Bobby Flay Has a Burger Up His Sleeve
Christmas was bittersweet this year: We asked for an end to gourmet-burger franchises (among other things), but our wish has not been granted. Word is that Bobby Flay is looking to enter the burger derby alongside Rachael Ray and Joe Bastianich (whose plans for a restaurant called Heritage Burger were recently reported here). Flay’s reps won’t give us the where and when (though they admit that the telegenic grill man is giving the idea some thought). Our source, however, tells us the place will be called Bobby’s Burgers and that you’ll be able to find it in one of the big Vegas casinos.
Earlier: Two More on the Burger Bandwagon; Hardly Any Space for Buns
Back of the House
Ducasse, Ray Feeding AstronautsNot only is the space race still on, but France has pulled ahead of the U.S. You read that right: The European Space Agency recently teamed with Alain Ducasse, a man who knows a thing or two about stars (Michelin having given him nine over the course of his career), and Ducasse has prepared special meals — quails roasted in wine, duck-breast confit with capers, and “Riviera style swordfish” — for inhabitants of the International Space Station, currently hovering 220 miles above the earth. The first one was served Sunday. NASA, meanwhile, has engaged Rachael Ray to design meals like Thai chicken for the Discovery shuttle crew, who will be blasting off on Thursday. We’re pretty sure her food will be an improvement on Fruit Roll-Ups and Tang, but it’s hard not to feel a pang of national embarrassment reading the Ducasse menu.
Gourmet Meals on Menu for ISS Crew [Aero-News Network]
TV Host Upgrades Astronaut Meals [USA Today]
Foodievents
Mario Batali Is a Kobe Human, and Other Great Lines From His RoastMario Batali looked bigger than life last night, as he sat in a carved wooden throne taking punches from speaker after speaker at his celebrity roast at Capitale. The event, which benefited the Food Bank of New York, was simultaneously tame and vulgar: Every imaginable anatomical insult was made, but there was barely a mention of Super Mario’s actual partying practices, which are legendary in restaurant circles. Rachael Ray and Rocco DiSpirito, neither of whom were present, took far worse abuse.
Still, the roasters, who ranged from Sarah Silverman and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to Anthony Bourdain, got the merry pasta mogul pretty good.
Back of the House
Rachael Ray Gets Into the Burger Business; Graydon Carter Parts Seas of TrafficThe latest from inside the industry: Rachael Ray does burgers, a Long Island burger joint does iPods, and Graydon Carter doesn’t want you honking if you’re hungry.
• Rachael Ray opening a joint serving swordfish and 189 other types of burgers. [Fishbowl]
• Mickey D’s gets a makeover and American Burger Company in Hicksville debuts individual iPod jukeboxes. Plus, a new Chipotle and trackside chili delivery in Grand Central Terminal. [NYS]
• In search of beauty rest, Graydon Carter tries to reverse the laws of traffic near his Ye Waverly Inn. [Eater]
• Michelin editor Jean-Luc Naret tells of his favorite cities for dining (none of them French) and the best pickup restaurant in NYC. [UrbanDaddy]
• Chef Akhtar Nawab gets the boot two weeks before the opening of Allen and Delancey; Eric Lind takes over at Flatbush Farm. [NYT]
• Newly relocated Mekong and others throw open their doors. [Eater]
• Some outer-borough openings, including a bistro on Bedford. [Eater]
• Izakayas are blowing up. [Nation’s Restaurant News]
NewsFeed
Last Year’s Vendy Winner Envies Miss Universe
Our heartiest congratulations go out to Samiul Haque Noor, the winner of the 2006 Vendy Award for New York’s best street vendor. Noor won a cook-off against three other finalists, including the legendary “Arepa Lady,” to take the top honors Sunday night. We contacted last year’s winner, Rolf Babiel of Hallo Berlin, who was ineligible for this year’s contest, at his home in Binghamton, to ask him what’s in store for Noor. “I got a lot of new customers,” Babiel said. “And my lines got longer. Too long! I lost some of the old customers. We had visits from Oprah and Rachael Ray and journalists from Germany and Japan.” Babiel appreciates the attention the Vendys earned him, but one thing made him a little uneasy. “I got a big trophy,” he said. “But they called me up and said they need to take it back. I thought, It should be like Miss Universe, and I could give the trophy to the new winner. It would have been a little more professional. You know, I think the Vendys are a little bit disorganized. But I don’t get carried away.”
Grub Street’s favorite carts
Back of the House
Fake Fines, Mandatory Tanning, and $40 EntréesThe latest industry news: politicians enforcing draconian restaurant rules, restaurant requiring waitresses to tan, Rachael Ray earns backhand compliment.
Owner Dave Brodrick on the new Blind Tiger’s liquor-license battle: “It has left a bad taste in our mouths.” No, not of booze. [NYDN]
The Bulgarian bar Mehanata also fights the good fight. [Eater]
Score one for the little guys: A city worker gets busted doling out fake fines. [NYDN]
Cellies to stay in city eateries. [NYS]
Ralph Lauren looking to buy a dining and lodging club in the Hamptons? [NYP]
“Forty is the new thirty,” according to one of the many restaurants charging the big four-oh for entrées. [NYT]
Rachael Ray: “Ditzy like a fox.” [NYT]
Study shows that restaurants dish out heaping helpings. [USA Today]
Mandatory tanning? Inside the Hawaiian Tropic Zone’s waitress dorm. [NYP]