Posts for February 7, 2013

Lunch at Jeepney; New York Toasts Beer Week

• When snow falls on Manhattan, it's time for a gathering of Burger Conquest's Polar Brrrger Club. The event, this Sunday, February 9, at 1 p.m., encourages fun-loving burger fanatics to brave the snow in their best Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses (neither are required) and enjoy a delicious burger from the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. [Grub Street]

• The start-up seafood pickup service,] Village Fishmonger is moving to a new kitchen and it needs your help to raise money for equipment. Donate through the Lucky Ant campaign and check out some of their cool rewards, including tickets to their fish butchery class and entry to their oyster shucking and cocktail event. [Grub Street]

• On Mondays, tequila and mezcal cocktail lounge Mayahuel offers $10 margaritas and half-price tacos. Reservations are accepted and available from 6 to 8 p.m. [Grub Street]

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Former Eater Wine Editor Sells Sherry

On Monday, we heard about New York Times spirits writer Rosie Schaap's Whisk(e)y; now here's the news that former Eater wine editor Talia Baiocchi — who was also named one of Forbes' "30 Under 30" last month — has sold a book called Sherry. It's logged as (subscription required) "a guide to the history, many styles, and top producers of the wine world's hidden secret, with photographs and more than 40 cocktail recipes." Ten Speed Press will publish the book. Congratulations, Talia! [Publishers Marketplace, Earlier]

San Francisco Chefs Will Donate $5,000 to Totonno’s in Coney Island

By Hugh Merwin

Patterson and friend.

Coney Island's famous Totonno's Pizzeria Napolitano, which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy and has not reopened since, will be the beneficiary of a $5,000 gift from San Francisco chef Daniel Patterson, Slice reports. The Coi chef-owner gathered a group of like-minded chefs and held a dinner on December 3 to benefit the Dumbo, Brooklyn restaurant Governor, which was also damaged by the storm but has since announced it will not reopen. In the meantime, Totonno's co-owner Antoinette Balzano tells the blog strangers from across the country have been sending in small amounts of money. [Slice/Serious Eats, Earlier, Earlier, Earlier]

Sunshine Cinema May Soon Serve Burrata and Caviar

Dinner and a movie is about to get hella expensive. Landmark's Sunshine Cinema on Houston Street may start offering food and liquor so it can afford the increased rent, but CB3 is pushing back. Sunshine's proposed menu has everything from "kick ass guacamole" (that's a known high-profit product) to a sandwich with Russ & Daughters smoked whitefish schmeer. The large-plate offerings show further signs of chef ADD: There's penne a la vodka, a duck quesadilla, and yakisoba. Cocktails include the "Ultimate Chocotini" and "Blood Orange Cosmo," which are really just vehicles to catch tears during a chick flick. [Earlier, Earlier, Bowery Boogie]

Landry’s Makes $71 Million Offer for Ark Restaurant Group

By Hugh Merwin

Bryant Park Grill in New York.Photo: Shanna Ravindra

The group that owns Landry's Seafood House, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., McCormick & Schmick’s, and the Rainforest Cafe restaurant chains has made an offer to buy all outstanding capital stock of the New York-based Ark Restaurant Group, which owns Bryant Park Grill and Clyde Frazier's Wine and Dine in New York, Durgin-Park in Boston, and the Vegas and Atlantic City locations of Gallagher's. The offer of $22 per share was announced in an open letter delivered last night to Ark's Michael Weinstein and the board of directors, and The Wall Street Journal reports it's likely worth about $71 million. Officials have not yet commented today on the developments, but for now, it remains clear that the dining public is now closer than it's ever been to eating at a rainforest-themed chowderhouse where all the food is delivered to the table by NBA hall-of-famers on miniature shrimp boats. [Reuters, WSJ]

This Is the Scariest Commercial for Herbal Tea Ever

By Hugh Merwin
Watch Video

So, Pennywise, Leatherface Jr., and the Grim Reaper are all steeping in your subconscious, and obviously, because one of them has clown shoes and fangs and the other two are fond of sharp landscaping equipment, you can't go to sleep. What better way to dispatch the goons, then, than with a proprietary blend of calming herbs? The Hungarian herbal tea company Herbaria has a suggestion for you. If you're not too scared to watch, it's a pretty good one.

A sinking feeling. »

One Nation Under Fermentation: FLOTUS Tweets Kimchee Recipe

By Hugh Merwin

"Last week, we picked Napa cabbage in the garden," Michelle Obama tweeted last night. "Now, we're using it to make kimchi in the kitchen." The first lady even provided a recipe, which, with five Thai chili peppers per two heads of Napa cabbage, is pretty spicy. And awesome. [FLOTUS/Twitter]

Bloomberg Considering Ban on Styrofoam Cups

By Sierra Tishgart

Taboo.

As part of a big recycling initiative, the city is thinking about prohibiting Styrofoam cups and containers. The ban would help cut down the cost per ton to landfill trash, but it would cause a major inconvenience for deli and food-cart owners. It is possible that this won't be included in the upcoming report on recycling measures; similar proposals have stalled at City Council. But it's only a matter of time before there will be soda speakeasies around the city, where New Yorkers pay top dollar to go into sexy, subterranean spaces and illegally drink extra-large Cokes out of crappy, disposable white cups. [NYP]

Here’s Another Way to Get Faster Access to Restaurant Inspection Results

Yelp isn't the only company taking advantage of the new standard that gives third-party sites the ability to import restaurant inspection results directly from the Health Department's data stream: A new extension for Google Chrome called BiteScore integrates and displays letter grades and inspection reports right alongside listings on Seamless, OpenTable, Zagat, and MenuPages. The database is currently at 20,000 New York restaurants and growing. [BiteScore, Earlier]

Top Chef Seattle Recap: David Rees on Sourdough Starters and Tom’s Mean Girl Tendencies

By David Rees

Slightly less intense than Deadliest Catch.Photo: David Moir/Bravo

According to my calculations, there are only four chefs left: Josh, Sheldon, Brooke, and Lizzie. And they all miss Stephan. That means he’s captured the hearts of 100 percent of the chefs on the Alaskan cruise ship as it pushes deeper into American’s last frontier, and his smiling face will be the last image in their minds before being torn apart by wolves.

