Gothamist

Mice Dominate NYC School Cafeterias

John Del Signore — 2009-11-13T10:01:43-05:00

This town is crawling with mice and rats and terrifying mutant cockroaches, so it's funny WABC "Eyewitness News" is so shocked to find the city school system has a bit of a rodent problem. The fact that school lunch is unappetizing isn't exactly flashing-siren news, but this is revolting nonetheless: Records obtained through Freedom of Information show that 545 school cafeterias had one or more critical health violations, and about one-third of those violations were for mice and mice droppings. Perhaps student Jose Rodriguez said it best: "Nasty. It's disgusting, but it's really not surprising."

Landmark High School in Manhattan was one of the worst. According to records, last year health inspectors found 15 critical violations for mice activity, mouse crap "everywhere" and even "a live mouse found in a glue trap." Talking head Sarah Kline of the Center for Science and Public Interest says, "What's really disturbing when you think about mice droppings in food areas is that not only can those things be getting into the food, which is both disgusting and dangerous, but also it just goes to illustrate that somebody is not paying attention to food safety at large."

As if to prove the point, last month an adorable little roach scampered toward TV's Rachael Ray as she visited a school to promote her special lunch menu. The spokesperson for the Department of Education refused to give WABC an on-camera interview about the mice, presumably because this official statement is physically impossible to utter without laughing: "School cafeterias are clean and safe. Health inspection reports show that the food sanitation practices exceed that of many restaurants and kitchens."

Restaurant & Bar Radar: From Bar Henry to Northern Spy

Jaya Saxena — 2009-11-12T16:35:31-05:00

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Click on the images for the scoop on Bar Henry, Sushi Uo, Mermaid Oyster Bar, Manhattan Inn, Northern Spy Food Co., and Má Pêche.

Empire Diner Will End With Coffee Shop Invasion

John Del Signore — 2009-11-12T15:49:20-05:00

jpchan's Flickr

The iconic Empire Diner in Chelsea is being taken over by the team that operates the obnoxiously fashionable but beautifully staffed Coffee Shop in Union Square. The owner of the property will not be renewing the lease with Renata Gonzalez, who's operated the classic diner for over three decades. Instead, the Gotham City Restaurant Group will replace Gonzalez with a 15-year lease rumored to be in the $25,000 per month range. Gonzalez says she's trying to get the new owner to keep some of the current employees, some of whom have been there for as long as her, but that seems unlikely. The name's changing too, but that hasn't been revealed yet.

Coffee Shop co-owner Carolyn Benitez tells Chelsea Now the diner will still operate 24/7, but she's planning on radically reinventing the menu: "It’s a diner in feel, and that’s what appeals to us. It’s not going to have any other identity except being a great old diner with better food." She's promising "better ingredients and better quality production," as well as "that Coffee Shop flavor," which we interpret as 'higher prices and hot but aloof servers.' Oh well, at least we're not losing it to Alabama.

Nestle Opens Water Store Targeting Hispanics in Bronx

John Del Signore — 2009-11-12T14:50:23-05:00

Nestlé Pure Life brand spokesperson Cristina Saralegui

Dios mio; on Saturday Nestle is opening its first U.S. "Nestlé Pure Life Mercado del Agua" (Water Store) to "bring the benefits of Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water to the Hispanic community." And they've got Hispanic TV personality and Pure Life spokesperson Cristina Saralegui to appear at the grand opening to help target the demographic. In the press release announcing the store, Saralegui (the Hispanic Oprah) says, "It is my privilege to join Nestlé Waters in celebrating the grand opening... I want to help increase awareness for our community about how drinking water is critical to living a healthy lifestyle."

At last, those poor, dehydrated people in one of the most indigent counties in the United States will be able to buy Nestle water! Sure, NYC has some of the best tap water in the world, but boring old tap water doesn't have celebrity brand ambassadors like Nestle, which owns Poland Spring and other bottled water varieties. And you know who else liked tap water? Hitler. Also, we've never seen tap water promoted in incredible commercials in Arabic like this one below.

