Posts for December 10, 2012

Salvation Taco Opens in Pod 39; Mexican-Swedish Christmas at Fonda

• God jul, and feliz Navidad! Fonda is serving a Mexican-Swedish Christmas at its Brooklyn and Manhattan locations. From December 17 to December 30, try anchovy and hard-boiled egg salad with rye tortilla chips and lemon zest pico de gallo, Swedish meatballs with with mashed potatoes and lingonberry-chipotle sauce, and other Mexican twists on Swedish dishes. The menu is available prix fixe with cocktail, wine, and glögg pairings for $65 per person. [Grub Street]

• Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield's taqueria is now open in the Pod 39 Hotel. The latest in a string of authentically New York taco joints, Salvation Taco serves food until 5 p.m. and drinks (created by Sam Anderson) all night. Dinner service starts next Monday. [Eater]

• L&W Oyster Co. launched lunch service today. The menu includes "in and out in 30 minutes combo meals" like the "Clam on Clam Action": a fried-clam sandwich with clam chowder for $21. [Grub Street]

Mochi! »

In Case You Were Thinking of Hating on Grapefruit

By Hugh Merwin

Give the grapefruit givré a chance.

Don't. The citrus fruit was attacked by Katy Waldman at Slate and redeemed promptly by Dan Amira at Daily Intel. It's been through a lot today, and if, like three or four other Americans out there, you are in the mood to malign grapefruit and you have a Sharpie and are drawing a line with you on one side and grapefruit on the other as we speak, don't do it! Go uptown and order the grapefruit givré at Boulud Sud, which tastes great and shines so bright that no photograph of it ever actually turns out. Just don't throw what you and grapefruit have away. Spritz it, squeeze it, freeze and fork it. Follow the recipe, or just caress it. It doesn't judge. [Daily Intel, Earlier]

Battersby Will Expand, But Not Just Yet

Joseph Ogrodnek and Walker Stern tell Eater NY they're not moving full speed ahead on a follow-up to Battersby, their critically acclaimed Carroll Gardens restaurant, but for now, they're most excited to report they've hired someone to run the restaurant's pastry program, which includes pastas, breads, and desserts. Ogrodnek and Stern do in fact want to open another restaurant, but say they are waiting to "do it the right way so we don't lose what we have here." [Eater NY, Earlier]

Atera’s Downstairs Lounge Opens Tomorrow

By Alan Sytsma

Have to make a reservation to drink here.

It's been long in the making, but a rep for Atera writes in to tell us that the restaurant's downstairs bar will be open to the public as of tomorrow night. What to expect: Matthew Lightner–designed drinks like the Sumac Sour (sumac, pisco, and lemon) and Winter Walnut (rye, rum, walnut liqueur, honey, and orange bitters). Drinks will range in price from $15 to $18, and, as at the restaurant, space will be hard to come by. The bar — which will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. — seats twelve, and spots are available by reservation only, which are accepted via e-mail at this address.

Help Ditmas Park’s Wheated Open Its Pizza-Loving Doors

David Sheridan and Kim McAdams were set to open Wheated in Ditmas Park early next year, but the storm destroyed the couple's custom Moretti Forni electric pizza ovens, which were locked inside a Coney Island storage unit and submerged during the surge. They're now raising funds on SmallKnot, Ditmas Park Corner reports, to replace the ovens and open the restaurant within the same time frame. [DPC, Earlier]

T.G.I. Friday’s Really Isn’t Taking This Mayan Prophecy Thing Seriously

By Hugh Merwin

Last week, T.G.I. Friday's unveiled their special apocalypse menu, dubbed "the Last Friday," featuring a Pop Rocks–rimmed margarita and a predictable array of Jack Daniel's–addled steaks and cake. The chain has even posted a doom-mongering ad with flashing Mayan imagery and Carlson Restaurants' Nick Shepherd proffering a jumbo martini. ("I'm no Nostradamus," he says.) The only family-friendly dining experience we'd like to endure during an actual apocalypse, however, is the chipper one at Friday's clone Frendsy's in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Also, Friday's wouldn't have just applied for a liquor license in the old Rosie O' Grady's space for a new restaurant in an already saturated market if they really wanted us to think it was all about to end. Or would they? [SLA, Earlier]

Novak Djokovic Now Controls the World’s Supply of Precious Donkey Cheese

By Hugh Merwin

Feta wouldn't do.Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Possibly in order to stand out from the rest of the Belgrade restaurant scene, Serbian professional tennis player Novak Djokovic has reportedly purchased the entire world's supply of donkey cheese known as Pule. Otherwise known as the most expensive cheese in the world, Pule retails for up to $1,350 per kilogram and only comes from one place, that is, the good donkeys of the Zasavica reserve in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia. Djokovic, who also has a stake in a family-run Novak Cafe & Restaurant (they're looking for franchisees!), will serve the low-fat, high-protein Pule at his restaurants.

