• Salume's Times Square kiosk is closed for renovations, but an employee at the Soho store tells us it will reopen next month. [Grub Street]
• 5 Boro Burger has opened in Herald Square with, according to one assessment, decent (but uninspiring) patties. [Midtown Lunch]
• Three words: soup dumpling meatballs. Alewife will be serving them tonight at Boro Magazine's fund-raiser for City Harvest, and they'll be appearing on the menu soon. [Grub Street]
"We found at 0.07 blood alcohol, people were worse at working memory tasks, but they were better at creative problem-solving tasks." — Sometimes, science figures out the best stuff. [NYDN]
It's here for your hangovers.
Empellon Cocina tweets the announcement of its brunch, which starts this weekend. This menu, too, is tacoless, no doubt to the disappointment of recent breakfast-taco converts. What you will find: beloved guacamole and chicharrones, buttermilk-masa pancakes with smoked maple syrup and poblano butter, and egg dishes including chilaquiles with Virginia ham. Also: morning cocktails and aguas-frescas for crucial mid-hangover hydration. See the full lineup here. [Empellon/Twitter]
"When you’re a cook and you’re coming up with your own style, it’s almost like you learn a language and that’s what you speak. And to suddenly start speaking a different language, that’s not really who you are. To me to start using ginger and yuzu, as much as I love Asian cuisine, that’s not who I am." — Tertulia's Seamus Mullen is all about Spanish food para siempre. [Food Republic]
Eric Ripert
New York chef Eric Ripert popped into town this week to check up on 10 Arts, the restaurant he opened at the Ritz-Carlton, and he tells us that when he's got some downtime in Philly, more often than not, he finds himself in one of Stephen Starr’s restaurants. And that’s not just because there’s one on practically every corner. “I think Stephen is the king of restaurants,” Ripert told Grub Street. “I am always amazed by how great the concepts are created, kept, and delivered with such consistency, service-wise and food-wise.”
While none of us peasants can exactly argue with her, some food writers have tried to see the brighter side in Amanda Hesser's argument that entering food writing is not lucrative, and is actually quite ludicrous. Chow flips the switch by saying that "where Hesser is wrong" was assuming that this is a new turn events, eloquently reminding young gastro-literary hopefuls that "food writing was always a shitty way to make a living." Lovely! [Chow]
How about some Txakoli con shrubbery?
Grub is just off the phone with Frank Castronovo, who tells us the crew has struck a deal with the building at Francesca to serve in the beautiful 40-seat enclosed back garden. The space had been unused when the restaurant was Frankies 17, so this is great news for lovers of warm nights sipping wine and eating Spanish food. Speaking of, since the upcoming Titanic dinner at Prime Meats "sold out in 30 seconds," as Castronovo tells us, know that next up in the dinner series is a garden party and Basque meal at Francesca. On April 23, toque Ryan Bartlow will fix five special courses, with wine pairings, for $95; call for reservations. Also on the horizon: The boys plan to sell food at upcoming festivals the Great GoogaMooga and the Frieze Art Fair, so lots of chances to try Jonathan Waxman's favorite meatballs.
Tyler Cowen’s book An Economist Gets Lunch should maybe be called An Economist Gets Slammed, thanks to a New York Times book critic who doesn't "get it" at all, kicking off with, “What is this thing?” and “Can I order something else?” Ironically, Cowen's takedown of the pretentious food elite is crushed by a — just as offensive — overt literary snob. And so it goes, New York. [NYT]
Rick's staying in tonight.
