Chris Cheung Swings in to Monkey Bar; Astoria’s Greek Restaurants ChallengingAstoria: The nabe’s Greek tapas offer a light respite from overstuffing on leftovers. [NYT] A & D Meat on 31st Street now sells organic beef. [Joey in Astoria]
Hell’s Kitchen: Not only does Bis.Co. Latte on 47th at Tenth Avenue make over 40 varieties of biscotti, but the bakery also offers seasonal soups and daily gelati. [Blog Chelsea]
Financial District: Flames Steakhouse is now an Italian restaurant called Giardino D’oro, though the chef hasn’t changed. [Restaurant Girl]
Midtown East: After dispensing with Patricia Yeo, the Monkey Bar has installed promising chef Chris Cheung, who so memorably left Almond Flower this past summer. [Eater]
Prospect-Lefferts-Gardens: Lime might not be open yet, but the bar is planning a fund-raiser for a nonprofit preschool. [Across the Park]
Mediavore
Massive Piedmontese Market Coming to Midtown; Lady Chefs Are Tougher Than YouA food bazaar in Turin, Italy, called Eataly, which combines a “European open market, a Whole-Foods-style supermarket, a high-end food court and a New Age learning center” is opening its second location in a 10,000-square-foot space on 18 West 48th Street. [NYT]
Despite David Chang’s unwavering confidence that Noodle Bar 2.0 would open early this week, the restaurant’s not yet ready; he blames Con-Ed. [Eater]
Women chefs who’ve found success aren’t hard to come by in New York, according to Cuozzo, who mentions at least two examples. [NYP]
Related: A Woman’s Place? [NYM]
The Post goes on to blame Patricia Yeo for Monkey Bar’s failure. [NYP]
In the Magazine
Women Chefs Take the Reins in This Week’s Issue“It’s a man’s man’s man’s world,” James Brown once sang. Was it the official anthem of the restaurant world? Sometimes it seems like that, but this week’s issue has eight reasons to the contrary. The names of the first seven are April Bloomfield (The Spotted Pig), Rebecca Charles (Pearl Oyster Bar), Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter), Sara Jenkins (formerly of 50 Carmine), Anita Lo (Annisa), Jody Williams (Morandi), and Patricia Yeo (formerly of Monkey Bar and Sapa). All talked about a woman’s place in the kitchen in a special New York forum. The eighth reason? Alex Raij, whose new tapas restaurant, El Quinto Pino, gets three stars from the Underground Gourmet. All this, and a recipe for pan-roasted chicken (plus a video!), come at you in this week’s issue of New York.
A Woman’s Place?
Small Is Beautiful
In Season: Pasture Raised Chicken [NYM]
Mediavore
Bourdain’s Reaction to ‘Top Chef’; Goldfarb and Cluizel Sittin’ in aBourdain considers “Hung’s well deserved victory … a nice, stiff middle finger to all those boneheads who’ve been predicting that ‘The producers are setting it up so Casey will win,’ as well as the poor, deluded souls who feel they can somehow taste food through the television screen.” Are you listening, Adam Platt? [Bourdain’s Blog/Bravo]
Michelin Guide director Jean-Luc Naret wants chefs on their toes: “One thing you have to understand is that stars are not engraved in marble, but crystal, and that they can break easily.” [Metromix NY]
Will Goldfarb is officially shacking up with Michel Cluizel at ABC on a dessert café, and Patricia Yeo has abandoned Monkey Bar after leaving Sapa to work on the project in March. [NYT]
Related: Cluizel, Goldfarb to Join Forces in Dessert Pact
Patricia Yeo Leaving Sapa, Opening Rib House; Something About a Monkey
NewsFeed
Gavin Portsmouth Promoted at Sapa This just in from Brian Matzkow, owner of Sapa:
Owner Brian Matzkow of SAPA Restaurant is excited to announce that the menu will be taking on a new direction under the guidance of newly appointed Executive Chef Gavin Portsmouth. Chef Portsmouth was the previous executive chef of Zax in Los Angeles and the current Chef de Cuisine at SAPA. Former Executive Chef Patricia Yeo has graciously parted ways to pursue other ventures.
For God’s sake, just don’t change the four-star bathrooms!
