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. more ›

It's been two years in the making, and now chef-owner George Mendes has finally opened Aldea, a kind of Mediterranean-modern restaurant near Union Square. Specifically, Mendes created Aldea's menu in tribute to his Portuguese heritage, and its menu features presunto, for example, a cured ham akin to Jamón Serrano. Another appetizer is a plate of sardines with raisins macerated in Madeira and served with bitter almond milk. Appetizers (see the full menu after the jump) are all priced at $9 and under, and no entrée costs more than $27, with most in the $19-$22 range. more ›

The acclaimed and iconoclastic 32-year-old chef Paul Liebrandt is today the subject of a New York Times profile. The news: after years of working in restaurants all around the world, it seems as though the Zimbabwe-born, French and English-trained chef at Corton now considers New York City home. In its way, the article all but assures the dining public that because Liebrandt ♥ NY, his days of restless culinary experimentation are over (we certainly hope not). The article even ineluctably evokes the madcap memory of Papillon, a short-lived radical dining experience where Liebrandt once played Pinky and the Brain with pastry chef Will Goldfarb. That restaurant was all about courses like the one where guests were fuzzy handcuffed to their chairs while the dinner plates got all animated and Battlebots-like and fought each other to the death with whirring chainsaw forks. You were supposed to eat the victor. more ›

Corton, the anticipated collaboration between Drew Nieporent and English chef Paul Liebrandt, may not be opening this weekend, but shown above is a possible preview of the restaurant’s food: Lamb with cooking juices, salad, and pommes fondant. more ›

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Bruni goes to midtown’s Turkish cafe Sip Sak, gives it one-star. All his favorite dishes are the “secret” ones that don’t appear on the menu. He calls Sip Sak “a kooky artist’s warped--and wonderful--canvas.” The kooky artist would be Orhan Yegan, the cafe’s principal chef and owner. more ›

Gilt -- even the name sounds luxurious. And the word out on the street is that it is, and that Paul Liebrandt and his pastry chef, Oscar Palacios, truly shine, pun intended (well, at a cost of $92 for a three-course prix fixe, and $135 for a ten-course tasting menu it should at least glimmer a little). It has gotten 2 stars from Bruni, 3 stars from Platt, and "433 homonymillian" stars from Augieland with the requisite porn, below. more ›