Results tagged “dannymeyer”

      

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.

After years of protests and a long, drawn-out lawsuit, the city is moving forward with a plan to convert a large part of the 80-year-old Pavilion in Union Square park into a restaurant. The Parks Department recently put out a request for proposals to operate a seasonal café in the park's refurbished pavilion; the deadline is in two months. According to the Post, the winning bidder would secure a 15-year contract to run the private café six months out of the year, and also have the option to operate a satellite cart or kiosk.

After announcing last week that Shake Shack would be opening new outposts in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, The Union Square Hospitality Group has now brought tremendous joy to the exotic land south of Houston. According to a press release, the newest Shake Shack will be located at 47 Prince Street, on the northwest corner of Mulberry & Prince Streets—by far their furthest location downtown. Shake Shack impresario Danny Meyer exults, "We’re ecstatic to have found this one-of-a kind downtown location in the Nolita neighborhood—just steps away from the heart of SoHo. Shake Shack is thrilled to make its home in this bustling, vibrant community that attracts throngs of people—New Yorkers and tourists alike—on a daily basis." It's unclear exactly when this bad boy will be open for business, but we're told it'll be built as a stand-alone building on a long vacant lot—where lines are probably forming as you read this.

This week the Times revisits Danny Meyer's groundbreaking restaurant, Union Square Cafe. Critic William Grimes gave it three stars in 1999, and now Frank Bruni, on his way out the door, takes one of those stars away. But it's only because he cares: "I can’t think of another New York restaurant that enjoys such acclaim, basks in such adoration and yet exhibits such humility... The courtesies explain something else, too: the blind eye many Union Square regulars seem to turn to its slippage; their silence about its drift. In my occasional trips to Union Square over recent years and in a more concentrated series of visits over recent months, I never had an experience whose caliber was consonant with the restaurant’s enduringly lofty reputation. I had a few flatly mediocre meals." The Times also has a glowing review for Bed-Stuy trattoria Saraghina.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer sat down with the Wall Street Journal to talk about the future of the restaurant industry. A number of Meyer’s competitors have gone out of business this year because of the recession, and while the USHG boss has been asked about cost-cutting maneuvers before, here Meyer specifically addresses the future of high-end dining in New York:

“I don’t think there’s going to be sustainable demand for restaurants that force you to spend hours there. Long tasting menus will continue to be elected by some but cannot be legislated by the restaurant. We’re going to have more bistros and trattorias. People will have luxury items—caviar, foie gras, truffles—less frequently, having done without them for a year and a half, but they will come to appreciate them more because it won’t be at every bar and grill in the city.”

Mix Shake Stir, Danny Meyer's recently released book of cocktail recipes, contains a bunch of quasi-unattributed but helpful quotes from bartenders at Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants like Blue Smoke, The Modern, Eleven Madison Park, and Tabla. For example: "'Like a good cook, an experienced bartender tastes everything before serving it to guests. A cache of straws comes in handy!' — Union Square Bartender."

Serious Eats reports that the UWS Shake Shack location will begin serving corndogs during Memorial Day weekend. Per the post, Danny Meyer and his crew of nostalgic, frozen custard loving, fast food scientists are currently busy perfecting the batter recipe at Union Square Hospitality Group's remote facilities on Shake Island, located somewhere in the North Bronx. Serious Eats says the corn dog will be available at the end of this month, and then will "reappear as a summer holiday special around July 4 and Labor Day." As others have noted, corn dog madness seems to be on the rise: along with the Shack Corn Dog, talented chef Akhtar Nawab has added a house made corn dog to his brunch menu, and the dank, "corn smut" (or huitlacoche) corn dog first served by Sam Mason at Tailor has now migrated across town to join the hot dog pantheon at PDT. Will Daniel Boulud's beer-and-sausage based DBGB, which will be previewed on Saturday, be the next spot to offer up another kind of corn dog?

            

The heat lamps, hot dog bins, and Shake Shack Miraclean grills are all in place, and the long-awaited Citi Field is a go. This weekend’s Mets vs. Red Sox exhibition games will be a trial-by-fire for every swanky new full service stadium club in the place, as well as every lowly hot dog kiosk, popcorn cart, and concession stand. In order to prepare for the crowds, hundreds of foodservice workers are literally stocking the shelves and cooking things around the clock. (Not all concession stands were open during Sunday's dress rehearsal.)

