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October 15, 2008
Last night was the annual At The Table event for Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, a group that supports “education and advancement of women in culinary fields.” Chefs, culinary school students, and supporters gathered at the Prince George Ballroom for a sweet and savory tasting, general networking, and to raise awareness for the group’s scholarship and internship programs. Savory highlights included Patti Jackson’s pork belly braciole with broccoli rabe, lobster rolls from Rebecca Charles of Pearl...
Continue Reading "Hell Yeah, Lady Chefs"
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Candle 79, the fancy vegan restaurant on the Upper East Side, "takes a limited larder and stages an impressive show, reminding the pork-stuffed, duck-spoiled diner how much else is out there, and how much of it has never relied on animals or fish in the first place," according to Frank Bruni at the Times. He's no vegetarian, so he's thrilled to discover that the place is "largely satisfying, leaving an omnivorous interloper with a...
Continue Reading "Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup"October 14, 2008
Pichet Ong’s last name in print looks a bit like OMG, which is what you’ll probably say when you eat one of the macarons sold at the chef’s store, Batch. If you think of Pichet as a pastry curator and of Batch as an edible museum, then the macaron wing of the roughly 7-foot square West Village bakery is guest-curated by pastry chef Hsing Chen. Chen, formerly of Country, has started a mercenary macaron...
Continue Reading "Sweet Cookies for Tough Times"
The Department of Health has issued 682 violations to local restaurants since a new law took effect in April requiring eateries with more than fifteen locations nationwide to prominently display calorie information. Fines range between $200 and $2,000, and McDonald’s has the highest number of violations with 103. (Dunkin Donuts is second with 89.) Some restaurants are still refusing to comply, while others were busted for not posting the info as the law requires. For...
Continue Reading "Calorie Info Law Leading to Lots of Fines"
Page Six has a long profile on Tavern on the Green owner Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who inherited the place from her flamboyant father Warner LeRoy in 2001 at the age of 22. She currently pays $1.3 million a year in rent to the Parks Department, but the city will be putting the lease up for bidding when it expires in the fall. Donald Trump, Nobu owner Drew Nieporent, and Danny Meyer are rumored to be...
Continue Reading "Surrender Jenny: "Vultures" Circling Tavern on the Green "Advertisement: Gothamist Continues Below!
October 14, 2008
Mark Bello wants to teach you how to make a perfect pizza at home. With fresh dough and carefully selected local and Italian ingredients, Bello makes delectable thin-crust pies using his standard home oven in Chinatown, or, through his catering and cooking class company, Pizza a Casa in your home oven as well. He spreads the pizza gospel throughout the city teaching classes at the likes of Murray's and Astor Center and at private events....
Continue Reading "Mark Bello, Pizza Enthusiast and Artisan"October 13, 2008
“We normally associate cooking with exposing protein to flame,” said Anthony Bourdain at the Times Center, introducing chef Ferran Adrià of elBulli, who rarely cooks proteins by exposing them to flame, and even more rarely appears at food festivals like the one that took place in the meatpacking district this past weekend. Adrià is considered the forefather of molecular cooking, a maligned term that comes with manifestoes and conjures images of test tubes and lab...
Continue Reading "NYC Wine & Food Fest: Ferran Adrià Comes to Town"
Ten of the world's most competitive eaters faced off in Times Square yesterday for the Famous Famiglia pizza-eating contest, and Joey Chestnut, the reigning hot dog-eating champion, emerged victorious by consuming a record-shattering 45 slices in 10 minutes. Chicago's Patrick Bertoletti, who held the previous record at 22 slices in 10 minutes, placed second yesterday with 43 slices. To win the $5,000 prize, Chestnut ate nothing but protein supplements for two days and drank...
Continue Reading "Joey Chestnut Wins Top Prize for Pizza Gluttony"The Grand Tasting at Pier 54 yesterday was a cross between a tasting event, a product placement festival and a supermarket (Shop Rite was a sponsor), but the center of attention was the culinary magic being worked by some of the city's most talented chefs....
Continue Reading "NYC Wine & Food Fest: The Grand Tasting"October 12, 2008
It was a sight to warm the hearts of dialysis clinic owners citywide: The massive, football field-size space la.venue at The Waterfront in Chelsea was overrun by 43 of New York's top pastry chefs and confectioners last night for the Food & Wine Festival's most anticipated debauchery. The event sold out before the Wall Street crash, and with tickets going for $175 a pop it's no wonder people queued up well before the doors opened...
Continue Reading "Sweet Overload at NYC Wine & Food Festival"Alton Brown has been on the Food Network since waaay back in the early days of its existence, teaching viewers about the science behind food and cooking with his hit show, Good Eats. His cooking demo at the Wine and Food Fest on Saturday had the air of a stand-up routine, and not just because of the venue (Comix comedy club). As he made salmon jerky, Brown worked the crowd, hamming up his "swap-outs" (where...
Continue Reading "NYC Wine & Food Fest: Alton Brown Gets Goofy with Jerky"October 11, 2008
"M" by Megu: Expensive Tribeca Japanese restaurant Megu has redone its upstairs space (formerly Kimono Bar) into a swank nightclub (pictured) with a "small bites" menu. The dance floor has been expanded, fancy cocktails like “Death in the Afternoon” (Absinthe, Champagne, Rock Sugar) have been concocted, and the waitress have been attired in swimsuits custom designed by Keiko, who we're told is kind of a big deal. Menu options include Kobe Beef Sliders, Crispy Cod...
