DOH Confirms Increase in Late-Night Smoking RaidsOn the Beatrice Inn: “The Department may consider actions to revoke or suspend the establishment’s permit should it continue to allow patrons to smoke.”
If You Can’t Dance at Beatrice, Then Where?Until now a list of Manhattan’s cabaret licenses hasn’t been available online, but we’ve acquired one so you can do the all-the-rage tektonik — legally!
Minetta Tavern Will Close for McNally Makeover May 6If you’re the nostalgic type, rather than the “can’t wait to see what Keith McNally does with it” type, you might want to get to onetime speakeasy Minetta Tavern before its last night under the current ownership.
Ethan Hawke Hits Qdoba; ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ Reunion at D’OrLast week Todd Barry told us he was a Chipotle man and we noted that a couple of respected chefs were too — but it seems Ethan Hawke, for one, prefers naked burritos to burrito bols, if a recent sighting at Qdoba Mexican Grill is any indicator. Are notable New Yorkers embracing casual dining chains? Lizzie Grubman did take her client Tailor Made to, um, the Olive Garden…
Neighborhood Watch
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]
NewsFeed
Beatrice Owners to Open New Club in … Jersey?At one point Smith and Mills owner Matt Abramcyk was toying with the idea of opening a Skee-Ball bar in the financial district, but now it looks like he has a bigger project on the horizon — in Atlantic City! The Times reports that he and his Beatrice Inn partner, Paul “brother of the actress Chloë” Sevigny, are teaming with Curtis Bashaw, a developer of the Mondrian in Soho, to turn a former Atlantic City Howard Johnson into the Chelsea, a boutique hotel with a Stephen Starr restaurant. A spokesman for the project tells the Times that the Beatrice team is “going to be in charge of celebrity wrangling, including bringing Paul’s sister’s friends down” to a fifth-floor lounge. Chloë has gone to AC for a Morrissey concert, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Our favorite part of the story? When the Times reporter gripes about getting turned away from the Beatrice.
SoHo Meets HoJo In Atlantic City [NYT]
Neighborhood Watch
Catty Males Shake Beatrice; Charcuterie ManiaClinton Hill: There are a few places in the nabe to find gluten-free products, but one celiac sufferer would like to find out about any others. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Lower East Side: Video of a Tailor bartender doing his thing. [Snack]
Midtown East: Former Savoy chef Matt Weingarten’s year-long plans to start dinner service at Café St. Bart’s will come to fruition on May 5. [Zagat]
Upper West Side: Bar Boulud may claim the top charcuterie in town (though Mia Dona’s stepping up), but you can also find some tasty stand-ins at Café d’Alsace and elsewhere, including Fort Greene’s Stonehome Wine Bar. [Citysearch]
West Village: Spencer Morgan of the New York Observer supposedly slapped Hud Morgan from Men’s Vogue at the Beatrice Inn on Wednesday night because the latter didn’t respond to the former’s apology e-mail. A true New York noble. [Gawker]
Celebrity Settings
Bobby Flay a Fan of Chipotle (the Restaurant, Not Just the Sauce)?Earlier today, we pointed to our fashion blog’s outrage that Orlando Bloom was seen with Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr at Max Brenner, of all places. However, our combing of this week’s celebrity sightings reveals it may have been a momentary lapse, since Bloom was also spotted at the much more respectable Bobo. Phew. But what’s this — Bobby Flay filming outside of Chipotle? Is he a spokesman now? Who knows — if Rachael Ray can endorse Dunkin’ Donuts…
NewsFeed
SLA Poops the Party at Andrew W.K.’s Soon-to-Open Venue
Brooklyn Vegan has it that on April 5 rocker-muse Andrew W.K. and artist Spencer Sweeney will host a Handsome Furs performance at their long-in-the-works venue, at one point called Santa’s Party House. We’ve heard that owners of bygone East Village dive the Hole will also be involved along with bookers from the Knitting Factory and P.S. 1’s Warm-Up series. But it might not be time to party hardy just yet.
