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Posts for July 2, 2009

  • 7/2/09 at 6:36 PM
  • The New York Diet

Jets Safety Kerry Rhodes Makes the Most of Summer Break With Riesling and Rib Eye

Jets safety Kerry Rhodes likes the steak at Ricardo's in Harlem.

Jets safety Kerry Rhodes likes the steak at Ricardo's in Harlem.Photo: Melissa Hom

While we have just a day off (we’re out tomorrow), lucky Jets safety Kerry Rhodes doesn’t have to report to training camp till July 29. When he's not preparing for two-a-days, Rhodes is working on his reel — he played a police officer in Lady Gaga’s music video for “Paparazzi.” The Alabama native is enjoying our cool summer (I’m not really a warm-weather guy,” he says), but he misses his hometown food. See how teammates and friends like LL Cool J help him get acquainted with local restaurants in this week’s New York Diet. And we’ll see you Monday!

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  • 7/2/09 at 6:18 PM
  • Celebrity Settings

Mary-Kate at Mary Ann’s; Colicchio Orders for Everyone

Beloved New York personalities are getting casual in time for the Fourth of July. Mary-Kate Olsen drank margaritas at Mary Ann’s on Second Avenue — just like us! Tom Colicchio brought his family to Otto and ordered for them. Chloë Sevigny kept up the nightlife-preservation movement by drinking at divey, beloved Max Fish. Here’s more from the gossip rags.

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  • 7/2/09 at 6:10 PM
  • Temporary Closings

Di Fara Is Temporarily Down, Lucali May Be Moving On Up

The Di Fara special.

The Di Fara special.

Good news and bad news in the pizza world. Though they can’t get confirmation, Eater seems pretty confident that Lucali is opening a new place in the South Slope on Sixth Avenue and 20th Street. Meanwhile, farther south, Slice has a troublesome tidbit: “I just got back from a trip to Di Fara to check out unsubstantiated rumors of a Di Fara closing. The pizzeria was indeed closed, but Dom DeMarco's daughter, Maggie, was there and reports that her father was at the doctor for ‘minor mouth surgery.’” Stay tuned for reopening details.

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  • 7/2/09 at 5:42 PM
  • Marketing Gimmicks

Franklin Becker Debuts the Abe & Arthur’s Burger

Franklin Becker loves him some burgers — he reinterpreted Minneapolis’s cheese-stuffed Juicy Lucy at Sheridan Square, and he and Michael Ferraro added La Frieda sliders to the menu at Delicatessen. So when we read on Down by the Hipster that he was debuting the “Abe & Arthur’s Burger” at Estate in the Hamptons this weekend, we thought we’d ask him what exactly to expect. After all, the chef was forthcoming enough when he told us about those other menu items. But this, folks, is the hallowed burger. So when we contacted reps for details, they would only shoot back a vague statement: “We are excited to debut the ABE & ARTHUR'S Burger at The ESTATE in Sag Harbor this weekend. It's a great opportunity for friends, for the first time, to enjoy the unique blend of three meats in our ABE & ARTHUR'S burger.” Three cuts of beef, huh? Sounds very Black Label. And the pre-opening burger hype/secrecy is very Minetta Tavern, too. Well played, PR!

  • 7/2/09 at 5:27 PM
  • Foodievents

Marine Corps Charity Dinner Is a Hot Mess

When we first heard of the Second Annual New York City Mess Night, a formal Marine Corps charity dinner with a hilarious set of 39 strictly enforced archaic rules, we were less interested in eating traditional Culotte de Boeuf Imperial than watching men in uniform doing push-ups as punishment. The Mess Night is meant to be a re-creation, down to the menu, of a mess attended by Winston Churchill in 1920. But for charity’s sake, standards have been relaxed and civilians may attend, including civilian women, who were banned as even a conversation topic in 1920. While we did find the dinner at the New York Athletic Club lacking in push-ups, it was high in entertainment value (with fines being ladled out for everything from elbows on the table to contraband bottles of vodka). And it raised a ton of dough for the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation and the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction. Below, a truncated timeline:

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  • 7/2/09 at 5:08 PM
  • Meanwhile in the Hamptons

Tax Troubles: Ed ‘Jean Luc’ Kleefield’s Madam Tong’s Is Seized

Last week, after Ed “Jean Luc” Kleefield told us he was “pretty upbeat” about his Hamptons empire, we weren’t surprised to see the man’s detractors rip into him in the comments. Nor were we altogether shocked to hear from "Page Six" this morning that Madame Tong’s has been padlocked for nonpayment of taxes. An article in the Southampton Press has been removed from its website for whatever reason, but the summary at Curbed Hamptons indicates Kleefield was surprised by the closing and plans to pay back the taxes immediately.