Continue Reading "Openings Roundup: "M" by Megu, Opus, Naya"
The gang at Eater has set up a blogger lounge, complete with laptops galore and shiny red espresso makers pumping out much-needed caffeine, as a central wifi hotspot for the food bloggerati to interact with chefs and other food festival notables. The Rachel Ray fly-by was earlier today, but right now Chef Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter (and soon-to-be of Food Network fame with her new show, The Cooking Loft) is in the house, along with...
Continue Reading "NYC Wine & Food Fest: Live from Eater's Blogger Lounge"The aroma of cooking meat wafted as far as the BQE from the NYC Wine and Food Festival's Rachael Ray Burger Bash last night. Throngs of meat-lovers descended upon the Tobacco Warehouse to sample 18 burgers and vote (by text message) for their favorite. Hostess Rachael Ray and Lee Schrager, surrounded by their camera-toting entourage and security team, made the rounds at each table, and the Food Network personalities were once again out in full...
Continue Reading "Burger Bash Recap, a.k.a. Major Meat Coma"October 10, 2008
You'll recall that neighbors living near the revoltingly trendy Delicatessen in Soho are getting really fed up with all the obnoxious tools blathering through the night, with one man going so far as to urinate down onto the roof, which is part glass. Could this be the same scold who led a near-riot last night, according to this priceless email sent to Eater by one witness? "Some young super-angry dude storms up to the bar...
Continue Reading "Delicatessen's Soho Neighbors Not Going to Take It Anymore!"Advertisement: Gothamist Continues Below!
October 10, 2008
Last night kicked off the first annual NYC Wine and Food Festival, a jam-packed weekend filled with events, chefs, mixologists, and of course food and drink. Inspired by the South Beach festival, organizer Lee Schrager wanted to bring his magic to the Big Apple, where he landed smack in the Meatpacking District. Last night's Chelsea Market After Dark opened up the landmark building after hours so attendees could sample wares from the market's purveyors while...
Continue Reading "NYC Wine and Food Fest Begins with a Bang (and Bobby, and Burgers)"
Heads up to everyone losing their shirts in the New Depression: There are free sandwiches being handed out right now at the new location of Scandanavian-style AQ Kafe, located on Broadway between 58th and 59th Streets. And you've got choices, too, not just a gimmicky little sample of one menu item. Until 1 p.m. they're giving out turkey sandwiches with jarlsberg, lingonberry jam, and lettuce on wheat; tomato sandwiches with cucumber, cheese, and sprouts on...
Continue Reading "Free Lunch Alert! Free Lunch Alert!"
Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg are the authors of eight bestselling books focusing on food and drink, many of which have been winners or finalists for James Beard and/or IACP Cookbook awards. They have been married since 1990, write a monthly wine column for The Washington Post, and blog at BecomingAChef.com. Their most recent book, The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs is an...
Continue Reading "Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, The Flavor Bible"October 9, 2008
Photo of Palin, McCain and Obama cookies by Tien Mao. The Zaro's in Grand Central Terminal has whipped up a political pastry whose sales are turning into an unscientific (but delicious) poll; their black & white cookies can now be purchased with the faces of the four candidates on them. That's right, all you Joe Six-packs out there can now sink your teeth into the former Miss Alaska hopeful, gosh darnit. So will the...
Continue Reading "Cookie Poll Shows Obama May Bake Back the White House"October 8, 2008
It's obscenely overpriced publicity gimmick time again! Today the object of derision is the $1,000 paella now on the menu at Sofrito. Chef Ricardo Cardona says the dish—made with rice, truffles and truffle oil, baby eel, octopus, Maine lobster and Alaskan prawns—was inspired by other outrageously expensive meals, which include such greatest hits as the $1,000 bagel and $25,000 dessert. And like Karl Rove before him, Cardona seems to have divorced himself from such vulgarities...
Continue Reading "$1,000 Paella Latest to Join Family of Outrageous Restaurant Dishes"
Meat-lover Rachael Ray hasn't given up on her dream of opening up a hamburger pub in midtown. She's been talking about it for years now, but you really want to believe her (or stop her) when she tells the Post, "I'm going for a '60s back-in-the-day Rat Pack-y kind of hangout, and I want the bar to be really central [and] the burgers to become a very social thing. I want people to come to...
Continue Reading "Rachael Ray Will Never Give Up on Her Burger Joint"
Buzz has been building for Socarrat Paella Bar (pictured), the casual tapas and paella joint that has fans waiting 20-30 minutes for a seat at a long communal table. And after today's review by Frank Bruni in the Times, you may as well take that wait time and double it: "They’re better than the paellas at many other Spanish restaurants in New York, where paella doesn’t always fare so well...The broad, shallow, black cast iron...
Continue Reading "Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup"October 7, 2008
The eyes of the Competitive Eating world (all two dozen of them) will be fixed on Times Square this Sunday for the first-ever World Pizza Eating Championship, set to kick off sometime between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Military Island. Trumpet flourish! Competitors will include Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, the 2008 Hot Dog Eating Champion; Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, "a mohawked chef from Chicago" (according to the press release; Tim "Eater X" Janus, the 4th-ranked...
Continue Reading "Professional Gluttons to Gorge on Pizza for Prizes"
Greasy spoon gone bad: At left, a still from Fringe, © Fox. At right, Hope & Anchor, yesterday. The synopsis for an upcoming episode of Fringe, partially shot in Red Hook, goes like this: After weeks of being reported missing, a woman with a rare disease resurfaces in suburban Massachusetts and inexplicably causes excruciating pain and subsequent death to those she encounters. It’s probably safe to assume that excruciating pain and subsequent death has...
Continue Reading "Hope & Anchor Puts the F Back in Breakfast"