Grub Street

Starbucks Cuts Costs; City Bakery Gets a Bar

Leila Cohan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:24:06 -0500

• In an effort to cut costs, Starbucks will close 600 United States stores and eliminate 1,000 corporate positions, as well as 12,000 barista jobs. [NYP]

• Starting this afternoon, you'll be able to get wine, beer, and a happy-hour menu to go with your pretzel croissants and chocolate-chip cookies at City Bakery. [Serious Eats New York]

• Over the next three months, sixteen restaurants, including Le Bernardin and Per Se, will present prix fixe dinners of nineteenth-century delicacies like turtle soup. [Zagat Buzz]

• The opening of Jim Lahey's much-anticipated pizzeria, Co., has been delayed until the new year. [Feed/TONY]

• The holiday season is a perfect time to cozy up in front of a roaring fire, especially while eating at Savoy or drinking at Tavern on Jane. [Gridskipper]

• Chefs Alice Waters and Rick Bayless, among others, would very much like Obama to appoint a secretary of Agriculture who embraces the connection between food, the environment, and our health. [Diner's Journal/NYT]

Eamonn Walker of Cadillac Records Saves His Appetite for Steak au Poivre and Passatelli

Alexandra Vallis — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:00:03 -0500

"I love to go to ...La Vineria and the chef, Max Bartoli ... can make your taste buds rise in sort of a joyous way.

London-born actor Eamonn Walker was drawn to his career by watching Sydney Poitier's performance in In the Heat of the Night. Known best for his role of Kareem Said on the HBO prison drama Oz, the actor recalled when Poitier "slapped this white plantation owner … and the look in the man's eye — what makes you think you have the right to do that to me only because of the color of my skin — I understood it at nine." Walker plays blues singer Howlin' Wolf in Cadillac Records (out today), but he's here in New York shooting the new NBC series Kings, a David-and-Goliath riff set to premiere in March. Walker shared his New York–and–movie–premiere diet with us this week.

Saturday, November 29
[For] breakfast I had poached eggs and salmon on crumpets in my local cafeteria in Bed-Stuy.
Because I've been on this campaign trail for the movie since Saturday, I've been eating very little. And then I saved up for dinner.

I have two favorite restaurants. The Italian one I love to go to is La Vineria. I've been following [chef Max Bartoli] from place to place because he can make your taste buds rise in sort of a joyous way. He does this wonderful antipasto with prosciutto and cherry tomatoes and olive oil, and then he's got this branzino he's cooked within this salt bread cast and sort of steam-baked in the oven, so when he cuts it open you've got this very delicate, flaky flesh that melts on your tongue. I drink whiskey mainly, but they always start me out with Prosecco, then I moved on to Glenfiddich 12. Then the main course I had was a passatelli alla crema di zucca e Pecorino, this kind of pasta that is soft and crunchy at the same time. It sits in a bed of butternut squash purée with Pecorino grated on top — kind of simple and kind of exquisite. He put out a dessert for me because he's good with chocolate. I'm like "Dude, you know I can't do the chocolate soufflé thing, I'm on TV." Fluffy, and kind of light, but lashings and lashings of chocolate so literally I have a spoonful and then my friends who I'm with will normally finish it.

Sunday, November 30
Sunday morning it was hoops, honey-nut hoops with whole milk, and I drink cappuccinos. The Cheerios will get me through most of the day because we're running around doing publicity most of the time.

For dinner we went to the restaurant in the Gramercy Park Hotel, Wakiya. I had the dim sum, pork soup dumplings. And when you bite into it the soup drips into your mouth — I love that feeling. I have a penchant for steak and peppercorn sauce and they had that on the menu, but an Asian version of it. It’s thinly sliced, very delicate meat and the peppercorn sauce. It was good. And white rice. I liked [the restaurant] fine. The very first time I went in there when they first opened, I think I had that image in my head. This meal on Sunday was good, but could’ve been better. I think the love and the artistry of the cooking was missing. I cook sometimes at home and I know it's the love you put in; it's in your hand. I had my normal whiskey, single malt, Lagavulin with two cubes of ice and I sip that throughout the evening.

Monday, December 1
Monday morning was the premiere of Cadillac Records and started bright and early with interviews with about 40 to 50 journalists. I turned up at the hotel and they sat me in front of my makeup person and it was like, off we go, and "do you want breakfast?" and I went "uh, yes." Somebody went and got me some scrambled eggs and sausages from the hotel. I didn't finish it; barely had time. I think I got two mouthfuls in.

