Results tagged “forge”

When edgy chef Marc Forgione (pictured) opened up his urban-rustic restaurant last summer in a former TriBeCa dairy warehouse, he decided to call the place Forge, after his nickname. But, oopsy, there's already a Forge restaurant in Miami Beach, and in due time owner Shareef Malnik accused Forgione of trademark infringement. So this month he re-christened his place "Marc Forgione" to avoid a costly lawsuit and spare potential customers the confusion of getting lost in Florida on their way to his restaurant.

After a ten month investigation, cops have busted a Suffolk County mail courier who they say forged dozens of realistic-looking deputy sheriff's badges and gave them out to acquaintances. But 54-year-old Peter Mistretta says it's all a big misunderstanding because he runs a male stripper business on the side and the badges were simply part of his employees' costumes. According to police—the real kind you generally don't want to see in G-strings—five shields and ID cards had the shield numbers of active-duty officers. And in July a driver pulled over in Vermont showed the trooper a fake Suffolk sheriff's ID, which was traced to Mistretta. Newsday reports that Mistretta is also in trouble over the five grams of cocaine in his possession when he was arrested—but surely that was just a prop for the Scarface stripper routine.

This week Frank Bruni files two shorter reviews for the Times instead of handing down his usual hefty decision on a single restaurant. He heads east to follow up on Sushi Yashuda on 43rd Street, declaring that from the time it opened "more than eight years ago, when William Grimes awarded it three stars in The New York Times, it has been among the best. And a recent visit suggested that there’s been no slippage, no drift." On the other hand, the expensive new urban rustic restaurant Forge, the premiere of Marc Forgione (son of famous chef Larry Forgione), is stillborn: Like Ziggy Marley or Sofia Coppola, Marc Forgione has chosen to follow in some daunting paternal footsteps... I found the kitchen’s performance inconsistent, and on one visit the wait for food was ridiculously long, especially since the restaurant wasn’t crowded. It has scores of seats to fill, most alluringly in its spacious bar area. There you can enjoy house cocktails mixed with real thought, not just sops to the fashion of the times."

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni hands down a generally favorable verdict on Persimmon Kimchi House, the 20-seat, communal table restaurant from chef Youngsun Lee, who cut his teeth with David Chang (Momofuku). Bruni admits that “…at least a third of the dishes I tried prompted yawns or head-scratching. But at least another third riveted me, and all in all I enjoyed what struck me as the polar opposite of a cookie-cutter, fashion-driven meal, the Momofuku invocations notwithstanding. Persimmon is an adventure, and the bumpiness of the trip – including spasmodic and sometimes confused service – is in large part redeemed by the price.”

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni opines on Scarpetta (pictured), the new Meatpacking District Italian restaurant from Scott Conant (L’Impero, Alto) that the Village Voice loved and the Sun disdained. Bruni bestows a big three stars, raving about the unassuming dish of spaghetti, tomato and basil: “However Mr. Conant is choosing and cooking the Roma tomatoes with which he sauces his house-made spaghetti, he’s getting a roundness of flavor and nuance of sweetness that amount to pure Mediterranean bliss.” Also in the Times, Julia Moskin surveys Chinese food in Flushing, where “the dumplings are juicier, the noodles springier, the butter cookies flavored with a bit of salty green seaweed.”

Clover Club: This new Cobble Hill lounge has no connection to this Clover Club “located in beautifull [sic] Mark, Illinois,” so leave your green face paint at home. The atmosphere here, as evinced by the photo, is old world charm and sophistication, hearkening back to an era when men dueled with pistols, not text messages, and the curse of the Cosmo had not yet darkened New York. Small plates include oysters on the half shell, steak tar-tar, and molasses and cumin rubbed chicken drumettes with roquefort fondue. Though the focus is all about "the craft of The Cocktail," owner Julie Reiner stresses that her fastidious drink selection isn't about pretension but inclusion: "Our goal is to demystify the secret world of fizzes, sours, daisies and punches in the hopes that everyone has a good time at Clover Club and learns a little something along the way." Drinking and learning; we'll not rest until we master that art. 210 Smith Street, (718) 855-7939.