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
And … Another Celebrity-Chef Calendar!
Proof that great ideas come in twos: Darwin and Wallace discovering evolution simultaneously, two Ethel Merman biographies coming out at the same time, and now, two celebrity-chef calendars appearing within a few weeks of each other. The first, announced here on Grub Street, was a Gourmet Institute effort, featuring images by My Last Supper photog Melanie Dunea; this one, offered by the Gohan Society, was shot by Kenji Takigami and offers a contrastingly serene approach (no cowboy suits or drunken fish!). The Gohan Society exists to promote Japanese gastronomy in the U.S., and proceeds from the calendar go to support it. Naturally, it has a fair share of Japanese chefs, but our favorite pictures are the ones above, of Amy Ruth’s Carl Redding, looking like the very picture of happiness, and François Payard, hard at work on some new confection. We’re going to put them both up. You can’t have too many chef calendars.
The Gohan Society Chefs Calendar 2008 [Gohan Society]
Related: Chef Centerfold Calendar Ready for 2008
NewsFeed
Meet Pawpaw for Dinner Tonight at SavoyThere are some southern specialties all the world loves, as our guide to local gulf-shrimp dishes makes clear. But some of these regional foods rarely make it past the Mason-Dixon line. Tonight, New Yorkers get the chance to sample an obscure treat: pawpaw, a large, tasty fruit, used in a variety of dishes. Savoy is hosting the second annual Betsy Lydon Slow Food Ark USA Award dinner. (Appropriately enough, the name’s a real mouthful.) Southern preparations like rabbit burgoo and Kentucky ham will complement pawpaw daiquiris and ice cream, as well as other recipes made with North America’s native tropical fruits. (The dinner, which costs $150, including tax and tip, starts at 6:30 p.m.)
In honor of the pawpaw, here’s our list of five of the most delicious southern foods you’ll find in New York.