Bartenders Reassert Stylishness in the Face of Chef DandyismYesterday, we continued to marvel that chefs have become beacons of fashion, but we all know that bartenders are the real fops. Guys like Jim Meehan, Sasha Petraske, and David Wondrich aren’t waiting around for Maxim or Esquire to doll them up — in fact, as evident from a Time Out how-to on cocktail dandyism, even Toby Maloney, the guy who’s responsible for the mai tais and Zombies at the Rusty Knot, wouldn’t be caught dead in a Hawaiian shirt.
Foodievents
Are You a Foodie or a Foodist?The big discussion at last night’s “Brooklyn Eats” talk in Dumbo was the semantic difference between “foodie” and “foodist.” Phoebe Damrosch, author of Service Included pointed out that, in New York, “foodie” has become a derogatory term used to describe those who sit at home watching Semi-Homemade on the Food Network. Another type of foodie, an audience member added, is one who seeks out new restaurants, wines, and foods only to check them off a laundry list of places to see and be seen. Edible Brooklyn editor Gabrielle Langholtz suggested that bona fide food fans — those who read food books, travel to food destinations, and taste obsessively — could refer to themselves as “foodists,” as intense Star Trek fans go not by “trekkies” but “trekkers”. (Anne Saxelby, heirloom-tomato farmer Tim Stark, and beverage historian and panelist David Wondrich could all be identified as foodists.) To add to his cred, Wondrich served Hennessy punch (historically accurate, according to Bombay’s seventeenth-century regulations) out of a paint bucket. —Jennifer Lynn Pelka
Foodievents
Brooklyn Food Writers to Rap Tonight in DumboBrooklyn, besides its world-famous supply of suspension bridges, legendary pizzerias, indicted Gambino associates, and doomed Atlantic Yards–area residences, is also rich in writers. So it was no problem to pull together three good food scribes for a talk tonight at 7 p.m. at Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo. The speakers will be former Brooklyn Record editor Kara Zuaro (I Like Food, Food Tastes Good), memoirist Phoebe Damrosch (Service Included), and cocktail historian David Wondrich (Imbibe!). Edible Brooklyn editrix Gabrielle Langholtz will moderate; the tickets are $15 and available here
Local Writers Talk Food [A Brooklyn Life]
Related: Phoebe Damrosch, Formerly of Per Se, Apologizes for Spilling a Martini on You
Rock Star Recipes!
Neighborhood Watch
Belgian Room Closed for Underage Drinking; Park Avenue Winter Preparing for ItsAstoria: Sweet shop Oleput is now offering a lot more savories in the form of small plates and panini. [Joey in Astoria]
Clinton Hill: Rustik Tavern has a warm interior, but the menu doesn’t sound too rustic: chili, wings, nachos, though for the last one the blogger liked “that it’s cheese sauce rather than real cheese.” [Clinton Hill Blog]
Dumbo: Food writers including Kara Zuaro (I Like Food, Food Tastes Good), Phoebe Damrosch (Service Included) and David Wondrich (Imbibe) and Edible Brooklyn’s Gabrielle Langholtz will talk about — what else? — eating, at Powerhouse Arena next Tuesday. [A Brooklyn Life]
East Village: Belgian Room has been closed for letting minors booze on Lambic. [Down by the Hipster]
Soho: Vosges bacon chocolate now comes in the shape of flying pigs. But they can’t escape. [Snack]
Upper East Side: Park Avenue Winter will turn into spring on March 26, just in time for Easter. [Zagat]
