Take Off Your Toque: Partying With Daniel Boulud
There have been a flurry of Chef Q&As in the blogosphere lately, but Gothamist’s sit-down with Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park really stood out for us. Part of it was the chef’s unabashed enthusiasm for three-star European chefs nobody has ever heard of. (Nobody, that is, who reads blogs.) Then there was this tidbit, which interviewer Hugh Merwin saved for last: After this year’s James Beard Awards, Humm threw an informal party at Eleven Madison. The highlight was 80 drunken guests pouring into the kitchen, where Daniel Boulud made scrambled eggs with truffles. This just highlights an important food rule: Always follow Boulud. Last year, the highlight of the after-party at Thor was Boulud jumping up on the bar and spraying everyone with champagne at three in the morning. If you can’t hang out with the man, at least read about it in Gothamist.
Daniel Humm, Chef [Gothamist]
Neighborhood Watch
Chefs Descend on Madison Square Park in Flatiron Food FestEast Village: All falafel at Chickpea is now baked, not fried. Is this the first move toward franchise status? [Eater]
Financial District: Celebrate Bastille Day this Saturday at the Les Halles Waiter’s Race on John Street at 2 p.m. [Les Halles]
Flatiron: Madison Square Park Conservancy hosts its other annual food extravaganza next Tuesday with bites from the nabe’s chefs including Seamus Mullen, Patricia Yeo, Daniel Humm, and Floyd Cardoz, plus Brooklyn Brewery suds, wine and Champagne. [Madison Square Park]
Flushing: The celebrated Chinese “food court” at J&L Mall, has been closed, and Con Ed, not the Department of Health, is the culprit. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Park Slope: Newly opened American restaurant Sidecar is BYO for now. [NYS]
Prospect Heights: Seasoning does not a good cheesesteak make; High Stakes on Flatbush would do better to call its signature item a sandwich. [Daily Heights]
Upper East Side: Stefani Jackenthal hosts a tasting of Pinot varieties at the 92nd Street Y tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. [92nd Street Y]
Upper West Side: Lincoln Center’s Summer Benefit starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight, but by 9 p.m. you can start sampling from restaurants including Anthos, Chanterelle, and Yolato at Damrosch Park. [NYS]
NewsFeed
Tonight’s Beard Awards: a Referendum on Haute Cuisine
Times are changing in the restaurant world – but just how fast? Tonight’s James Beard Awards will help answer the question of whether the traditional tablecloth restaurants, which seem to be on the way out, still wield their old clout in the gastronomic Establishment.
The Underground Gourmet
Resto’s Tête de Cochon Is Our Sandwich of the WeekIt’s a sad fact of life that some of the best things to eat in restaurants never make it out of the kitchen and onto the Underground Gourmet’s plate. We’re talking about staff or “family” meals, of course, those rustic snacks that kitchen crews deem unfit for mass consumption but then greedily hoard behind kitchen doors like hungry wolves around a fresh carcass. Happily, that was not the fate of one of the best sandwiches the UG has ever sunk his teeth into, the tête de cochon at the new Belgian restaurant Resto.