  • 7/2/09 at 4:40 PM
  • Nightclubbing

The Ivy Makes an Uptown Transfer

Last night the Ivy, the party where the groovy wild things are that used to be at Chloe 81 until it moved to the Hamptons, started a summer series at, of all places, the Gates. Well, well. First Avenue got the Beatrice crew onboard, and now the Gates fires back with this. Chelsea is really stepping up its game. Rest assured the Ivy hasn’t completely picked up its downtown roots. On July 22 it launches a monthly at BEast.

  • 7/2/09 at 4:10 PM
  • Temporary Closings

Tailor Closes Dining Room for Summer But Keeps Bar Alive

We didn’t want to sound any alarm bells when Tailor’s telephone line was disconnected for a short spell a week ago (issues with the phone company were sorted out no sooner than an hour after we noticed), but now there’s officially bad news. The restaurant has sent word that it's closing its dining room during the summer: “While the Tailor Bar will remain open complete with an extended bar food menu, the Tailor Dining Room will be closed to the general public for July and August. During this period Sam Mason and his crew will focus on reorganizing and designing a new and exciting menu for the late summer/early fall. The dining room will be hosting private dinners and events during the month of July but will be closed for the month of August while they revamp.” Truly a shame, but if there’s a silver lining to this, it’s that one of the very best bar programs in the city remains operational. We implore you to keep it alive via $8 cedar bourbon shots.

  • 7/2/09 at 4:00 PM
  • Two for Eight

Tables Available at Dovetail, Prune; the Stanton Social Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time 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: Modern American.

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  • 7/2/09 at 3:06 PM
  • Openings

Brooklyn Bowl Announces Opening Date

About fifteen minutes ago, Brooklyn Bowl finally, finally, finally announced its opening date via Twitter. July 7 at 6 p.m.! Weekday hours will be 6 p.m. till 2 a.m., with bowling till 4 a.m. on weekends. There’ll be a snack menu at first, and Blue Ribbon’s full food menu should be in place by the end of the month. Friends and family are already previewing the venue, so you might want to try to work some magic this weekend. Update: The venue just published a juicy press release with some details about its beer program (ten Brooklyn-brewed draughts) and more.

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  • 7/2/09 at 2:55 PM
  • Menu Changes

Menu Makeovers: 40/40 Goes Upscale, Bar Artisanal Does Late-Night

Bar Artisanal

Bar Artisanal

Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club tells us it’s gussying up its menu of “third base” entrées (formerly limited to quesadillas, fajitas, and the like) with proper dishes like strip steak in brandy cream sauce (you can see the whole menu below), as well as adding a 30-seat dining area with three plasmas. And Terrance Brennan’s Bar Artisanal joins Macao, Ward III, and others serving late-night bites in Tribeca with a new menu available from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. See it here.

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  • 7/2/09 at 2:38 PM
  • Foodienomics

Future Is Bleak for Smith Street, Ex-Owner Predicts

India Ennis tried to sell her Smith Street restaurant, Panino’teca 275, for eighteen months before closing it last Sunday, but she doesn’t entirely blame the economy. Instead, she faults, in part, the South Brooklyn restaurant explosion. “Business brings business, and that’s good for the neighborhood. Then we hit a wall and there were way, way too many restaurants,” she told us from her new home in Boston. “High-style, concept restaurants. I didn’t think the food was all that great. It started hurting everybody — there’s just not enough people in the neighborhood.” Ennis, who opened her restaurant eight years ago as a first-time owner, predicts that any new spots will also be helmed by rookies. “It’s going to cycle again. They’re going to open up and a lot of those places are going to be closed in the next year. Restaurant groups are not jumping on these little places. They see that it’s just not going to pay,” she says. As for her own space, Ennis tentatively refers to its next incarnation as a sports bar, but only because the new operators said “they were going to put in ‘a bunch more fryers and a bunch of TVs.’” More competition for Angry Wade’s?

  • 7/2/09 at 2:24 PM
  • Booze News

Canta y No Llores: La Barra Gets Beer

There’s a new entrant in the beer-cocktails field: A good six months after opening, the day has finally come for La Barra Cevicheria, which had teamed up with An Choi in an appeal to the SLA. The tiny Lower East Sider tells us it scored a beer-and-wine license this morning and plans to be serving micheladas shortly.

