Posts for January 15, 2013

Show Daniel Holzman Your (Meat)balls; Celebrate Burns Night at Highlands

• Looking to give grandma some competition at your next family dinner? Start studying with the Meatball Shop's free online classes via Skillshare. The syllabus promises that you'll learn the basics of "Balls n’ Sauce" in the form of two video lectures. Sign up and watch the lessons at your own pace, or meet with Daniel Holzman during office hours on January 30 at 7:30 p.m. [Grub Street]

• The Inauguration will be followed by an exclusive lunch, topped with locally produced Crown Maple Syrup. Newly reinstated leaders of the free world will be served hickory grilled bison with Crown Maple butternut squash puree, before moving onto dessert: apple pie, topped with sour cream ice cream, Crown Maple caramel sauce, aged cheese, honey, and Crown Maple sugar. [Grub Street]

• Sunday Winter Jazz Brunch has begun at Upstairs at the Kimberly Hotel. A three-piece jazz band will play while you eat brioche French toast every Sunday from noon to 3 pm until March 17. [Grub Street]

• Burns Night is an evening to celebrate the life and work of Scotland's National poet, Robert Burns. Highlands is honoring the occasion on January 24 with a $55 prix fixe menu with whiskey pairings for $35. There will be a poetry reading and bagpiper, of course. [Grub Street]

Anheuser-Busch Loses ‘Budweiser’ Trademark Court Battle

Anheuser-Busch InBev lost its battle to secure the trademark to the Budweiser name in Britain against Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar, a company that also makes a beer called Budweiser, reports Reuters. Anheuser-Busch is technically the older brewery, NPR reports, but because its hometown name of Ceske Budejovice translates to "Budweis" in German, the Czech brewers' claim extends to broader cultural territory. Plus, they registered their name in England a year before Anheuser-Busch. The two beer companies will now share the trademark in Great Britain and dueling Budweisers will be sold side by side, at least until one of them registers "Budweisest" as a trademark. [Reuters, NPR]

Next Month’s TEDxManhattan Is All About Food

By Hugh Merwin

Tama Matsuoka Wong.

Next month's TEDxManhattan conference, which is sold out but will be live-streamed on the Internet, features a diverse group of chefs, policy-makers, and hunter-gatherer activist types including Daniel forager Tama Matsuoka Wong and Back Forty chef Peter Hoffman, who'll speak on fracking and local food systems. Spring is coming; sustainable food is on the agenda, of course; and the future of your appetite is no doubt at stake. Here's a look at the full lineup.

Your dinner table on the line. »

It Sure Is Food Week at the Fox Is Black

Design site the Fox Is Black trains its stealthy sights on food this week. Predictably, there are a lot of pretty pictures and mind-blowing concepts therein. Behold a dozen Pantone-hued fruit tarts; a stop-motion mandala made from whole grains, peanuts, and kale; or marshmallows and carrot rounds dangling from mobiles. There's also a handbag made of broccoli florets. [Fox Is Black]

Free Pizza Today at Sbarro

The fast-casual pizza chain is giving away thousands of its new "Skinny Slices" today in an effort to promote the line, which is not only laden with mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, and cheese, but also comes in at a modest 270 c.p.s. (calories per slice). Hungry people need to print out a coupon (PDF) and then bring it to a participating location. [Gothamist]

Let’s Not Lose Totonno’s Pizzeria in Coney Island

By Hugh Merwin

The restaurant remains closed.

Slice has an update on Totonno's Pizzeria Napolitano in Coney Island, which was damaged heavily during Hurricane Sandy. Owners Louise "Cookie" Cimineri and Antoinette Balzano say they've paid out thousands of dollars to contractors who haven't followed through. In the meantime, the pizzeria hasn't been able to secure relief loans, in part because it is still repaying one it took out after the building caught fire in 2009. Balzano and Cimineri say that borough president Marty Markowitz has been "wonderfully helpful," but with lingering damage on Neptune Avenue, they're not sure if they'll be able to reopen if the loans do not come through. [Slice/Serious Eats, Earlier]

Black Truffles at Le Bernardin: As Good As Sex

"I worked there for my first job as a real cook coming up out of culinary school. That was the dish I cooked every single day; it was a part of my station ... It changed the course of everything in my life. That was like … I don't know how to describe it. It was my first fuck (laughs)." —Kogi BBQ truck co-founder and Los Angeles restaurateur Roy Choi, who got his start making black truffle ahi tuna at Le Bernardin. [First We Feast]

Miami-Based Colombian Chain Los Verdes Opens Thursday in Sunnyside

By Hugh Merwin

A press release from the Sunnyside Shines B.I.D. alerts us to the imminent opening of the truly awesome-sounding Los Verdes, a Miami-based "Colombian-style fast food" chain, at 46-26 Greenpoint Avenue. The restaurant serves insane things like the "perro verde," a double dog that arrives sauced and freighted with slaw, fried and crushed potatoes, and quail eggs. There's also the maicitos, which are corn kernels stewed with melted mozzarella, and this downright formidable snack basket, the salchipapa "con todo." Los Verdes, which also sells fresh juice, opens Thursday night at 9 p.m. and once it gets going, the restaurant will stay open until 3 a.m. on weekdays and 6 a.m. on the weekends. [Los Verdes]

