Posts for February 11, 2013

‘Taste of Mississippi’ at City Grit; The Fat Radish Goes Macrobiotic

• City Grit will host a "Taste of Mississippi" dinner on March 7. Southern chefs Derek Emerson and Chris Poplin will present a $75 tasting menu that includes dishes like oysters stuffed with shrimp and Parmesan, and blackened redfish. Pair your comfort food with award-winning Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale from Lazy Magnolia brewery. Tickets can be purchased here. [Grub Street]

• The Fat Radish's Ben and Phil are hosting a macrobiotic series from February 15 to 17. The dinner on the 15th and the brunches on the 16th and 17th will all include a small cooking demo, a short Q&A, and a macrobiotic meal with healing chef Charles Holdsworth Hunt. It'll take place at Silkstone Loft; tickets are $100 and guests are encouraged to RSVP at info@silkstonenyc.com. [Grub Street]

• Food is love. But free food is forever. Bring your loved one (or an imposter) to Millesime at the Carlton Hotel for lunch between now and Friday and kiss them in front of a server for a two-for-one lunch menu that includes a Cobb salad, tuna salad sandwich, codfish tempura sandwich, and a burger. Maybe stay away from the tuna. [Grub Street]

• East Village supermarket C-Town has been closed since Hurricane Sandy, but neighbors noticed that the grocery store was back open today. [EV Grieve]

Maker’s Mark Is Watering Down Its Bourbon

By Hugh Merwin

What can drinkers expect from the new, 84-proof Maker's?Photo: Courtesy Maker's Mark

There are more bourbon barrels than people in Kentucky at the moment, but the sharp uptick in demand is crushing supply, and now, as a means of staving off a bourbon shortage, the distillery that produces Maker's Mark announced it is taking the seemingly extraordinary measure of lowering the alcohol-by-volume content of its product. As you can imagine, some drinkers are going nuts over this.

The full statement. »

London’s Zuma to Open in Midtown

The upscale Japanese restaurant is coming to New York, with an outpost at Madison Avenue and 38th Street opening early next year. The two-story spot will include a main kitchen, a sushi counter, and a robata grill, which will serve up fancy dishes like seared beef with truffle dressing, roasted lobster with shizo-ponzu butter, and, obviously, miso black cod. No wonder Jay, Bey, and their girl Gwyneth Paltrow are all fans. Zuma currently has one Stateside location in Miami, but a Las Vegas offshoot will follow New York's opening. That should give you a good sense of what kind of restaurant this is. [NYP]

The New Yorker Takes a Close Look at Danny Bowien

By Hugh Merwin
Watch Video

The photographer Gabriele Stabile, who also filmed that bright neon cookie-aerobics video with Karlie Kloss and Momofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi, follows Danny Bowien around for a day for The New Yorker, through Chinatown supermarkets and back behind the line at his restaurant. We like seeing Bowien hanging out with his cat and dancing at a karaoke bar as much as the next blog, but the real fun starts around the 2:50 mark, when the Mission Chinese Food chef starts cooking.

"I try to be in bed by 12 every night." »

What You Missed at Last Night’s Cochon 555

By Huge Galdones
View Slideshow

The smell of bacon was in the air as the pig-centric Cochon555 Tour swept through New Pork City last night, marking the launch of the event's Fifth Anniversary Tour. The all-female lineup consisted of Alex Guarnaschelli, Missy Robbins, Leah Cohen, Shanna Pacifico, and Elizabeth Falkner — all cooking for the title of "Princess of Porc" and the opportunity to compete against other Cochon555 tour winners at Grand Cochon later this year. In the end, Missy Robbins took home the bacon, impressing the judges with her classic and refined approach to Italian cuisine. Click through the slideshow to see it all.

East Village Percolates With a Record Number of Coffee Shops

The number crunchers over at the NYCEDC's StatsBee blog took a long and hard look at the Health Department's data sets and determined that the East Village — specifically the 10003 zip code — has the highest concentration of cafés, coffee houses, chain coffee stores, coffee chainlets, and tea parlors. Midtown/Hell’s Kitchen, midtown east, Soho, and Tribeca/Chinatown round out the top five most caffeinated places to be, and although we already know there's a fast-rising tide of chainification in the city, particularly in lower Manhattan, the survey found that the smaller chains and independent shops still outnumber the ranks of Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks locations combined. [NYCEDC via EV Grieve, Earlier]

Chelsea Hot Spot Marquee Found Dangerously Filled With People, Winter Coats, and Propane

By Hugh Merwin

It looks pretty empty here.Photo: Dominic Perri

A squad of FDNY, Buildings Department, and State Liquor Authority inspectors descended upon Marquee in Chelsea on February 2, and discovered the club was operating at nearly double its capacity. Additionally, DNAinfo reports, surplus clubgoers blocked the fire exits, other doorways were obfuscated with hundreds of winter coats, and potentially explosive canisters of propane and 60 gallons of lethal liquid nitrogen were being stored near yet another emergency exit at the rear of the club. Marquee reopened last month promising to be more subdued than its previous iteration. Now just a few of the multiple violations issued to the club may take between six and nine months to resolve. [DNAinfo, Earlier]


Ruth Reichl Calls the Star System ‘Stupid’

"As a critic, I really hated the star system. It’s stupid and insulting to readers. I’d sometimes give a restaurant a lower rating so people would leave a restaurant saying I wrote a three-star review, but only gave two stars. But as an editor, I would never get rid of it. When you run a four-star review, it gets talked about all over the world." —The former Times restaurant critic and Gourmet editor isn't a fan of New York bagels or Yelp, either. [Daily Front Row]

Phillip Kirschen-Clark Is Now Cooking at Café Cluny

By Hugh Merwin

As Eater first discovered, the former Vandaag and Demi Monde chef is cooking in the West Vilage at Café Cluny, Eater reports. Partner Judi Wong says Kirschen-Clark came onboard earlier this month and describes his approach to the just-debuted menu, which includes items like cavatelli with lobster bisque, as "modern French style with international accents."

