Danny Meyer: ‘You Can Stand Under My Umbrella’Jill Santopietro, recipe editor and food stylist at the Times, isn’t crazy about the service at Danny Meyer’s restaurants, but she loves the free umbrellas.
NewsFeed
Dream Match: Dentons vs. MartignettisJason Denton of Bar Milano charts his career from his humble beginnings as a Union Square Café waiter to his work at the helm of Lupa, ’ino, and ’inoteca.
NewsFeed
Union Square Cafe Waiters Are Poets and They Know ItGeneral manager Christopher Russell is apparently the John Keating of Union Square Cafe, since he convinced his staff members to begin every day in April by sharing a favorite poem.
Clinton and Ray Team Up for Fund-raiser; What Lidia Served the PopeThe former president and America’s first lady of home cooking are putting on a fund-raiser together, Pinkberry isn’t as “all natural” as you’d like it to be, and a recipe for a season-appropriate dish served to Pope Benedict XVI last week.
The New York Diet
Danny Meyer Has One Last Feast at FlorentHis restaurants range from Eleven Madison Park to Shake Shack, and his diet ranges from pâté de campagne to protein shakes.
NewsFeed
Danny Meyer Cuts Wild Edibles FreeThe foie gras protests outside Union Square Cafe may not have put a dent in anything, but we’ve just received a press release indicating that Union Square Hospitality Group will no longer use embattled Wild Edibles as its seafood provider, joining Keith McNally’s and Jean Denoyer’s restaurants in the snub. The release nods to the “courage” of ten workers who were let go after they filed a suit claiming they were stiffed on over time pay.
Mediavore
Shake Shack Reopens Today; Fabio Trabocchi’s Last MealSweet glory, Shake Shack reopens today at 11:30! You can call ahead to place your order, but you won’t be enjoying the new heaters until next week. [Eater]
The British agree: Adam Platt’s term “haute barnyard” defines the prevailing dining trend. [Guardian]
Related: The Haute Barnyard Hall of Fame
The manager of Sarabeth’s on Central Park South caught a 50-year-old thief taking $27 from her pocketbook over the weekend. [NYP]
Back of the House
What to Expect on Your Job Interview With Gordon Ramsay
Starchefs plugs big-name chefs as often as Heinz bottles ketchup, so you’ll find all the top toques in their new guidebook, Chefs to Know. Aimed at aspiring kitchen lackeys, the book is fun for civilian perusal as well, if only for the “offbeat restaurants,” favorite kitchen tools, and, best of all, their go-to job interview question.
NewsFeed
Zagat 2008 Smiles on Daniel, Gordon Ramsay, OthersNew York’s little red book, the 2008 Zagat guide, is out today. It is more significant to the restaurant world than the Michelin guide, and for good reason: The same people who use it are the ones who write it. So what if it’s a popularity contest? Life is a popularity contest. There were some minor shakeups in this year’s rankings, such as Union Square Cafe retaking its sibling Gramercy as most popular restaurant, and Daniel retaking the top spot in cuisine from Le Bernardin. But the more interesting points required a slightly closer look.
NewsFeed
Wild Edibles Gets Caught in the Net of the LawIn the latest labor-law fiasco, thirteen employees of Wild Edibles, which sells seafood to restaurants like Union Square Cafe and Pastis as well as the general public via its retail stores, have filed a lawsuit against the company for failure to pay overtime. According to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, David Rankin, and as is evident in copies of the complaint we’ve obtained, the individuals — most of them warehouse workers — worked in excess of 50 hours a week for flat wages varying from $450 to $550 (“right on the edge of minimum-wage violations,” Rankin says, though he decided not to pursue those charges). Rankin also says that four workers were unjustly fired after they requested overtime pay at the end of August, and that another worker was unfairly written up for stealing fish. A motion for a restraining order, which we’ve also obtained, will be heard in court tomorrow. Between the overfishing and underpaying, caviar is truly getting hard to swallow.
Cesar A. Barturen, et al. vs. Wild Edibles [PDF]
Memorandum in Support of Restraining Order [PDF]
