Rosé-Sparkler Tastings in Clinton Hill; Eat Cake, Not Dinner forChelsea: The former Daniele’s Piadina space on 22nd Street east of Sixth Avenue sat empty for two years, but it will reopen as a sandwich shop called Ashby’s on Monday. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Clinton Hill: Gnarly Vines is hosting a rosé-sparkler tasting tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday evening from 6 to 9 p.m., and bottles of those sample selections are 10 percent off. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Dumbo: The ‘D’ Space Restaurant at Jay and Front streets serves Indian buffet, but will it raise the bar on local delivery options? [Dumbo NYC]
Flatiron: Shaffer City Oyster Bar & Grill will close February 23 and reopen in March as Flatiron Joe’s with cheaper American fare and a jukebox. [Zagat]
Fort Greene: In her list of last-minute Valentine’s Day options, Danyelle Freeman recommends Cake Man Raven if you want to “just forget dinner and grab a few whopping slices of the decadent red velvet cake that made this bakery famous.” [Restaurant Girl]
Soho: In honor of this romantic week, it’s only right that bananas (and resulting desserts around town) are celebrated for being “not only insanely phallic but also brimming with potassium and B vitamins, which are necessary for keeping your sex drive going.” But you don’t have to tell your date that after deciding to share Blue Ribbon Brasserie’s top-rated banana split. [Gridskipper]
West Village: Pig’s-feet and collagen temple Hakata TonTon has been closed by the Department of Health. [Eater]
The DOH Shuts the Doors on Cake Man RavenIrate customers outside Cake Man Raven are being forced to forego their southern red-velvet fix after a not-so-friendly visit from the Department of Health yesterday. According to the Cake Man (a.k.a. Raven Patrick De’Sean Dennis III), an inspector showed up Wednesday afternoon and shut down the cake shop that evening for not having the proper permits. With demand growing for the alarmingly crimson layer cake, the Cake Man moved his baking operation from the store’s tiny kitchen to an East New York factory in late December. The bureaucratic reason: “They said the cake was coming from an unknown source.” In layman’s terms, the mix-up is over permits to transport slices of cake (whole cakes are fine) from the factory to their storefront on Fulton Avenue in Fort Greene. “If I brought the cakes to the store whole, it wouldn’t be a problem,” the Cake Man says. We have a call in to the Health Department.
Mediavore
DOH Now Against Cats, Too; Poor Man’s Guide to New Year’s EveBodegas are keeping themselves free of vermin thanks to their trusty cats. But naturally the Health Department has to give them a hard time about it, even though they admit that the cats are doing a good job. [NYT]
Running Tavern on the Green is something like running an ocean liner – an ocean liner that feeds 700,000 people a year, has a staff of over 500, and makes more than $38 million annually. [AMNY]
Gordon Ramsay wants lights for his backyard soccer field for Christmas. [The Glasgow Herald]
Neighborhood Watch
Babbo Sommelier’s Enters the West Village Fray; Applebee’s Serving Cake ManDowntown Brooklyn: Applebee’s has started serving Cake Man Raven red-velvet cake in an effort to compete with nearby Junior’s on Flatbush Avenue. [NYDN]
East Village: Belcourt is now open for lunch, which features a lamb burger and roasted butternut squash and apple ravioli; weekend brunch is also on the way, with vanilla and bourbon French toast and salt-cod hash. [Grub Street]
Forest Hills: Young Chefs Academy cooking school for kids has opened its first branch in New York City at 108-10 72nd Avenue. [NYT]
Lower East Side: New Austrian bar Cafe Katja at 79 Orchard Street features Austrian wine and German beer, which you can gulp down with meats and cheeses and homemade pickles, or traditional fare like goulash. [NYT]
West Village: Dell’Anima, a collaboration between former Bread Tribeca sous-chef Gabriel Thompson and former Babbo sommelier Joe Campanale, opens next week on Eighth Avenue near Jane Street. [NYS]
