Posts for January 7, 2013 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for January 7, 2013

1/7/13 at 5:55 PM
Leftovers
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Salvation Taco Launches Happy Hour; Whole Hog Dinner at Louro

• Salvation Taco debuts a weekday happy hour tonight. Three al pastor tacos (made with spit-roasted pork and pineapple) and a can of Modelo are just $10 Monday through Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. [Grub Street]

• Cocktails are half price and draft beers are $5 during happy hour at the new Windsor at Gansevoort Park, Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. [Grub Street]

• David Burke Kitchen and Robert Mondavi Winery are teaming up for a tasting dinner on January 14. Robert Mondavi wine will accompany four courses prepared by Chris Shea, pastry chef Zac Young, and David Burke himself that include aged sirloin and prosciutto-wrapped quail eggs and legs. The dinner is $100 per person. [Grub Street]

1/7/13 at 5:45 PM
Openings
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The Royal, an ‘Upscale Sports Restaurant and Lounge,’ Opens Today

Speaking of restaurants that have 43 television sets, the Royal soft-opened last week at 127 Fourth Avenue. Press materials describe the new place, which strangely also has 43 flat-screen LED TVs, as an "upscale sports restaurant and lounge." Daniel Parilla, who is currently sous chef at Minetta Tavern but also cooked at 5 Ninth and consulted at Jeepney, has written a menu that includes a grilled cheese made with mozzarella, brie, and Serrano ham; also, a house burger and gluten-free mac and cheese. [The Royal, Earlier]

1/7/13 at 5:25 PM
Nog
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Drink Tom and Jerrys at Fort Defiance Tonight

Legends of bartending Robert Hess, Audrey Saunders, and St. John Frizell will converge tonight at Frizell's Fort Defiance in Red Hook to make (and serve) one last big batch of classic Tom and Jerrys to the drinking public starting at 11 p.m. Be there if (a) you just can't get enough eggnog, (b) You need closure to the 2012 holiday season, or (c) If you are thirsty. Oh, and hey, one last thing: The drinks will be free.

1/7/13 at 4:55 PM
Missing
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Canadian Chef Jonathan Gushue Is Missing

By Hugh Merwin

Gushue, at the restaurant.Photo: Courtesy Langdon Hall

The 41-year-old executive chef of the Langdon Hall Country House Hotel and Spa in Cambridge, Ontario, has been missing for more than a week, police say, and they're turning to the public for help in locating him. Jonathan Gushue was last seen on New Year's Eve in downtown Toronto. Authorities tell the Waterloo Record that the chef, who is five foot ten and 180 pounds with short, dark hair and blue eyes, may be using the surname Herder, which is actually his middle name.

Last seen one week ago.

1/7/13 at 4:35 PM
Feuds
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Mark Bittman Calls Out Beyoncé for Hawking Soda

By Sierra Tishgart

Drink soda and you'll look like this, kids.

In his latest op-ed for the Times, Bittman criticizes Queen B for partnering with Pepsi. As part of her $50 million, multiyear deal with the company, she'll shake and shimmy her toned bod at the upcoming Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show. Making soda look sexy is probably more harmful to kids than seeing a nipple. Though Beyoncé's surely not the only celebrity promoting sugary drinks (LeBron, Madonna, and Sir Elton have all done the same), she's one of the more hypocritical ones: Jay and B, the '03 Bonnie and Clyde, also support Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" public health campaign to encourage exercise. Bittman makes a strong argument. By comparing soda to tobacco, Bittman wants to shift public opinion, stop product placement on shows like American Idol, and push "top moneymakers" to carefully consider their endorsements. But it's doubtful that anyone will change their ways out of moral consciousness, especially when they're literally shaking their moneymakers in front of 110 million Super Bowl viewers. [NYT]

1/7/13 at 4:25 PM on Grub Street SF
Sushi Extra
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Massive Bluefin Tuna Sells for $1.76 Million at Tokyo Auction

By Jay Barmann

Saturday was the first tuna auction of the year at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, and a single, 489-pound bluefin tuna sold to a sushi restaurant magnate for a staggering 155 million yen — that would be $1.76 million, or $3,600 per pound. The buyer, as multiple outlets have reported, was Kiyoshi Kimura, owner of the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain; and some customers at one of his restaurants Saturday night got to sample slices of the prized, gargantuan fish.

