Publicity Gambit at Carlyle Inspires Our Oscar-Themed Beverage Menu
In a shameless (but successful, and we have to admit, brilliant) bid for free publicity, James Sakatos, executive chef at the Carlyle hotel, has come up with a menu of dishes inspired by this year’s Oscar nominees. There’s a tart for Juno (a cheap shot), “black ink risotto with blood orange foam for There Will Be Blood,” the ink standing in for oil, and the blood-orange foam for, well, blood; Dover sole for Michael Clayton because “George Clooney’s morally conflicted lawyer found his ‘sole’ and ultimately did the right thing,” and so on.
NewsFeed
Four Seasons Bringing Hotel and Restaurant to Ground-Zero AreaWith the hype starting to swirl over which restaurateur will snag space in the Freedom Tower, Crain’s brings news that the Four Seasons will be erecting an 80-story structure designed by Robert A.M. Stern to contain a hotel, condos, and a restaurant. The city’s tallest residential tower will open in 2011 at 99 Church Street, a block from ground zero. Taking inflation into account, we predict the martinis will be at least $30 by then.
Four Seasons Inks Deal for Downtown Hotel [Crain’s NY]
Related: Robert A.M. Stern Likens New Larry Silverstein Development to the ‘Titanic’ [Daily Intel]
Celebrity Settings
Tom and Gisele Lock Lips at Nobu, ‘Full House’ Cast and the B-52sEarlier this week we linked to a Daily News item claiming Padma Lakshmi rudely refused complimentary dishes from Fiamma’s chef. A commenter wrote, “I was at Fiamma the night Padma was dining there and it absolutely did NOT go down that way. When the dishes arrived at the table, she thanked them profusely and apologized for being too full to eat any of them!” Whatever happened, Padma was just one of many celebs to chow down (or at least show up) at local restaurants this week, and here’s our gossip-column compendium of just who went where.
Mediavore
Ducasse Weds; Healthy Chocolate Fights for Shelf SpaceAlain Ducasse married his longtime girlfriend over the weekend before 150 guests at Hotel du Palais in Biarritz. [NYP]
Raymond Sokolov admires the food stunts of Anne Burrell at Centro Vinoteca and Annita Lo of Annisa. [WSJ]
The Four Seasons raises its Thanksgiving dinner price to $125 a head, but the most expensive turkey in town is the $10,000 tables at Café Gray. [NYS]
Foodievents
A Restaurant Gala on a Scale We Can Live WithIt’s event season in the New York restaurant world, so it’s not exactly news that there’s another charity gala featuring chefs from local restaurants giving out signature samples. But we love Careers through Culinary Arts Program’s A Taste of Fall. For one thing C-CAP is one of the coolest programs we know of, encouraging culinary talents in public high schools to find careers in the restaurant business. (The participating chefs are all New York City public-high-school graduates, the pride of Long Island City, Harlem, and Prospect Heights.) Plus, the scale of the event is a lot more manageable: It’s only $110, and $75 of that is tax deductible. C-CAP students will assist chefs from Asiate, the Four Seasons, Tabla, and other good restaurants. While you’re eating, $5 raffle tickets could score you a bunch of good stuff, including lunch at Café Boulud, dinner at Craftsteak, or a session with “hairstylist to the stars” Michael Stinchcomb (that’s the one we’re hoping for). So stop by Taj tonight — you can buy tickets at the door.
A Taste of Fall [C-CAP]
The In-box
Eye Candy: Where to Eat With an Interior DecoratorDear Grub Street,
My interior-decorator friend is visiting soon, and I’d like to take her to see some interesting places. We can’t really afford to eat at Per Se et al, but maybe we could get a drink at some of the super fancy places. My concern is not to sacrifice taste with décor. Where would be good places to be wowed visually and orally? Where would be good for dessert or a drink just for their interiors? Thanks!!
Grace
The Other Critics
Morandi Takes Another Hit; a Haute Barnyard SpreeThe Four Seasons gets perhaps the most negative two-star review in the history of the Times; Bruni seems to think the stars were grandfathered in. A telling example of how reputation floats reviews. [NYT]
Meehan, meanwhile, visits a chowhound’s paradise, a Hindu temple in Flushing. [NYT]
Morandi takes another blow, this time from Time Out’s Randall Lane, who like our own Adam Platt, finds it overdesigned and unimpressive, albeit with a few decent dishes. [TONY]
Related: Not So Bene [NYM]
Mediavore
Foodie Bloomie; the Starbucks Master PlanBloomberg holds sway over our eating habits like no mayor before him. [NYT]
Wayne Nish is out to save Varietal from its folly, including a “full-of-itself wine list [that] boasted obscure, uninspired vintages masquerading as hidden treasures,” and desserts that were “scary messes.” [NYT]
Behold, the Starbucks master plan for growth — which may help to explain its aggressive anti-union strategy, which has roused the ire of the National Labor Relations Board. [Business Week]
Restroom Report
Inside the Landmarked Lavatories of the Four Seasons
According to Adam Platt, the venerable Four Seasons Restaurant contains the city’s greatest dining room (the restaurant’s interior is actually landmarked). We wondered whether the restrooms measured up — and who gets the nicer facilities, the men or the ladies. All shall be revealed.
