Photo: Amie Claps
An Approval Matrix enthusiast caught this clever (if we do say so ourselves) window display at the Bobby Van’s Steakhouse on Park and 46th. This “Classic Malts of Scotlands” matrix would be a helpful visual aide for all new Scotch drinkers. If you need us, we’ll be bottles deep in the smoky-rich quadrant.
Here’s the restaurant’s take on today’s shuttering: “Due to a paperwork error, The Board of Health has temporarily closed down Kefi restaurant on the Upper West Side. Chef/Partner Michael Psilakis comments, 'I was not aware of a pre-inspection certification that was needed, and I am rectifying this situation immediately.' Absence of critical certificates results in immediate closure. Once the failure was imminent, Psilakis felt the inspector conducted the most thorough inspection he has ever been through in his professional career, which resulted in additional violations. The restaurant will be re-open as soon as possible.”
Roots Cafe just replaced Café Sutra on the Slope and already has the makings of a local hangout for the newly unemployed. Bookshelf with Eggers, Poe, and Tolkien? Check. Plush couches? Check. Menu for all-day breakfast sandwiches scrawled on a chalkboard? Check. Plus good coffee: Beans hail from Stumptown, out of Portland. [Serious Eats NY]
639A Fifth Ave., nr. 18th St., Park Slope; 205-246-2149
Yes, we’re kind of sick of the kiddie-foodie trend, but this is just adorbs! Check out 5-year-old Julian Kreusser hosting The Big Kitchen With Food on Portland public access. Aside from little Julian’s “boom goes the dynamite”–style catchphrases (e.g. “we’re going to whisk it up with a whisk”), our favorite part comes around 6:40 when he spends a full minute squeezing honey out of a bottle. NPR, of course, has already interviewed the munchkin, but who can blame 'em for child exploitation — this kid is far more entertaining than the cheftestants who tried their hands at TV cooking.
Big Kitchen With Food: a five-year-old's cooking show [Boing Boing]
Gusto isn’t the only spot being told to take tonight off — Eater has it that Kefi, which just started serving lunch (you can find the menu here), has been closed by the Department of Health, due primarily to what are said to be paperwork issues. No reopening date set yet. [Eater; and see update]
While other dive bars bite the dust (Gael Greene reports that the old P&G Café will be replaced by Café Amaranth with its “Eurotarts” and “sugar daddies”), the Pussycat Lounge is gussying up. As you can see here, the front door has just been restored to its former glory, and owner Robert Kremer, who last year came to an agreement with a developer who sought to replace the go-go dive with a hotel, tells us that’s not all that’s changing.
It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked nine restaurants the best times they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio.
Ceol, the Irish pub on Smith Street, has reopened following a run-in with the state workers' comp board. Plus, Zagat Buzz hears that the owners of Patois are trying to relocate across Smith Street; the restaurant could reopen as soon as next month.
Former Russian Tea Room cook Muhammed Rahman of the Kwik Meal chain of midtown food carts abandoned his station this summer to make pizza at a restaurant in Harlem, but has returned with a new cart and better spelling. Quick Delight (off today because of rain) is now parked at 45th Street and Third Avenue. [Midtown Lunch]
Photo: Justine Ingersoll
After running afoul of the Department of Buildings (a partial stop-work order was issued on the next-door space, also owned by Sasha Muniak, in November of 2007), Gusto has now riled the Department of Consumer Affairs. The restaurant was closed last night, and sales and marketing director David Albiro tells us it’ll be down tonight, too — punishment for parking two smoking tables on the street while its sidewalk-café license was expired (Albiro says it was in the process of being renewed). Yes folks, even in this economic climate, the DCA ain’t foolin’. In happier news, Albiro tells us the restaurant is being remodeled to become more warm and comfortable — a central staircase was removed about a month ago, the banquettes are being redone, and shades of black are being lightened. Meanwhile, it’s not yet certain whether the next-door space will open as an annex or a whole new restaurant. Gusto reopens tomorrow.
If, like us, you need something to watch till The Ramen Girl comes out, watch the trailer for The Slammin’ Salmon. The new Broken Lizard movie takes place in a Miami seafood restaurant and has to be better than Waiting. [Vulture]
Courtesy of FreshDirect
FreshDirect is causing much (predictable) hand-wringing on the Park Slope parents message boards, but some kind souls e-mailed the threads to Gowanus Lounge. What first started as a query about appropriate tipping ($1 per box? $5 per delivery?) has evolved into a debate on the merits of FreshDirect delivery. Some arguments for: Shopping with a child at C-Town is horrible; quality of selection; time spent with family is better than time spent shopping. Arguments against: Wasteful packaging; noisy, dirty trucks; supporting unfair labor practices. Counterarguments: I don’t even drive, so shut up about my carbon footprint; I’m a good tipper, so piss off; etc. etc. Join the conversation! Talk trash about FreshDirect, Brooklyn, or Grups in our comments.