We're still trying to determine exactly where the Mercado del Agua will be in the Bronx, and it's also unclear how much the water will cost. (A case of 16.9oz Nestle Pure Life Water usually retails for $15.99.) The grand opening is part of a larger marketing campaign targeting Hispanics, who've been treated to their own series of TV commercials promoting Pure Life as a healthier alternative to sugary drinks. [Via Literanista]

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64 Things Restaurant Patrons Must NEVER Do

John Del Signore — 2009-11-11T15:23:00-05:00

Sheesh, now there are all these rules! A week after would-be Hamptons restaurateur Bruce Buschel published his list of 100 things restaurant servers must never do, longtime bartender and restaurant manager Patrick Maguire has fired back with some rules for people who eat at restaurants. Apparently, snapping fingers, demanding perfection, and starting a sentence with Gimmee or Get me are all frowned upon. But there are all sorts of other no-nos that come with paying strangers to serve you food. To wit:

Be grateful that you’re out enjoying a nice meal.
Don’t tell the staff that you’ve dined in the best restaurants around the world and expect them to be in awe.
Some restaurants mandate that servers introduce themselves to their tables and some servers do it at their discretion. If a server introduces herself, skip the sarcastic, "My name is Fred and I’ll be your customer…"
Don’t throw a menu at the host and walk out yelling because there’s a long wait or you don’t like the menu or prices.
Lose the I pay you, I own you mentality. Yes, the staff is there to serve you, but not as your indentured servants.
Ladies- If you’re part of a bridal or baby shower brunch (or any celebration) at a large table that is part of the main diningroom, please be aware that your shrill, piercing screams are loathed by the staff and everyone else in the restaurant.
Don’t lie, embellish, or omit critical details when you anonymously trash a restaurant on the Internet.

Heh, good luck with that last one! Read the whole list here, but that just about covers it, right? All that's left is the kitchen, and issuing rules for them would be a fool's errand—savage lawlessness reigns back there. [Via Grub Street]

Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup

John Del Signore — 2009-11-11T08:59:18-05:00

Aureole (Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

This week Sam Sifton at the Times files an unenthusiastic one star review on the flashy Bryant Park location of Charlier Palmer's Aureole. Palmer, a restaurant impresario who made his bones in the kitchen of the River Cafe, relocated his well-liked restaurant from the Upper East Side to the new Bank of America building this summer.

The result is "meh," says Sifton. "The bulk of the business is out in the bar, which takes up much of the restaurant’s space. It’s loud out there, informal in the corporate sense of the word: men with their jackets off, their striped shirts shiny, their watches big, all of them eating burgers, sliders, fries, draining beer, smiling at clients, on the sell. It’s a tough scene. At every table someone’s either shouting or lap dancing his phone. It’s an extremely good hamburger, though..."

The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema submits a mixed review on Abe & Arthur's, the big "comfort food" restaurant in the Meatpacking District that used to be Lotus. "The lobster bisque was crustacean perfection, a deeply pink broth that the waiter poured from a pitcher over a generous wad of fluffy white meat dotted with chives," reports Sietsema. "It made you stop and wonder—how do they deliver such a bowl of soup for only $9?... You'd do well to make a meal of apps. Not that the mains aren't also good—they're just not a good deal." His colleague Sarah DiGregorio, meanwhile, discovers that Laut, in Union Square, is "actually a very fine Malaysian restaurant masquerading as a horrible pan-Asian joint."

Leo Carey at the New Yorker files on insufferably artisanal Carroll Gardens restaurant Prime Meats: "The wood panelling and large antique bar are beautifully finished, there are gas lamps, and behind the bar is a nest of antique punch bowls (the punch changes daily). Waiters look as if they’d auditioned for Deadwood; their uniform includes braces and waistcoats, and facial hair seems to be compulsory. And cocktails abound with recherché ingredients like homemade Buddha’s-hand bitters; they are a standout, even in the context of the current cocktail renaissance...The restaurant is bound to delight the Franks’ fans, but, if there’s a weak link, it’s the food."

New York's Adam Platt is impressed with A Voce Columbus (photos) in the Time Warner Center: "Here, overlooking Columbus Circle, there was a tentative, ineffable sense of order being restored. The room was elegant without being showy, and intimate without feeling too small. The menu was moderately priced (only two entrées over $30), but filled with interesting-sounding things to eat... you can twirl your spaghetti while admiring the lights twinkling up and down the avenues and the treetops fringing Central Park. But the real revelation at the new A Voce is the cooking."

A week after the Village Voice slammed the stuffing out of sterile-looking Italian restaurant SD26, Time Out's Jay Cheshes dissents with a four star rave for the reboot of San Domenico, declaring that the "wide-ranging menu whips from highbrow to low. During white-truffle season, the dining room is fragrant with the locker room funk of exorbitant fungi, shaved to order. But diners will find plenty more modest dishes. Lush pumpkin gnocchi in a chicken-liver-and-fried-sage ragù are listed beside a butter-drenched raviolo, a San Domenico signature dish—and still one of New York’s finest pastas—oozing yolk."

GQ's Alan Richman also files on SD26, where the food is "fine" but he's stressed out by all the gizmos, from the automatic self-serve wine machine in the bar to the restaurant wine list, which is "contained within an electronic, handheld device the size and shape of a Kindle... No way am I ever going to appreciate a device that works like the entertainment center on the back of the seat in front of you when you're flying coach... One thing about waiting more than an hour for a table at SD26: By the time you're seated, you'll feel as though you've had enough training in electronics to launch ballistic missiles from a nuclear submarine."

