Results tagged “bobbyflay”

With the economy drying up and waiters' pockets coming home not quite as stuffed with tips, are those in the food service industry more likely to sue their employers to get their fair share? We're not sure if that's what's behind it, but there sure have been a smattering of restaurateurs getting sued recently. The latest to get hit with one is celebrity chef Bobby Flay who was served a wage and labor violations lawsuit in Manhattan court Friday on behalf of employees in a number of his restaurants, including local spots Bar Americain, Mesa Grill and the now defunct Bolo. The suit claims Flay forced workers to buy and launder their own uniforms and refused to give them a share of mandatory tips charged to private party tabs. Other lawsuits have been served up in recent months to high-profile restaurants belonging to Robert DeNiro, Top Chef's Tom Colicchio and Hawaiian Tropic.

    

Last night Gourmet magazine held a big party at the soon-to-open Shang, a new restaurant helmed by the acclaimed, formerly Toronto-based chef Susur Lee. In an uncharacteristically non-restaurant world domineering move, Lee closed his Toronto flagship restaurant (called Susur) in May in order to concentrate fully on his New York opening. Shang, which means growing upwards, will open next month.

Apiary, in the East Village, is named for a collection of bee hives, but the restaurant is not devoted to honey the way S'Mac is to mac and cheese. Chef Neil Manacle's "New American" menu is eclectic, occasionally taking inspiration from Middle Eastern spices and fusing them with familiar edibles like chicken breast and pork tenderloin. A franchise of Ligne Roset, the luxury French design house, created and owns the place, which is sleek and sophisticated without being pretentious. Up front, a modest bar serves about 30 micro brews and emphasizes New York State wine.

           

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.

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.

This month's Bon Appetit features this year's winners of the Bon Appetit awards, which honor leaders in the culinary field. The intimate awards ceremony took place at Del Posto earlier this week, where current and prior winners dined on a seasonal Italian tasting menu created specifically for the occasion. The awards presentations were held between courses, hosted by Ted Allen, who did his best to entertain the crowd.

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Mesa Grill (pictured), knocking the restaurant down from the two stars given it by William Grimes in 2000. Says that while the Bobby Flay restaurant “has considerable charms… on balance [it] presents only flickers of the excitement it did [when it opened] in 1991… It’s an overly familiar, somewhat tired production. More to the point, it’s an inconsistent one.”

You will never find Chef Bobby Flay too far away from an ancho chili pepper. Back in 1991, he opened Mesa Grill in New York, his shrine to the Southwestern flavors for which he is now famous around the world. In 1992, Mesa Grill won New York Magazine's Best New Restaurant, and the following year, Flay was given the James Beard Rising Star Chef award. Since then, he has created a mini-empire of six restaurants, including two other Mesa Grills, one in Las Vegas and another in the Bahamas.

Chef Jonathan Waxman is known for many things, but the benchmark of his cooking over the years has arguably always been his roast chicken. The cover of his new cookbook A Great American Cook depicts Waxman slyly drawing a Lavazza espresso cup to his mouth, wood-burning oven full flame in the background and a sliced open cheese pumpkin in front. The book also features the chef’s roast chicken recipe. “My culinary anthem,” Waxman waxes in the recipe’s preamble. “There’s nothing else like it,” we were told by a stranger at a party last week celebrating the release of said book. “You really have to make it,” said someone else, emphasis on really. And so we did (results pictured here).

Yesterday morning, the nominees for the 2007 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced at the Beard House on West 12th Street. In additional to New York restaurant stalwarts David Waltuck of Chanterelle, Floyd Cardoz of Tabla, and Terrance Brennan of Picholine (which was rebooted in 2006 to impressive reviews, the nominees also include a bumper crop of young chefs including David Chang for Momofuku Ssam Bar, Daniel Humm for Eleven Madison Park (both for Rising Star Chef of the Year), and cut chemist Will Goldfarb of Room 4 Dessert (for Outstanding Pastry Chef). Three other nominees from San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago round out the Rising Star Chefs category; Goldfarb faces competition from four other nominees in the pastry category, including Michael Laskonis of Le Bernadin.

Or at least you can get your fat on. You can start by hitting up the newly opened Popeye's Fried Chicken at 40th Street between 7th and 8th. And of course you'll need to follow it up with some pancakes. Lucky for you, IHOP is giving them away free until 10 p.m. today! Here's a list of nearby IHOPs, for your convenience.

Where can you taste dishes from Bobby Flay, Lidia Bastianich, Dan Barber, Tom Valenti, Joey Campanaro and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto all under one roof? At New York Magazine's annual Taste of New York, a fundraiser for City Harvest. The cocktails (from some of the city's best: Pegu Club, Flatiron Lounge, and Little Branch) were flowing and the crowd was on a mission to taste everything these chefs could dish out.