1/7/13 at 2:55 PM
The Impossible Dream
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NYC Man Will Visit Every Manhattan Starbucks

His friends probably warned him against the idea, but a self-professed "Starbucks-addict" has embarked on a quixotic mission to visit — and blog meaningfully about — every Starbucks store in Manhattan during the next twelve months. "It is my theory that Starbucks can serve as a guide to the neighborhoods of Manhattan," writes John McCourt, "with each store a reflection of its surroundings." Go wish him luck, or point out those are actually foamy windmills in his latte art, right over here. [NYCStarbucks]

1/7/13 at 2:25 PM
Video Feed
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Singer of Chili’s Baby Back Ribs Jingle Remembered on Best Funeral Ever

By Sierra Tishgart

TLC's new reality show Best Funeral Ever chronicles extravagant services for the dearly departed. They're more like grotesque celebrations of death (did nobody take The Hunger Games seriously?). One of the episodes features the barbecue-themed funeral of Willie McCoy, the voice of the catchiest jingle ever. There's a fountain of sauce, ribs to feed the mourners, and live pigs. And his coffin looks like a smoker.

A sneak peek ahead, if you can stomach it.

1/7/13 at 1:55 PM
Openings
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Coming Soon to Astoria: A Really Big Restaurant With a Lot of Televisions

By Hugh Merwin

The neon has been replaced with flat-screen TVs.

A weird kind of symmetry seems to affect old OTBs and Salvation Army locations that have been converted into restaurants. To wit: A Manhattan Salvation Army became the dainty Salvation Taco, and an old OTB parlor in Williamsburg is renovated to include escargot and classic cocktails. Meanwhile, the old Salvation Army on Steinway Street in Astoria became a mammoth beer and burgers bar with 57 televisions, and now, the old OTB down the road will reopen as the Sweet Spot, a 7,000-square-foot sports "bar, restaurant, and lounge" with 43 TVs spread out across two floors, DNAinfo reports.

'Downton Abbey' in ultra-HD.

1/7/13 at 1:25 PM on Grub Street Chicago
Slideshow
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Slideshow: See Christina Tosi and Other Top Pastry Chefs at the Trenchermen

By Michael Gebert

It wasn't billed as an international pastry-chef summit, but that's what we'd call it when a place that doesn't even have a pastry chef, per se, manages to attract stars such as Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar in New York, Rosio Sanchez of Noma in Copenhagen, and Dana Cree of Blackbird in Chicago to hang out for a night. The event was called Killing Me Sweetly, held for charity at the Trenchermen. In keeping with chef-owners' Mike and Pat Sheerin's own inclinations to blur the lines between savory and sweet, each of the star pastry chefs (plus an up-and-comer of their choice to assist) was invited to collaborate on both a sweet and a savory course. Which means this is your chance to see what dessert stars like Tosi do with something better suited to a dash of mustard than a dollop of whipped cream. Our man Huge Galdones was there last Thursday night; here's what he saw.

1/7/13 at 1:00 PM on Grub Street Boston
The Help
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Queen Elizabeth Needs a New Dishwasher

By Kara Baskin

Dust off your résumé: The Queen of England is advertising for a catering assistant. Sounds like a cool gig at first blush. Posh surroundings! Face time with Kate Middleton! Maybe a few pints with Harry! Really, the only down side is that the palace pays rather hideously. According to an ad placed by the Official Website of the British Monarchy, the royals need someone to "maintain the cleanliness of the staff restaurant." The General Catering Assistant must possess the usual qualifications — punctuality, reliability, willingness to travel to various other palaces across the rolling British countryside — and the chosen applicant mustn't require much money. LondonNet points out that the £14,200 salary (about $23,000) for what basically appears to be a dishwashing job works out to a meager £6.83 an hour, which is less than the London living wage of £8.55 an hour. Of course, the palace does throw in "accommodation," which softens the blow a little. And who can blame the Queen for budgeting a bit? She has to pay someone to pre-wear her shoes, after all. [Telegraph UK, British Monarchy Official Site, LondonNet, Earlier]

1/7/13 at 12:55 PM
Opening Soon
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Head Chef of Noma to Open Restaurant in Copenhagen

By Sierra Tishgart

Bye-bye.

Matt Orlando, the head chef at Noma for over two years, is leaving to open his own place along Copenhagen's harbor. Amass, which is scheduled to debut on July 1, will be more casual than Noma, and it won't serve up Nordic food. The restaurant will have a chef's garden, communal table, and fare influenced by Orlando's American heritage. This could mean the greatest short ribs on earth. [Politiken via Eater]

1/7/13 at 12:20 PM
Word Vomit
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Eddie Huang’s Not Good at Making Friends

By Sierra Tishgart

Oh, Eddie.

No stranger to controversy, Eddie Huang's at it again with the word vomit. (Remember that time he announced he smoked weed in his restaurant? Yeah.) Sassy Huang isn't afraid to offend his industry peers, and he's made some interesting friends and foes as a result. Marcus Samuelsson: Foe. Guy Fieri: Friend. And now, Danny Bowien: Foe (but Michael White and Sam Sifton: Friends!). The Baohaus chef sat down with The Wall Street Journal and said a lot of controversial things, including that he's bothered by the success of Danny Bowien. Consider this the start of his uncensored press tour: His first book, Fresh off the Boat: A Memoir, comes out this month. We've picked out the oh-no-he-didn't quotes from the profile for your entertainment.

