PM and Stereo Guys Fail Upwards in HamptonsUnik Ernest, of shuttered PM (and Merkato 55), is teaming up with Mike Satsky, of shuttered Stereo, to open Lily Pond — near a helicopter pad.
Amy Ruth’s Taking Her Sweet Time in Brooklyn; Adour? OkayDowntown Brooklyn: So much for a Valentine’s Day debut: Amy Ruth’s at the Fulton Mall isn’t even open yet. [Lost City]
Hamptons: Restaurant Week begins March 20. Bargain meals at close to 70 participating restaurants seems like a good excuse to take advantage of any lodging bargains before warm weather sets in. [Restaurant Girl]
Meatpacking District: Florent plans to give up the ghost on a high note, on Gay Pride Day at the end of June. [NYP]
Midtown East: Citysearch calls Ducasse’s food at Adour “comme ci, comme ça.” [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
West Village: The Beatrice team might expand to L.A. [Down by the Hipster]
Back of the House
Nello Said to Teach Artist a Thing or Two About Overcharging Connoisseurs of bad art and worse restaurants will get a charge from a story in today’s Post about Nello Balan and his run-in with artist Jerome Lucani. There are so many levels of absurdity to this that it would take Nathaniel West to do it justice, but let’s start with the basics: Balan, who owns restaurants catering to stodgy plutocrats, allegedly agreed to front the money for Lucani to produce hideous celebrity photomontages in exchange for a 40 percent cut on sales. Lucani claims that Balan is “keeping [his] paintings hostage” and demanded a $500,000 fee plus a 50-50 split on sales. Now that’s how you do business!
Openings
Former Roadside Wreck Home to New Hamptons BBQ
It has taken a little longer than expected, but Townline BBQ, the new Hamptons joint from the group that runs Nick & Toni’s, is nearly ready to open its doors. The restaurant occupies the space that housed Alison on the Beach, which had to be vacated because it was close to being condemned. (“The insurance company wouldn’t insure us anymore,” says Alison on the Beach owner Alison Becker-Hurt. “We had to move out.” This goes a long way to explaining why the town dragged its heels for so long before granting a certificate of occupancy for Townline.)
Mediavore
Nobu Coming to the Hamptons; AMA Gets Behind Calorie-Posting LawOn some summer weekends, Nobu will be setting up a satellite location in the Hamptons – presumably near Howard Stern’s place. [NYP]
The American Medical Association gets behind the city’s requirement that fast-food chains post calorie and other nutritional information on their menus. Not that the chains have any intention of complying. [Nation’s Restaurant News]
Ratatouille is being hailed as an instant classic, especially for foodies: “The food is drawn and imagined so beautifully (with the help of French Laundry chef Thomas Keller, who consulted on the movie) that you walk out wishing you’d made reservations at Per Se.” [Slate]
Neighborhood Watch
Goldfarb’s Kiosks to Invade Battery Park in SeptemberAstoria: Hellgate Community Supported Agriculture is distributing some very fine cherries, chives, and beets today. [Joey in Astoria]
Battery Park: Will Goldfarb’s high-concept kiosks should open around Labor Day. [NYS]
Greenwich Village: Lassi now sells packets of their freshly ground spices, including musky mango powder and tandoori masala. [NYT]
Harlem: Sample exotic desserts and wine this evening at Make My Cake; beats provided by 90.3 WHCR. [Uptown Flavor]
Morningside Heights: The owners of Clinton St. Baking Company plan to open a green restaurant on Broadway near 112th Street by the end of August. [NYT]
Shelter Island: The Pridwin Beach Hotel & Cottages hosts all-you-can-eat cookouts every Wednesday night beginning July 4. [Hamptons.com]
Upper East Side: Food historian and cookbook author Francine Segan will discuss the aphrodisiacal history of various foods from ginseng to rhinoceros horns at the 92nd Street Y tonight at 6:30 p.m. Samples will be notably more tame and will probably involve chocolate. [92nd Street Y]
Williamsburg: U.K.-based TMI Food Group, whose packaged products include cooked sandwich bacon, opened its new food-manufacturing facility today at 7 Bushwick Place. [Bridal Blog/NYO]
Mediavore
Zak Pelaccio Leaves 5 Ninth; Survival of the Fittest in the HamptonsZak Pelaccio leaves 5 Ninth to pursue projects with Jeffrey Chodorow; his replacement, Dan Perilla, a.k.a. Chino, is a Pelaccio protégé who will oversee the restaurant’s move away from Asian flavors. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
The competition is brutal for Hamptons restaurants, and only the strong survive more than a season or two. [Newsday]
The current lobster-roll craze started at the Pearl Oyster Bar, and its shameless imitators really ought to admit who influenced them. [Serious Eats]
Mediavore
Jay-Z Now Has 100 Problems; Beef Prices Through the RoofJay-Z now has 100 problems: He’s being sued by the staff of the 40/40 Club for withholding tips and paying less than the minimum wage. [NYP]
Beef prices are getting higher, and the supply of the best stuff getting shorter. Guess what that means for your next steakhouse bill. [NYT]
There is a slew of new restaurants opening in the Hamptons, although none are what you would call world-shaking. [Newsday]
NewsFeed
Prime 103 Does Owe a Debt — to Angelo and Maxie’s
The concept for Prime 103, Ed “Jean Luc” Kleefield’s new steakhouse and lounge on the Montauk Highway, isn’t borrowed from a Miami Beach rival, despite recent accusations. Its inspiration, it turns out, is much closer to home. The real backstory, according to Kleefield, is that Angelo and Maxie’s had all but sealed a deal to buy the property and open an East End outpost of their eatery, but the offer fell apart “at the eleventh hour” only a few months ago. The JL group then figured, if Angelo and Maxie’s thought a steakhouse would work, then why not?
Neighborhood Watch
Central Kitchen Down Until June in the West VillageChelsea: The big pink cupcake may have gotten all the press up until now, but how do the cupcakes taste? [Blog Chelsea] A man who claimed to be the nephew of Dolce & Gabbana was arrested at Bungalow 8 and not by the fashion police. [Eater]
Jamaica: Delta terminal 2 at JFK is getting a Balducci’s. [NewYorkology]
Southampton: Cain drops its plans for the Hamptons. [Down by the Hipster]
Upper West Side: P&G Corner Café getting harassed by its landlords; hence the no walls. [Lost City]
West Village: New York toasts Italy this weekend. Maremma and Otto are among restaurants serving special tasting menus by the chefs. [Bene Magazine] A tipster says its lights out for Central Kitchen, but a message machine says they’ll be open by June. [Grub Street]
Back of the House
Trans Fats Versus Razor Blades; ‘Times’ Inspired by Our RestroomBruni ponders bathrooms, giving a shout-out to Grub Street’s Restroom Report; apparently the Sultan had a pretty nasty encounter with the ones at Gordon Ramsay. [NYT]
Hamptons officials loosen up and consider lifting the music ban in restaurants — if there’s very tight regulation of it. [NYP]
E! wrap-up on the Top Chef finale, including a plate-by-plate account of the competition’s Last Supper, which is more interesting, to us anyway, than whether Ilan got his money and new oven. [E!]
Related: Ilan Won, Yes, But What Does It All Mean?