- The Deutsche Bank might collapse as workers are still trying to clean it up

So it appears that the Food Network is taping a show this afternoon called "Culinary Claim to Fame," featuring Ben Sargent of Williamsburg's Surf Bar. It's all about the chowda, folks, but Ben had some tough competition in the form of one Bobby Flay. We guess we'll have to wait until the show airs to know what happens, but we did find a couple chowder recipes from Flay on FoodTV.com:

The New York Times reports that Fresh Direct is creating a new advertising campaign featuring some rather prominent New Yorkers, Mayor Koch, Bobby Flay, and Paulina Porizkova (did you know she lived here?), to contend with the newest challenger to the New York food world, Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's advertising strategy to get back at Fresh Direct? Nothing. Well, almost nothing -- they plan on using their general advertising strategy, designed to keep their costs low, which consists of sending quarterly mailings to residents in the neighborhoods where there stores are located.

Considering that the Cobb Salad originated at Hollywood's legendary Brown Derby, New York has surprisingly embraced the dish as if it was a hometown creation.

Lots of movement with Gothamist's old, reliable standby, Law & Order. First of all, NBC is moving L&O from Wednesday at 10PM to 9PM. While an hour might not mean much, it actually means our head will explode, with Lost at 9PM on Wednesdays as is Veronica Mars. But this frees up Project Runway at 10PM!! We imagine Dick Wolf is pissed off to have to go head to head with Lost, but maybe that's better than going head to head with CSI: New York, which sucks, but has been putting up a good fight and winning the timeslot occasionally. Or perhaps Wolfie's silence was bought with NBC's go-ahead to his new drama with ADA Alex Cabot (Stephanie March/Mrs. Bobby Flay), Conviction (shh - it's character-driven).

Ed note: Gothamist Food contributors Beth Butts and Chris Steighner bring us a new weekly column: The First Course

Mesa Grill's Chile Relleno

When Gothamist friend and barbecue champion Adam Perry Lang of Daisy May's BBQ invited us to a party, how could we say no? It had been way too long since we had last enjoyed Adam's sweet and sticky Kansas City ribs and his tender smoky brisket, not to mention that we had to hear about his latest escapades.

The NY Times examines the Jerry Orbach effect on the latest Law & Order spinoff, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Gothamist got misty when we read that Jerry was weaker when filming, and that there would be a mention of Detective Lenny Briscoe's death in the fifth episode. However, we've been a little unnerved by the NBC promos for L&O: TBJ, by saying, "Jerry Orbach's final performance" or whatever, because while they are his final performances, the promo seemed...crass. Of course, Gothamist would rather NBC devote an hour as a tribute to Jerry Orbach, so we're biased.

Bobby Flay's Bold American Food, Bobby Flay with Joan Schwartz, (Warner Books, 1994).

Girlynyc, Panty Blogger

Gothamist Cooks (Kind of) by the Book

This weekend, if you find yourself tired of partying and you just want to kick back, why not invite some friends over and watch Iron Chef America, where American chefs Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, and Mario Batali go head-to-head with Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai? It's is wall-to-wall Iron Chef action, with episodes shown Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which has the Tag Team Finale that, in finale tradition, has an .

As a chaser, reader Janelle let us know that in James Brady's column in Crain's NY writes, "Top local actor, Jerry Orbach," in his yearly wrapup. While Gothamist wholeheartedly agrees, Brady's column is freakishly like Larry King's USA Today column. Even though these are parodies, Shtick and the Observer pretty much capture what King's column was.

Sausage Stuffing With Caramelized Onions from Tom Colicchio of Gramercy Tavern and Craft; Braised Brussels Sprouts With Pancetta and Toasted Bread Crumbs from Suzanne Goin of Lucques and A.O.C, Los Angeles; Mashed Sweet Potatoes With Maple Syrup and Chipotles from Bobby Flay, Bolo and Mesa Grill; Corn Pudding With Herb-Braised Chanterelles and Spicy Greens from Charlie Palmer of Aureole; Creamed Red and White Pearl Onions With Bacon from Barbara Lynch of No. 9 Park, Boston; Roasted Parsnips With Orange Zest from David Pasternack of Esca; Wild Rice With Mushrooms, Cranberries and Walnuts from Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill; Roasted Maple-Glazed Baby Carrots With Dried Grapes from Chris Schlesinger of East Coast Grill, Cambridge, Mass.; Jerusalem Artichoke Pancakes from Michael Romano of Union Square Cafe; and Mixed Mushroom and Sweet Potato Stuffing from Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter's, Chicago.

Oh, Stephanie March, what a way to leave Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. At first, we didn't know how to feel about you, what with your icy demeanor and blond blond hair. Then you grew on us, when you tried to stand up to your boss, played by Judith Light a.k.a. Angela Bower. Or when you were frustrated at the self-righteous even for Law & Order acts of Detectives Stabler and Benson. Maybe we started to like you when we had a new icy blonde, one who annoys us to no end, ADA Serena Southerlyn. But then you asked the Don...we mean, Dick Wolf to leave the show, maybe to frolic with boyfriend, Bobby Flay. And you got bangs this season, which should have been another sign of your impending departure. But the writers and producers didn't kill you for your bangs and put you into the beyond as they had with Jill Henessy's ADA Claire Kincaid, but into witness protection, ready to appear as a defense attorney in a future sweeps episode. Till we see you again, Alex..tonight, in syndication on USA.