And then I was there all day. I was there at 8:30 and left at 6:05. The premiere started at 7. There was a point when lunch turned up and there was Cobb salad, but I actually just needed to close my eyes and take a minute to myself. I didn’t eat lunch that day.

And in the evening, I didn’t eat. I was too nervous. Afterward a friend took me out, I was sort of in a daze, I don't know where it was, and they were sitting and eating and I had a couple of handfuls of fried calamari. Literally, we had come out of the Loews, went to the after-party, and it was close to that. So no real food Monday. It happens when I'm on the run; food gets missed. There's a certain amount of nerves. You put all that work in and now it's going to be judged; you want people to like it. It was such an honor to work with a cast of that caliber, so I want everybody to like the whole thing and this is the first time you're letting the audience see the choices you've made. And that's brutally honest, look at that.

Tuesday, December 2
The morning after the premiere, I lay in my bed rewinding the night before. Got up to do some work in the afternoon. Picked on some hummus and pita bread.

In the evening I went to Un Deux Trois, which I discovered a few years ago when I did Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington and the restaurant welcomed the cast in and they fed and watered us. Every day I went there. And I made a friend; the maître d' is José Lozada. My favorite dish there is what I went for — because I was hungry by now — and I wasn't after anything delicate or subtle. I wanted some good ol' steak. They cook the perfect steak in peppercorn sauce. It comes with fries. This peppercorn sauce, I have tried it all over the world looking for this experience. And that night I had a single malt, Mcallister, with two cubes.

Wednesday, December 3
Breakfast on Wednesday, I had my Cheerios with milk. When I'm training I have a banana. But these last four or five days I haven’t been to the gym so not much fruit has gone in.

I didn’t eat till evening. I was working on the script of Kings at home.

For dinner, I went back to La Vinera and I asked for exactly the same thing. And this time no dessert. And the Glenfiddich. So, a creature of habit I guess.

Scariest Time-Waster Ever: The Alcoholic Calorie Counter

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:11:24 -0500

The Post has now substituted a photo of Dave Burke in for the previous botch-job photo of his chef Eric Hara, and under the item, there’s a link to a nutso interactive game that lets you watch videos of chefs (for instance, a clip of Rachael Ray’s foodgasms) and answer questions about them. Of course, it’s nowhere near as fully fledged as the cooking video games, like Jamie Oliver’s, that Reuters rounds up today. And it doesn’t even start to approach a widget from the BBC’s Radio 1 in awesomeness.

The Brit application allows you to calculate, in a most graphic manner, the calories you consumed during last night’s booze binge, and then shows you their inevitably horrifying equivalent in food. It’s a bit flawed, since it doesn’t account for diet sodas or cocktail ingredients like, say, raw egg, but it’s effective enough to make you reconsider that hung-over egg and cheese.

How Many Calories? [BBC via BlackBook]
New Videogames Lure Players Into the Kitchen [Reuters]
Door Dummies [NYP]

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Filed Under: alcohol, calorie counters, calories, cooking video games, david burke, eric hara, jamie oliver, quizzes, Random Silliness, trivia

Decoding Design: Why Food and Restaurants Look Like They Do

Alexandra Vallis — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:06:07 -0500

Why would Goldfarb move back to N.Y. when he said he can jog and swim in Bali everyday?

At the AIGA food and design panel discussion last night, we were disappointed to hear Will Goldfarb was only back from his long-term stay in Indonesia for the weekend. (He half-joked that it was cheaper for his family to move to Bali so his 4-year-old daughter can attend an "all-green, sustainable nursery school" than it would be to send her to private school in New York.) Goldfarb annotated five desserts he had created for an old photo shoot and explained his "horoscope" principle: If twelve signs cover everyone, he should be able to "make a menu with twelve items that could appeal to the world."

William Harris dominated the AvroKO presentation and explained the foursome’s tendency to inject “controversial subjects” like the slums of Kowloon, the Great Depression, and imperialism into restaurants by “mining them in the right way.” Colleague Kristina O’Neal preferred the term “romanticizing.” Next time you’re at Double Crown, look for iconography representing Britain’s forced spreading of Christianity, like patterns lifted from confessional screens. Mucca’s Matteo Bologna explained some of the branding decisions his firm made for several Keith McNally restaurants. The mishmash of typefaces on the Pastis menu was selected to evoke a family-owned feel, while the Schiller’s menu has a specially created font that looks handwritten. Bologna dorked out a bit, prompting Goldfarb to tease him during the chef's own presentation. Clicking through a slide of scrawled notes, Goldfarb said, "That's a typeface I created with a pen."

