Graffiti: Pastry Chef Jehangir Mehta, who has spent time at Aix, Jean Georges, Vong, and Union Pacific, takes a stab at the world of the savory. He has opened a restaurant and bakery in the East Village with a "global bistro comfort food" menu. Offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, Graffiti serves up baked goods, coffee and tea, and a dinner menu where the dishes range in size from "nibbles" to "all mine." For the kicker, the......

Maybe it was just the red carpet, but most of the people we spoke to seemed particularly excited about the new digs for the James Beard Foundation Awards, black-tie affair held last night at Avery Fisher Hall to honor some of the country's best chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary professionals. Susan Ungaro, the President of JBF, noted that originally, James Beard had moved to New York to become an opera singer, but had to earn......

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......

Yesterday morning, the nominees for the 2007 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced at the Beard House on West 12th Street. In additional to New York restaurant stalwarts David Waltuck of Chanterelle, Floyd Cardoz of Tabla, and Terrance Brennan of Picholine (which was rebooted in 2006 to impressive reviews, the nominees also include a bumper crop of young chefs including David Chang for Momofuku Ssam Bar, Daniel Humm for Eleven Madison Park (both for......

February 11: Second New Indian Dinner - A Benefit for Kids with Cameras Tabla is proud to present a multi-course dinner prepared by several of the world’s leading New Indian chefs, including: Maneet Chauhan, Vermilion, Chicago; Melissa Walnock, Pastry Chef, Tabla, New York City; Vikram Garg, IndeBleu, Washington, DC; Kirti Pant, Junnoon, Palo Alto; Hemant Oberoi, Taj Luxury Hotels; Mumbai, India; and Floyd Cardoz, Tabla, New York City. The dinner is a benefit for Kids......

The Master and The Margarita While it is best known as a dessert-only place, there is no molten corn syrup river running through Room 4 Dessert. The restaurant also lacks the Willy Wonka clichés and kit-built, old-world Vienna museum mumbo jumbo of certain chocolate chains. Room 4 Dessert eschews the garish Candyland factor in favor of minimalist offerings like its “nrj”- a mix of red grapefruit sorbet topped with segments of the fruit, smoked......

December 24: Feasts of the Seven Fishes Join in the Italian tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes -- a seafood meal in observance of the La Viglia Di Natale, or the wait for the birth of Christ. - Jovia: Chef Eben Copple and Pastry Chef Jennifer Domanski serve up a four-course menu including Seafood Salad with diver scallops, mussels, calamari, shrimp, clams, arugula, olives and radicchio, Linguine Nere with baby sepia and spicy......

November 3: Chocolate and Dessert Wine Seminar Two award winners paired with two sinful delights -- what could be better? James Beard Pastry Chef of the Year, Jacques Torres and James Beard Sommelier of the Year, Jean Luc Le Du join forces for these seminars focusing on chocolate and dessert wine. Three seminars at 6:30, 7:00 and 7:30, at Le Du's Wines, 600 Washington St between Morton and Leroy. $25. Seating is limited and reservations......

Sunday and Monday nights were the James Beard Awards annual gala events, and the results are now in. Sunday night focused on the journalists, highlighting books, broadcast media, and even websites (a new category), while Monday was all about the chefs and restaurants. The excitement was palpable in the food world, so much so that Ed Levine decided to liveblog Monday's Awards dinner, an extravagant black tie affair, for those of us not "in" enough......

December 15: Cheese 101 Liz Thorpe, Wholesale Manager of Murray’s Cheese, will give you the inside scoop on all things cheesy, including selection of the perfect cheese plate, how to display it, and picking the wines to match. 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., 254 Bleecker Street. $50/person. Call 212.243.3289, ext. 25 or register online. December 19-22: Auvergne at Partage Visit Auvergne without leaving the West Village. From December 19-22, Partage will be serving dishes from......

The James Beard Foundation seems to have gotten past the drama of the past year, and managed to announce its 2005 award winners. Local honorees include: - American Express Best Chef, New York City: Andrew Carmellini, Café Boulud - All-Clad Bakeware Outstanding Pastry Chef: Karen DeMasco, Craft - All-Clad Cookware Outstanding Chef: Mario Batali, Babbo - Ecolab Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional: Joseph Bastianich, Italian Wine Merchants - Illy Best New Restaurant: Per Se -......

Gothamist once thought of becoming a pastry chef after stints decorating wedding cakes and interning at a restaurant out in California. But, despite the apricot-glazed glory, all the early mornings, red eyes, sugar in the bloodstream, and realization that becoming a professional chef could lead to reality TV (and subsequent demise of your career), we’ve opted to instead 1) take photographs of chefs and 2) enjoy the fruits of the city's best eateries. However,......

New York magazine talks up the opening of restaurant Amuse on West 18th between 6th and 7th Avenues, but give more play to chef Gerry Hayden's wife, Claudia Fleming. Claudia won our hearts as pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, but now she's been at Pret a Manger for about a year. Pret a Manger - Gothamist's favorite sandwich chain. Oh, yeah, and info about Amuse......