The race for the GOP presidential nomination isn’t the only thing that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum dropped out of: Seems he’s also bailing on tonight’s Red Meat Tour dinner, a $40-per-head, three-course steak dinner at a Radisson Hotel on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Philebrity reports that he’s backing out of the dinner because he’s no longer a contender for the presidency. We wouldn't be surprised if the real reason is because the menu for tonight’s dinner includes a vegetarian option. [Philebrity]
In addition to penning classics like Tender Is the Night and drinking heavily, F. Scott Fitzgerald also apparently kept detailed recipe logs. In fact, recently unearthed in his many notebooks was a creative, macabre, and possibly illegal list of ways to prepare leftover turkey. Clearly, the man missed his calling: Among his lunatic ravings carefully crafted preparations: turkey doused in a gallon of vermouth and a demijohn of angostura bitters; turkey à la Francais, stuffed with old watches and chains and monkey meat; and turkey hash, stewed in a washing machine and delicately bound with dental floss. Martha Stewart, this man was not. [Lists of Note]
He's pro-coaster.Photo: Jordan Naylor/WireImage/Getty Images
Best known for playing America's foremost breakfast enthusiast Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, and starring in films such as 21 Jump Street and Casa de Mi Padre, Nick Offerman is also, perhaps unsurprisingly, an accomplished woodworker with his own outfit, Offerman Wood Shop, in Los Angeles. Last night, Offerman was in town to host the premiere of Handmade: A Celebration of American Craftsmanship, a roadshow documentary presented by Balvenie Scotch. We caught up with him to chat about whisky, breakfast foods, and wooden dildos (among other things).
C'est tres chic.Photo: Francesco Tonelli
Mihoko Kiyokawa is a philanthropist, collector, and former ballerina, and now, as promised, she adds restaurateur to her résumé with Mihoko's 21 Grams, opening Tuesday. The restaurant (whose name refers to the alleged weight of a person's soul) will serve "Franco-Japanese fare" in elegant digs. Think dishes like Maine lobster with spring squash, almond, and spuma; housemade buckwheat pasta with pork belly and spring onions; or King salmon with Japanese eggplant, fennel, chrysanthemum, and olive jus.
Just a month after the Jamie Oliver bitch fiasco, today an increasingly unhinged Alton Brown tweets, "The more I think about Jamie Oliver, the more uncomfortable I get." Adding, "After all, the last time a Brit and a 'revolution' came together on American soil ... " [Alton Brown/Twitter]
"I'm getting, like, jammy leather with a hint of cocoa."Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Wine bars are not like other bars. Bars are fun. Wine bars are not. Even the term "wine bar" is boring. Often, these places — the kind that are named the Cellar or A.O.C. — feel less like bars (places to meet people for a drink, good conversation) and more like tutoring rooms. Don't get me wrong: I like drinking wine. I once ran a café where I peddled a small (but distinctive!) wine list. I even wrote a monthly column all about wine for McSweeney's. But my goodness: Wine bars have got to get better.
More praise for Acme.
On Monday, New York's Underground Gourmet gave three stars to Asian gastropub the Toucan and the Lion. What did New York's crop of professional eaters think about the city's restaurants this week? Let's take a look.
Has it been blessed?
Andy Ricker's POK POK Ny (not a typo!) in Red Hook, opens its doors to the Thai-starved, Portland-wannabe public on Monday. FloFab says the mouth-watering menu is compartmentalized into categories like "dishes to share" and "one-dish meals," and that lunch might be via a food truck at first. Definitely worth poking around the not-quite-Smith-Street Columbia Street for this one ...just follow the monks. [NYT]
Pok Pok Ny, 127 Columbia St., nr. Kane St.; no phone
Bear Blu's mom.
When a video went viral of Silverstone feeding her son, Bear Blu, pre-chewed food from one smacker to another, the reactions were hardly all shits and giggles. But that didn't bother vegan and constipation-killer Silverstone, who insists that "people have been feeding their kids that way for thousands of years" and that it's all part of the weaning process. Most doctors say she's not entirely clueless, and that there's definitely some validity to the method. We say, chew and let chew. [NYDN]
Three crooks held up a deli worker at knifepoint at Bleecker Farm and Deli in Greenwich Village this weekend, including one who's apparently a thug and an aspiring documentarian. No one got hurt, and the uncut heist has yet to be released. [NYP]
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