In China, You Can Make Money for Reporting a Food-Safety-Law Violator

Want to earn a quick 300,000 yuan ($48,200)? China is giving out cash prizes to people who turn in food-safety-law violators. The most common offenses to look out for are fake eggs, chemical-laced milk, and cooking oil that's recycled from drains. But recently, KFC's parent company, Yum Brands Inc., got into big trouble because its chicken contained excess amounts of antiviral drugs and hormones used to accelerate growth. The Chinese government's now cracking down, and it knows the power of bribery. [Reuters]

Paul Liebrandt Opening New Restaurant, the Elm, in Williamsburg

By Alan Sytsma

Headed to Brooklyn.Photo: Mark Von Holden/Getty Images

Another high-profile chef is headed to Brooklyn: Per a press release that just hit Grub's in-box, Corton chef Paul Liebrandt will open the Elm in the King & Grove hotel this spring. Not much info beyond that, only that the restaurant will be "something different" from Corton (where Liebrandt will stay on as chef and partner) and the possibility of further expansion exists. We'll keep you posted as we learn more. In the meantime, the full release is straight ahead.

Read more »

Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Is Moving

By Hugh Merwin

We want a swingle.

The long-term anchor tenant of Red Hook's Sandy-battered Pier 41 Building is moving — but not very far. Come spring, Steve Tarpin and his wife Victoria Gomez will relocate into a combined production and retail space just 200 yards away, at Pier 40, DNAinfo reports. After the storm, Tarpin and Gomez launched a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money to recover from an estimated loss of $35,000. The new Steve's will be three times larger than its previous digs and is tentatively scheduled to open on April 1. During the move, the bakery, which is back in action with pies and chocolate "swingles" as of last month, will not cease production. [DNAinfo, GoFundMe, Earlier]

Francis Lam Joins Clarkson Potter As Editor-at-Large

Food writer and editor (and friend of Grub Street) Francis Lam has joined Pam Krauss at Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing division of Random House, as editor-at-large. Starting next month, the Gourmet and Salon veteran will begin seeking out new cookbooks and compelling narrative nonfiction. Lam was most recently the features editor at Gilt Taste and is a recurring judge on Top Chef Masters. We're excited about this one — head on over to Twitter and wish him well. [Related]

Here Is Coca-Cola’s First Anti-Obesity Ad, ‘Coming Together’ [Update: Bittman Weighs In]

By Sierra Tishgart
Watch Video

For the first time in history, Coca-Cola is acknowledging the perverse connection between soda and "the long-term health of our families" (corporate-speak for "pop makes you fat"). Now a new two-minute commercial makes the case that the company is a partner in our fight against obesity: Out of 650 Coca-Cola beverages, 180 are low- and no-calorie choices; portion-controlled sizes will be stocked in 90 percent of the country by the end of this year; beverage calories in schools are steadily reducing; Coke is working with scientists to find zero-calorie sweeteners, miracle berries, etc, etc. It's fine that Coca-Cola is addressing this issue head-on, but the safety of all those artificial sweetners is still questionable — low-cal or not.

No John Lennon? »

Woman Alleges ‘Large Rodent’ Bit Her at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill [Updated]

By Hugh Merwin

Is there a rogue rat in the club?

A Queens woman is suing B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in Times Square because she says "she was suddenly and [violently] bitten by a large rodent while seated in the patron seating area" after attending a Ray Charles tribute concert held at the venue in September of 2011. The Post reports that the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges the "giant rat" bit Andrea Veras's toe, causing bleeding and an infection that required seven days of antibiotics. According to her attorney, the wound has healed, but Veras, who is running for City Council, continues to feel the effects of “great physical pain, mental anguish, and expense." We're guessing she is probably no longer able to get through "What'd I Say" without wincing.

Update 1/17/13: A representative of B.B. King Blues Club & Grill emailed the following statement from owner Tsion Bensusan:

B.B. King’s has learned of Andrea Veras’ lawsuit. While the lawsuit is meritless and contains misrepresentations, omissions and inaccurate information, we take all lawsuits seriously and intend to vigorously defend B.B King’s. We look forward to presenting the facts to the Court. B.B. King’s has full confidence in our legal system and that we will prevail. It speaks volumes that Ms. Veras’ attorney went to B.B. King’s public relations firm requesting it to contact B.B. King’s regarding this matter or else he would go to the New York Post with the story. Needless to say, we do not bend to such conduct.
City Council candidate suing BB King club after she's bit by rat, suit claims [NYP]

Gouda News: Westside Market Cheesemonger Can Make Funny Labels Once More

By Hugh Merwin

Daniels says he was trying to add some culture to the culture.Photo: Danielle Walsh

The cheese wheel in aisle five will keep on turning, it turns out, for Peter "the Doctor" Daniels, who bestows aphorisms on parcels of washed rind wedges and song lyrics on chèvre logs. Many a customer's day has been made by the inspiring things that pop out of the cheesemonger's cultured mind, but yesterday we learned that one customer was so incensed by the creative labels that the grocery store moved to pull the plug on the operation. Daniels tells Gothamist that it was a label quoting Thin Lizzy's "Angel of Death" affixed to a hunk of provolone that disturbed a customer, who asked the management if Westside Market was "becoming an Evangelical establishment." After some negotiations, the market has decided to let Daniels "brie." "I just have to keep it a little on the mellow side for now and not try to be so preachy," he says. [Gothamist, Earlier]

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