Posts for July 7, 2009

NYC ICY May Close Brooklyn Location; Get a Farm Internship in the City Limits

By Alexandra Vallis

Carroll Gardens: Lucali is temporarily closed owing to an oven fire, but may get a new garden when it reopens in a couple of weeks. [Slice]
Clinton Hill: There’s a new produce stand on Kent Avenue, south of Myrtle. The fruits and vegetables are cheap and fresh, but it’s unclear where they were grown. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Ditmas Park: More woes for NYC ICY: The Brooklyn location may have to close after this summer owing to “a washed-out June and a freezer failure that cost them thousands.” [Ditmas Park Blog]
Floral Park: The Queens Country Farm is seeking a farm apprentice Tuesdays through Saturdays (and some Sundays) through November. E-mail Director of Agriculture Michael Grady Robertson for the chance to work in the field and help out at the farm’s stand in the Greenmarket for a monthly stipend of about $1,800. [Grub Street]
Midtown West: The Street Sweets Truck has locked down a spot Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Tuesdays and Thursdays, find it on 55th between Madison and Park. [Midtown Lunch]
Union Square: Through Sunday, you can buy one smoothie at Jamba Juice and get another free with this coupon. [Serious Eats NY]
Williamsburg: Yogurtberry is the first of the frozen-yogurt wannabes to colonize Bedford Avenue with a storefront that opened this weekend between North 5th and North 6th Streets. [Grub Street]

Bosco Chocolate Soda Is Indeed Almost Extinct

By Daniel Maurer

Via the comments, a Bosco rep has kindly answered our call for information about the availability of chocolate soda, and the situation is just as dire as we thought. Within the five boroughs, Bosco is only available at 2nd Avenue Deli, Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen, J’s Papaya in the Bronx, and Joe’s Best Burger in Flushing. Brutal. Just brutal. Restaurateurs, we implore you to write to the commenter at his boscoworld.com e-mail address (Boscoworld, how cool is that!) and get onboard with this fine product.

Butcher Bay Sues Community Board 3

By Daniel Maurer

This has to be the biggest restaurateur bite-back since Le Souk sued the SLA and won. (Le Souk is still closed, by the way — have you noticed how eerily quiet Avenue B is now, despite the poor confused souls who still take cabs to the club in hopes of finding love among the hookahs? See, this is why you should read the blogs, kids.) According to Eater, Butcher Bay is suing Community Board 3 for failing to upgrade its liquor license despite (so the lawsuit claims) the restaurant meeting all of the CB’s requirements: “(1) history of operating without complaints; (2) participation in local charities; (3) employment of neighborhood resident; (4) uniqueness of applicant’s offering; (5) evidence of substantial community support.” Given that sister restaurant Tonda seems to be underperforming with just a beer-and-wine license (despite its optimistic hopes of full booze after ditching the cursed E.U. concept), we don’t blame Bob Giraldi for being peeved, to say the least, about having to operate with one hand tied behind his back. (Though let’s remember, the CB’s verdict is merely a recommendation that the SLA can take or leave.) We’ll see how it plays out.

Monster Lawsuits: Butcher Bay Sues Community Board 3 [Eater]

Kyle Bailey Leaves Allen & Delancey

By Daniel Maurer

After hearing rumblings that Allen & Delancey’s latest chef, Kyle Bailey (previously of Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Cru), is on his way out and that the owners are already holding tastings with at least one potential replacement, we contacted reps for comment and are expecting confirmation shortly. Bailey, who signed on in January, follows Akhtar Nawab and, more recently, Neil Ferguson in clocking out.

It’s That Time of Year Again: Booze on a Stick

By Daniel Maurer

As if the alcoholic snow cones at 169 Bar weren’t dangerous enough (yes, you heard right), UrbanDaddy brings what’s easily the most exciting popsicle news since People’s Pops: Counter, home of the $665 iridium martini, is now serving frozen cocktails on a stick. Of course, boozesicles are nothing new (last year, our “hard ice cream” feature singled out the Thai-margarita and mixed-berry-mojito popsicles at A60), but the ones at A60 aren’t available anymore — and besides, we’re suckers for this sort of thing (get it, suckers?). Anyway, $6 gets you the trio of Blueberry Lemon Verbena Vodka pop, a Raspberry Prosecco pop, and a Strawberry Mint Rum Daiquiri pop.

A Day Before Opening, the Mott’s Chef, Brian Bieler, Steps Forward

By Daniel Maurer

With so much controversy swirling about the Mott’s ownership, it has kind of been lost that the restaurant is finally opening. Tomorrow night, to be exact. Albeit without a liquor license (the owners are pursuing a right to serve wine and cocktails, and they won’t be allowing BYOB). The menu will be pretty much the same as the one we posted earlier, with a couple of tweaks and (starting a couple of weeks from now) daily specials. We chatted with the chef, Brian Bieler, who’s been lying low till now, to find out what “Soho seasonal” means, anyway.