"People in the industry don't like me."

1/7/13 at 11:45 AM on Grub Street Boston
Studies
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New Study: Binge Eaters Combine Strange Foods, Then Hate Themselves

By Kara Baskin

Okay, so maybe Taco Bell is onto something with those Doritos tacos. According to a new study from the University of Alabama, the growing practice of secretive "food concocting" — that is, mixing gross shit with other gross shit and eating it — is common among binge eaters. The study, soon to appear in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, states that bingers often secretly create "concoctions" like frozen vegetables mixed with mayonnaise and mashed potatoes layered with Oreo cookies, then feel shame and "disgust."

1/7/13 at 11:20 AM
Kids These Days
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A Brief History of Milkshake-Related Mayhem

By Christi Warren

Not always as delicious as you might think.Photo: Lew Robertson/Corbis

The other week, after her parents imposed a like, totally life-ruining 10 p.m. Internet curfew, a Sacramento teen decided there was only one thing left to do: Drug her parents by slipping a friend's prescription sleep medicine into milkshakes. Chocolate and vanilla, to be exact, though the parents only drank about half of each because the drinks tasted crunchy and bad. These unassuming folks weren’t the first, however, to be duped by the seemingly sweet treats. Here’s a look at other frozen-dairy-product-related crime throughout the century, broken down by flavor.

It's actually really sad.

1/7/13 at 10:50 AM
Dollar Menu
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Man Arrested After Revisiting McDonald’s He Had Robbed

By Hugh Merwin

"They always return to the scene of the crime."

Somewhere, the Hamburglar is taking a short break from dollar menu reverie to face-palm: A man who robbed a McDonald's restaurant in Pontiac, Michigan, last October 5 returned to the same restaurant this past Saturday, three months after the crime was committed. An employee recognized him while he was in the drive-through and called the cops, who arrested him. It's one thing that the guy was stupid enough to return to the scene, but another that employees at the suburban Detroit McDonald's recognized him. Who says fast-food workers don't pay enough attention on the job? [AP]

1/7/13 at 10:15 AM
Openings
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Harlem Jazz Mecca Minton’s Playhouse Is Coming Back

By Hugh Merwin

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis played here.

Encouraging-sounding new plans are in the works to revive once-great jazz landmark Minton's Playhouse on 118th Street in Harlem, the Times reports. Richard D. Parsons, a successful businessman who is also a lifelong jazz lover (“I took my senior prom date to a place called the Hickory House, and we heard Billy Taylor," he says) is overseeing construction, has applied for a liquor license, and says he will reopen Minton's in June with the help of chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur Alexander Smalls. The restaurant and jazz venue will open simultaneously with the Cecil, around the corner on St. Nicholas Avenue, which will share the same kitchen. The restaurant is named for the former hotel at 210 West 118th Street and will be a "lighter, noisier Afro-Asian-American brasserie," the Times reports, "celebrating foods from the African diaspora."

The home of bebop.

1/7/13 at 09:25 AM
Openings
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What to Eat at Café Tallulah, Bringing Raw Bar and Rye Cocktails to the UWS

By Beth Landman

The chef worked at wd~50 and the cocktail list was written by Employees Only's Dushan Zaric.Photo: Courtesy Café Tallulah

We tipped you off a while back that Amsterdam Billiards owner Greg Hunt had taken the space at 240 Columbus Avenue with plans to open an "Elaine's-style" restaurant and cocktail lounge called Café Tallulah. The restaurant opens tonight with Roxanne Spruance — who was a sous-chef at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and chef de partie at wd~50 — in the kitchen, cooking a menu of modern bistro food. There is vacherin, port salute, and black truffle in the langoustine risotto, for example, and garnishes for the big plat de mer include yuzu-cilanto granita and sriracha "caviar." In the front-of-house, Employees Only co-owner Dushan Zaric oversees the aperitifs and cocktail list, including the "Tallulah," made with Rittenhouse rye, orange Curacao, vermouth, and a flamed orange peel. "Our opening was really held up because the landlord was doing construction on the building at the same time," Hunt tells Grub Street, adding, "the process of finding a chef was very lengthy — we met with more than 50 qualified chefs." Check out the menus, just ahead.

The bistro-focused menu.

1/7/13 at 09:00 AM
Eat Well
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Eat Well: Beets, Scallops, and Couscous

By Kate Lowenstein

Eat your beets.Photo: Harry Bischof/Corbis

If you haven't noticed, it's getting damn cold outside. This kind of weather makes you crave stick-to-your-bones comfort food, and that's exactly what you should eat. There are restaurants around that serve this kind of fare, with the added bonus of health benefits. This week, that means a grass-fed burger at James (which is tucked inside a cozy Prospect Heights brownstone), scallops at the recently reopened the Good Fork, and roasted squash at Home.

A beet-and-frisee salad and more ahead.