Mario Slammed for His Crocs; Zagat’s Dinner Prices a Crock?Plenty of new chefs and openings to report, but the real hubbub is over the persistence of Batali’s orange shoes and a certain skinny red book.
• Per the Flo chart, Boulud opens a wine bar, Tourondel opens a burger joint, and Neiporent teams up with Bao 111’s Michael Huyn for a Vietnamese venture. [NYT]
• Batali wears the Crocs for a movie premiere and our friends the Fug Girls declare him “the poster child for this crime against global retinas.” Meanwhile Radar reports he dishwashes his 30 pairs. [Chow]
• New chefs attempt to breathe life into Gilt (Chris Lee; lobster sliders), Thor (Kevin Pomplun; oxtail fettuccini), and tapas bar Marbella (Fernando Echeverri, squid-stuffed chorizo). [Strong Buzz]
• Zagat drops, and Jennifer Leuzzi asks the usual chefs how they feel about landing the usual spots. [NYS]
• Meanwhile, Steve Cuozzo complains that Tim and Nina are still lowballing meal costs, which have climbed 14.5 percent at top spots: “Many figures given as the ‘average estimate of the price of a dinner with one drink and tip’ at specific restaurants still seem more like cheapest-case scenarios than averages.” [NYP]
• Finally, last call for the chipotle-gorgonzola-black-bean-lasagne at Williamsburg’s eatery-cum-screening-room Monkey Town. [Eater]
Back of the House
City Fears Unflaky Pie Crusts, Turns to Whoppers and Whiskey• The city bans trans fats from restaurants, despite the fact that nobody minds the stuff, the industry is against the regulations, and New Yorkers stand to lose their flaky pie crusts. (NYT)
• McDonald’s, meanwhile, donates $2 million to childhood-obesity research. (Nation’s Restaurant News)
• And hackers bust open Burger King’s free Whopper offer. (A Hamburger Today)
• More women are hitting the hard stuff. (NYDN)
• In a champagne-and-caviar matchup, fired Gilt chef Paul Liebrandt will consult for Stephen Starr, the mogul behind Buddakan and Morimoto. (Snack)