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Tables Available at Craftsteak and Tabla; Gramercy Tavern Mostly Booked

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked eight 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.

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Grub Street Timeline: The Month We Went Mad for Meatballs

By Daniel Maurer

L'asso's meatballs.

Boy, was the New York Food & Wine Festival prescient in throwing a Meatball Madness event this year (by the way, a tweet from festival organizer Lee Schrager indicates that as of yesterday, only 90 tickets were left, and the Burger Bash is sold out). Last month saw some item of meatball news coming over the transom pretty much every other day — and that’s just what Grub Street managed to cover. Obviously, meatballs are nothing new — it was two years ago that the Lee Brothers wrote a trend piece for the Times about the “expanding meatball universe,” in which they put the “dawn of meatball enlightenment” at 2002, when ápizz started serving ricotta-and-Parmigiano-stuffed veal, beef, and pork balls. That piece came out in June — is that just the month for meatballs? Anyway, there’s no doubt last month marked a new wave. Just take a look at our timeline.

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Queen Frostine Makes Ice-Cream-Truck Jingle Tolerable

By Erin Sheehy

Genevieve "Punky B" Belleveau in her Queen Frostine truck.Photo: Sasha Maslov

Guest of a Guest interviewed the employees of Queen Frostine Ice Cream today, but we’re more interested in their single “Ice Cream Girl” than in soft-serve. The tune (listen here) is a hip-hop take on the grating jingle that Mayor Bloomberg once tried to ban. Andrea “FluterScooter” Fisher, who trained at Julliard and has worked with the likes of 50 Cent, Herbie Hancock, and Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, plays flute on the track, while performance artist Genevieve “Punky B” Belleveau sings and raps. Follow the ladies’ Twitter feeds to see when their trucks will be near you, or get a preview by watching this NSFW-ish performance at the Sex Cells art opening.

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Is Bosco Chocolate Soda a Thing of the Past?

By Daniel Maurer

Robert Sietsema attempts to delve into the history of Bosco Chocolate Syrup and comes up rather empty-handed. Strangely, he ignores the matter of one of life’s long-standing but endangered pleasures, Bosco chocolate soda from the fountain. You can still get the stuff at 2nd Avenue Deli, but now that Gramercy’s Burger Joint has closed, where else can you find it? 67 Burger tells us it stopped serving Bosco a few months ago because it wasn’t popular, which just boggles our mind. Nobody likes a carbonated chocolate beverage? Really? Anyone know a random slice joint or somesuch that’s keeping the flame alive?

Café Noir Buys Some Time

Eater hears that Café Noir will be renewing its lease for another year, despite what a manager told us back in April — that owing to a rent increase, the restaurant was planning to close at the end of the summer. They’re still looking for a new location. [Eater]

Don’t Annoy the Dumpling Man

In anticipation of Anita Lo’s big debut on Top Chef Masters, the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck has launched a blog in which her partner, Kenny Lao, lays down some rules of eating from a truck. For one: “No Ring Ring Ring Cell Phones: Please refrain from using your cell phones when up at the window.” [Nice Dumplings]

Jay-Z Shows Everyone He Can Get Into Rao’s

By Daniel Maurer
Watch Video

Jay-Z’s Zabriskie Point–inspired video for "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" dropped about a week ago, but we’ve just now registered the awesomeness of the fact that Young Hov seems to have shot on location at Rao’s. We’re assuming that’s the actual chef playing poker with Harvey Keitel? Next time, maybe Jigga and Graybee pour Champagne on some Condé Nasties at the Waverly Inn.

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Crab Boil Reminder

We're just off the phone with Peter Hoffman, who tells us Back Forty's weekly crab boil is still booking up in a minute flat. So let this serve as your Tuesday reminder. If you want in, you best put in a request, via Back Forty's website, at the very stroke of 10 a.m.

No Chilean Salmon Until 2011; Scores Solicits Heidi Montag

By Leila Cohan-Miccio

• A virus is debilitating Chile's salmon industry and production isn't expected to pick back up until 2011. [WSJ]

• The recently reopened Scores is offering Heidi Montag $25,000 to strip for five nights. [Urbanite/amNY]

• Brooklyn Heights' Jack the Horse Tavern is the latest restaurant to be targeted by Wild Edibles protesters. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

• The Bronx's Stella D'oro factory will close in October after over 75 years in business. [City Room/NYT]

• Foraging gone wrong: Some cash-strapped New Yorkers are catching dinner in the city's most polluted waters. [NYDN]

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There’s Just No Stopping Poutine

By Daniel Maurer

With TPoutine now set to open “by the end of this month,” BlackBook has word of another newcomer on the poutine scene: When Montréal expat Noah Bernamoff brings Mile End to Cobble Hill in September, he’ll import bagels from St. Viateur, cheese curds from Québec, and micro-brewed ale from Montréal. So then why is he smoking pastrami in-house rather than shipping it from Schwartz’s?

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