Alexander Skarsgård on Cooking Beef Bourguignon and Eating Food Off the Floor

Master of stews.Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Buy Nothing Day, an international protest against consumerism, inspired Alexander Skarsgård's new film, The East. In the thriller, some of the characters practice freeganism: avoiding waste by reclaiming and eating discarded food. Off-camera, Skarsgård's actually quite fond of freshly cooked food, and he became the chef of the cast (which includes Brit Marling and Ellen Paige). At Monday's screening of the film at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema, Skarsgård shared his go-to recipes, thoughts on waste, and why his True Blood character, Eric, no longer just sees humans as food.

"With seven siblings, you grab whatever you can." »

Chef Hacks: How to Make Coffee Without a Coffeemaker

The Red Cat's Jimmy Bradley.

Spend enough time in a professional kitchen and you pick up plenty of MacGyver-like skills and tricks that can come in handy in all sorts of situations — techniques you only learn when you're on an undermanned, overworked line and every second counts. With that in mind, welcome to Grub Street's newest column, Chef Hacks, wherein each entry will be devoted to one such useful, unexpected technique that you can put to use immediately. Today: Jimmy Bradley of the Red Cat in New York reveals how he makes coffee the very old-fashioned way.

"Kill the heat ... " »

Annoying Man From the Amy’s Baking Co. Kitchen Nightmares Episode May Get Deported

As the cuss- and shove-prone owners of Scottsdale's Amy's Baking Co. flub their way through a ballyhooed restaurant reboot and a spurious PR campaign to match following their disastrous turn on Gordon Ramsay's more-or-less staged Kitchen Nightmares, local media have done the impossible in coming up with a fresh angle on the story. It turns out that co-owner Samy Bouzaglo, an Israeli citizen, has been the subject of an ongoing immigration case and may face deportment. An unintentionally serious-hilarious NBC report quotes a "High-Ranking Law Enforcement Source" who says Bouzaglo is "banned" from France and Germany over something that maybe had to do with drugs that happened "30 years ago." Two more things: The immigration case, which is apparently important enough to make prime-time news, has been in court for more than two years; also, that whole thing about there being no such thing as bad publicity turns out to be patently untrue. [USAT, Earlier, Related]

The Photography of Modernist Cuisine Comes Out in October

You'll never look at tomatoes the same way again.Photo: Modernist Cuisine

"If you love food and appreciate beauty and ask yourself, 'How did they do that?'" the book trailer for the just-announced Photography of Modernist Cuisine starts off by asking, as the camera pans over a craggly moonscape of savoy cabbage and ridges of pink grapefruit. If you are kept awake by such questions, the short answer, of course, is that genius entrepreneur Nathan Myhrvold and company famously deployed a Sawzall and a lot of really, really expensive camera equipment to great effect for their groundbreaking cookbook.

Behold a corn kernel popping in slo-mo. »

The Other Critics: Pete Wells Pans the Beatrice Inn; Sagner and David Stein Visit Lafayette

Beatrice Inn's steak tastes like latex, says Wells.

This week, Adam Platt gave Lafayette, a "big, spangled, category-killing brasserie," two stars. Stan Sagner gave the same rating on behalf of the New York Daily News, while Joshua David Stein praised what he called Andrew Carmellini's Great Gatsby of restaurants, an endeavor conducted in a "blessed" space. But despite the glowing reviews, a dark cloud hangs over the Other Critics this week: This is the second-to-last review from Robert Sietsema, and there will be no more from Tejal Rao, both of whom are no longer writing for the Village Voice. We will miss their weekly columns.

Which critic gave a zero-star review? »

American Bread: A Guide to 41 Hyper-Regional Sandwiches

America is a regional country: Food that's core to the identity of one place — chili on spaghetti in Cincinnati, Spam on everything in Hawaii, Kool-Aid pickles in the South — is treated as nothing more than an oddity elsewhere. With that in mind, Grub Street set out to track down all of the country's hyper-regional sandwiches: individual creations that, for one reason or another, seem to exist only in particular pockets of America.

Chow mein from Massachusetts, fried brain in Indiana ... »

Danny Bowien Headed to Oklahoma to Cook

Headed home.

