Interborough Burger Contest Heading to QueensThe grilling armies in the city’s burger wars usually hail from Manhattan, but every competition needs new contenders. The Burger Battle of the Boroughs will be on May 20 in Astoria as part of the Cuisine of Queens & Beyond tasting event. Staten Island could not field a team, but representatives from Brooklyn (The Farm on Adderley, 67 Burger), Queens (Harry’s at Water Taxi Beach, Joe’s Bestburger), and the Bronx (Coals) will battle Brgr and Resto — the latter being Rob and Robin’s favorite burger in New York last year.
Neighborhood Watch
Fort Greene Restaurant Scene’s Crescendo; De Niro Hotel So Close You Can Book ItAstoria: The Southwest restaurant that’s been under construction near the Ditmars stop on 31st Street is named Mojave and opens tonight. [Joey in Astoria via Astorians]
East Village: The Mermaid Inn reopens tomorrow after a one-week renovation, which may have been inspired by Time Out‘s mouse sightings. [Eater]
Fort Greene: New restaurants the Smoke Joint and 67 Burger have joined older favorites like iCi and Thomas Beisl to build a thriving restaurant scene near the Brooklyn Academy of Music. [NYT]
Tribeca: De Niro’s Greenwich Hotel is now taking reservations for the spring. [NewYorkology via Eater]
Neighborhood Watch
Frying Pan Secure for Next Five Years; Whole Foods Selling Flat Beer on the LES?Chelsea: The Frying Pan has signed a five-year lease that will begin next May. [Chelsea Now via Eater]
Clinton Hill: Get your Oktoberfest on with a beer, cider, and sausage fest at 55 Lexington Avenue on September 29. [A Brooklyn Life]
East Harlem: Italian Americans are still mourning the August closure of Morrone & Sons bakery on East 116th Street. Especially the 72-year-old matron who opened the shop in 1956. [NYT]
Fort Greene: Crisp artichokes make a great burger topping at 67, even when the beef is greasy and overcooked. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Jackson Heights: Jackson Diner and Rajbhog Sweets are among some 85 restaurants participating in Queens Restaurant Week running September 17 to 20 and 24 to 27. [About.com]
Lower East Side: Whole Foods should top off beer-container refills with CO2 if they care about customers getting home to find flat beer. [Eat]
Park Slope: Frank Bruni was inundated with responses to his feature on handicapped-accessible restaurants, including one about his “beloved Franny’s” who wouldn’t slice “a pizza for someone who had just undergone neurosurgery on her (writing) hand because ‘the chef doesn’t do that.’” [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Soho: Barcelona’s artisanal-candy chain Papabubble has settled on a U.S. location at 380 Broome Street and an opening date of October 18. [Papabubble via Down by the Hipster]
Back of the House
Boulud Versus Giant Rat; New York Versus Los AngelesIn praise of the braise: a long feature about the art of slow immersive cooking, pegged on Daniel Boulud’s and Claudia Roden’s new books. [NYS]
More on Boulud’s ongoing conflict with the Restaurant Opportunities Center and their giant inflatable rat. [NYT]
Related: We’ve been on this story for a while; this was Daniel Under Attack! (Again).
A tale of two cities: Leuzzi compares N.Y. and L.A. The latter is more casual, less cohesive, and doesn’t give a damn about French restaurants. [NYS]
The big restaurant in Lincoln Center to be reborn as Patina, sister to the big restaurant in LA; owners of Divine Bar open Funky Diner on the UES, Bret Thorn reports. [NYS]
Asian chefs love black chicken but have to admit “it’s a scary-looking creature.” Also: Four markets where you can buy the things, including a scary one in the Bronx. [NYT]
The gourmet burger business comes to Brooklyn in the form of Brooklyn Burger Bar (already in soft opening) and 67 Burger in Fort Greene. Also: Barça 18 gets its brief Times epitaph. [NYT]
Restaurant Week: Big-name places where you won’t be able to get a table. And good places where you might get a table. [NYP]
Profile of a smoked-fish factory in Greenpoint. [NYDN]
In the Magazine
Two More on the Burger Bandwagon; Hardly Any Space for BunsA blizzard of burger openings has recently hit the city: BLT Burger, Royale, the new Goodburger, and Fort Greene’s 67 Burger. And there are more on the way: Heritage Burger, the concept for which we recently sketched out, and the still-secret chef-driven East Village place that we announced in late October. This week, Rob and Robin introduce two more newbies — Stand and the convenient-to-text-message brgr — breaking them down by beef, bun, and condiments. It’s all practically enough to make you forget the name Shake Shack.
Burger Madness [NYM]