Cheap Eats 2008It’s Cheap Eats time here at ‘New York,’ and our food editors have compiled a list of affordable, delicious restaurants at great risk to their body mass indexes.
The New York Diet
Danny Meyer Has One Last Feast at FlorentHis restaurants range from Eleven Madison Park to Shake Shack, and his diet ranges from pâté de campagne to protein shakes.
Excerpt: ‘The Hamburger: A History’How the burger rose to cultural ascendency in the new millennium after years of critique from environmentalists and anti-establishment thinkers.
Back of the House
A Voce’s New Pastry Chef Is HomegrownThere’s a new, high-powered young dessert chef in town. And get this — he’s homegrown! His name is Joshua Gripper, and his new boss, A Voce’s Andrew Carmellini, vouches for him thusly: “He’s the shit.” Gripper, a 27-year-old Queens native, has worked with Carmellini at Café Boulud and is also a member of A.C.’s hip-hop combo, the Crown. Primarily, though, he’s said to be a talented technician with a simpatico sensibility and eight years of classical training. So what is he doing at A Voce?
Mediavore
Battle of the DBs in Forest Hills; JFK to Get the Gourmet TreatmentNever you been to Daniel Boulud’s new restaurant in Forest Hills? That’s because there isn’t one. But Danny Brown’s db wine bar and restaurant sounds close enough to db bistro moderne that the great chef’s copyright is threatened. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Travelers at JFK airport won’t have to get by on chili dogs much longer – a Todd English eatery, a wine bar, an oyster bar, and more high-end venues are on the way. [NYP]
Seamus Mullen is more at home with the elevated cooking at Suba than the rustic style at Boqueria: “It was like getting back to basics that I never really had.” [Restaurant Girl]
Staffers at Charlie Palmer’s Kitchen 22 found out the place was closing yesterday via a cell-phone call telling them they were now out of a job. Nice. [NYP]
Katz’s may be threatened by condo development, but pastrami still has secure fortresses in the outer boroughs. [Gothamist]
Related: Mother of Mercy! Is This the End of Katz’s? [Grub Street]
Neighborhood Watch
Williamsburg’s Aurora Opening in Soho ThursdayDumbo: Restaurants and shops including Bubby’s and Jacques Torres Chocolate will celebrate Mother’s Day by offering brunch specials and discounts. [Dumbo Improvement District] Or just bring Mom to the Brooklyn Pigfest, also held this Saturday, for all-you-can-eat barbecue. [Brooklyn Record]
Midtown West: City Club Hotel guests are no longer the only patrons of the DB Bistro Moderne breakfast; morning service is now open to the public. [Grub Street]
Soho: Williamsburg Roman favorite Aurora is opening a 60-seat branch on 510 Broome Street on Thursday. [Grub Street]
West Village: Property managers of the former Movida space have high hopes of bringing in a Starbucks. [Gawker]
In the Magazine
Nature Bursts From the Pages of This Week’s Issue
In this week’s issue, as befits spring, nature is bursting out of our food coverage. Snails and sea urchins take supporting roles in Adam Platt’s review of the highly rarefied Anthos; Gael Greene flutters into a restaurant called Tree; Rob and Robin talk tomatoes, spring almonds, and even more snails; and, in the spirit of growth, our food editors lay out two Short Lists of places where you can introduce young, growing gourmands to their future lifetime pursuit. Plus, four new restaurant bloom in the April sunshine, all in New York this week.
The Coffee Shop Open Again; Marcus Samuelsson Heading to Meatpacking?With Gordon Ramsay, DB Bistro Moderne, and others, room service has recently gotten a lot more ambitious — though not necessarily successful. [NYT]
The Coffee Shop is back in business after its brief and much-publicized closure. [NYP]
Once they move into Sascha, the brothers behind PM plan to put Aquavit’s Marcus Samuelsson in charge of the kitchen. [Eater]
Related: PM Owners to Open Harlem Restaurant, Bistro-Bakery-Club in Sascha Space
The In-box
Hungry Theatergoer: Please, Good Sir, How Do I Avoid Tourists?You’ve got questions, we’ve got Internet access and fairly good research skills. Send your food and restaurant queries to Grub Street.
Grub Street,
I’m taking my mom & sister to a Broadway show on a Friday night next month. We’d like to have dinner first, but I’m frightened of the tourist-driven restaurants in the theater district. Where do you recommend for a great meal and atmosphere that allows for conversation and that will be convenient to Broadway?
Joanna Harp,
West Village