The Mission Chinese chef will head to Oklahoma City, his hometown, to cook with Jonathon Stranger of Ludivine on Sunday and Monday, News OK reports. Local chefs Kurt Fleischfresser, Chris Becker, and Marc Dunham round out the line for the impromptu pop-up OK Chefs, which will donate 100 percent of its proceeds to the American Red Cross in support of relief efforts. A growing group of New York chefs and food businesses is also raising money for tornado victims. [News OK, Earlier, Related]

05/21/13

Three Letters Offering an Arrested Development Tasting Menu; Brooklyn Label Hosting a Bourbon and Pork Belly Event

• On Saturday, May 25, Hester Street Fair will feature a brand-new vendor, Ducks Eatery. There will also be a ping-pong tournament — with prizes! [Grub Street]

The Windsor is providing another reason to stay in town this Memorial Day. The West Village gastropub will be open on Monday, May 27, serving peach barbecue chicken wings and other specials. [Grub Street]

• In honor of the Bluth Family’s triumphant return, Three Letters is serving up an Arrested Development tasting menu, appropriately titled the Final Countdown. On Sunday, May 26, there will be a $45 per person dinner with cornballs, Ika and Tina Tuna, and frozen bananas, of course. [Grub Street]

Brooklyn Label is hosting Bourbon & Belly, an event on May 23 that will showcase sliced pancetta, braised cured belly, and smoked flank bacon. Tickets are $30, and you'll get a flight of cocktails and beer, too. [Grub Street]

Read more »

World Nutella Day Lives On

February 5, 2014. Get ready.

Good news: There will still be a designated day during which you have an excuse to eat an obscene amount of Nutella, wear sexy Nutella clothing, and sing love songs about the spread. After threatening super-fan Sara Rosso, the creator of World Nutella Day, with a cease-and-desist letter, Ferrero has had a change of heart. The company sent a statement to Bloomberg Businessweek announcing that it will stop its attempt to shut down Rosso's website, NutellaDay.com: "The case arose from a routine brand defense procedure that was activated as a result of some misuse of the Nutella brand on the fan page. Ferrero is pleased to announce that today, after contacting Sara Rosso and finding together the appropriate solutions, it immediately stopped the previous action." Rosso writes that Ferrero employees were "very gracious and supportive," but it's not a real victory unless she receives an unlimited supply of free Nutella. Girl deserves it. [Earlier, Bloomberg Businessweek]

Watch Perennial Mayoral Candidate Jimmy McMillan Plug Papaya King Hot Dogs

Animal New York found out that political "activist and karate expert" Jimmy McMillan was coming out swinging in support of the brand-new Papaya King on St. Marks Place and was going to get a namesake hot dog, so the site filmed the event for posterity. While the world waits to see whether or not McMillan will go for the White House in 2016, here's a spoiler alert: The "Rent Is Too Damn High" guy's "signature dog" amounts to relish, mustard, and sauerkraut.

At least he's wearing gloves. »

Math Genius Who Figured Out ‘Twin Primes’ Property Maybe Also Made Your Tuna Sub

Yitang Zhang couldn't get a teaching job after receiving his Ph.D., and things got so dismal at one point that he even became a Subway sandwich artist in order to stay afloat. Earlier this year, the UNH lecturer hammered out a laconic and unprecedented proof describing the properties of twin primes — number pairs wherein any integer n and the integer n+2 are each prime — so that "some number N smaller than 70 million such that there are infinitely many pairs of primes that differ by N." Wired has the in-depth explanation and context for the deep number theory implications of all this, but basically what this means is that Yitang Zhang should get a nice endorsement deal comparable to the one they gave Jared Fogle. You have to admit this kind of thing would make for really trippy commercials. [Wired]

10 Things That Need to Go Inside the Paula Deen Museum

This place better serve food.Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

Businesswoman B.J. Fletcher has spent the last two years working to turn Paula Deen's Albany City childhood home into a museum. Fletcher has even enlisted the help of Paula's ex-husband, Jimmy Deen, and they recently purchased Paula's former residence. Paula, of course, is thrilled with this idea: "I would want something like this to be a symbol of hope for people looking to make their lives better," she told the Albany Herald. "That house holds so many memories for me ... And it just so happens I can pretty much furnish it like it was. I still have mama's living room set." But Fletcher and Jimmy now want to move her home closer to the more tourist-friendly area near the Thronateeska Heritage Center. In that case, they should scrap the idea to preserve her childhood house and build the museum from the ground up. This is what we'd like to see be a part of this soon-to-be American landmark.

Butter. Lots of butter. »

Little Debbie Just Never Gets Old

Never look her directly in the eye.

Perpetual exposure to good cheer, imitation butter-rich Butterfly Cakes, Frosted Honey Buns, and more won't take much of a toll on a girl, apparently: The New Republic talks to McKee Foods' John Petticord about the very minor changes made to the Little Debbie logo in its newest iteration. The company went through sixteen versions before settling on this one, where Ms. Debbie has a butterfly collar and sharper cheeks and eyes, giving her head a just-noticeably wider appearance. But hey, being the figurehead of a snack-food empire does this to a girl, and for what it's worth, don't expect a thoroughly modern mascot anytime soon. "There have been several examples of brands that have gone too far, too fast, with their logo changes," Petticord says. "We're just not that kind of company." [New Republic]