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Too Many Thai Eateries Means Big Trouble In Williamsburg's "Little Bangkok"

Ben Muessig — 2009-11-10T18:20:08-05:00

In a real world example of supply and demand economics, the proliferation of Southeast Asian eateries on and around Williamsburg's main commercial street has hurt business, according to neighborhood restaurateurs. The pad thai business is ailing in a three block area centered around Bedford Avenue and North Sixth Streets, where four Thai and three Asian fusion restaurants compete, according to the Brooklyn Paper — which dubs the enclave "Brooklyn's Little Bangkok."

“We’re struggling,” said Tom Malipol, a manager at Noodle Studio on North Fifth Street. “There are too many Thai restaurants in the area. It’s very hard.” A waitress at Tai Tai on Bedford Avenue agreed: "We all share customers," said the server, who noted that the Thai eateries have only been able to stay open thanks to "tourists and hipsters." News of the restaurateurs struggles comes just two months after the closure of pioneering Williamsburg Thai restaurant Planet Thailand, a shuttering that the Village Voice deemed "the end of an era."

Maialino: Danny Meyer's Trattoria at the Gramercy Park Hotel

John Del Signore — 2009-11-10T13:17:43-05:00

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Danny Meyer, the powerhouse behind such hits as Shake Shack and Eleven Madison Park, is almost done reinventing the downstairs space at Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel. The spot was formerly home to the failed upscale Chinese restaurant Wakiya; as you can see here Meyer's team has been busy transforming the dreary cave into a rustic bar and Italian trattoria. Dinner service starts tomorrow, and yesterday the main dining space, which seats 70, was filled with staffers training for the big debut.

In the dining space, chef Nick Anderer will serve a seasonal, locally-sourced Roman-inspired menu. Besides fresh-made pasta, options will include oxtail; lamb's neck; and whole, roasted suckling pig for two. (Maialino is Italian for roast suckling pig.) A separate menu of small plates, snacks, sandwiches, and pastries will be served in the 55-seat front bar room. The cheese and wine are Italian only, but a deli-style meat slicer will carve up a dozen domestic and international items. (The bar will eventually be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.) And dessert is in the capable hands of Gramercy Tavern vet Jennifer Shelbo, who's been putting new twists on torta della nonna and gelato.

Maialino // 2 Lexington Avenue at 21st Street, in the Gramercy Park Hotel // (212) 777-2410

Street Eating Just Got Easier

Jen Carlson — 2009-11-10T11:10:46-05:00

Photo on left via Midtown Lunch

Think of it as functional street art. Pratt Grad student Ali Pulver has created portable, temporary eating surfaces for those lunching at street carts. The tiny tables are by far the best options, but she's got plenty more ideas she's put into practice on her Pop Up Lunch blog. Where's the most unconventional space you've dined in the city? [Midtown Lunch via Boing Boing]

Potato Chip + Pretzel + Cookie = Chipn'etzel

John Del Signore — 2009-11-07T13:40:36-05:00

John Del Signore/Gothamist

And they said it couldn't be done. While countless idle dreamers have fantasized about uniting the flavor of potato chips, pretzels, and cookies in one transcendent mouthful, nobody ever actually did anything to make the dream a reality, besides stuffing each separate entity into their mouths at once and hoping for the best. Until now! (Or, until recently.) Meet the Chipn'etzel, the apotheosis of the pretzel, the cookie, and the potato chip. We did it, America!

The revolutionary invention is the brainchild of Sara Leand and her R&D department at the Sara Snacker Cookie Company. The sweet and savory cookie comes in four varieties, two of which arrived at our offices yesterday: Original (dusted with sweet sugar; hand dipped in Dark Chocolate) and White Chocolate.

The Original disappeared faster than the White Chocolate, and though some less refined palates at Gothamist have complained that "you can't taste the potato chip!" maybe that's for the best? The pretzel is definitely the most bold flavor note, and we all know that's perfect with chocolate. Should you want to find out for yourself, the Chipn'etzel is sold at Zabar's, Westside Markets, Amish Markets, and Garden of Edens around town.

Wine Lovers "Tweeting Up" For "Spit & Twit" @ City Winery Sunday

John Del Signore — 2009-11-06T16:36:46-05:00

On Sunday, the snobby, pedantic atmosphere that often dominates wine tastings will get rocked by the smug, over-sharing culture that always permeates Twitter! This City Winery event (which merits mention if only because of its name) is called "Spit & Twit." Who can resist? On Sunday afternoon, tweeting oenophiles will have the chance to try over 100 wines from 35 wineries around the world. But here's where it gets interesting or annoying, depending on your feelings about Twitter and those who hold forth on "tasting notes."