With opening day around the corner, both Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are brimming with elaborate dining options. People are asking whatever happened to peanuts and Cracker Jacks, some more whimsically than others. The food news has been piecemeal for the most part but is picking up steam now: A menu preview with photos (think pulled pork) accompanied a Times article about Citi Field Tuesday, while Grub Street got first dibs on the Brother Jimmy’s BBQ Yankee Stadium menu (think pulled pork and fried pickles) yesterday. The combined food service operations at both stadiums encompass what might be the equivalent of 20 or 30 non-stadium restaurant openings, highbrow and otherwise.

Food companies have a history of rolling out faux-Gaelic, ersatz mascots around St. Patrick’s Day: Carvel space cadet Cookie Puss flies his cousin Cookie O’Puss (seen here in the 1980s; 2009 Cookie O'Puss after the jump) in for the short season, and Grimace once welcomed his Uncle O’Grimacey (video below), who in a typically avuncular move introduced the dining public to the Shamrock Shake, a minty green milkshake.

So, Shea is gone and Citi Field opens April 13. Hungry? It’s long been known that Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group [USHG]—proud parent of the burgeoning Shake Shack empire—will duly expand into Queens County come opening day. Shake Shack will join the concessions with a scaled version of USHG’s Blue Smoke. Additionally, an all-new joint called Box Frites will open to stadium. Box Frites is so-named to evoke both the largesse of Belgian-style dipping sauces it will feature, but also the sport at large: “Box Frites” = box seats (compare and contrast with original, foul ball name Pop Fries). In other Citi Field food news, Tabla's Floyd Cardoz, another USHG player, will oversee the endless summer-style Verano Taquería.

Chef Michael Anthony can be incredibly emphatic about the farmers who supply Gramercy Tavern’s kitchen. He may tell you how he thinks the soil conditions at a particular farm influenced the flavors of certain vegetables. He might talk about baby turnips as if they’re long lost friends, but Anthony is also realistic about the purpose of food in our lives.

A month ago, when news that a 79 year-old classic burger restaurant in Toledo – the last in town of a defunct chain called White Tower – was being sold for $1 (on condition the buyer moves it off the property where it sits), a reader of A Hamburger Today seized the opportunity to play matchmaker with a NY restaurateur. “Danny Meyer? Paging Danny Meyer?!” wrote the commenter.

Sterling In-Seat Service: waiter service will feature "Best of Ballpark" food from the outfield concourse Apparently, Meyer is a Mets fan and has been a season ticket holder for quite some time, and is very pleased to be putting his mark on the new stadium. "What you eat and drink – and how it's all served – has become a major part of the ballpark experience, and we are eager to contribute as much as we can to why people will love going to Citi Field." According to the Times, the Mets owner and Aramark are negotiating with other noteable local restaurateurs. We'd like to see a NYC Icy stand (or maybe even the Lemon Ice King of Corona), an outpost of Caracas Arepa Bar, and perhaps a Dosa cart for the vegan fans. Plus, it'd be a shame to lose Mama's; hopefully there will be space for them as well.

In a clever ploy to undermine the city’s controversial proposal to lease out the 78-year-old Union Square Pavilion as a year-round restaurant, a group of activists sent a fake press release Monday that claimed to be from the Union Square Partnership Business Improvement District (BID). The release announced the BID’s decision to drop its push for “privatization of the famous park after overwhelming feedback from citizens across New York City.” (NewsBlaze still has the release on their website.)

Brooklynites may no longer have to haul across the bridge and wait in endless lines for burgers, dogs, and concretes at the Shake Shack. Or at least they won't have to cross the bridge -- the Daily News reports that Danny Meyer will be opening a Shack outpost in Brooklyn, and it's going mobile.

A State Supreme Court judge has issued a “preliminary injunction” prohibiting the city from turning the 78-year-old Pavilion in Union Square park into a restaurant. Last week the court ruled that the $21 million overhaul to the north end of the park could proceed while a lawsuit brought by community groups moves forward, but temporary stalled work on the Pavilion.

UPDATE: NY1's first report yesterday on the Union Square Pavilion lawsuit has been corrected. It turns out that, contrary to the initial news, the injunction stopping work on the park’s 78-year-old Pavilion is still in effect.

A state judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the city’s $21 million overhaul of the north end of Union Square Park, which would install a new restaurant in the historic Pavilion, redesign two playgrounds and repave asphalt where the Greenmarket had been operating. A coalition of community groups and parks advocates who brought the lawsuit say the city needs to get approval from the state legislature before privatizing part of the park, which has long been a flashpoint for protests and rallies.

