Results tagged “newzealand”

Padre Figlio: In Italian, the name means father and son, so it’s no surprise that this new Italian steakhouse is run by Mario and Antonio Cerra, the father and son team behind Da Antonio. After ten years, they’ve sold that establishment and are joining forces again to focus on high-end Italian meats, such as rib eye and a porterhouse of Piemontese beef for two.

BAM Cinématek

We don't have the luxury of forgetting indefinitely because this is not a sustainable proposition. By the time my kids are my age, they're going to look back and say, "You did what with the last drop of fossil fuels? You pushed a watermelon from Chile to your door so that you could eat it out of season? What were you thinking?"

This week in the Times, Bruni Bruni visits Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle’s Perilla. Finds it “earnest, endearing, and just a bit of a snooze,” and awards the restaurant one star. Sees more of Deiterle and partner Alicia Noscenzo’s past at The Harrison in the restaurant (friendly service, cozy atmosphere, reasonable prices) than in his past on Top Chef. But he finds some “primness” at Perilla, along with “scattered errors of judgement.” Doesn’t much like the desserts, either.

to look forward to seeing. But this week? Nada. Don't believe that could possibly be the case? Check out what other early reviews of this week's releases are saying:

Nelson Blue -- billing itself as New York's first New Zealand pub, their menu features everything from New Zealand lamb and in skewer, chop, and curry formats, to Tasman Bay Paddle Crabcakes, to something known as Gado Gado Salad. Opens today. 233-235 Front Street, at Peck Slip. 212-346-9090.

“We’re going to force him to eat some blood sausage. That’s what friends are for, right?” Behind the line, a cook nods, and Chef Brad Farmerie of Public restaurant gets back to the business of garnishing entrees. He stacks a few slices of house-made boudin noir on a small bread-and-butter plate, sending it out to a former sous chef who happens to be visiting from England. Farmerie, who turned 34 last week, presides over the eclectic kitchen of Public Restaurant on Elizabeth Street, which at times resembles a cabinet of curious chutneys: the chef is known for pairing proteins with unusual spices and condiments, like wattle seed and aleppo pepper. Far from creating slapdash fusion cusine, though, Farmerie experiments with each of his ingredients until his finds a flavor profile that works. He frets over the quality of his galangal; worries about the subtlety of vanilla in his foie gras ballotine. He is also the rare chef who always keeps some braised pork belly on hand for an impromptu amuse bouche, but also strives to make his vegetarian plates vegan, and more importantly, to make sure that they taste good.

Portland, Oregon resident M. Ward (or "Matt", as his friends call him) is an enigmatic good 'ol fashioned singer/songwriter. Appearing detached and independent from the world he connects to through music, he seems to come to us from another time and place. Without pretense he delivers songs with a voice that hangs in the air, enchanting an audience of listeners who are always left wanting more. An old soul with a guitar and the ability to tell a story through song, his live show is not one to be missed. Tomorrow night he plays Town Hall for the first time.

This week's weather watch word is mild. Last week's cool weather, low temperatures were below freezing for six days straight, is looking like an aberration to an otherwise warm autumn. Today will be the fourth day of December where the temperature has exceeded fifty degrees. The normal high for today is 44. It didn't even cool off to that this morning. Tomorrow is the cool day for the week. Cool is a relative term, as it looks like we will reach an above normal max of 47 degrees. High temperatures for the forseeable future are in the low- to mid-50s.

People, I think, are actually seeking unification in one form or another. You can look to the success of sites like Friendster and MySpace as evidence. Of course we differ from those virtual clubs, because we’re very real and very tactile—like corduroy, actually. We’re trying to emulate and reference old, secretive social clubs, like The Masons or The Knights of Columbus. I love those old clubs. Corduroy is able to unify because everyone knows what it is, it’s not rare or difficult, everyone can get it and everyone has some kind of association or reaction to corduroy. Our slogan is “All Wales Welcome,” so anyone, provided they exhibit appreciation of corduroy can be in the club.

Terroir is one of those concepts where if you put 50 wine geeks in a room and let them talk among themselves, you can create a heated discussion around dirt. Add to that equation a blind wine tasting and hold it at Daniel and it’s possible that a cheese puff and caviar food fight may erupt. The potential to see little bites of culinary genus thrown maliciously at Masters of Wine and industry greats was too good for us to pass up, so Gothamist gladly accepted an invitation to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Robert Mondavi Winery at a panel discussion titled “A sense of place: The future of terroir”

The Statue of Liberty won't need to worry about Con Ed having another blackout and dousing the light in her torch: The General Services Administration will get power from wind turbines. The Post reported that the GSA signed a three year contract for wind power to light the statue, plus Ellis Island, from upstate and other states, so no freaking out there the government will be putting huge windmills on Ellis Island - we're guessing the wind mills are situated near the Albany, because there's lots of wind up there from those windbags. But this make Gothamist wonder about having wind farms off the water in the city - those wind gusts from the water can be fierce.