Instead of merely boring anyone within earshot with observations about a particular wine's "hints of honeysuckle," you'll also be able to share your insights in real-time via Twitter on plasma screens at City Winery. And your tweets will also simultaneously engage lonely winos following along at home on the website WineTwits!

Unique hash tags have been created for all wines, and the organizers promise the event will "encourage the fertile cross-pollination of technology and wine in a way never seen before." Which is all very exciting, but to paraphrase Thomas Haden Church, we're wondering when we actually get to drink some #ESRIOBLC04 Bodegas El Coto, 2004 Tempranillo Crianza La Rioja.

Arby's Nears Opening Day in Brooklyn, 39 More To Come

Jen Carlson — 2009-11-06T15:43:50-05:00

Photo via Lost City

Brooklyn has waited far too long for a French Dip Combo, but soon enough the borough's first Arby's will be opening and putting an end to its curly fry-less days. And boy oh boy, is it the fanciest Arby's you ever did see.

Opening in the historic land-marked Gage and Tollner space on the Fulton Mall, 25-year-old Arby's franchise guy Ray Chera tells the Daily News that the "jaw-droppingly beautiful" space is one of 40 Arby's he plans to open in the city over the next 10 years. So we have that going for us. He also notes, "We're making a couple of minor additions to the interior, but we took great pains to leave the space exactly as it is." The Landmarks Conservancy says they'll be keeping a watching eye on the roast beef dealer, who have already adorned the facade of the building with a big ol' Arby's sign.

At least one resident is planning a boycott, saying, "It's a little soulless. I don't care if it looks like Trump Plaza; I'm not going to Arby's."

Diner Patron Threatens to Kill Server Over Subpar Food

John Del Signore — 2009-11-06T13:57:45-05:00

Speaking of things waiters should "never" do, here's something a diner should never do: throw your food at the server and threaten to kill him or her. On Wednesday night one Steven Scott, 40, was arrested for assaulting a server at the New York Fried Chicken Diner on Fulton Street in East New York. Hapless waiter Baljit Singh says it all started when Scott came in at 11:30 p.m. and ordered mashed potatoes. After a couple bites, Scott "started griping about the nasty tasting food." So he was given a new serving of potatoes, but this didn't satisfy him either. Oh, no it did not.

Scott allegedly "hurled the plate of mush against Singh's chest," smacked him across the face, whipped out a knife and threatened to stab him. Singh says Scott then changed his mind, and promised, "I'm going to come back with my gun and shoot you dead! I know what time you guys close!" Singh called 911, and when police arrived he rode with them looking for Scott, who was spotted nearby and arrested. He apparently has three prior Brooklyn arrests for drug possession and DWI.

The diner manager sums things up nicely for the Post: "I don't know what happened. Maybe the mashed potatoes were too cold or too hot, but we sell a lot. Sometimes, people want things for free. That's why they complain. We always have situations like that. We're open until 3 a.m. This is East New York."

100 Things Restaurant Servers Must Stop Doing!

John Del Signore — 2009-11-05T17:03:14-05:00

Ugh, servers. After they bring your food they're always butting in asking if you're "still working" just as you're reaching the punchline of your most well-rehearsed anecdote! Weren't we supposed to eliminate the human element from the dining experience with computers and conveyor belts by now?! While the world waits on that technology, would-be Hamptons restaurateur Bruce Buschel has completed his list of 100 things servers should never, never do. For instance:

Do not bring judgment with the ketchup. Or mustard. Or hot sauce. Or whatever condiment is requested.
Do not return to the guest anything that falls on the floor — be it napkin, spoon, menu or soy sauce.
If you drip or spill something, clean it up, replace it, offer to pay for whatever damage you may have caused. Refrain from touching the wet spots on the guest.
Do not ask if a guest needs change. Just bring the change.
Do not ask if a guest is finished the very second the guest is finished. Let guests digest, savor, reflect.

All sarcasm aside, that last one really is annoying, especially if you're paying a lot of money. And we can't tell you how many times a waiter has picked up the check, looked at how much money is there, and asked if we need change on an amount that would be way over 20% tip. Stop making us feel cheap! And hands off our wet spots!

So what whines do you usually have with dinner? And we're curious: those of you who work in restaurants, what are your biggest gripes about diners? [Via Grub Street]

New Eats: Frites 'n' Meats, Le Caprice, Piccola Cucina Focacceria

Jaya Saxena — 2009-11-05T15:27:33-05:00

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Click on the images for details on Frites 'n' Meats, Le Caprice, and Piccola Cucina Focacceria.