Neighborhood Watch
David Waltuck on Cooking in Tribeca for 30 Years; Clover Club Coming to CarrollCarroll Gardens: The Clover Club — the Smith Street cocktail spot from the Flatiron Lounge people have a sign up. Getting close! [Off the Presses]
Gramercy: Shockingly, for some cooked-food enthusiasts, “some of Pure’s dishes, and not just obvious things like salad, are downright delicious.” [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Greenwich Village: Somebody told somebody that a bartender at a new bar told him that Keith McNally may have put a $1 million bid on Minetta Tavern. [Eater]
Hell’s Kitchen: Video of Dave Martin concocting a special Valentine’s Day gelato to serve at Crave. [Snack]
Tribeca: David Waltuck “first got behind the stove [at Chanterelle] — and set the restaurant on its path to becoming one of the city’s most cherished — before he was 25 years old. He’s now 53.” And ready for a Q&A with Frank Bruni. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
West Village: Grom is totally coming to Bleecker Street, and they’re accepting applications now for a March opening. [Eat for Victory/VV] Was Beatrice Inn raided and shut down last night? [Down by the Hipster]
Celebrity Settings
Momofuku, Freemans, Spotted Pig Honchos Break Bread With Stephen Starr
Our favorite celebrity sighting of the week was, of course, Lindsay Lohan at Peter Luger on Tuesday night — that’s because we saw her with our own eyes. Of course, we can’t be everywhere and see everyone, so as usual we’ve combed the gossip columns for other stop-ins. We’re sorry we missed Tracy Morgan at the Plumm, shirtless and offering to father babies as usual, and boy do we wish we were a fly on the wall when partners Ken Friedman and Taavo Somer, along with David Chang, dined with Stephen Starr at Buddakan. Is there a Spotted Buddafuku in the works?
Mediavore
More Sex From Gael Greene; TKettle’s Veggie DumplingsGael Greene returns to her sexy-tables topic after an influx of reader mail: “Several romantics agreed with Francesco that ‘Jean Georges at lunch could not be more sexy.’” A reformed Madame Bovary concluded: “It was a lot of bang for the buck.” [Insatiable Critic]
Even the Brits are buzzing over the prospect of Charlie Trotter opening a restaurant overlooking Madison Square Park. [Caterer Search, UK]
Related: New York to Charlie Trotter: Bring It On!
This hefty roundup of book recommendations for foodies includes such Grub-approved picks as the Food Snob’s Dictionary and My Last Supper (where you can see Wylie Dufesne lounging like Lady Godiva, but with cheese). [Zagat]
Related: Meet the Original Food Snobs
David Kamp Brings Aid to Would-Be Food Snobs
Eating the Last Supper
The New York Diet
Singer-Songwriter Vanessa Carlton Indeed Loves Ruby’s in the Afternoon
In her single “Nolita Fairytale,” Vanessa Carlton sings about her love of “Ruby’s in the afternoon”— a reference to her favorite neighborhood hang. “It’s the best people-watching,” she says of Ruby’s. “Everyone looks like they’re out of an editorial shoot for some hip magazine. But it’s not posey.” Other favorites near the “Nolita flat on rent control” she famously exalts? La Esquina (“I love to get takeout or to just sit at the front taco bar”), Freemans (“I think it wins the devils-on-horseback competition with the Spotted Pig”), and N (“the best chorizo I’ve ever had”). We asked her whether this week found her at any of the above.
NewsFeed
Blow Hits the Streets of New York
Want some Blow? Last week the bodega across from Belcourt started dealing the stuff! Easy tiger, it’s not what you think— Blow, you see, is the latest in preposterously named energy products. Apparently the Vegas-based company isn’t sweating the fact that Cocaine was banned, because they’re packaging the white powder in “recreational user packs” (pictured here), “bricks,” and “vials,” and selling it on their Website Iloveblow.com complete with credit cards and mirrors (“I Love Blow” thongs and booty shorts, too!). Like anyone would be cheesy enough to go for this? Then again, we do know some folks who are going to love having the perfect fake-out container next time they go to Beatrice.
Neighborhood Watch
Last Weekend at Red Hook Ball Fields; RUB Introduces Frito Pie to ChelseaAstoria: You can ask the chefs from Bistro 33, at 19-33 Ditmars Boulevard, to prepare a special tasting menu — but be sure to request the chocolate-espresso-stout ice cream served on a warm fudge brownie for dessert. [Joey in Astoria]
Chelsea: RUB has introduced the “open-face” and “sloppy” grease fest that is Frito pie to its menu and it’s best inhaled with a kindred Texas brew. [Gothamist]
East Village: David Chang is looking for one experienced cook to join his team for Momofuku Ko, “a very unique operation, with the possibility of no servers.” [Eat for Victory/VV]
Greenwich Village: Anita Lo has released a recipe for Rickshaw Dumpling Bar’s kimchee-and-tofu dumplings. [Restaurant Girl]
Red Hook: This is the last Sunday of the season for the ball-fields vendors. [Eat for Victory/VV]
NewsFeed
Beatrice Currently Closed to Everyone, Not Just YouGawker reported earlier today that the Beatrice was closed last night, though “no one knew why.” Co-owner Matt Abramcyk fills us in. In order to address noise complaints, Abramcyk was doing renovations to facilitate quick entry and exit to and from the club. However, someone failed to apply for a permit to do some plumbing work. “When [the mayor’s task force] shut construction down,” Abramcyk says, “they left us with our pants half down, since we were doing it to satisfy them.” He’s working with his lawyers to get his pants back up in time to open tonight — not that it matters to the 99.9 percent of the city that can’t get in anyway.
Paul Sevigny’s Beatrice Inn Shut Down Last Night [Gawker]