Today the Times’s chief food critic Frank Bruni revisits WD-50 (pictured) and elevates the Lower East Side avant-garde restaurant to three stars (a 2003 Times review by another critic had awarded it two). Chef Wylie Dufresne has made WD-50 a destination with his experimental, transgressive menu, and Bruni concedes that in the past “too many of his creations were gratuitously perverse… many visitors understandably feel that what they’ve experienced isn’t so much a meal as a prank.” But now most of the dishes are “knockouts” and Bruni extols “the tidiest Benedict the egg-loving world has ever known.”

The holy Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, adored for its succulent burgers, righteous shakes and hellish lines, will soon expand into multiple locations. Owner Danny Meyer has signed a lease for a branch at 366 Columbus Avenue (at 77th Street), the former home of New Orleans import Jacques-Imo's. The new location will be entirely indoors, enabling delicate Upper Wide Siders to do their time on line out of the elements.

No one knows for sure what’s to become of the future Union Square pavilion, but a strong contender for the space – formerly occupied by the shabby Luna Park – is a new restaurant helmed by Danny Meyer, who opened the Union Square Café in ’85 and whose Shake Shack in Madison Square Park is an object of obsession.

In case you missed it, earlier this week, Rebecca Charles, owner of Pearl Oyster Bar, filed an intellectual property suit against former sous-chef Ed McFarland, alleging that he had stolen recipes and design ideas when he opened his new restaurant, Ed's Lobster Bar. Here's what has gone down since then. Ed held a press conference. Grub Street describes Ed's response: “I am deeply saddened to learn that Rebecca Charles has brought an action against me,” McFarland announced. “I believe her action has no merit. I harbor no ill will and wish her safely to port.”

In case you need a warm up for the Big Apple BBQ Block Party this weekend, newest NYC 'cue joint Hill Country NYC is scheduled to open on Friday, June 8th. The product of a collaboration between Robbie Richter, the man behind BBQ-NYC (pictured above with his brisket) and partner Marc Glosserman, Hill Country NYC aims to give diners the experience of Texas Hill Country barbecue without ever leaving Manhattan. Off the Broiler gives a mouth-watering preview. 30 West 26th Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway, 212-255-4544.

Maybe it was just the red carpet, but most of the people we spoke to seemed particularly excited about the new digs for the James Beard Foundation Awards, black-tie affair held last night at Avery Fisher Hall to honor some of the country's best chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary professionals. Susan Ungaro, the President of JBF, noted that originally, James Beard had moved to New York to become an opera singer, but had to earn a living until he hit the big time. He started a catering company and the rest, as they say, is history, but she noted that he would have been pretty excited to be up on that stage.

A year ago, waiters at Chinatown restaurant Jing Fong accused management of taking tip money to pay dim sum cart ladies. Now, another restaurant's managers are under fire for taking tips from servers, but the restaurant is decidedly more upscale. Waiters at Telepan, which got a 25 for food in the most recent Zagat guide, tell NY1 that managers have been helping themselves to tips, which is illegal in NY State: Waiters can be paid below minimum wage (at Telepan, they make $4.60/hour) as long as they receive the tips.

[Former water Femi] Joseph showed NY1 a stack of tip sheets that detail how the tips are divided each night. Looking at this blank tip sheet one can see that managers are boldly listed as one of the groups that get a cut of the tips at the end of the night.

Continue reading "Telepan Servers Claim Managers Are Taking Tips "

We've been wondering about the new public toilets ever since they were previewed last year. When are they coming? And how fast will they get wrecked? The Daily Intelligencer now reports that there are some concerns about the public toilets from City Council members. Members were asked to nominated two sites for potential potties, but some aren't interested.

December 7: Alex Prud’homme at O&CO.

at Union Square. Meyer is known and beloved as the guru behind many restaurants, such as Union Square Cafe, Blue Smoke, and Shake Shack, while the excerpt of Lewis' Blind Side in the NY Times Magazine two weeks ago made everyone curious about Ole Miss left tackle Michael Oher and his new family. Clearly, this calls for B&N to offer podcasts/streaming video of their author talks.

While not listed on the website, a small bird-shaped source tells us that the gigantic (website says 66k vs. 90k sq.ft. in reality) Whole Foods in the Avalon Christie on Houston & Bowery will open in April 2007, an almost 1 year delay. Same little birdie says that contrary to reports elsewhere, they will also get to build a Whole Foods wine store (maybe not liquor) to replace the one forced out of the Columbus Circle store.