The full statement, ahead. »

Mountain Dew Introduces Kickstart, a Morning Soda

By Sierra Tishgart

Officially endorsed by fedora-wearing, tattooed men.

For those of you who wake up and chug Red Bull (looking at you, Alex Stupak), PepsiCo's out to get you. The company is launching a new Mountain Dew drink that's intended for breakfast time. Kickstart is made with "real fruit juice" (read: 5 percent juice), "the right amount of kick" (a potentially lethal jolt of caffeine), and artificial sweeteners. Though Kickstart does have far less caffeine than energy drinks like Red Bell, PepsiCo's taken the liberty of labeling the two flavors "energizing orange citrus" and "energizing fruit punch," and has packaged it to look like Monster. Subtle. Maybe Taco Bell inspired this — in May, it introduced an awful "mixology" beverage called MTN DEW A.M., consisting of Mountain Dew and orange juice. Kickstart will be available nationwide starting February 25; it'll appear at college libraries and morning pregame parties on the 26th. [Earlier, Earlier, Earlier, AP]

Ovenly Bakery’s Partners Are Writing a Book

The owners of Greenpoint's well-loved bakery Ovenly have sold their first cookbook, Publishers Marketplace (subscription required) reports, which will feature Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin's recipes and likely a good deal of whisking. Here's hoping the book includes the bakery's Stumptown Shorty, its shortbread slabs baked with Stumptown grounds and dark caramel bits. [Publishers Marketplace, Earlier]

Please Say Lindsay Lohan Really Is Opening a Tribeca Restaurant

By Hugh Merwin

Hospitality!Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Tribeca Citizen hears a bonkers rumor that none other than Lindsay Lohan is angling to open a restaurant in Tribeca, at 39 N. Moore Street, which is up for a liquor license. “We’re told that Lindsay Lohan was in the retail store currently in our commercial space late this afternoon," a tipster writes, emphasizing the far-fetched nature of the following sentence: "Importantly, she was talking about the potential design of the space, including where she would like to put a bar and a DJ booth." This isn't the first time it's been reported that Lohan was contemplating a move to the hospitality industry, of course, so we certainly hope this one is true. Because New York needs a restaurant where the floor staff chokes you at the table, bartenders sucker-punch you and hurl martinis, and then everyone finishes the night by awkwardly making out. There's real franchise potential in that. Update: Another tipster sends Tribeca Citizen news of a Lohan sighting at 39 N. Moore, and adds that a “high-end Mexican restaurant” is rumored for the space. [Tribeca Citizen, Earlier]

The Pink Pony Café Is Reportedly Closed for Good

By Hugh Merwin

Farewell, my little Pony.

Bowery Boogie reports that the venerable, low-key but lively Ludlow Street coffee shop the Pink Pony Café has closed permanently. There's not yet been any official comment from its owners, but the café's roll-down gates have been down for a couple of weeks, and its phone number is disconnected. "No notes, missives, or thank you letters posted anywhere," the blog reports. "Just a quiet departure."

But will the Pony reappear somewhere else? »

Watch Karlie Kloss, Christina Tosi, and Danny Bowien Bake Cookies in Spandex

By Sierra Tishgart
Watch Video

To promote their Perfect 10 Kookie, supermodel Karlie Kloss and Momofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi made a baking demo video for Lucky Peach. When they're not adding almond flour, dark chocolate, and agave into their gluten-free, vegan dessert, they're bopping around in eighties workout gear. Mission Chinese Food's Dannny Bowien makes a guest appearance in a crop-top and suspenders. The recipe's online if you want to make it at home — neon leotard not required.

Buns of steel, ahead. »

Todd English's 'Truffled Potato Love Letters' Await Your Reply

By Hugh Merwin

Pass the Dramamine!

The hackneyed chef swoon of Todd English knows no boundaries and even haunts the Queen Mary 2, writes Dwight Garner, who braves a cross-Atlantic voyage on the cruise ship in the name of truth. Everyone from Guy Fieri to Geoffrey Zakarian is lending their names to big boat restaurants, and in English's case, the experience is somewhat akin, apparently, to being smothered with a heart-shaped pillow. By the time you see "Todd's Truffled Potato Love Letters" on the menu, Garner writes, "you know you are in for it." And after you read the menu bio describing "One of the most decorated, respected, and charismatic chefs in the world," "you lurch outside to the deck and throw yourself overboard." [NYT, Earlier]

Eat Well: Shrimp at Franny’s, Pork Chop at Union Square Café, and Almond-Crusted Chicken at Hu Kitchen

By Kate Lowenstein

The shell is good for you, too.Photo: Stuart MacGregor/Corbis

If Valentine's Day is good for anything, it's an excuse to enjoy an excessive amount of rich, delicious food in the name of "romance." When you're not getting all lovey-dovey, you might want to take it easy and give your body some love. This week's healthy eats around town include lobster agnolotti, fennel with kumquats, and caulfilower steak. Find out where to get these dishes, and more, ahead.

Plus: Two vaguely healthy tasting menus for the holiday. »

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