Ed Levine Eats, But Not As Much As You’d Think’Alex from Blondie and Brownie brought over some Elvis cupcakes topped with bacon, peanut-butter frosting, and [they] were banana cupcakes — this is what I’m subjected to all the time.’
Ed Levine Ponders the Stars“Easy” Ed Levine is going to start reviewing restaurants, but isn’t sure he should have a star system. We say: Follow the ‘New York’ way.
Neighborhood Watch
Cheap Food Still Available in Astoria; Bronx Pizza Will Get BetterAstoria: Wow, cheap-eats prices may be going up in elsewhere, but at Omonia (the café that baked the elaborate wedding cake for My Big Fat Greek Wedding), you can get a $12 brunch that includes an entrée, dessert, a morning cocktail, and coffee, tea, or juice. (And it’s good.) [Foodista]
Bronx: Peter Meehan found someone to drive him to Trattoria Zero Otto Nove on Arthur Avenue to try the margherita that’s been getting blog buzz as “the best Neapolitan pizza in New York City.” It’s good, he says, but needs work (and less sweet sauce). [Diner’s Journal/NYT] Slice’s Adam Kuban, Ed Levine’s, and DJ Bubbles also tried Zero Otto Nove and found potential not perfection. The grilled pizza from Coals at 1888 Eastchester Road was also dubbed “surprisingly good” during the same trip. [Slice]
Lower East Side: Chubo has closed, and it looks like it’s going to be turned into a Japanese cooking school that will sell its pastries out of a flagship café by this summer. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Upper East Side: Chef Michael Vernon has left Geisha to consult on new Serafina restaurants. [Strong Buzz]
Midtown East: The owner of now-closed Portofino Grille will open a steakhouse called Creston’s Bar & Grill in the same space come May. [Zagat Buzz]
Upper West Side: Spigolo chef Scott Fratangelo loves Land Thai restaurant. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Williamsburg: The state of neighborhood pizza here is weak overall, evidence being leftover slices you don’t even want to eat. [A Brooklyn Life]
Neighborhood Watch
Charcuterie Continues to Wow on the UWS; Beer, Cheese, and Chocolate Go TogetherChelsea: Cain’s Website is already “pimping” a London opening. [Down by the Hipster]
East Village: Jimmy’s No. 43 is hosting a cheese, beer, and chocolate pairing on January 22. Luckily, cheese before beer, you’re in the clear. [Gridskipper] Danal on 10th Street has given up the ghost. [Zagat]
Hell’s Kitchen: Tasting World is hosting its first Wine Essentials course of 2008 on January 17. [Tasting World]
Midwood: The Amateur Gourmet’s “Best Place I Should’ve Been To Already and Where I Should’ve Already Gone Back To” for 2007: Di Fara Pizza. There are surely too many out there who can relate.
Upper West Side: Ed Levine is as wowed by Sylvain Gasdon’s charcuterie at Bar Boulud as we were. [Ed Levine’s New York Eats via Eater]
West Village: David Page and Barbara Shinn have left Home to focus on their North Fork winery and have taken the wine-sensitive heart of the restaurant with them. [Eater]
Back of the House
Chain Restaurants Are Where It’s At!Ed Levine, over at Serious Eats, raises a good point today in his spirited defense of Houston’s: Why is everyone so down on chain restaurants? Easy Ed basically recaps a good meal he had at Houston’s, but we actually think he could have gone a lot further. Essentially every restaurant should aspire to be a chain restaurant, and every restaurant does.
Mediavore
Momofuku 2.0 Almost Ready; Return of Choco JesusNew and improved Momofuku Noodle Bar set to open next week. [NYT]
Related: Keeping Up With the Momofukus [NYM]
More Greek chefs are invading New York; “gastro-taverna” Athens Tavern opens today with a menu from top Athens chef Yianni Baxevanis. [NYT]
Related: Psilakis Isn’t the Only Chef Who Knows Greek
The chairwoman of the board of trustees of the James Beard Foundation resigned yesterday saying that her role as host of the PBS series Chef’s Story would make the show ineligible for awards. [NYT]
Back of the House
Michelin’s Madness Drives Ed Levine (and Us) Up a WallEd Levine raises some points about Michelin today in what will no doubt be the first of many arguments and think pieces on the subject. There won’t be much debate, though, on the larger question about Michelin: Nearly everybody we know agrees that the book sucks. Unlike its French original, whose authority was well earned and absolute, and based on an army of incorruptible gourmands, the New York book seems more like the product of two Short Hills foodies passing the time on a red-eye airline flight. We haven’t seen the book itself, so we can’t say if the prose will be as insipid and amateurish as last year’s, which was straight from the South Bend Pennysaver, but we think we might get why Michelin is so weirdly arbitrary, a “combination of the Edsel and the Yugo” in Levine’s words.