Neighborhood Watch
LES Crackdown; Yogurt Wars Expand UWS FrontChelsea: Patricia Yeo is out at Sapa. [Eater]
Lower East Side: Turns out La Esquina’s basement is illegal! [NYP]
Midtown West: Get your Charlie Murphy fix at El Centro; it’s his favorite Mexican restaurant. [Gridskipper]
Soho: Former 66 chef Josh Eden has taken over the kitchen at Goblin Market. [Strong Buzz]
Upper West Side: Yogurt Wars update: Pinkberry takes over Excel Fine Art’s space on Columbus Avenue. [Eat for Victory/VV]
West Village: Something’s fishy about the seafood sister restaurant to the Spotted Pig: Diners at the original heard staff chatting about the location opening soon as the 10 Spot. [Down by the Hipster]
Mediavore
‘Top Chef’ Auditions This Sunday; Patricia Yeo Doesn’t BuyDo you watch Top Chef and wish it were you getting abused by Padma? Here’s your chance: Auditions are being held Sunday at Craftsteak. [Gothamist]
Related: ‘Top Chef’ Non-Winner Lia on What Went Wrong
‘Top Chef’ Biases Finally Out on the Table
Believe it or not, Patricia Yeo doesn’t buy the kitchen material in No Reservations, especially Catherine Zeta-Jones’s spotless whites: “She was so perfect. There was no way she could have a worked a real service.” [NYDN]
Is this curtains for the Hamburglar? McDonald’s announces that they won’t market unhealthy foods to kids under 12. [NRN]
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]
Mediavore
Chicken Fingers Clutch at America’s Youth; Eco-Rebels Reject Bottled WaterUnited States of Arugula author (and friend of Grub Street) David Kamp worries for the next generation: “America is in the grips of a nefarious chicken-finger pandemic, in which a blandly tasty foodstuff has somehow become the de facto official nibble of our young.” [NYT]
Doing their part for Mother Earth, more restaurants are eschewing bottled water and the profits it brings. But only Del Posto is on board in New York. [NYT]
Other restaurants are looking to inflate water prices even more: “When paired correctly with fine wines, particular waters enhance subtle flavors and fragrances, allowing for the ultimate dining experience.” [Chef Magazine]
Neighborhood Watch
Ne’er-do-well Neroni Traced to Alias on the Lower East SideBrooklyn Heights: Don’t want to mix your own mint juleps? Sip some at Magnetic Field’s Kentucky Derby party starting at 3 p.m. Saturday. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
East Village: A sushi restaurant gets pumped up about nice weather and starts advertising for iced green tea. [East Village Idiot] Plus, SB3 bar is finally open on Avenue B and 3rd Street and looks to have an ambitious cocktail repertoire. [Down by the Hipster]
Lower East Side: “Desperate Chef” Jason Neroni spotted cooking at Alias, where he is filling in for the month while the restaurant searches for a chef. [Grub Street]
Meatpacking District: Reservations won’t help you bypass the bouncer at Son Cubano restaurant. [This Is What We Do Now]
Midtown East: The bar area of Monkey Bar, Patricia Yeo’s new endeavor, is slated for a 5 p.m. opening tonight. [Eater]
Williamsburg: Crafty Pie fest at Union Pool this Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. is both a craft fair and an excuse to eat homemade pie. [Cakehead]
NewsFeed
Patricia Yeo Leaving Sapa, Opening Rib House; Something About a MonkeyPatricia Yeo, whose precise, eclectic fusion cookery and painterly platings brought Sapa wide renown, has finally left the restaurant. A source tells us that she has made the decision to start her own place with Strip House owners Peter and Penny Glazier (she announced plans to quit in 2005), an as-yet-unnamed Asian barbecue place, emphasizing ribs, in the space currently occupied by the Monkey Bar. We’re not putting on the bib quite yet, though: There has been no official announcement or opening date given.
Update: Yeo tells us that she will not be leaving Sapa as executive chef or partner (at least for now; our source believes it’s a matter of months): “I will probably be spending more time at Monkey Bar, at least pre-reviews. The main concept will be to resurrect old ideas, like ribs, with an Asian spin.”
Click and Save
Forget ‘Top Chef,’ Here’s What Real Cooking Looks Like
The cooking on Top Chef is, as most chefs will tell you, about as realistic as the medicine practiced on House. But that doesn’t mean you can’t see the real thing if you look hard enough. Consider RealMeals, a brand-new, just-launched website which specializes in videos of both professional and amateur chefs actually cooking. This kind of instructional/aspirational video has been coming into vogue in recent months (Chow has produced a number of really good ones.) But RealMeals is both more interesting and more New York-oriented.
Click and Save
The Ultimate Chocolate Luxury; Neroni Promoting CarrotsMake pork chops the way they did in 1959 — or update them, Marco Canora style. [NYT]
Who doesn’t love carrots? Just ask Jason Neroni. [NYDN]
January, the month to buy kitchen appliances. [NYDN]
NewsFeed
‘Iron Chef’ Fans Drive Morimoto MenuIron Chef Morimoto, with his stern visage and poetic imagination, is utterly compelling, as television owners from Kyoto to Kentucky now know. But how closely does the menu of his vast West Side restaurant, Morimoto, hew to his work on the small screen? Sometimes, rather closely.
