Results tagged “corton”

Gourmet's Francis Lam visited Paul Liebrandt at Corton and was shocked to find the Best New Chef 2009 wielding none other than an orange Sham Wow as an all-purpose kitchen tool. The Sham Wow apparently saves on paper towels and apparently outperforms other methods of drying of fish fillets, Liebrandt reports, about to go into the frying pan. He even recently went so far as to show off his Sham Wow in the dining room to a table of fellow chefs, imploring them to pour a glass of wine over it to test its absorbency. The result: SHAM WOW! Lam sees a bold sales pitch here, as Sham Wow (and Slap Chop) spokesperson Vince Offer was arrested earlier this year after hitting a prostitute who "bit his tongue and would not let go." Liebrandt has offered to take up the mantle left by a post-arrest Offer, so to speak: "I could be that guy." There's no telling when Andrew Carmellini will start serving Topsy Turvy-grown heirloom tomatoes at Locanda Verde, or when David Chang's Momofuku GT Xpress will open, but it better be soon.

This week Frank Bruni at the Times criticizes Corton, the new Tribeca restaurant helmed by enfant terrible chef Paul Liebrandt. Others at Time Out and NY Mag have raved, and Bruni's praise isn't exactly muted either: "At Corton [Liebrandt] calms down and wises up, accepting that an evening in a restaurant shouldn’t be like a visit to a fringe art gallery: geared to the intellect, reliant on provocation. It needn’t demand raptness. And it must, in the course of whatever else it means to accomplish, leave a person eager for the next bite and intent on the one after that." Makes sense, three stars.

This week Frank Bruni at the Times reviews Double Crown, the new bi-level restaurant and bar in the East Village that, in his words, "ponders the glories of culinary cross-pollination, making a promise of 'British-Indio-Asian' fusion that sounds more like a threat, given that it’s a two-hyphen fusion and that one of the words bumping up against one of the hyphens is 'British.' And isn’t India in Asia? Note to self: bone up on world geography... Its take on British imperialism goes something like this: Sure, foreign lands were plundered and indigenous peoples oppressed, but think of the snacks!" Bruni bestows two stars for not taking "its pledged fusing too seriously or executing it too strenuously."

Corton: One of the most anticipated openings of the season, this modern French restaurant, formerly Montrachet, is the love child of big shot restaurateur Drew Nieporent (Nobu) and chef Paul Liebrandt, who dreams of owning a cryogenic freezer "for freezing the cooks when they misbehave." Located in Tribeca, the 65-seat space serves a three-course prix fixe for $76 and a tasting menu for $110. What financial crisis? Appealing options for the not-broke-yet include Ocean Trout Ballotine (White Sturgeon Caviar, Konbu Consommé) and Scallops (Uni Crème, Radish, Marcona Almond). 239 West Broadway, (212) 219-2777

Corton, the anticipated collaboration between Drew Nieporent and English chef Paul Liebrandt, may not be opening this weekend, but shown above is a possible preview of the restaurant’s food: Lamb with cooking juices, salad, and pommes fondant.