Results tagged “williamgrimes”

The Feedbag reports that former New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes will temporarily replace current critic Frank Bruni when he retires at the end of the summer. According to The Feedbag, Grimes "is said to be lined up to hold down the fort until the new critic comes aboard in January." This fall, Frank Bruni will make his first public, post critic debut at the Food Network Wine & Food Festival, appearing on a panel with Anthony Bourdain and promoting his new memoir Born Round.

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Mesa Grill (pictured), knocking the restaurant down from the two stars given it by William Grimes in 2000. Says that while the Bobby Flay restaurant “has considerable charms… on balance [it] presents only flickers of the excitement it did [when it opened] in 1991… It’s an overly familiar, somewhat tired production. More to the point, it’s an inconsistent one.”

">Bruni goes to Gramercy Tavern, awards the restaurant--now helmed by chef Michael Anthony--three stars. It was last reviewed by William Grimes, when Tom Colicchio was cooking and when it also received three stars. Bruni says the restaurant delivers what diners want: “a kind of unstrained graciousness and unlabored sophistication.” Nearly everything he tasted was “exquisitely cooked,” and while the desserts aren’t the best ever, “there are some fine choices.”

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Esca, calls chef Dave Pasternack a "fish whisperer" (um, OK Frank) and awards the restaurant three stars. "In an era when too many restaurants try to be everything to everyone," he says, "Esca has a specific agenda: show what the sea can yield." The restaurant was previously awarded two stars by William Grimes in 2000.

READING: Head to the New School to join the New York Times and their moderator, critic William Grimes, as Carl Hiaasen reads from his latest crime caper, Nature Girl, which chronicles the exploits of volatile Honey Santana who meets a wild cast of characters while en route to the Ten Thousand Islands. Show up early for a good seat - Hiaasen is a popular draw. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras

It's not Caturday, but it might as well be at the NY Times. There are two (TWO!) big cat stories. The first is about how the $4,000 hypoallergenic are in demand. We're still not sure about hypoallergenic cats, but these kitties certainly look very sweet. And the article mentions the travails of Harlem Fur's cat Cimbi and owners Cheryl and Chris. They decided Cimbi needs a new home last week given Cheryl's allergies - and we're sure Cimbi will new loving home soon - she looks like a doll and even likes to be walked on her leash.

- Ed Levine has a short round up of the Il Buco annual pig roast; looks like it should be on the calendar next year.

Bruni reviews Blue Hill (in Greenwich Village, not at Stone Barns) bumps the restaurant up to three stars from the two it received from William Grimes in 2000. He cites "quality and immediacy" of ingredients and says eating there is a subtle experience, "like a hushed foreign film with subtitles."

Over the weekend, Gothamist started to read Julia Child's My Life in France. A collaboration with (and completed by) her grandnephew Alex Prud'homme, Julia gets to describe her experience living in France after World War II, falling in love with cooking, and loving her husband, Paul. And there's writing Mastering French Cooking, too. While the book is absolutely wonderful, we faced the problem of being totally hungry for whatever Julia would describe. Roasted chicken, quenelles, French baguettes, mayonaise, you name it, we wanted it. So we settled on trying to find a sole meuniere (one of her first things she ate while in France and a transporting experience) and got very lucky that Bistro Cassis, on Columbus at 70th Street, served it. The sole, served with haricot verts and Yukon gold potatoes, was delicious and fortified us enough to read more.

It has happened: The Howard Johnson at Broadway and 46th Street has been sold. The Rubinstein family who owned the HoJo at 1551 Broadway for ages sold the property, plus another building on West 34th, for $100 million. The Post speculates that the new retailer will be something a little more high-end, as rumors say the buyer, Wharton Acquisitions, will level the building to create a "retail box" like the Times Square Toys R Us to make a "world-class branding opportunity" for some major brand. Hmm, maybe a Campbell's Soup Test Kitchen? A Procter & Gamble Health and Beauty Aids Emporium? What do you think will go there?

- "He's cute. If you can live through the firetrucks and police sirens you can live through a rooster." Neighbors have called the Animal Control and 311 to catch him, but, so far, they've been unsuccessful - five officers couldn't catch him.

Some downtown residents mourned the loss of a two year old rooster who made friends with the Chinese and Puerto Ricans in the neighborhood (he was crushed by his "owner"'s car - accidentally). The NY Times said the rooster held "Ludlow Street in thrall". Gothamist found an exchange about what to do with the rooster's body telling and we liked this description:

"People would say, 'I feel like I'm in Puerto Rico,'" said Chico Soto, who is a warehouseman for Smart Food, a restaurant supply company down the block from Loi's garage. It looked liked a fighting cock, he said. "I know how they look. It had that fighting look: big body, tall, long legs."

Continue reading "R.I.P. Pancho the Rooster"

Grimes goes into Nicolai Ouroussoff's and Ben Brantley's territories with a quasi review of the Dodger Stages, a new off-Broadway venue with three stages, on West 50th. You know the Dodger Stages, it's at Worldwide Plaza between 8th and 9th Avenues, where there was a $2 movie theater that showed fairly recent releases; they later charged $2.50, then $3, to stay in business (Gothamist knew the movie theater had problems when we saw a man masturbating to a Mel Gibson movie). Anyway, Grimes seems to have a pretty good time at the "theaterplex" and gives the Dodger Stages bathrooms the thumbs-up. And he revealed himself in January after he stepped down. Gothamist on Grimes's announcement he was leaving the restaurant beat and his interview with Newsweek.

Gothamist on the hilarious tiff between Sirio and former NY Times food critic William Grimes.

William Grimes likens the Time Warner Center Whole Foods' eating area to a food hall like Harrods, but anyplace where there is a 248 seat cafe within an atrium spaced, it's a food court.