gender-Neutral Easy-Bake Oven

By Hugh Merwin

Coming soon in silver and black.

Crisis averted: That New Jersey teen who started a petition beseeching Hasbro to manufacture and market a more unisex Easy-Bake Oven met with executives from the toy company, who told her that a redesigned silver-and-black model is in development and will debut at the New York Toy Show in February. McKenna Pope, who is 13, felt bad for her little brother, who'd asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas but feared the social repercussions and stigma of turning out brownies with a girly-swirly purple-and-pink toy in the company of his macho, bench-pressing 4-year-old friends. Pope's petition elicited support from 40,000 concerned citizens, Bobby Flay, dozens of other chefs from around the country, and lots of reporters from the predictable array of tabloid news programs. [ABC, Earlier]

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