Posts for December 27, 2012 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for December 27, 2012

12/27/12 at 5:15 PM
Leftovers
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All-Night New Year’s Eve Parties; DeMarco’s Pizza Expands in Vegas

• Starting January 5, Chef Manu Berganza's uptown restaurant and tapas bar, Andanada 141, will add a weekend brunch menu with a Spanish twist. Ring in the first weekend of 2013 by feasting on Huevos Rotos and Salpicon de Marisco. [Grub Street]

• The extended family of Brooklyn's famous Di Fara Pizza continues to branch out: A second branch of Dom DeMarco's Pizzeria & Bar will open in Las Vegas. [Eater]

• Chef Wade Moises has been working on a octopus "salame" for the last ten years behind the line at many restaurants. He's perfected the thinly sliced cephalopod terrine at Rosemary's, and his secret weapon, of all things, is a drizzle of blood orange soda. [Diner's Journal/NYT]

12/27/12 at 4:25 PM
Video Feed
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Watch This Supercut of Kids Eating Warheads for the First Time

By Hugh Merwin

"Fight through it," some guy encourages, off-camera, as a little girl with pigtails winces. "Fight through it!" Here's a bunch of kids (and a few babies, too) trying Warheads candy for the first time on video. This all may seem sour or sweet, depending on your feelings about kids, coercion, malic acid, and/or candy. Even if you've never eaten a Warhead before, the video is bound to leave a somewhat funny taste in your mouth.

Four minutes of pain.

12/27/12 at 3:35 PM
Quote of the Day
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The ‘Blotchy Narwhal’ and the ‘Zig-Zaggy Kitten’ Are Also Fair Game

"There's got to be a thousand other animals that they could have chosen besides the Spotted Pig. A striped minx, for example." — Mario Batali on Gordon Ramsay's restaurant group trademarking the Spotted Pig name in the U.K. For what it's worth, Batali says the British chef will relinquish the application, and Ramsay insists he meant no harm. [Eater Vegas, Earlier]

12/27/12 at 2:55 PM
It Burns
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Hot and Spicy Soup Burned a Hole Through a Man’s Stomach

Though we've already heard about the London line cook who crumpled after eating ghost chiles, the teenage girl who froze her stomach with liquid nitrogen cocktails, and, of course, the Scottish guy who ate too many Brussels sprouts and almost died, the Year in Vengeful Meals would not be complete without an eleventh-hour appearance from Chinese Death Soup, so here goes: A 26-year-old man with no previous stomach troubles was hospitalized in Wuhan, China, after he enjoyed hot pot at a local restaurant. The unnamed man ordered the spiciest, "numbing hot" soup, vomited blood, and doctors say the chile- and Sichuan-peppercorn-addled soup "burned right through his stomach tissue." This allegedly happens often enough that medical professionals have started calling such cases "hot pot patients" after they're sorted out in the ER. [RocketNews via Foodbeast, Earlier]

12/27/12 at 2:15 PM
Upgrade
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Jack’s Wife Freda Gets Upgrade to Sell Liquor, Pours Drinks for the Opposition

By Mary Reinholz

Cocktails coming soon.Photo: Maya Jankelowitz

One week ago, CB2 Manhattan adopted a resolution by its SLA committee and conditionally approved Jack's Wife Freda for an upgrade to its liquor license. Dean Jankelowitz tells Grub Street today he is "pleasantly surprised" since he and his wife Maya, who he met when they both worked at Balthazar, have been open less than a year. The upgrade was opposed by neighborhood activist Georgette Fleischer and others who last week claimed the Lafayette Street restaurant was always "packed to the gills" and did not need to sell hard liquor to attract more clientele. Fleischer and an ally also claimed that Jankelowitz had "promised" them to stick to wine and beer.

Who's that drinking at the bar?

12/27/12 at 1:30 PM
Overnights
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Top Chef Seattle Recap: David Rees on Oyster Bogs and Old Turkey Bones

By David Rees

Hey, a fully functional oyster paddy.Photo: Courtesy of Bravo

Greetings from North Carolina! I’m home for the holidays, celebrating Christmas with family and friends. I hope you’re blessed as well. I know many of you read these recaps because you’re interested in my “meal memories” and “fondest foods,” so let me share some of the edible highlights of the holiday:

Watch out for "Team Jalapeño Business."

12/27/12 at 12:50 PM
Blind Tasting
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Deaf-Blind Ensemble Coming to N.Y. to Serve Food in Total Darkness

By Hugh Merwin

Only three of the ensemble's members can speak.

