Results tagged “locandaverde”

Still no word from Sam Sifton, Frank Bruni's replacement at the Times, so let's turn to New York's Adam Platt, who files on Daniel Boulud's beer and sausage mecca on the Bowery, DBGB. Platt visits with his famous actor brother Oliver, and notes that "the menu contains fourteen varieties of sausage made by acolytes of the Parisian pâté genius Gilles Verot, plus a 'Tête aux Pieds' (Head to Feet) section, which includes an entire deboned pig’s trotter and little squares of crispy fried tripe, a Lyonnais offal specialty. 'This is right up my alley,' declared my giant fresser brother as he cut into the pig’s foot (I’m not touching that monster,' sniffed Mrs. Platt) and then the surprisingly delicate tripe, before working his way through the excellent sausages, which have catchy names like “Beaujolaise” (a deliciously fat, pork-stuffed link sweetened with red wine), 'Boudin Basque' (spicy, porky blood sausage over whipped potatoes), and 'Vermont' (more pork, garnished with melty curls of Cheddar and crème fraîche)."

This week Frank Bruni at the Times weighs in on Locanda Verdi, the reboot of Robert De Niro's failed Ago, which the critic had such fun eviscerating last summer. His two star review radiates adoration for new chef Andrew Carmellini, whose "talent demands a bigger stage, and luckily for both him and us, Locanda Verde came along in the nick of time to give him that. It opened two months ago in the TriBeCa space inhabited briefly — and disastrously — by Ago, may it rest in peace... But it doesn’t amount to the exactly right situation or perfect fit for him. It’s not the Carmellini restaurant that many of us have been waiting and hoping for, though it has plenty to recommend it. Hit the menu’s strong spots and you’ll have a terrific meal at a reasonable price."

This week Frank Bruni at the Times, approaching his last month with the Gray Lady, goes gaga for Aldea (photos), where "the cooking is precious, lusty, ultramodern, rustic and a host of other adjectives that don’t normally squeeze together but find themselves in a tight, mostly happy clutch here. Although Aldea has a clean, sleek and relatively spare look, it has a much more complex taste. One minute you’re nibbling on crisp pig’s ears. The next you’re carefully maneuvering your spoon under a translucent, quivering orb of concentrated mushroom broth—one of those liquid ravioli that the Spanish alchemist Ferran Adrià made famous—in an avant-garde consommé." Bruni also takes a look at artisanal pizza parlors this week.

Brooklyn Star: Former Momofuku partner Joaquin Baca has gone solo in Williamsburg, with this handsome little restaurant a few blocks from the L train. The Southern comfort menu includes options such as corn bread ($4), Dr. Pepper Ribs ($16), Fried Pig Tails ($11), BBQ Catfish with grits and fried cucumbers ($13), and Smothered Porkchop with scalloped tomatoes and string beans. Inside the open kitchen, a 100-plus-year-old oven, a relic from when the place used to be a pizzeria, imbues the food with the appropriate degree of smokiness. NY Mag finds out how much money Baca spent to make his dream a reality, and here's the menu from Brooklyn Star's website. No liquor license yet, but they do have plenty of cool, refreshing ice tea and root beer! 33 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn; (718) 599-9899

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.