New Orleans Residents Threaten to Sue If Planned Habana Outpost Moves Forward

None of this: New Orleans isn't feeling the bicycle-powered blenders.Photo: Andrew Karcie

French Quarter residents have accused restaurateur Sean Meenan of depicting himself as a "family operator" and are now threatening to sue if the Vieux Carre Commission approves his plans for a new 223-seat restaurant on the site of an old gas station in the neighborhood, the Times-Picayune reports. Meenan, whose restaurant group includes Café Habana and Habana Outpost in New York (also Dubai), has spent in excess of $2 million in conjunction with building the project, which will result in the new restaurant taking the place of three previously separate lots. Sure, the brand may have once produced a controversial pinup calendar, but it does use compostable utensils and also generates its own electricity. Why are some New Orleans residents against Habana Outpost? They're apparently worried it will be loud and tacky. "This chain, themed restaurant is totally out of character with this area of the Quarter," a lawyer tells the paper. "Any project should compliment [sic] the area's residential character, not destroy it." [Times-Picayune, Related]

A Grub Street Announcement

It’s with regret that Grub Street announces the closure of our local blogs outside of New York, in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Boston. We thank Hadley Tomicki, Michael Gebert, Jay Barmann, Collin Keefe, and Kara Baskin for the excellent work they’ve done over the last few years. Later this evening, those blogs will redirect to Grubstreet.com.

Read more »

New York’s Food Community Rallies for Oklahoma

A Voltron-esque group of small food businesses and great restaurants is raising money to support the relief efforts in Oklahoma. Robicelli's, Mile End,
Thirty Acres, Scharf & Zoyer, bakers Whimsey & Spice, Liddabit Sweets, food photographer Donny Tsang, and more are now raising $15,000 for Team Rubicon; click on any of the names above or head here to donate. [Team Rubicon via Eater NY, Related]

Seattle Butcher Claims Pigs Fed With Marijuana Make the Very Best Prosciutto

Way to harsh everyone's mellow.Photo: ccho's flickr; morguefile

A butcher operating out of Pike Place Market in Seattle has been feeding pigs all of those "useless" stems, root bulbs, and "over sized" marijuana leaves produced as by-product at the local medical dispensary. The special feed, William von Schneidau tells NPR, leads to the production of "redder and more savory" meat. Of course it does! The BB Ranch owner has also been busy slipping mickeys to his livestock in the form of the local vodka distillery's spent grains. When all is said and done in the abattoir, "Pot Pig" holds blowout dinners for $120 a head with stoner pig on the menu. There are also "gourmet cupcakes" for dessert.

"I just get out there, and cut them up." »

NASA Funding 3-D Printed Pizza Made From Bugs

Nothing can top astronaut ice cream.

It won't be long before we can travel into space for $200,000 and solve global hunger by printing healthy pizza made with grass and insects. NASA has given mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor a $125,000 grant to create a prototype for a food synthesizer that uses his 3-D printing technology. Say what? The idea is that people can buy cartridges of sugars, carbohydrates, and protein in powder form, which could last 30 years, and then use 3-D printing to synthesize nutritious meals one layer at a time.

Pizza's a priority. »

‘Skinny’ Cocktails Are Taking Over the World

Invading summer menus everywhere.

The "skinny"-branded beverage craze is a scary subculture of booze. The drinks account for only 1 percent of total cocktail sales, but researchers are finding that sales growth is doubling each quarter. When a restaurant deems a cocktail "skinny" or "slender," customers who are dieting say yes to drinking, order additional rounds, and spend more on food. Bethenny Frankel started the madness with her brand of low-calorie (and usually lower alcohol content) Skinnygirl margaritas, which she's expanded into a line of wines, and now chains like TGI Fridays, Chili's, and the Cheesecake Factory are using diet-friendly phrases on their menus. Free idea for a dating website: Pair all of the Brogurt fans with the Skinnygirl-loving drinkers, and spare the rest of us. [Earlier, Earlier, AdAge]

The Franks Introduce the Res, an ‘Artist’s Residency for Chefs’ in Red Hook

The future of this restaurant is unwritten.Photo: Hugh Merwin

Prime Meats and Frankies 457 restaurateurs Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli have been hinting for some time that their forthcoming Red Hook space, dubbed "the Res," will be a departure from more conventional restaurant structures. (Earlier this month, Castronovo would only tell us it was a "long, long, long, long-term project.") Eater reports the pair disclosed the first few details of the Res yesterday at the Mésamerica Festival in Mexico City, and they're pretty exciting. The project, which will debut in a few weeks and already has a website, is a dedicated space for "collaborative dinners, one-off events, and installations," where "chefs can stay at the facility while they present their work, free of charge." Falcinelli and Castronovo say they were inspired by the prospect of creative chef-collectives and annual gatherings like René Redzepi's MAD Symposium. [Eater, the Res, Earlier]

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