Posts for February 12, 2013 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for February 12, 2013

2/12/13 at 5:50 PM
Leftovers
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Christina Tosi and Karlie Kloss Will Deliver Free Cookies Tomorrow; Zucker Bakery Hosts the Kubbeh Project

• Christina Tosi and Karlie Kloss will honor Fashion Week by driving through Manhattan in their eighties-inspired “Kookie” truck tomorrow. They'll be clad in spandex, of course. Stalk them here: 11 to 11:45 a.m.: Lincoln Center; noon to 12:45 p.m.: Milk Studios; 1 to 2 p.m.: Lincoln Center; 2:15 to 3 p.m.: the Standard Hotel. [Grub Street]

• The East Village’s Zucker Bakery will host a pop-up restaurant, the Kubbeh Project, as of March 1. It'll remain open for three weeks to serve Jewish and Iraqi comfort food from 6 p.m. until the kubbeh pots runneth dry. For tickets and more info, go here. [Grub Street]

• On Wednesday, February 20, chef Chris Jaeckle (formerly of Ai Fiori) and Dale Talde will cook up two four-course, East-meets-West-themed dinners at Dale’s Park Slope restaurant, Thistle Hill Tavern. Guests will pick a chef for each course, choosing between dishes such as Jaeckle's Dorade crudo and Talde's lamb carpaccio. It's $60 per person; call 347-599-1262 for reservations. [Grub Street]

2/12/13 at 5:30 PM
Book Deal!
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‘Bitter Barista’ Loses His Job After Wittily Complaining About Customers Online

By Hugh Merwin

Cup this, jerks!

Because we greatly value and love giving book deals to service industry employees who secretly jot down all the stupid, pushy, and embarrassing things customers say and then publish them online later, a former barista in Seattle who keeps a blog called Bitter Barista has been fired, Sprudge reports, but will no doubt soon publish a book filled with all sorts of fun observations. After he was outed as the sardonic blogger, the Seattle Times reports, Matt Watson tried to explain to his boss that Bitter Barista — "thoughts from behind the counter (and other reasons why I hate you)" tagline and all — was satire, but to no avail. Now he's determined to keep going, so get ready for more insights like, "Every time someone orders an extra-hot-no-foam latte, an angel rapes a puppy." Also, to be on the safe side, you may want to check that you're ordering your coffee the right way. [Sprudge, Seattle Times, Related]

2/12/13 at 5:15 PM on Grub Street SF
Oeno-File
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Robert Parker Protégé Antonio Galloni Leaves The Wine Advocate to Launch New Web Venture

By Jay Barmann

Galloni

Wine geeks, take note: A major changing of the guard is at hand. Antonio Galloni, who has been a critic for Robert Parker's extremely influential magazine The Wine Advocate since 2006, is busting out on his own next month with a new web-based publication, AntonioGalloni.com, aimed at younger wine consumers.

2/12/13 at 5:10 PM
Coming Soon
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New York Bartender Says New York’s Bars Are Losing Their Soul

And that's why he's opening his own. "The style of New York has disappeared," restaurateur Greg Seider tells Food GPS. "Now all these hot places aren’t really hot places because inside, it’s just all these reality TV people and none of the funk and grit and style and coolness of New York. It’s hidden somewhere. I don’t know where it is." Seider, who is also a partner at Summit Bar and Prima, will open a bar called Manhattan Cricket Club on the Upper West Side next month. Hopefully, he'll find what he's looking for there. [Food GPS]

2/12/13 at 4:50 PM
Equality
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Lesbian Couple Accepts Duff Goldman’s Wedding Cake; Meanwhile, Business Thrives at Homophobic Baker’s Shop

By Sierra Tishgart

Equal cake for all.

After Sweet Cakes by Melissa owner Aaron Klein refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman stepped in and offered to bake and deliver one for free. Even though Laurel Bowman and her fiancée had already enlisted another baker in Portland, they said yes, of course — you can never have too much cake. But this story doesn't have a cookie-cutter, happy ending: As the state attorney general's office decides whether Klein violated the Oregon Equality Act, business is booming at Sweet Cakes. Klein is standing by his decision to discriminate, and people are supporting him; he recently sold out of cupcakes. If this leaves you feeling ill (and makes you hate cupcakes), know that you can take action: Bowman and her fiancée are asking anyone who's moved by their story to donate to Pride Northwest on their behalf. Now, that's a good wedding gift. [Earlier, Oregonian, HuffPo]

2/12/13 at 4:25 PM
Lists
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Bon Appétit Says These 20 Restaurants Are the Country’s Most Influential

By Hugh Merwin

Le Bernardin: Still going strong.Photo: Danny Kim

For its March issue, Bon Appétit proffers a nifty and interactive feature on the top twenty restaurants that are at this moment doing significant things for food in America — you'll notice by calling them "important," the magazine avoids the pitfalls of adjectives like "best" or "trendiest" and pretty much opens up a new way of looking at restaurant culture altogether. "Restaurants," writes editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport, "more than movies or music or literature — are this generation's arbiters of taste." So how tasteful is the list? Let's take a look.

