There was some surprise when Geoffrey Zakarian’s three star restaurant Country (pictured) was shut down by the Department of Health last Friday. But it turns out that fruit flies, mouse droppings and a fly in the Maker’s Mark were the least of its problems – the main infraction was the restaurant’s unapproved sous vide method, which Country utilizes to vacuum-seal raw meat in plastic for slow cooking at low temperatures. The Times reports that Zakarian......

A bit of breaking food news: Doug Psaltis has left the Executive Chef position at Country restaurant after three years. Word has it that the 33 year-old chef has parted ways with chef/owner Geoffrey Zakarian to pursue other restaurant plans. While there’s no official word from the chef yet, chances are his next kitchen won’t be doing molecular gastronomy: Psaltis told Metromix in September that “I think we are getting too far away from our......

What’s worth watching, food-wise, on TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to French Polynesia. Serious Eats reviews the series—and his trip to Brazil—here. On Top Chef, Episode 9 airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). This week, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian is the guest judge. On last week’s episode, no one was eliminated. Grub Street hates it when everyone makes nice. We agree: it doesn’t make very good television. And......

Earlier this year when Gothamist visited executive chef Doug Psaltis at Geoffrey Zakarian’s Country, we learned that French Laundry vet Hsing Chen had just been named Executive Pastry Chef for the fine-dining restaurant upstairs, as well as for the downstairs, more casual Cafe. “My focus is more on light, fruit based desserts, with different textures and temperatures,” Chen told Gothamist. She also mentioned her desire to locate, soup up, and outfit a dessert cart from......

Doug Psaltis wants to cook dinner for you at Country, especially if you happen to be dining by yourself. “The minimum for a chef’s tasting menu is one person,” he says. “If you come in here, I will cook for you.” It sounds like a threat. Psaltis explains: “It happens once or twice a week. I’m excited for single diners; they’re not here for the company, they come here for the food and wine.” He......

Gothamist Cooks (Kind of) by the Book About Gothamist Cooks (Kind of) by the Book is a weekly column written by Girlynyc, featuring a tasty, easy-to-make recipe featured in a New York-related cookbook. This week features New York Cooks: The 100 Best Recipes from New York Magazine, by Gillian Duffy (Primedia, 2003). Gillian Duffy raided fifteen years of back issues of New York Magazine for its best recipes, so you can throw out all those......

Two gay waiters at Town, on West 56th at the Chambers Hotel, are saying that other employees discriminated against them. Servers Andrew Butler and Kevin O'Brien have filed suit against the restaurant, chef/owner Geoffrey Zakarian, and other employees. They say the worst came from sommelier Sean Rawlinson, who shoved wine bbottles into Butler's anus and, when attacking O'Brien with wine bottles, saying, "Is it big enough for you? Maybe you're used to magnum size." Also,......