Hotelier Vikram Chatwal Discovers He Likes It Raw
Earlier this week hotelier and reformed party/playboy Vikram Chatwal spilled the beans on his partnership with Geoffrey Zakarian. His affinity for fine dining developed relatively late in life — “I used to only eat Indian food when I was young,” says the meat-loving Sikh, who still dines at his mother’s restaurant, Bombay Palace, two or three times a week when in from London. However, at some point Japanese food turned him on to the cuisine of other cultures. “Half the time during the week I go Asian — whether it’s Thai, Japanese, or Chinese.” We met him for some mini-burger fondue and champagne at Nightlife, the lounge in his own Night Hotel, to find out what he eats the rest of the time.
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Rats Stop in Au Bon Pain for Dessert
As we said yesterday (and as everyone knows), as much as rats love fried chicken and tacos, they pretty much eat all over town. This new video of the frisky creatures running rampant at an Au Bon Pain on Third Avenue simply serves as a disturbing reminder. (Would it kill WNBC to tell us which Au Bon Pain, by the way? There is more than one Third Avenue location.) The rodents are much more common in food establishments of every kind than most people like to believe, and in ratty neighborhoods like the East Village, they frequently have the run of even some good restaurants. Still, there’s something especially horrible about this video, which features one of the little guys doing what looks like pull-ups on some kind of valve handle. It’s as if they’re in training to take over the whole of Manhattan.
Update: Au Bon Pain would like to point out that the rats pictured above, as well as the rats doing pull-ups, belong to Taco Bell. (The WNBC piece devotes time to both restaurants.) We regret the error.
Rats Caught on Video at Another New York Restaurant [KSDK]