Oysters! Chinese food!

2/12/13 at 3:50 PM
Quote of the Day
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Breaking: A Gluten-Free Celebrity Who Doesn’t Demand Special Food

"I'm not into trying to convince them [chefs] to make it that way, or begging them to change their menu. I'll just say, 'Give me a protein and a vegetable.' ... I don't like to ask for special treatment, because then it makes it seem like I think I'm someone, you know?" —Gluten-free actress Emmy Rossum at the Cinema Society's premiere of Beautiful Creatures, when asked if she requests substitutions when she goes out to eat.

2/12/13 at 3:35 PM on Grub Street SF
Health Concerns
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Yet Another Heart Attack Grill Customer Dies

By Jay Barmann

The Quadruple Bypass Burger.Photo: Heart Attack Grill

John Alleman, a 52-year-old unofficial spokesman for Las Vegas's death-happy Heart Attack Grill, has died after suffering — yup — a heart attack. Alleman reportedly ate at the restaurant nearly every day, despite owner "Doctor Jon" Basso's warnings that Triple Bypass Burgers really weren't everyday food. This follows two similar incidents last year. How long before someone takes action here?

2/12/13 at 2:45 PM
Community
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Is It Curtains for the EMM Group’s Finale on Bowery?

By Mary Reinholz

The fat lady sings, maybe at next month's CB3 meeting.

In what may very well be someday considered a textbook case for students taking Advanced Nightlife in the Lower East Side 101, Community Board 3 Manhattan's SLA committee last night split on a vote to deny an application by nightlife mavens Mark Birnbaum and Eugene Remm, who sought to alter their liquor license by moving a dance space from a basement jazz lounge called Bow, which was not long ago occupied by Crash Mansion, up to the ground floor near Finale, a second nightclub where BLVD once held sway on 199 Bowery, a megaclub destination where the two men are said to have a twenty-year lease.

"This may be our best chance to shut them down."

2/12/13 at 1:50 PM
How I Roll
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Justin Warner’s Dinner Tab at Masa Triggered Credit Card Company Alarms

By Hugh Merwin

Ouch.

The country's most expensive restaurant is so pricey that it sends up red flags in credit card company software, apparently: After the Brooklyn-based Food Network star Justin Warner had a meal with his girlfriend at high-, high-end sushi restaurant Masa and paid the bill, he got a text from Chase checking in to confirm the $1284.73 tab was legit. Which, in a way, could be a really good marketing strategy for the restaurant. [Justin Warner/Twitter via Price Hike, Earlier]

2/12/13 at 1:20 PM on Grub Street Boston
Death
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Coroner Says Woman’s Massive Coca-Cola Habit Played a Part in Her Death

By Kara Baskin

Stick to the small size.

Three years ago, Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old mother of eight in New Zealand, died of a heart attack. But a coroner says Harris, who allegedly swilled up to ten liters of Coca-Cola per day — "twice the recommended safe limit of caffeine and more than 11 times the recommended sugar intake" — did herself in with soda, reports the BBC. She drank so much, in fact, that her teeth had rotted from decay and she'd go into intense withdrawal symptoms when deprived of her chosen beverage.

2/12/13 at 12:40 PM
Grub Guides
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The Very, Very Last-Minute Guide to Valentine’s Day: Dinner Plans That Will Actually Be Good

By Sierra Tishgart

Schiller's will offer its regular menu, but delivery is available, too.Photo: Gavin Thomas

It's two days before The Most Romantic Night of Your Life, and you completely forgot about the (Hallmark) holiday. Oh, shit. The worst part is that it's one of those nights where everyone goes out, so most restaurants trot out overpriced, subpar food. But we've got you covered with two plans of attack that are more or less guaranteed to not suck: Restaurants that will just offer a regular menu and avoid the prix fixe, hokey, pink-colored bullshit, and great places that unexpectedly offer delivery. Whatever your Valentine's Day plan is, Grub's got your back, ensuring that even the most romantically challenged folks can get some on Thursday.

How about Kin Shop on your couch?

2/12/13 at 12:10 PM
Stable Manners
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The Blame Game: Europe’s Horse Crisis Is Giving a Viable Food Source a Bad Name

By Alan Sytsma

Trigger was a friend, a star, and probably some French person's eventual dinner.Photo: Bettmann/Corbis

Who knew something as innocuous as frozen lasagna would ever set off a huge international food scandal? After European officials discovered that lots of meat labeled as "beef" was actually "horse" (or possibly donkey), people are, you know, pissed off. Rightfully so, but the problem here is that horsemeat is getting an even worse reputation than it already had, when it's the world's broken food maufacturing systems that are the real problem.

2/12/13 at 12:00 PM
Shack Attack
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Shake Shack Is Opening Second Brooklyn Location Near the Barclays Center

By Hugh Merwin

Fries do in fact come with that shake.Photo: Jed Egan

Union Square Hospitality Group has announced it will open a second Shake Shack in Brooklyn this fall at 170 Flatbush Avenue, former home to a furniture store. The chain opened previously in the borough, in Fulton Mall back in December of 2011, and with locations set to open this year in London and Istanbul, it looks like it's going to be a busy year for Shackburgers. (There are also of course rumors the chain is looking at Chicago and may be checking out the old Ollie's space at 1991 Broadway on the Upper West Side.) So take a deep breath and check out some more details, straight ahead.