The world of wine and spirits has historically been a male-dominated arena – from the old-school sommeliers in bowties and silver tastevins around their necks to the grand chateaus passed down from father to son. However, this ancient industry has evolved and grown to cater to its bellowing fan base. No longer only a boys’ club, women have become a driving force in the production, service and consumption of wine. Forget the notion of girls sipping chardonnay and white wine spritzers – we, ladies, can grow the grapes, make the wine and serve it up, too. And it’s plain to see at Annisa, an intimate West Village restaurant, in our own Manhattan.

- Paris Commune, the West Village eatery that moved into new space at 99 Bank Street last year, is celebrating its anniversary by opening the Rouge Wine Bar. Quaff wines from France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Chile while you wait for a table upstairs, or finish off your night by sipping on a glass of cognac while you gaze at the original fresco covering two walls. Look closely and you might see Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, and a certain editor of Vogue among the romantic couples, sulky gamines, and Paris Commune regulars worked into the mural. Rouge Wine Bar at Paris Commune, 99 Bank Street, the corner of Bank Street and Greenwich Street, 212-929-0509.

Maybe you couldn’t swing the cost of the Black Diamond All Access Pass, or perhaps you got blackballed from the St. Regis Hotel for trying to sneak into Larry David’s suite last year. Whatever your reason may be for not attending this year’s US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, you need not worry, a bit of it is coming to New York throughout the week. Flight of the Conchords, named Best Alternative Comedy Act at this year’s festival, will be performing their show at various venues around the city. Self described as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody duo”, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie perform their own ingenious brand of acoustic musical comedy. The Guardian described them as having “virtuoso musicality and superbly gormless banter”. If you see one gormless show this week, Gothamist thinks this should be it.

Newsday reports that an autopsy was found to be inconclusive as to why a man died on a flight from LA to NYC's JFK Airport. The man, 48 year-old William Lee, had been "forcibly restrained" after he angrily demanded a beer. American Airlines said Lee had ordered two beers and a vodka already, and Lee shouted at the attendants to be served immediately. When he was told he would not be served, he demanded to speak to "someone in charge," and alternated between calming down and getting angry again. It was when Lee shoved an attendant out of his way that seven male passengers ("possibly members of a rugby team from Australia or New Zealand") knocked him down to restrain him. When they landed in NYC to bring Lee to the police, they found he was unconscious and later died in a hospital.

"Cheap" doesn’t always come to mind when you're wading through $400 sweaters in Soho, but if you're looking to find bang for your buck, stop in at Mooncake Foods, the anomalous Pan-Asian bistro-diner on Watts Street, for eats that won't swallow up your wallet.

Cold? So are we. But never fear -- here are some booze-filled events coming up to warm your cockles, or whatever else needs warming:

First it was Australia, then it was New Zealand . . . now the next New World wine region to capture the hearts and taste buds of New Yorkers is South America. What makes this region so spectacular for easy to drink, plush, fruity wines is the perfect climate. Grapes get to bask in the warm Latin sun – enjoying a particularly long ripening season. Kind of like the holiday we wish we could take. Rain and frost are non-issues and with plenty water from irrigation those lucky grapes are more spoiled then the tenants of 927 Fifth Avenue.

You�re on a date. We�ve all been there. You�ve checked your teeth � all clear, deodorant � check, you even remembered to switch to the good underwear � just in case. The waiter drops off the menus and wine list � so far so good. Now here�s the tricky part, before even deciding whether to go for the Lobster Risotto with Saffron or the Chicken Paillard � you have to select a wine.

Sunday was the NYC Cycling Championship, which was dampened by the rain, but still went on. The race is part of the Pro Cycling Tour and was on a 1.2 mile course in Lower Manhattan. The cyclists raced on the city streets for a total of 62.5 miles. Because of the rain, there were plenty of accidents.

The executive committee of FIFA announced this weekend that South Africa has been rewarded with the honor of hosting the 2010 World Cup, setting off celebrations all around the country. This is a bit of retribution for the now Democratic African nation. It had been favored to secure the 2006 World Cup, but lost by one vote to Germany after a member of the FIFA executive committee, Charles Dempsey of New Zealand, controversially abstained from voting. However, this time South Africa prevailed, beating Morocco by a 14 votes to 10 margin. As part of a new plan to rotate the event among continents, FIFA decided only African nations could contend for this World Cup.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King premiered in New Zealand today. One of this year's great movies is from New Zealand: The Whale Rider.

Westfield America, the retail space developer that owns retail space in the WTC is not a fan of Daniel Libeskind's designs according to the Times.

The daily convergence of life and Seinfeld: In New Zealand, postal worker was fired for hoarding letter. You know where I'm going with this: the Andrea Doria episode of Seinfeld where it's revealed that Newman has been hoarding letters...Jerry helps Newman deliver the letters, in hopes that Newman will be transferred to Hawaii. Of course, Newman doesn't get the transferred because Jerry has a delivery rate of 80%, unthinkable for the USPS of the Seinfeldian world. "It's like the 4 minute mile!" Newman seethes.