Mediavore
Grant Achatz Getting Better; Bourdain Spreads Blood and Holiday CheerGrant Achatz writes Ruhlman that the tumor on the great chef’s tongue has been diminished by about 75 percent, thanks to aggressive chemo. [Ruhlman].
In his upcoming No Reservations holiday special, Tony Bourdain cooks a Thanksgiving dinner with L.A. rockers Queens of the Stone Age and spends “a fair amount of time spraying stage blood onto [his] niece and nephew’s face.” [The Grinder/Chow]
Rickshaw Dumpling has officially opened. [Eater]
Mediavore
City Restaurant School in Session; Pickle Day a Big HitWant to open a restaurant? The city is still happy to show you how. [Newsday]
Visitors to International Pickle Day on Orchard Street yesterday consumed an estimated 50,000 pickles. [amNY]
The GM for the Lever House Restaurant Group married freelance writer at Blue Hill at Stone Barns this weekend. [NYT]
Mediavore
Tailor Delayed Yet Again; Bourdain Takes It to HowieThe opening of Tailor has been pushed back to September 1. Another delay? Who would have thought it? [Eater]
Related: Farewell, Sam Mason. Hello, Tailor
Tony Bourdain outdoes himself taking it to Howie in his Top Chef blog: “neither logic, nor the criticisms of chefs as great as Daniel, nor the passing seasons — nor even blunt objects — can infiltrate the inner workings of his space-age polymer nose-cone.” [Bravo]
Andrea Strong details her experience as a guest judge on Top Chef – and gives the full review that was read from on last night’s episode. [Strong Buzz]
Back of the House
The Threat to Red Hook’s Street-Food Paradise Unites New York FoodiesWhen we heard that the Latin American food vendors in Red Hook Park might lose their temporary-use permit at the end of the summer, the news hit us like a goat taco after a night of heavy drinking. And we weren’t alone. An animated Chowhound thread immediately formed (and was almost as quickly censored), and a protest site sprang into existence. Hidden within Red Hook, the vendors have created a community of cooking, a cultural exchange as much as a place to eat. (Click here to take a video tour with Paladar chef Aaron Sanchez.) We canvassed the city’s food elite for their take on the situation; here is what we heard.
Mediavore
New York Is Tops; More Sam MasonNew York named the nation’s top restaurant city, based on total restaurants, number of internationally known fine-dining places, “a wide segment of second-tier restaurants,” and more. [MSNBC]
The shuttered Tonic holds a press conference at the steps of City Hall to demand the protection of cultural venues. [Gothamist]
Ed Levine goes inside Esca as they await yesterday’s Times review. [Serious Eats]
Back of the House
Alan Yau Isn’t Coming After All; There’s Always the BronxIan Schrager finally admits that Alan Yau isn’t coming to New York after all: “The challenges of coordinating our preparations across three continents were ultimately out of sync with our timeline.” [NYP]
So it took the Poughkeepsie Journal to bring New York its first detailed feature on the current food culture of the Bronx. [Poughkeepsie Journal]
A report on the convention of the world’s leading molecular gastronomists in Milan. [LAT]
Back of the House
Ed Levine Criticizes Party Food; March ClosingBrett Thorn breaks the news that Frank Bruni is not quitting the Times. [NRN]
N.Y. branch of L.A.’s Patina to open in Lincoln Center; March to close. [NYT]
Chefs spout off about what they want in 2007. [Zagat]
Danny Meyers throws a party, and Ed Levine critiques the food. [Ed Levine Eats]
Russ & Daughters heirs profiled. [Chow]
Back of the House
Levine Gets Serious; Playbill Plays Dirty; Automat Could Be OutEd Levine launches food portal in cooperation with A Hamburger Today, Amateur Gourmet, Slice, and others. [Ed Levine Eats]