An entirely different kind of blind tasting happens next month in New York: Nalaga’at Theater, an ensemble comprised of deaf-blind actors, will perform its unique show Not by Bread Alone from January 16 to February 3 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts , and to complement the experience, the Tel Aviv–based group will open pop-up versions of Café Kapish and BlackOut. The latter is a full-service restaurant where the waiters are blind and the food is served in darkness. No cell phones, head lamps, or glow-in-the-dark apparel are allowed during seatings. Danny Meyer’s Union Square Events will provide the menu; show tickets start at $40, and the all-inclusive $200 ticket covers a three-course kosher-style meal, drinks, gratuity, and premium seats at the performance. [NYUSkirball]

12/27/12 at 12:10 PM
Sexy Abe Lincoln
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Abe Lincoln Leads to Healthy Eating, Marilyn Monroe to Sinful Snacking

By Sierra Tishgart

Mmm, salad.

Researchers at Northern Kentucky University have decided that sex doesn't sell healthy eating. Instead, symbols of platonic commitment, like Abraham Lincoln, motivate consumers to choose wholesome snacks. They conducted this incredibly scientific study by showing under 100 college students photos of Lincoln and Monroe, followed by a menu of snack choices. Sixty percent of kids who saw a photo of Lincoln chose a healthy snack afterward, but less than 30 percent of kids who saw Monroe did the same — they opted for candy. But isn't it possible that these Southern young'uns were turned on by Abe? They could have gotten confused and thought he was Daniel Day-Lewis. Or a sexy vampire hunter. Or a hot bearded hipster from Williamsburg. Just sayin'. [Live Science via The Daily Meal]

12/27/12 at 11:15 AM
Closings
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Almondine in Park Slope Is for Rent

South Slope News notices that the 9th Street branch of Hervé Poussot's Dumbo bakery and patisserie Almondine is for rent. Both Almondine locations have been closed since Hurricane Sandy, when Poussot's entire production kitchen, located in the basement of his Water Street shop, was submerged. Earlier this month, a team of chefs and other assorted choux pastry all-stars descended upon Dumbo and held a bake sale to help Poussot. Friends of the bakery and those who care about croissants in general are encouraged to check out the fund-raising campaign Poussot's neighbors set up to help the bakery to reopen. [SSN, GoFundMe, Earlier]

12/27/12 at 10:45 AM
On Fire
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The Most Twitter-Endorsed Restaurant of 2012 Is Mission Chinese Food

By Hugh Merwin

Danny Bowien is on fire. (Not literally.)Photo: Mark Peterson

In New York, anyway: First We Feast rounds up the year in Twitter love for Danny Bowien and his crew at Mission Chinese Food. The restaurant, which hit the ground running in May and also figures prominently in Adam Platt's Where to Eat 2013 in this week's New York, has gotten emphatic nods from Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Top Chef's Gail Simmons. But that's not all.

Pastrami and Jessica Alba.

12/27/12 at 10:05 AM
Heroes
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McDreamy Attempts to Save Coffee Company

By Sierra Tishgart

That hair could fight Chapter 11.

Patrick Dempsey, who plays Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy, wants to rescue something for reals: He's leading a group that's striving to buy Tully's Coffee, a Seattle-based company that recently filed for bankruptcy protection. If Dempsey succeeds, he'll save more than 500 jobs in over 100 stores, as well as give thousands of women the caffeine they need to try to jump his bones. [HuffPo]

12/27/12 at 09:35 AM
Fast Food
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School Secretary Fired for Using City Funds to Buy Fast Food

Filed under worst ways to get fired: A (former) secretary at a Hell's Kitchen high school got laid off for charging fast food to her city-funded work credit card. This wasn't a sneaky dollar-meal here or there — she spent $765 at McDonald's, where she went up to four times a day. Her personal purchases on the school card added up to over $3,000, and now city officials are fining her $9,000. Yikes. She only admitted to buying food for herself on five occasions (possibly unaware that the charges showed up as Mickey D's, not Per Se). Hope the Chicken McNuggets were worth it: The woman's ineligible for rehire. [NYDN]

12/27/12 at 09:00 AM
Glitches
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Fresh Direct Goes Offline, But Not for Long

By Hugh Merwin

Yes, they do have bananas (once again).

Users of the grocery delivery service Fresh Direct were flummoxed to find its website was gone on Christmas. In its place was a generic Network Solutions splash page, which caused some users to speculate the company had failed to renew its domain name and others to theorize the Queens-based company had quietly gone out of business. For some, puzzlement turned to desperation when they realized there might not be any more triple-washed baby arugula on their doorstep in the future. Gothamist and Diner's Journal report the glitch was ISP-related, however; the company is very sorry it scared everyone and says its site is operational once more. Now, if they'd only roll out that bike delivery service. [Gothamist, Diner's Journal/NYT, Earlier]