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John Legend and Chrissy Teigen on Valentine's Day, Bowling Alley Food, and Red Robin's Job Applications

By Tory Hoen

Legend and Teigen, last night.Photo: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

As if waiting tables at a restaurant weren't grueling enough, every once in a while there's a customer who refuses to even tip, à la last week's Applebee's debacle. But while many stars once worked as servers and know all too well the sorrow that is miserly customers, some never even got the chance — like Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen, whom Red Robin once refused to hire. Grub Street caught up with her and fiancé John Legend at last night's amfAR Gala at Cipriani Wall Street to talk about her relationship with the burger chain, love of greasy bowling alley food, and — what else? — Legend's custom-made bowling ball.

"They still, to this day, have the best ranch dressing." »

First Look at Wise Men, Opening Next Week on the Bowery

By Sierra Tishgart

Sexy time.Photo: Danielle Levitt

You'd never know it if you walked by, but there's a brand-new restaurant-bar on the Bowery. Wise Men, which officially opens on February 13, has no signage, which, of course, makes it all the more alluring. The cocktail consultant is Duane Fernandez Jr., one of the head bartenders at Acme, and Ryan Bartlow, the current executive chef at Frankies 570, consulted on the menu.* Expect a small, simple menu of fifteen or so sharable meat-driven plates. As it turns out, Wise Men is named after the first Western-style steak house in Chinatown, which the owner's family opened.

Take a look at the bar, ahead. »

So Now There’s a Tumblr With Photos of Hipsters Taking Food Photos

By Hugh Merwin

Because it had to be done, someone has created Pictures of Hipsters Taking Pictures of Food, which is exactly as it suggests. We've got a close-up on Glam Quiche, a heavily tattooed man and his Oreo pie, and some kind of action shot involving a mini-pitcher. At least none of these guys seems to be using flash. [Tumblr, Earlier, Related]

Applebee’s Scandal Inspires Good Tipping

By Sierra Tishgart

And that's how it's done.

Remember the pastor who wrote, "I give God 10 percent, why do you get 18?" on a receipt and left no tip at Applebee's? She's unintentionally inspiring acts of actual goodwill. A server (at an unidentified restaurant) posted on Reddit that a customer wrote, "We don't give the imaginary man in the sky shit! So enjoy!" and left a 20 percent tip. Nice. People are still pretty pissed about Appleebee's decision to fire Chelsea Welch, the waitress who posted the pastor's receipt online, but they're taking out their anger by overtipping random servers.

Best kind of therapy. »

Beyond Cocktail: The History, and Future, of Flair Bartending

By Jordana Rothman

There's more to flair than Cocktail.Photo-illustration: Jed Egan

Chris Cardone launches an empty beer bottle into the air in front of me at the Beatrice Inn and catches it behind his back in one fluid motion. The ceiling of the below-ground room is a piddling seven feet high — not much space to flip bottles, but enough for Cardone to twirl the tins of a Boston shaker, windmill barspoons between his fingers, and toss 750s of gin and Campari from palm to palm behind his back as he prepares a negroni.

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Sexy Mixology TV Show Is Ready for Prime Time

By Hugh Merwin

We'll watch, but you have to give this guy a part.Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts/Corbis

The writers of The Hangover teamed up with Ryan Seacrest's production company and are making a show for ABC called Mixology, Deadline Hollywood reports, that is incredibly likely to feature at least one gravely serious, eccentric, and apron-wearing Brooklyn hipster-type bartender who steadfastly refuses to make appletinis but falls in love with a girl who only drinks Bacardi Razz and Tab on ice, which is actually a great drink.

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Pastrami, Smoked Meat, and the Future of the Deli

By Hugh Merwin

Mile End's smoked meat.

Food writers David Sax and Josh Ozersky had a summit on the future of the delicatessen over jumbo pickle plates and sliced meat sandwiches at the venerable Katz's and the upstart Mile End, which represent the two possible paths for the deli-as-institution. Put together by the Jewish Daily Forward, the video is seven minutes of riffing as much as it is seemingly just an excuse for these guys to eat a few excellent sandwiches. "There will be reconstructionist delis, there will be reformed delis," Sax says, alluding to the resurgence of the old-time eating place and rediscovery of old deli traditions. "As long as someone is willing to eat a smoked-meat sandwich or a pastrami sandwich, someone is going to be there to make it," he says."As long as those people are eating it, some of them are Jews, they'll complain enough to make sure someone makes it right." [Vimeo, Earlier]

Lawsuit Claims 230 Fifth Forced Black Patrons to Buy $320 Vodka

By Hugh Merwin

The allegations are not so cool.

A 29-year-old man named Jermaine Sanders and three female friends who visited Flatiron bar 230 Fifth in February of 2010 were "forced to buy a $320 bottle of vodka" in order to gain access to its scene-y and scenic rooftop bar while its white guests had no such restrictions, DNAinfo reports. Sanders says the bar's staff "hurled racist remarks" at him and his party, who were also kicked out of the lounge and made to stand outside in the cold. Because of the ensuing ordeal, Sanders is suing the bar for discrimination and damages. "Since this incident the plaintiffs have almost entirely given up on frequenting night life spots in Manhattan due to the prejudice they experienced that night," Sanders's lawyer tells the site. [DNAinfo]

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