EPA Joins Mercury Craze; A ‘Seinfeld’–Inspired Food StudyThe Environmental Protection Agency is beginning to examine the mercury levels in the twenty most commonly eaten fish in the New York City region. [NYT]
Top Chef seductress/hostess Padma Lakshmi is moving into a full-floor loft in Alphabet City. [The Real Estate/NYO]
The holy triumvirate of burgers, fries, and milk shakes continues to dominate the nation’s culinary imagination. [NRN]
Mediavore
A New Food Emporium at South Street Seaport?; Join a CSA TodayConsultant Clark Wolf is in a rush to open artisanal-food stalls across from the old Fulton Fish Market by Memorial Day, but apparently this has nothing to do with the proposed New Amsterdam Public market. [Insatiable Critic]
Related: Batali Shows a Little Leg to Sex Up New Amsterdam Public
A lawsuit between a Queens Chinese restaurant and CW11, regarding Kaity Tong’s reporting on a mouse allegedly found in the food, is close to being thrown out since the lawyers can’t prove any malice on the newscaster’s part. [NYP]
Grant Achatz, star chef of Chicago’s Alinea, may have beat his tongue cancer, but his sense of taste may not return for a year or two. [WSJ]
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Chefs Relax in Bruni’s Absence; Chinese Seafood: Now With Fewer Drugs!Frank Bruni is out of the city until January 23, or maybe January 31. Either way, chefs at new restaurants will be breathing a little bit easier until he returns. [Eater]
The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies has released a report saying that cloning causes suffering to animals, making it unjustifiable to clone them for the food supply. [NYT]
Top Chef winner Hung Huynh was spotted in Las Vegas at Company, the same restaurant where Season Two contestant Marcel Vigneron works as a cook. It’s no coincidence, though; they’re buds from cooking school. [Eater L.A.]
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Oak Room Gets New Operators; Illegal Fish Trade GrowsNight Sky Holdings, which formerly operated Windows on the World at the World Trade Center as well as the Rainbow Room, has signed a contract to run the Oak Room and the Oak Bar at the Plaza Hotel. Also, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s former sous-chef Didier Virot will be helming the kitchen at the hotel’s other eatery, the Palm Court. [NYP]
Sushi chef Hiroshi Nakahara has left New York’s BondSt to run the kitchen at a new outpost in Beverly Hills. [PR Newswire]
Chipotle will be serving 200 million meals using naturally raised meat this year, a 40 percent increase from 2007. [The Grinder/Chow]
What to Eat This Week
Catch Your Dinner at City IslandSo what’s the best way to blow these precious last days of short-sleeved weather? Those with cars should grab a windbreaker and jet up — like, now! — to City Island. After you’ve indulged in the obligatory fried lobster tails, frog legs, and mai tais on the waterfront deck of the inimitable Johnny’s Famous Reef Restaurant, board the Riptide III, leaving at 6:30 p.m., for seafood straight out of the water rather than out of the deep fryer.
At the Greenmarket
Local Asparagus Finally Shows Up, With Sorrel in Tow
Fiddleheads, peas, and strawberries shimmer, miragelike, in our near future — but don’t let them distract you from the bounty available right now. The market has never been greener.
At the Greenmarket
Wild Dandelion Greens and Field-Grown Rhubarb Kick Off the Growing Season
The Greenmarket is looking more like dinner as all those inedible flowers make way for an increasing variety of produce. We’re not going totally locavore just yet, especially since the picking at gourmet markets is getting better by the day. But if need be, it could be done.
