Posts for January 16, 2013

Whole Foods CEO Discusses His Business Plan; Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian to Do a Demo at the Borgata

• Co-CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods John Mackey will discuss his business philosophy of "conscious capitalism" with Bloomberg's Norm Pearlstine tomorrow evening at the 92nd Street Y. [Grub Street, Earlier]

• Californians, rejoice! Dunkin' Donuts has finally decided to expand to the Golden State, with the first shop set to open in 2015. [Twitter, Grub Street LA]

• Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian is doing a live cooking demo at the Music Box Theatre at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa on February 2. Tickets are available for $35. [Grub Street]

• The latest to join the Girl Scouts' all-star cookie lineup is a little bit different from the rest — mostly in that it's made from mushrooms. Apparently they taste like mango, though. So that's good. [NYDN]

• A collection of 25 silly only-in–New York categories found on city-wide restaurant menus. [Eater]

Volunteers Rescue 1,000 Restaurant-Bound Cats From Delivery Truck in China

By Hugh Merwin

The back of the truck in Changsha.Photo: Reuters

More than four dozen animal lovers in China sprang into action earlier this week when they heard that a truck freighted with more than 1,000 cats on their way to be sold to restaurants had become disabled after a traffic accident on a Changsha highway on Monday.

Twenty-five cats kept in a tiny cage. »

First Look Inside the Revamped Marquee, Opening Tonight

By Vanita Salisbury
View Slideshow

Tonight on the west side, Noah Tepperberg's slick Marquee reopens, to the delight of sexy boys and girls, and joins 27th Street nightlife neighbors Sleep No More and Hotel Americano. Alongside cocktails like the Upper West Side (Woodford Reserve and Carpano Antica) and the Suite 16 Cider (Jack Daniels, Angostura, apple cider), you'll of course still be able to get your bottle service, but don't drop in looking for a blast from the past: Keeping in line with the newer Las Vegas and Sydney outposts, Tepperberg describes the revamp as "nightclub meets music box theater," one that caters to beatheads, with a D.J. booth that converts to a live stage; David Guetta and local duo Sleepy & Boo are slated to perform. Up top, a wraparound catwalk provides a landing for dancers, flame throwers, performance artists, and more, glitzed up with multiple LED screens and a vanity-bulb-encased disco ball. Cultural tourists should also make sure to check out the bathrooms: Downstairs, the toile wallpaper was designed by none other than Mike D of the Beastie Boys, and we're told the walls of the upstairs' are papered with a Willy Wonka-esque banana-scented scratch and sniff (which, given the location, may not last long). Check out the space, ahead.

Read more »

Flu Food: 30 Healthful Things to Eat and Drink If You’re Sick

By Sierra Tishgart

Matzo Ball Soup From DBGB.Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine

It's true: New York is in a state of flu emergency. The city's supply of flu shots is dwindling. Kids are tapping elbows instead of high-fiving. We're pretty sure this is how Contagion started. If you're in total isolation, hiding under your covers, staring at the bleak Seamless app on your phone, we're here to rescue you. There are foods and drinks all around the city that will make you feel better, and yes, you can get many of them delivered. And if you're not sick, this is the time to jack up your immune system. We've surveyed the city's vitamin-packed, comforting, soothing, vaguely healthy food (and booze!) options and put together plans based on your level of misery, ensuring that even the sickest of folks can find nourishment with ease.

Bed-ridden? In recovery? Just paranoid? »

Do or Dine’s Justin Warner Looks to MacGyver for Inspiration

"When I was on Food Network Star, we would get a challenge, and we would have X, Y, Z amount of time to brainstorm. And I would say that 80 percent of the time, I wouldn't do it because it's when you get in the weeds that you really start to think your most creatively. That's when you start getting MacGyver and that's because you only have a fire extinguisher, one bottle of water and an ice pick, you know." —Future TV host Justin Warner, on his unpremeditated approach to success. [Mountain Express, Earlier]

Someone Is Eating the Swans of England

They're protected now, but swan meat used to be served to the British aristocracy, and while police cannot be sure it's not Mr. Fancypants and Madam Fusspots going around the city of Lincoln and hitting birds with nail-studded bats, someone is killing them for food. At least five swans have been taken, and the remains of one “done up like a turkey” were found along the canal banks. [Telegraph UK via Awl, Related]

Shockers: Nutrition Crusaders Say Cheesecake Factory, IHOP, Others Are Palaces of Fat

By Kara Baskin

Just got home from dinner.Photo: istockphoto

Last year, Men's Health anointed the Cheesecake Factory's Bistro Shrimp Pasta, a carb-y tangle of pasta and crispy shrimp awash in cream sauce, America's most gut-bustingly disgusting meal. Now the Center for Science in the Public Interest named it to their list of Xtreme Eating “dis-honorees” — they estimate that the sodium-soaked batter platter is 3,120 calories. That's three Olive Garden lasagnas! Also on CSPI's black list: Johnny Rocket's bacon-cheddar double burger, IHOP's country-fried steak 'n eggs, and Maggiano's veal porterhouse. But if their goal is outrage, they're x-tremely misguided.

Read more »

Mozzarella Festival Will Rock Hoboken This Sunday

By Hugh Merwin

You owe it to yourself and the PATH train.

