Starbucks Nixes Breakfast Sandwiches; Kenny Shopsin Ready for Mind-AlteringIn addition to slowing its expansion (finally), Starbucks will halt “sales of hot breakfast sandwiches because their smell interferes with the aroma of coffee.” [WSJ]
If Padma Lakshmi could eat anywhere right now, she’d head to a little taco stand in Mexico for some fish tacos on the beach. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Chelsea hot spot Stereo, which was closed by police earlier this month, will not be reopening at its current location because the landlord bought out the lease. [NYP]
The Other Critics
Fiamma Earns Its Third Star; Love for Kenny ShopsinFiamma hits the three-star jackpot, tickling Frank Bruni in his sweet spot and earning itself the critical credibility Steve Hanson wanted when he hired Fabio Trabocchi. Bruni admits the place isn’t Italian, but he is in love with the ultrarich, ultracomposed food. [NYT]
Market Table took over the space that was Shopsin’s, and this gave the Randall Lane the good idea of reviewing both restaurants at the same time. Market Table earns four stars (out of six, mind you) for its solid food and gracious service. Kenny, in his new digs at Essex Street Market, gets three for his still terrific food and his not-so-gracious service. [TONY]
The Fiamma review should wash away any melancholy caused by Alan Richman’s lukewarm number on Primehouse, Fiamma’s sister. Richman likes the steaks pretty well and singles out crab cake for enthusiastic praise, but he casts a skeptical eye on pretty much everything else, from its resident bull-god to the Himalayan salt aging room. [Bloomberg]
The Other Critics
Suba Called ‘Dazzling’; Shopsin’s Called…Shopsin’sSuba, Boqueria’s ambitious sister restaurant, gets two stars from Frank Bruni, who goes so far as to say “the best of the food here is distinctive and exciting. In a few instances it’s even dazzling.” Suba, underbuzzed and on a bad block, needed a big boost and got it. [NYT]
Randall Lane isn’t impressed with the East Village Yacht Club, or for that matter Smith and Mills. Two stars out of six, and it sounds like they were lucky to get that. [TONY]
Peter Meehan’s review of the new Shopsin’s begins with his best lede ever: “Tolstoy had it wrong about happy families, because there are none like the Shopsins.” The food, though beside the point, sounds about as good as before. [NYT]
Related: A Taste of Kenny Shopsin
Neighborhood Watch
Shopsin’s Arrives At Last in Its New Lower East Side BerthChelsea: Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano will not utilize the old Plaid space for their next club; 1OAK (One of a Kind) is now set for 17th between Ninth and Tenth. [Down by the Hipster] Klee Brasserie will give out its new peach sangria for free this Sunday to mark Gay Pride Day. [NYS]
Lower East Side: Shopsin’s finally open in the Essex Street Market. [Eater]
Midwood: DiFara open tomorrow? No, but “maybe Friday.” [Lost City]
Upper East Side: Owners of recently departed Jovia will give the townhouse space a more casual feel with a name and menu reminiscent of the owners’ Soho restaurant, Zoë. [NYT]
West Village: Jefferson Market has the single-origin-chocolate ice creams from Choctál newly imported from California. [NYT]
NewsFeed
Shopsin’s Opening Announced (Kind Of)Kenny Shopsin sent us one of his typically terse missives last night, consisting entirely of the email subject line: “2-3 weeks.” For those not following the endless Shopsin saga, the gray-locked, foul-mouthed grill man has been readying his stall in the Essex Street Market for months and teasing the media with visual messages. This is the best one yet.
Neighborhood Watch
Aquavit Releases New Menus in Midtown EastEast Village: Stand offers ice cream and liquor? Yes, please. [NYP]
Flatiron: A ‘wichcraft has popped up on 20th Street and Broadway. [Grub Street]
Fort Greene: June has been closed by the Department of Health; the presence of mice less surprising than the low turnouts for their tasty enough fare. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Kensington: Newbie residents get scolded for desiring cafés and restaurants, which disturb the peace and wreak havoc, as in Park Slope. [Brooklyn Record]
Lower East Side: Tonic is closed; you may have missed Friday’s last gig. [NewYorkology] But Shopsin’s is about to open in the Essex Street Market. [Eater]
Midtown East: Aquavit has new menus, lots of new menus. [Grub Street]
Nolita: InTent has closed after only ten months. Remember? That was Payard’s downtown sibling? No? [Eater]
The In-box
I Will Lose the Love of My Family Without Creamed Chipped BeefDear Grub Street, Please help me find a restaurant that serves creamed chipped beef for brunch. My friends and relatives from Philly refuse to visit unless I have one lined up. (I personally do not eat creamed chipped beef — it’s way too scary-looking.)K.M.
Mediavore
Kitchen Abuse Exposed; Health Department Shutdowns TripleApparently, abuse of every kind is rampant in kitchens. Herewith, complaints leveled against Daniel, Jean Georges, Megu, Babbo, and more. [NYP]
Post–KFC–Taco Bell scandal, New York restaurant closures triple. [NYP]
Morandi is, like every other Keith McNally venture, a smashing success, and likely to remain so. [NYP]
Back of the House
Death and Suffering for Restaurants, DucksPity the food vendors, caught in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic web. [NYDN]
It seems that death comes at long last to Shopsin’s, or at least its West Village incarnation. [Gridskipper]
And to Boxers, another West Village institution. [NYP]
Around 2,500 ducks have died mysteriously in Idaho, are being tested for bird flu. [Nation’s Restaurant News]
But a new tapas bar is born in Brooklyn. [A Brooklyn Life]