The Great Park Slope Fresh Direct War [Gowanus Lounge]
A new plan for the Red Hook waterfront will bring Guinness beer (and, uh, Smirnoff Ice) closer to thirsty Brooklynites. Beer distributor Phoenix Beverages, which now receives shipments in New Jersey and drives beer into New York, will have space on Pier 11. The move will mean 20,000 fewer truck trips into the city, the Economic Development Corporation estimates. But news is not good for local-beer lovers: There is no space for Brooklyn Brewery, which hoped to move to Pier 7. The Stevedores get to keep Pier 7 for another decade, and Brooklyn Brewery will likely stay in Williamsburg for a while. No word on how the Real World house will fare in Red Hook's future, but we bet tonight's premiere will make everyone happy that the piers will escape a fate of luxury condos.
City Drastically Revises Red Hook Waterfront Plans [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]
While some restaurants are possibly trying to sugarcoat recession specials by passing them off as anniversary dinners, one spot isn’t beating around the bush. JoeDoe has always been a winning proposition given its hearty portions, but now chef Joe Dobias tells us he has introduced a three-course, $35 “Madoff menu.” You’ll notice there’s a Scottish egg on it, just like at Wilfie & Nell. Are these things the new devils on horseback?
Tony Bourdain managed to once again knock the Food Network and his former show, A Chef’s Tour, during Monday’s premiere of No Reservations. And now, in explaining “why America needs another cook-off show” (namely his new one, Chopped), Ted Allen manages a jab at his former vehicle, Top Chef. Allen writes:
The ’bag reports that Yann de Rochefort is looking to unload Suba since it’s barely breaking even and he wants to focus on opening another Boqueria somewhere like the far West Village or Midtown West. Anyone in the market for an underground moat? [Feedbag]
Frank Bruni starts a health-conscious new year at Rouge Tomate, but doesn't truly enjoy it. While there are "intricately, gorgeously assembled dishes," "[t]oo much of the food lacks punch. Too much of it simply lacks salt." [NYT]
Related: Inside Rouge Tomate
Steve Cuozzo finds more than just good food at the new Kefi: "Kefi is so right for its time — and it just might serve as a template for those brave enough to open new eateries in post-Madoff Manhattan." [NYP]
Related: A Look at Kefi and Its New Menu
Ryan Sutton is mixed on the John Dory, where there’s “quirky gourmet fare that’s often excellent, but in a laid-back environment that’s occasionally downright annoying.” [Bloomberg]
Related: Inside the John Dory
Gersh Kuntzman of the Brooklyn Paper is the latest to try to tip the sacred cow that is Peter Luger, and he’s not content to merely call it “an over-rated, obnoxious, pompous, unsatisfying, overpriced and underwhelming restaurant that serves a single, well-prepared dish.” He ups the ante by declaring the new Brooklyn outpost of Morton’s a superior restaurant, since you have more options and get better service (“Being a customer at Peter Luger is like being an extra on a Hollywood movie set. Your presence is necessary, of course, but it['s] entirely incidental to the main action”), and also because the steak tastes meatier (“Peter Luger’s essential failure: the meat is missing an essential beefiness. Each bite releases a pleasing mouthful of rich juice, but only the faintest taste of steak”). Of course, the better service that Kuntzman received at Morton’s might have something to do with the fact that he fluffed the place up before it opened…
Make no mis-steak — choose Morton’s over Peter Luger [Brooklyn Paper]
• Faced with a trademark-infringement lawsuit from a Florida restaurateur with a restaurant of the same name, Forge will change its name to Marc Forgione on February 1. [NYO]
• Top Chef's Leah Cohen has been promoted from sous-chef to chef de cuisine at Centro Vinoteca. Make of that what you will. [Feed/TONY]
• A hot-dog vendor has agreed to pay the city over $80,000 more per year in order to place his cart on the north, rather than south, side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, citing better foot traffic. [NYP]
• Restaurant Week in Manhattan is fast approaching, but Staten Island is ready to top it with Restaurant Month all January. [NYT]
• Squirrel meat is all the rage in the United Kingdom right now. Cheap and local, it just might be the perfect food for the times. [NYT]
• With openings like Harlem's New Wings City and the sudden proliferation of Atomic Wings, New York is experiencing a wing renaissance. [NYP]
• Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen doesn't usually go to other vegetarian restaurants, but she does like Kate's Joint. [TONY]
• Bloomingdale Road's Ed Witt plays hard-core music in his kitchen and, he notes, it gets more aggressive as the night goes on. [Metromix]
"When Paul and Marco opened the restaurant, there was a lot of buzz in the industry."Photo: Melissa Hom
Hearth celebrated its fifth anniversary this fall, and musician Nick Ferrante is part of the inaugural wait staff hired by Marco Canora and Paul Grieco. Ferrante's previous gig was a Mexican dive bar near the Seaport, but Grieco liked him enough personally to look past a lack of formal dining experience. Now, Grieco's enthusiasm for wine has also been passed onto Ferrante. When the waiter isn't drumming for the Black Hollies (at Rehab on January 23), he's bartending at sister wine bar Terroir. We asked him about the evolution of Hearth and what's buzzing at the nearby wine lover's playground.
Eat Cheap for Under $25
Adam Platt's Where to Eat 2012
Best of New York Food 2011
DIY Pie
Potage for a Princess
Cranberry Caipirinha
Jim Gaffigan's Issues With Subway
