New York ‘Times’ to Wonder How Bloggers Stay AliveWhen we received a voice mail last week from Kim Severson of the New York Times, saying that she wanted to interview us, our natural response was one of delight. Was the topic to be hamburgers or our upcoming book on same? Or perhaps the larger topic of meat? Or perhaps the ongoing efforts of Grub Street? It was with giddy fingers that we dialed Severson’s number only to find out that the lady was writing an article on how fat and unhealthy food bloggers are, and to ask us, in so many words, why we were still alive. Apparently, bloggers aren’t the trenchermen they once were: Off the Broiler’s Jason Perlow recently had some serious health problems, and even Steven “the Fat Guy” Shaw of eGullet has gotten on the austerity program. But, as we told Severson, the day we start eating salad she’s welcome to our place at the table. Grub Street may cost us the vitality of our once-springy carcass, but by God the work will go on!
Back of the House
Former Dictators Issue Punk-Rock Food Rules
Whether the Dictators were the first New York punk band, there’s no question about whom Grub Street’s loyalties go to. (We never ate at White Castle with the Voidoids.) With the newly released The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists, edited by former Dictators front man Handsome Dick Manitoba, the underrepresented punk-rock-food connection becomes clearer, thanks to such lists as Mykel Board’s “9 Ways That Vegetarians Are Destroying the Earth,” Jon Spencer’s “14 Foods to Avoid on Tour,” and even a few bonus lists from the likes of Mario Batali and Jean-Luc Le Dû. But we’re all about the Dictators here, so we bring you two: one from HDM himself, and the other from Dictators songwriter-guitarist Andy Shernoff, now a certified sommelier.
A Japanese Gastropub and Other Openings; KFC’s New Recipe Tastes Like Chicken• More on “Japanese gastropub” Zenkichi, Lower East Side brick-oven pizzeria Cronkite, and others; Antoine Bouterin packs it in. [NYT]
• Taste-testers prefer trans-fat-free KFC. [NYDN]
• Cuozzo presses Michael Lomonaco for 9/11 memories, likes the drapes at his new place. [NYP]
• Guss’s in a legal pickle. [NYP]
• Patsy’s, too, fights for its name. [NYS]
• Park Slope sandwich and gelato spot Tempo Presto’s latest locale. [NYS]
• Vendy victor is doing brisk business. [NYDN]
• Emily Sprissler blows the whistle on “rat-trap” conditions (and Padma’s cellulite) on the “Top Chef” set. [Chow]