Earlier: On the Matter of Will Goldfarb’s Whereabouts (WillAbouts?)…

Simon Hammerstein: Britney Fan?

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:55:56 -0500

The Bearded One showed up at her weirdo birthday party at Tenjune last night. Expect to see her at The Box soon, pulling things out of her… [NYP]

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Filed Under: britney spears, nightlife, Not That Innocent, simon hammerstein, tenjune

Pat La Frieda’s ‘Black Label’ Glamburger Is Finally Unveiled

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:49:27 -0500

City Burger, which didn’t exactly win over burger lovers when it first opened, has started serving the Pat La Frieda “Black Label” burger that we’ve been anticipating since August. After a ’bag reader furtively ordered it off the menu yesterday, a Midtown Lunch reader stops in today and offers a first report (as well as a photo!).

From a cheeseburger to cheeseburger comparison perspective, this is definitely worth trying. Yes it’s an expensive [$13] take-out burger but it tastes different. I can’t tell you if it lives up to this black label hype, but it definitely has a completely different taste. If you’re really into trying the various burgers in this city, you owe it to yourself to at least try this one.

So City Burger may yet succeed in winning the hearts and stomachs of the city’s burgerphiles. But will this thing generate as much hype as the Irving Mill monster?

Your First Real Look at City Burger’s Black Label Burger [Midtown Lunch]
Feedbag Reader Blunders Into Pre-Premiere Black Label Burger! [Feedbag]

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Filed Under: city burger, Glamburgers, hamburgers, irving mill, pat la frieda black label mix

‘Top Chef’ Exit Interviews: Episodes Three and Four

Michael Alan Connelly — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:21:27 -0500

It’s been a strange couple of weeks for Top Chef fans. Last week’s Thanksgiving Eve episode pitted the cheftestants’ skills against culinary tastes both highbrow (Grant Achatz) and lowbrow (the Foo Fighters) in Rochester, which is a city in New York, but not New York City. In the end, Team Rainbow was demolished when Richard Sweeney, the bearded 27-year-old who was an open admirer of Tom Colicchio, got the boot for serving s’mores. And things got strange in last night’s episode of the competitive cooking show when the cheftestants competed to see who could cook best on a non-cooking program. After a Quickfire in which almost no one followed the rules, most of the cheftestants continued to perform abysmally, but perhaps none more so than Alex Eusebio. With a crème brûlée that didn’t set and a not-made-for-TV personality, he was given the old heave-ho. We spoke to both about being dismissed for failed desserts and about life after the show.

From left, Alex and Richard in the Top Chef kitchen.Photos: Courtesy of Bravo

RICHARD

The sole member left from Team Rainbow is Jamie. What are her chances?
She’s had a lot of really good dishes, and she started to get recognized for them in the second episode with “show us your craft,” and they liked some of the stuff she made for the Foo Fighters. So I know she’s just starting to get into a rhythm, and I think that’s really going to start to show in her performance.

Your non-rainbow team was called the Cougars, after Ariane. Is she really a cougar?
She’s not a cougar — she’s a mom, married with kids. It was kind of the nickname we started to give her because she’d be up first thing in the morning running around in her little workout outfit.

Before you left, were you getting sick of Fabio and Stephan’s sort of mutual lovefest?
It’s really edited to show them spending a ton of time together. I thought they were more entertaining than anything else, especially when you throw Danny into the mix and you’ve got three different accents and three people trying to say the same thing but nobody knows what any of them are talking about.

It seems like the younger chefs are consistently being eliminated — Lauren was 24, Patrick was 21, Jill was 28, and you’re 27.
I think it’s just the experience factor coming in, and it’s everybody’s ages. I mean, I didn’t get started cooking until about two years ago. Had I started this when I was 18, I could have been in a totally different situation.

Grant Achatz didn’t respond to your soup well in the Quickfire. Besides lacking acidity, what was wrong with it?
Everybody cooks their food at the same time, and when they get around to tasting your food is when they get around to it. Mine was a bean soup that had rice in it. By the time they got around to my side, it had cooled down a lot, and the rice had really absorbed a lot of the liquid. So they were saying it was really thick — way too thick for soup.