The full release.

2/12/13 at 11:40 AM
What to Eat
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What to Eat at Hudson Common, Bringing Burgers and Bloody Mary Bacon Duck Fat Fries to Midtown West

By Sierra Tishgart

The Hudson Hotel lobby is home to a new restaurant, and both the food and the leather-cushioned décor are classier than most burger-and-beer joints. The menu's divided into two sections: "Common" and "Uncommon" — which, thankfully, doesn't refer to social strata. But even the Common Burger & Fries combo is a fancier version of a classic; Master Purveyors created the custom-beef blend, and the fries are hand-cut and cooked in duck fat. The "Uncommon" dishes include Peanut Butter BBQ Ribs, French Toast Grilled Cheese, and Bloody Mary Bacon Duck Fat Fries. You can wash all that glorious starch down with one of sixteen beers on tap, or an "adult soda fountain cocktail" like the rum-enhanced root beer float. Don't sweat it if this all sounds a little heavy: For one, there's a Kale Caesar on the menu (of course), and you can play Foosball after your meal.

Check out the menu and the food, ahead.

2/12/13 at 11:15 AM
Coming Soon
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Looks a Lot Like Acclaimed Mexican Chef Enrique Olvera Is Opening in New York

By Hugh Merwin

Olvera, at Empellón Cocina last year.

Though it appears that Lindsay Lohan may have indeed been in lower Manhattan scouting locations for some kind of forthcoming restaurant/nightclub/torture chamber, a source tells the Post that the "high end Mexican restaurant" rumored for the North Moore Street space may in fact be the U.S. debut of acclaimed Mexico City chef Enrique Olvera. Last fall, Olvera brought a little of his restaurant Pujol to Empellón Cocina, where he cooked a collaborative dinner with Alex Stupak. So is the chef opening in New York? Food writer ER Gagit asked him directly on Twitter this morning, to which Olvera has just responded "shhhhh! ;-)" Winky face looks a lot like a yes to us. [Page Six/NYP, Earlier, Related]

2/12/13 at 10:35 AM
Video Feed
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Watch Dave Hill’s Valentine’s Day Restaurant Guide

By Dave Hill

As you no doubt know, Valentine's Day is fast approaching — and picking the right restaurant is always a tricky proposition. Let comedian Dave Hill guide you through some of the city's best options, with plenty of picks for solo diners like Barbuto ("plenty of seating for the solo romantic") and, um, places close to where you live ("the walk home may be sad, but it doesn't have to be long"). Check out all of the recommendations, straight ahead.

"I got edible lube on my cravat."

2/12/13 at 10:20 AM
The Taming of the Stew
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Bloomberg Declares Mission Sort of Accomplished in War on Salt

By Hugh Merwin

Reduced sodium!Photo: iStockPhoto, Creative Commons

The mayor who puts salt on Saltine crackers and allegedly chows down on popcorn so sprinkled with sodium that it hurts his guests is nonetheless pleased with a New York City–led initiative that's resulted in several companies reducing the sodium contents of their products. Kraft, Unilever, Heinz, Butterball, Goya, Starbucks, and ConAgra are among the manufacturers who are making the dinner table less salty.

Who's cutting down.

2/12/13 at 09:35 AM
Big Pimpin'
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Bubba Gump CEO Buys $19.5 Million Apartment

By Sierra Tishgart

Tilman J. Fertitta, the Texas billionaire behind Morton's the Steakhouse, Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., and 30 other Landry’s Inc.–owned franchises, purchased a massive apartment in Tribeca. His splurge comes days after news broke that Landry's has offered to acquire Ark Restaurant Corp. for $71 million ... in cash. The 4,000-square-foot pad is in a building on York Street that has a Maserati dealership downstairs, which is awkward because Fertitta owns Bentley and Rolls-Royce dealerships. You know what they say: Mo' money, mo' problems. [Earlier, NYO]

2/12/13 at 09:00 AM
Wrath of Gordo
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Gordon Ramsay Won’t Yell at You for No Reason

By Hugh Merwin

You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

As a legendarily wrathful and perfectionist chef, Gordon Ramsay is known more for his flare-ups on the line than for his actual recipes. Which is why it's funny, and a bit sad, that some glutton for punishment offered cash money in exchange for a verbal beat-down. "The dumbest request [I've ever gotten] was when someone wanted to spend $10,000 to any charity that I requested," he tells Bon Appétit, "for me to scream and curse at him. Which was a very bizarre moment. Yeah, that was ridiculous. I said, 'I have to get upset for a reason.' He said, 'No no no, scream at me and call me a fucking donkey for ten thousand.' I couldn't do it, so he got upset. That was very bizarre. Bit weird, that." [BA, Earlier]