Posts for May 29, 2012 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for May 29, 2012

5/29/12 at 5:40 PM
Leftovers
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Vandaag Closes; Caramelized-Ramp Bitters Now on Sale

• Back Forty’s annual crab boils start up again on June 5. The meal includes spiced blue crabs served on a newspaper-covered table, seasonal sides such as buttery potatoes and string beans (and corn on the cob later in the summer), and desserts like seasonal fruit cobbler. Tickets and the schedule can be had at Back Forty’s website. [Grub Street]

• The High Line outpost of Terroir is officially open. [Grub Street]

• The new-ish Bourgeois Pig location in Carroll Gardens has a brand-new summer cocktail menu. Check it out right here. [Grub Street]

5/29/12 at 5:05 PM
Nightlife
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Milk & Honey Going to East 23rd, Dropping Reservation Policy

By Hugh Merwin

Classic cocktails are migrating uptown! Sasha Petraske tells the Times that when Milk & Honey moves north it'll land at 30 East 23rd Street — that location on 33rd will be an extension of Little Branch called Middle Branch — with many changes. The new Milk & Honey will be three times the size of the original when it opens in August and it won't have the same stringent reservations policy of its predecessor. The also-new Middle Branch, smack dab in Murray Hill, will open next month, and finally, the original Milk & Honey at 134 Eldridge Street will reopen as Attaboy, helmed by Petraske's partners Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy, sometime in the late summer. [NYT]

5/29/12 at 4:25 PM
Free Food
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Lots of Chances for Free Doughnuts, Starting Tomorrow

By Hugh Merwin

So many doughnuts.

Granted, they aren't fancy ones, but there are still lots of chances for free doughnuts coming up. It all starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Penn Station with a ribbon cutting to commemorate three brand-new Hudson News/Dunkin' Donuts mashups on the building's Amtrak side; mascots Mr. Sprinkles, Hudsy the News Hound, and, um, Joe the Cup will dispense freebies from their variously shaped and sized foamy hands. Do free doughnuts trump creepy mascots? You'll have to decide that yourself.

There's lots more.

5/29/12 at 3:50 PM on Grub Street LA
Ballad of El Gordo
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Gordo Goes Down: Ramsay Injured During Celebrity Soccer Match

By Hadley Tomicki

Who would ever want to hurt this guy?

During a celebrity soccer match in Manchester yesterday, Gordon Ramsay was taken out of the game on a stretcher after being tackled in the second half and injuring his back. The game, a fundraiser for UNICEF, was probably just intended to be a good spot of fun, with such non-serious soccer lovers as Woody Harrelson and Mike Myers playing in the match at Manchester United's stadium. (Will Ferrell also sustained an injury on the pitch.) Despite this, The New York Post reports that Ramsay, once a player for Glasgow's Rangers, was "flattened" by Britain's former fútbol striker, Teddy Sheringham, who later said he "never set out to hurt the rammer," but didn't exactly offer his condolences either.

5/29/12 at 3:15 PM
Coming Soon
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Slurp! Ramen Shop Will Replace Chestnut on Smith Street

By Hugh Merwin

Insert noodles here.Photo: Jonathan Bourland

Word on Smith Street is that new owners have taken up the old Chestnut space and will convert it into a ramen shop sometime during the next few months. There's been some light construction at 271 Smith Street during the last week, and representatives from the restaurant have been introducing themselves and the concept — said to include an elaborate sake program — to neighbors. Carroll Gardens residents were collectively bummed a few months ago when Chestnut, under the direction of talented chef Daniel Eardley, closed abruptly. The almost-ten-year-old restaurant had even expanded, with a separate bar area, into a smaller space next door. Neighbors will just have to take comfort in noodles.

5/29/12 at 2:30 PM
The Chain Gang
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T.G.I. Friday’s Denies Lifting Song From LCD Soundsystem

By Alan Sytsma

James Murphy.

Last week, we told you about the minor controversy surrounding a new T.G.I. Friday's ad: Its background music sounds similar to LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House." We reached out to Friday's, and Trey Hall, the company's chief marketing officer, got back to us: "Friday’s has always and continues to respect the rights of all artists. The music in question is original content that was created for the Friday’s brand; and therefore we do not believe it infringes on any artist copyright." [Earlier]

5/29/12 at 2:05 PM on Grub Street Boston
Quote of the Day
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But Romney Doesn’t Even Drink

"What happens is, the Republicans run up the tab, and then we're sitting there and they've left the restaurant ... And then they point and [say], 'Why did you order all those steaks and martinis?'" —Barack Obama, criticizing the GOP's spending habits, at a campaign stop in Iowa. [AP via US News & World Report, Related]

5/29/12 at 1:10 PM
Bookshelf
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Modernist Cuisine at Home Coming in October

By Alan Sytsma

'Modernist' goes mass.Photo: courtesy of Modernist Cuisine

Modernist Cuisine is, by all accounts, a critical and commercial success (or, at least, as commercially successful as a 50-pound, $600 cookbook about incredibly complex cooking methods can be — Fifty Shades of Grey it ain't). And now the team behind the book reveals what their follow-up will be: an at-home companion called, thoughtfully, Modernist Cuisine at Home.

