- Outsourcing is coming to a high-end restaurant near you, and no we are not talking about phone reservationists working abroad who do not understand that a 5:45 reservation is unacceptable to you. - Florence Fabricant has the official word in this weeks "Off the Menu" on Back Forty, the upcoming casual spot from Savoy owner Peter Hoffman, which we first told you about in the fall. Located in the old Radio Perfecto space with......

- Ed Levine has a short round up of the Il Buco annual pig roast; looks like it should be on the calendar next year. - Check out this podcast from The Gilded Fork Culinary Podcast Network, they have William Grimes discussing the topic of restaurant vernacular. Sample topic - use of the word entrée and the difference in the meaning here and across the pond. - The rise, battle, takedown, and hibernation of E.U.......

Bruni hits Jean Georges' "fringe players," Mercer Kitchen and Vong. Between the two, Vong emerges victorious with one star: "you keep wondering if the food they deliver is really as it should be and all that it could be, if the restaurant is receiving Mr. Vongerichten’s most considered judgments . . ." while Mercer Kitchen rates a mere "satisfactory": Bruni calls their menu an "ethnically indistinct assortment of dishes with enough pro forma salads and......

A Gothamist reader tipped us off and Florence Fabricant confirmed that Black Pearl, the New England style clam and lobster shack in the back of the East Village bar, Julep has closed. We will mourn quietly and head back to Pearl Oyster Bar. New York Metro rounds up places to find deviled eggs, but somehow managed to leave off Blue Smoke. We didn't even know we liked deviled eggs until we tried these, light and......

Florence Fabricant reports that restauranteur Charlie Trotter and his team of developers have cancelled their plans to open a restaurant in the Time Warner Center, a.k.a. the luxury food court. Mr. Trotter said in a telephone interview yesterday that as his restaurant's budget climbed from $6 million to $9 million to $11.5 million, the Related Companies, the center's co-developer, decided to scale back the concept and design. . . . "I didn't want to remove......

The New York Restaurant Cookbook: Recipes from the Dining Capital of the World by Florence Fabricant (Rizzoli, 2003) It's that springtime time of year, when Gothamist's thoughts turn to summer cookouts and fresh local produce (we still retain faint memories of last summer's culinary delights). Unfortunately, when we mosey over to the Union Square farmers' market, we still don't find as many fruits and vegetables as we'd like (and don't even get us started on......

New York Restaurant Cookbook: Recipes from the Dining Capital of the World, by Florence Fabricant (Rizzoli 2003). Gothamist does not travel for brunch. Basically, unless it's below 16th Street and east of 5th Avenue, we don't go there. First of all, we're hungry. Second of all, we're hungover! (damn blogger parties!) So, if it hadn't been for the New York Restaurant Cookbook, we would have forever been denied the tasty (and Atkins-friendly!) goodness that is......

Florence Fabricant reports that Guatemalan rambutans are now available here in the states. Gothamist had never seen this gorgeous fruit before, and are considering heading over to Whole Foods during lunch to check one out in the flesh. For our fellow rambutan novices out there, Global Gourmet provides a basic description of the fruit, and gives us some advice on how to prepare and eat it: Never cut the fruit in half right through the......

This picture, combined with Florence Fabricant's description, makes us want to run out for a few cocktails during lunch: A rainbow of extra-tall shot glasses, presented to diners on a tray, is a real head-turner at Django, 480 Lexington Avenue (46th Street). These eight icy dessert cocktails include tangy ones like a sake slush made with litchi; a cooler made with gin and kalamansi, an exotic citrus; and a Bellini. The sweeter ones are......

It's good times on the Upper West Side for food:The Times reports on the cream puffs at 76th and Broadway as well as the return of Katy Sparks! First, Beard Papa, an Asian chain that sells cream puffs, has a location at 2167 Broadway; the Times' Florence Fabricant described the fare as "fresh, crisp, peach-size cream puffs, $1.25, are split and filled while still warm with sumptuous vanilla cream." Mmm. And Gothamist had wondered about......