It may not seem so, but the city of Hoboken is the undisputed capital of mozzarella cheese in the northeastern United States. You can experience the power, the glory, and the curd for yourself this Sunday when the first annual Mutz Fest goes down at the Elk's Club from 2 to 6 p.m. There will be tastings, demos, countless string cheese entanglements, and a healthy number of cheesemakers representing Hoboken's famed delis who'll bring pounds and pounds of the fresh stuff to be judged. The event is free for kids and costs $10 for everyone else, with proceeds to benefit the Hoboken Family Alliance and the Rebuild Hoboken fund. [Mutz Fest]

Rotisserie Georgette Will Open in September

By Hugh Merwin

In July, Grub Street brought you the interesting news that Georgette Farkas, who started off cooking on the line with a boyish Daniel Boulud in 1985 and went on to serve as the chef's longtime director of marketing and PR, was opening a 90-seat rotisserie-themed restaurant on the Upper East Side. Today, the Times reports that Rotisserie Georgette will open in September, at 14 East 60th Street. In addition to slow-cooked, farm-raised chicken, the "casual but elegant" restaurant will serve seasonal sides like celery-root pancakes in the fall and truffled baked potatoes in the winter. [NYT, Earlier]

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on Conscious Capitalism and the 'Fascism' of Obamacare

By Hugh Merwin

Mackey.Photo: Andrew Harrer/Getty Images

John Mackey wants to change the way you feel about large corporations, and that's what his new book, Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, is all about — taking the edge off public perception of businesses that have shareholders and large operations. "Even if its goal is to maximize profits, it's not as if business can just do whatever the hell it wants to do," he tells NPR's "Morning Edition," "because people exchange with it voluntarily, and that acts to discipline some of the selfishness and greed that corporation might have."

Capitalism is a two-way street. »

Better Boozing: Twelve Bartender-Approved Secret Cocktail Ingredients

By Jordana Rothman

And your hangover will be extra fancy, too.

Building out a great home bar is a long-game prospect: It takes time to prune a respectable collection of first-string spirits and mixing gear. But once you’re suited up with all the strapping English gins, malty genevers, chewy mezcals, and rare whiskeys your Ikea shelving unit can handle, what then? In the service of ambitious amateur cocktail savants everywhere, we asked a dozen bartenders to reveal the ingredients they trot out when a drink needs to go to the next level. Read on for alcoholic obscura and game-changing modifiers that will give even your simplest at-home highballs a pro-level boost.

"It smells like a truck stop ... and pours the color of death." »

Michelin-Starred Chef Endorses McDonald’s McBaguette

Pierre Koffmann, the French-born chef who's received three Michelin stars for both La Tante Claire and Waterside Inn in London, loves the newest item on the McDonald's menu in France. The McBaguette, which is filled with cheese, ham, potato, lettuce, and mayo, is the company's attempt to appeal to local tastes; after the U.S., France is McDonald's most profitable market. Koffmann, who we really hope is getting paid generously for this endorsement, says he'd choose the "good bread" from McDonald's over local vendors. But shockingly, he does admit that it's "not the top bread in Paris." Michelin guide inspectors, please note. [Bloomberg]

Some of U.K. Retailer Tesco’s Hamburgers Are Actually 29 Percent Horsemeat

By Hugh Merwin

Not cool.

The British hypermarket chain Tesco has been selling a line of frozen hamburgers that are ostensibly made from beef, but many of those all-natural patties are actually part horse, and one recently tested sample was actually 29 percent horse meat, the Telegraph reports, citing an investigation conducted by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. In addition to burgers, meat pies and frozen lasagnas were tested, and most of these products were found to contain DNA from pigs.

Read more »

The Other Critics: Pete Wells Praises Arlington Club; Sutton Says Esca Is ‘Iconic’

By Max Thorn

The Wells-approved macaroni and cheese at Arlington Club

Our critics sat out of the reviewing game this week, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know Where to Eat. (And if you're overwhelmed by tasting menus, curious about the mayoral election, or wondering where to find a grocery store that makes you laugh, we've got that covered, too.) But down to business: Where did the other critics dine this week? Read on to find out.

Read more »

Silk Rd Tavern Has Closed for Renovations

By Hugh Merwin

Are you going to finish that egg roll?Photo: Melissa Hom

An OpenTable-cruising tipster points us to the dimmed lights and locked doors at Silk Rd Tavern in Flatiron. The restaurant, which opened last May with a retro-mercantile theme and former Jean-Georges sous-chef Leo Forneas cooking a pan-Asian menu, informs customers on its website that it is "currently undergoing renovations and will be closed." We've got a line in to the establishment and will let you know what we hear. [Earlier]

John Catsimatidis Still Wants to Be Your Mayor

By Hugh Merwin

Versatile.

Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis once again believes he's well-suited to be New York's next mayor, and now he's made it official: Just like he did in 2009, the billionaire has put up $1 million of his own money toward his bid, and tells the Post that he's hiring staff to run his campaign this week. He's also flexible. "Am I a Republican? Yes." He told the Times last month, adding, "Am I a Democrat? Yes. Am I a conservative? Yes. Am I a liberal? Yes." He will run this one out as a Republican. [NYP, Earlier]

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