5/29/12 at 12:50 PM
The Chain Gang
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Harlem’s Chain-ification Continues: Applebee’s Set to Open

By Hugh Merwin

On East 117th Street, a place for riblets.Photo: Hugh Merwin

The "no place like the neighborhood" chain has found its newest New York neighborhood to colonize: Applebee's will open its fourth Manhattan location on East 117th Street, near Pleasant Avenue, this fall. The future home of riblets and sizzling chicken fundito is currently an empty and dusty lot adjacent to the big-box retail hub that is the East River Plaza, but don't be fooled — northern Manhattan is ceding rapidly to big franchises. Earlier this month, blogger Harlem Bespoke noticed that Red Lobster, set to open next to the Apollo, has already initiated its liquor license application process though almost no construction has occurred on-site. Similarly, while no building exists yet at the future Applebee's, at 509-513 East 117th Street, its future operators have already initiated their own licensing process.

An under-served neighborhood.

5/29/12 at 12:05 PM
McZuck
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Super-Rich 28-Year-Old Eats Fast Food

Where did Facebook founder and official billionaire Mark Zuckerberg eat while on his honeymoon in Rome? McDonald's, apparently. Maybe he just knew he wouldn't get a chance to try Italy's NYCrispy once he got back to the States. [NYP]

5/29/12 at 11:35 AM
First Look
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First Look at Calliope

By Alan Sytsma

On Friday, we brought you the menu from Calliope, the just-opened Belcourt redo from the husband-wife team of Eric Korsh and Ginevra Iverson. And now, we have a first look at the actual space, and a few dishes. As you can see in the slideshow, the space is comfy and casual, and very much retains Belcourt's bistro feel. As for the food, presentation is simple and fuss-free — a great match for the setting. Check it all out, straight ahead.

5/29/12 at 10:40 AM
The Feeding Tube
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Media Takeovers: Anthony Bourdain Launching New CNN Show Next Year

By Alan Sytsma

News man.Photo: Sean Mathis/WireImage

For all the fires that Anthony Bourdain has irons in at the moment — his Travel Channel shows (which Eater confirms will soon end), a killer publishing deal with Ecco — we didn't expect this: According to CNN, Bourdain will launch a weekend news show on the network in 2013.

5/29/12 at 10:20 AM
Closings
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Kibo’s Klosed

By Alan Sytsma

That was fast: Kibo, the Japanese grill concept from B.R. Guest (with a menu on which Joël Robuchon consulted) has shut its doors, according to B.R.'s site. You'll recall the place just opened last October. [Official site via Twitter]

5/29/12 at 09:40 AM
Coming Soon
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Calexico Headed to Park Slope

By Hugh Merwin

Yee-hah.

With Columbia Waterfront and Greenpoint locations, the gentlemen proprietors of the Vendy award-winning Calexico Cart have grown their street burrito business into a full-fledged mini-chain. The next move for the Vendley brothers, reports Here's Park Slope, will be to open a new full-service restaurant in the former Blue Ribbon Sushi space on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn.

Cal-Mex in the Slope.

5/29/12 at 09:00 AM
Overload
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Food Snobs to Overrun the City This Summer

By Alan Sytsma

It's been a while since we ran this guy.Photo: iStockphoto

If you thought the GoogaMooga would be this year's apex of food-snob insufferability, think again. At least, that's the message the Times relayed in a story this past weekend. "[M]uch of the [city's] food-snob energy will percolate in ... street markets and concert festivals, food courts and food truck feedlots, underground events and barter gatherings." For anyone who follows food, the story really doesn't offer much in the way of new info: There are a ton of small businesses popping up, mostly in Brooklyn. Food festivals are everywhere. And people really like to champion obscure start-ups. What is notable is that within the piece, the current food movement is compared to the fashion world ("grilled cheese is the new black"), indie record shops, and New York's art scene in the eighties. Food! So hip right now! [NYT]