  • 7/2/09 at 2:14 PM
  • Neighborhood Watch

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory Summers in Midtown; Chef Chris Cheung Pops Up in Park Slope

Midtown East: The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory has pitched a tented cart outside Grand Central to sell ice cream daily through August from noon to 7 p.m. [Blondie and Brownie]
Adour has unveiled a $65 three-course summer prix fixe with mignardises that’s available Sundays through Thursdays from 6 to 7 p.m. through September 10. [Grub Street]
Park Slope: Onetime Monkey Bar chef (pre–Graydon Carter) Chris Cheung is helming the kitchen of Vue Restaurant and Lounge in Hotel Le Bleu. [Feed/TONY]
Williamsburg: The Feast of the Giglio — a 122-year-old festival that involves people selling cannoli and men lifting a three-ton statue of Paulinus of Nola — returns to North Eighth Street at Havemeyer from July 8 through the 19. [Brooklyn Paper]

  • 7/2/09 at 1:53 PM
  • Openings

What to Eat (and Who to See) at Water Taxi Beach Governors Island

Waiting for sand.

Waiting for sand.Photo: Governors Island blog

Just in time for Memorial July 4 weekend, Water Taxi Beach informs us that Harry Hawk will be serving a bacon-wrapped hot dog at the new Governors Island location. And true to his love of obscure sodas, he’s eschewing Dr Pepper ribs for RC Cola pork spareribs. What, Mr. Pibb didn’t cut it? The beach soft-opens July 4 with a limited food-and-beverage program — the grill fully opens July 11, and at the end of July the “backstage café” will begin serving salads, wraps, and other items made with produce purchased from the island’s sustainable farm. Take your first look at the menu and the performance schedule below. Highlights: Mos Def, Erykah Badu, a hip-hop karaoke barbecue, and Tragedy, a metal-band tribute to the Bee Gees.

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  • 7/2/09 at 1:09 PM
  • Sandwichland

Bear Knocks Man Down, Steals His Sandwich

This happened in Jersey, but it’s the freakin’ weekend and this story is just … awesome: In a “messin’ with Sasquatch” commercial come alive, 52-year-old Henry Rouwendal went through a “pretty wild ordeal” when a bear knocked him down from behind and made off with his hoagie. Dude was not about to be “sub-dued”, since the sandwich was loaded with salami and all the fixings. He tells the Star-Ledger: “I kicked him three times in the snout and one time in the throat.” Never mind the foot-long — it’s clear Henry Rouwendal is the real hero here.

Black bear knocks down Vernon man, steals sandwich [Real-Time News via Gothamist]

  • 7/2/09 at 12:34 PM
  • Temporary Closings

Co. Takes a Break, Considers Joining Veloce in Delivery Game

Some news from Jim Lahey et al.: “Co. is taking a break next week to give the wonderful and hardworking staff a much needed break and for some renovations. We’ll be closed Sunday, July 5th - Sunday, July 12th. During the team’s time off, we’ll be developing a new summer menu that will roll out shortly after we reopen on July 14th. Plus, we’re also entertaining the idea of possibly incorporating a delivery service soon after the reopen!” Interesting. Also delivering these days is Veloce Pizzeria, and it’s doing something pizzerias like Lombardi’s and L’asso won’t: delivering their clam pie, sometimes available as a special. (Lombardi’s used to deliver theirs, but says it got too many customer complaints when steam trapped in a pizza box caused the clams to become rubbery.) Delivery parameters are between 10th Street and Houston and between Second Avenue and Avenue A. The pizzeria also has a special from noon till 2 p.m. and from midnight till 2 a.m.: A mushroom or margherita slice plus a salad and a beer or wine is $10.

  • 7/2/09 at 12:06 PM
  • Closings

Will Joe Jr. Pull Through? Owner Says ‘No, No, No, No’

It looks like it’s really over for Joe Jr. Restaurant. The owner, Teddy Hondros, tells us that it was his customers, not him, that posted a petition to save the place. He didn’t have the heart to stop them, but he says signatures are beside the point. In fact, he says that despite his lease having been up June 30, his landlord has asked him to stay in recent days — but he has already made arrangements to shut down the gas and telephone lines and says he will definitely close after Saturday night. Hondros says he has been attempting to renew his lease for six months, but it seemed the landlord no longer wanted a diner in the space. He says the landlords are a father-and-son team: “With the father I can agree all the time, but the son has new ideas,” Hondros told us in a Greek accent. “Maybe they want to clean this place, with all the smoke and oil. Young people don’t want the flames, the cooking, all this stuff … ” Hondros, who is 65 and spent 34 years and up to fifteen hours every day working in the restaurant, says he’s ready to retire. He says he’s “upset” and “weak,” but he isn’t blaming anyone: “Business was good so many years — it’s a good neighborhood, with excellent people, and I thank the people and landlords that they leave me here so many years now.”