Feud between Bamn! owners could mean end of automat renaissance. [NYS]
Actors reportedly bribed to recommend advertiser restaurants in Playbill. [Amateur Gourmet]
Club crackdowns continue after Sean Bell shooting. [NYDN]
State Liquor Authority to perform background checks on bar employees. [NYP]
Click and Save
Fireside Feeding, Tasty Tacos, and To-Die-For PiesEd Levine adds some favorite pies to Rob and Robin’s picks. [Ed Levine Eats]
Fireside feeding. [Chowhound]
Maddest martinis, including one of our favorites, Double Down’s bacon martini, and the $165 truffletini first reported here. [NYP]
Cobble/Boerum Hill for dummies/Manhattanites. [Citysearch]
Let’s get a taco. [NYDN]
The Other Critics
Richman Kicks New Orleans While It’s DownThis time, Alan Richman may have gone too far. The august critic, whose views appear frequently and at length in GQ and on Bloomberg, is known for his unabashed denunciations of sacred cows. (It’s said that Jean-Georges Vongerichten didn’t get out of bed for two days after being battered by Richman.) Now the writer has claimed that New Orleans restaurants are crap: “I think people either take to the city or they do not. They buy into the romance, or they abhor the decadence. I know where I stand.”
Back of the House
Prize Pizzas, Max Garlic, and Dining in the Dark• Ed Levine rounds up the country’s prize pizza pies. [Details]
• Bring your own Listerine: city’s most garlicky eats. [NYP]
• Southern grub, y’all. [amNY]
• Date spots for penny-pinchers. [Metro]
• Dining in the dark and other Halloween ideas. [TONY]
• The season’s big burly reds. [NYS]
• The big baguette debate. [Ed Levine]
• Korean in Queens. [Chowhound]
• Prix fixe lunches in Manhattan. [Chowhound]
Click and Save
A Quest for the Best Bánh Mì, Ed Levine Salutes Heroes, City’s Dim SumWhether you’re ragin’ for Asian or perfectly fine with pizza and meatballs, this week’s weekly roundup of roundups delivers.
Continuing its quest to find the mother of all bánh mìs, Porkchop Express breaks bread at Pho Sàigòn and A Chau Deli. [Porkchop Express]
Five K-towners that go beyond grill-it-yourself. [NYT]
Some dim sum. Okay, a lot of dim sum. [amNY]
Artichoke renditions, from the dip everyone gets at Freemans to the slice everyone gets at DiFara’s. [NYDN]
Ed Levine: My (top five meatball) heroes. [Ed Levine Eats]
Tien Mao wolfs 25 slices in search of Strong Island’s best. [Gothamist]
Back of the House
A Visual Guide to Your Favorite Food Critics
Who in his right mind believes that there’s a food writer out there who looks “similar to Harrison Ford but more muscular and tan”? Tim Love, apparently. We already got some good mileage out of the same Forth Worth Star Telegram article on Tim Love opening his new restaurant, but Gastropoda pointed out something from it that we missed: There’s a “fat notebook” Love and his wife kept on the food media, tracking the aforementioned Ford look-alike as well as a “better, younger-looking Woody Allen.” If you ask us, half of the food-writing corps (Meehan, Peter; Asimov, Eric; Lee, Ted; et al.) resemble “nerdier Elvis Costellos.” But there are exceptions. As a gift to Mr. Love and his colleagues, we offer the following quiz.
Click and Save
The Hottest Dogs, Dessert, and Neighborhood EatsThis week in read-it-and-eat news, stomach-filling walks through midtown and the UWS; where to find the best wieners; and smoky drinks.
• Ed Levine sniffs out a couple dozen reasonably priced keeper restaurants on the UWS. [Ed Levine Eats]
• An eatery-focused stroll down East 58th Street. [NYT]
• The city’s most savory hot dogs, including a prodigious Brooklyn pup. [NYS]
• Salted caramel: no longer just for French tots. [NYT]
• Smoky the Beer? Drafts, wines, and spirits with hints of smoke. [TONY]
• Manhattan User’s Guide serves cheese and bread primers. [MUG]