But how does it taste? »

Bloody Hell: London Might Outlaw Rare Burgers

By Kara Baskin

An endangered species?

We can't believe we're typing these words, but London's Westminster City Council wants to crack down on restaurants serving rare and medium-rare burgers. The London Evening Standard reports that authorities have even enlisted the United Kingdom's top expert on E. coli (really), Professor Hugh Pennington, to advise on the lethality of rare meat — and things look grim.

Read more »

Oaky: Robert Parker Leaves The Wine Advocate

By Hugh Merwin

Why is this man smiling?

The Wall Street Journal reports that Robert M. Parker, who popularized his now-ubiquitous 100-point rating system and changed the nature of the wine business, is stepping down from his role as editor-in-chief at The Wine Advocate, the vastly influential wine-review publication he started in 1978 with a $2,000 loan from his mom and a few mimeographed copies. The publication has grown to 50,000 subscribers over the years and now occupies a central position in the global wine trade.

The new owners are three entrepreneurs in Singapore. »

Someone Still Loves You, Guy Fieri

"And despite the fact that I think Guy Fieri looks like a rodeo clown, I have to say he played a part in encouraging me to do this. I can’t cosign Tex-Mex sushi or wearing your sunglasses backward, but one time … he got it right. So, as I say this with a trash can under my head in case vomit involuntarily spews out of my eyes, 'Thank you, Guy Fieri.'” —Author, restaurateur, and TED Fellow Eddie Huang recalls the moment Guy Fieri liked his red-cooked skirt steak, thereby keeping his soaring dreams of becoming a professional chef aloft. [NYM, Earlier]

California Women Called ‘Fat Girls’ on Restaurant Receipt

By Hugh Merwin
Watch Video

Three women looking to square away their tab last Thursday night at a place called Chilly D's inside the Cameo Club Casino in Stockton, California, were shocked to discover that the restaurant's bartender had rung them up as "FAT GIRLS." If you've been tallying all the xenophobic and racist receipts issued to customers at restaurants over the last year, perhaps this latest form of fast-casual hate speech doesn't bother you much. But consider this: After the women discovered the words "FAT GIRLS" on their check, they approached a manager, who offered no genuine apology, but instead initially just a 25 percent discount. They had to talk him up to 50 percent

50 percent off the bill isn't much better. »

Europeans Turned Off of American Horsemeat

By Alan Sytsma

Europeans: They eat horses, don't they? Well, not so much anymore, at least not American horses. That's because, according to a report in the Times this weekend, "The meat of American racehorses may be too toxic to eat safely because the horses have been injected repeatedly with drugs."

Read more »

Katy Sparks Is Now Union Market’s Consulting Chef

The veteran New York restaurant scene chef — who'll soon take charge of the Tavern on the Green reboot — is warming up for the gig as the consulting chef for Union Market on Houston and First Avenue. Sparks has added an array of prepared food, such as the sumac-dusted panisses she was cooking at 10 Downing. “There’s no other project that would have gotten me back into the kitchen," she says of the forthcoming Tavern 2.0 and its panoply of local ingredients. "It’s the right time for delicious food with a little bit of conscientious sourcing.” [NYDN, Earlier]

Watch Jamie Foxx Play an Angry Ding Dong

By Alan Sytsma
Watch Video

The uproar over Hostess closing has mostly been focused on the loss of Twinkies, despite the fact that the company made lots of other things. Someone at Saturday Night Live must have noticed, because this weekend's host Jamie Foxx showed up for a "Weekend Update" segment dressed as a Ding Dong that was tired of being forgotten about.

Remember "Keep Their Heads Ringin'"? »

Eat Well: Guilt-Free Beef, and New Spots Specializing in Good-for-You Food

By Kate Lowenstein

Stick to grass-fed beef and you won't feel so bad about it.Photo: Fènot/Corbis

Time again for our weekly roundup of the great food around town that just so happens to also be good for your health. This week, that means vegetarian Indian, a new neighborhood spot on Smith Street, and even some satisfying burgers that won't leave you feeling like a glutton.

Where to find it, right this way. »

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