Update: Reporting from the scene, Eater hears that a dispute over repairs for fire damage had something to do with the landlord conflict.

Earlier: Beloved Village Diner, Joe Jr., May Close on Sunday

  • 7/2/09 at 11:26 AM
  • Closings

Beloved Village Diner, Joe Jr., May Close on Sunday

Beloved Village Diner, Joe Jr., May Close on Sunday

Photo: Shanna Ravindra

First Jefferson Market, and now this. David Camp has sent our camp an e-mail informing us that the end is near for Joe Jr., a greasy spoon in the Village favored by the likes of David Byrne, John Waters, and our own Adam Platt. (If we’re not mistaken, we once spied New York editor-in-chief Adam Moss holding court there, too.) Per Camp’s e-mail: “They have big handwritten signs in the window saying they've lost their lease after [4]5 yrs, are closing this Sunday. They are asking people to sign a petition to save Joe Jrs and to ‘spread the word,’ I guess in hopes of pressuring the landlord not to cut them loose.” It’ll be sad if those prime people-watching windows are papered over, but there may yet be hope. Joe Jr. went through a closing scare back in 1994; the Times then quoted designer and loyal patron Isaac Mizrahi: “It’s like everybody's dream diner, the perfect New York diner. Sort of tatty around the edges, very tatty around the edges. Excellent tuna-fish sandwiches on rye toast. Excellent scrambled eggs. Amazing immediate delivery. And it’s such a fixture in the neighborhood.” Of course, the Sunday closing date sounds pretty definite, but here’s hoping against hope they dodge the bullet again.

  • 7/2/09 at 10:46 AM
  • Beef

Investors Say They’ve Blown $2 Million on the Mott; Cleary Confirms Departure

Emma Cleary now confirms that her investors have pushed her out of the Mott: “I’ve been duped and I’m not engaging in further conversations with them — they can talk to my lawyer. I tried to resolve this and they continued to act hostile and continued to show they were untrustworthy.” The situation, based on what we’ve heard from sources, is this: Cleary entered into what was initially a handshake agreement with her friend and investor Fred Loh (who works in finance). As architectural and contracting snafus mounted, Loh and Cleary brought on another investor, Lewis Black (not the comedian). At some point a board of directors was created and Cleary was terminated. The dispute seems to be over whether the board of directors was legitimate (and hence had the power to terminate Cleary) and whether the build-out missteps were Cleary’s fault or that of her partners. For their part, the partners of the Mott have sent us a statement that makes it clear they believe they are in the right, and that claims they have sunk over $2 million into the project.

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  • 7/2/09 at 10:07 AM
  • Hours of Operation
Good-bye, Frugal Fridays

The dinner that focused on stuff in jars has been, well, canned. Craft tells us tomorrow will be the last night of Damon: Frugal Friday. Why? “Executive chef Damon Wise and owner Tom Colicchio opened the pop-up restaurant as a fun, timely venture.” Tom: Tuesday Dinner continues every other Tuesday.

  • 7/2/09 at 09:32 AM
  • Mediavore

A Van Accident Can’t Stop Bar Carrera; Celebs Support Tavern on the Green

Bar Carrera's Stefan Mailvaganam was hit by a van when working on his new Williamsburg wine bar, but managed to get to work just seven hours later. [NYP]

• Martha Stewart and Alec Baldwin are among the celebrities who've written letters to the city asking that Tavern on the Green stay in the hands of the LeRoy family. [NYDN]

• Rapper Asher Roth got food poisoning at Nobu. [NYDN]

• Mario Batali's genetic profile will be revealed in new PBS series Faces of America. [Food Section]

• Three locations are quite enough for cult coffee shop Cafe Grumpy. [Gothamist]

• If the rain ever stops, you'll be glad to know that restaurants like Boqueria and AQ Kafe are offering ready-made picnics this summer. [Urbanite/amNY]

• A federal court ruled that the Bronx's Stella D'Oro cookie plant must reinstate its striking workers and pay them back wages. [City Room/NYT]

  • 7/2/09 at 09:09 AM
  • User's Guide

Graydon Carter Tells You Exactly Where You Want to Sit at Monkey Bar

In a piece that finds Allen Salkin riding along with Graydon Carter during the twenty minutes per day that he draws up the seating charts at the Waverly Inn and Monkey Bar, the Times finally answers the question: How exclusive is Monkey Bar, anyway? Turns out, 90 percent of reservations are made through the partners' offices, and they switched from a reservations phone number to an e-mail just so it would be easier to tell people no. While wielding an all-powerful pink pencil that can make or break men, Graybee also reveals the dining-room lingo, and though he doesn’t say anything about “Siberia,” he does give us this: “the pit.”

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