You seemed surprised to go.
I had two dishes that they really didn’t like, but I had one dish that they really enjoyed. I genuinely was surprised that Padma said my name. It was more of a look of shock. Like, ‘Wait, what?’ Everybody confused Danny and I for the first week that we were there. So I was like, ‘Wait a minute, did you just mean to say Danny and said my name?’

Do you miss seeing, as you called him, “Tom Hottie Gay Bear Icon Colicchio” on a regular basis?
I’m never ever going to escape that. I do think Tom’s really cute. And the other part of it is every time you’re around somebody who really knows their stuff and is super competent in what they do and is super successful because they know their stuff so well, it's just nice to be around that person. But if I manage to get back on for season six, I’ll keep the Tom talk to a minimum.

ALEX

Were you surprised by your elimination?
Not really. I think it had the snowball effect — Richard left before, and I was bummed out a little about that, and right from there we went to another Quickfire and Elimination Challenge. Not only Richard, but Thanksgiving, I was bummed about that too — my team losing.

Were you distracted or did you want to leave?
I was about to get married, and I didn’t prepare for the wedding — my poor wife had to do everything by herself. That was kind of freaking me out. My vows hadn’t been written, suit hadn’t been measured, none of that kind of stuff. I think a couple of people were trying to annoy me. So I thought, Before I blow up at somebody, it’s time for me to go.

What were you annoyed by? The strong personalities?
I’m not really too used to all the camaraderie in the show. And the European people — that was kind of annoying. Okay, we get it, you’re from Europe.

If you weren’t distracted, would you have done better?
This particular challenge would have been tough for me anyway. It was a really specific challenge, and something that I was never good at, which was talking in public.

Does a top chef need TV skills?
No. No, no, no. The Thomas Kellers of the world don’t really go on TV. The TV world is another different group of people.

What did you learn from the show?
I learned where I was. Being in L.A., it’s kind of like an island. You don’t know where you stand compared to other people. Now I know where I stand.

What are your plans now?
My wife, a singer, wants to go back on Broadway, so we might go to New York! It’s a good time to go to New York for us right now. So either L.A. or New York, but you’ll hear about me somewhere. A musical restaurant!

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Filed Under: alex eusebio, Richard Sweeney, top chef, Top Chef Season Five

Tables Available at the Harrison, Trestle on Tenth; Craftsteak Almost Booked

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:00:27 -0500

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Refined Meathead.

Allen & Delancey (Menu)
212-253-5400
Two for eight? No
Best available: 6:15 p.m.

BLT Prime (Menu)
212-995-8500
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:15 p.m.

Centro Vinoteca (Menu)
212-367-7470
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Craftsteak (Menu)
212-400-6699
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:45 p.m.

davidburke & donatella (Menu)
212-813-2121
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9 p.m.

Gyu-Kaku (Menu)
212-475-2989
Two for eight? Yes

The Harrison (Menu)
212-274-9310
Two for eight? Yes

Ouest (Menu)
212-580-8700
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Pera Mediterranean Brasserie (Menu)
212-878-6301
Two for eight? Yes

Trestle on Tenth (Menu)
212-645-5659
Two for eight? Yes

Filed Under: blt prime, centro vinoteca, craftsteak, davidburke and donatella, gyu-kaku, harrison, ouest, pera, trestle on tenth, Two for Eight

Vongo: Back to Basics

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:53:36 -0500

After reflecting on how he won friends and influenced people, Vongerichten tells BlackBook what his next project might entail: “I really want to go back to something super organic — scallops with a little garlic, very world friendly, ABC food. You take all of the superfluous away, and you get back to the essentials. When you’re young you try to impress, and as you get older, you get down to what’s important.” [BlackBook]

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Filed Under: Crystal Balls, jean-georges vongerichten

More Pink

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:50:51 -0500

Owner Rocco Ancarola gives Steve Lewis a nice little history of Pink Elephant (we find out that original owner David Cabo left the place to attend religious retreats and possibly go back into the priesthood). In the works: a Pink Elephant Hotel here in the city as well as a clothing line. Yikes. [Good Night Mr. Lewis/BlackBook]

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Filed Under: David Cabo, Models and Bottles, nightlife, pink elephant, Rocco Ancarola, west chelsea

Funky Thai Replaced by Fugly Coat

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:25:49 -0500

The restaurant that was Funky Thai until it closed a year ago was reborn this past week as a painfully hip boutique called the 1929 (no relation to the 1585). Before it was Funky Thai, this space housed Funky Broome, and a fishtank in the window held one of the saddest, ugliest fish we ever remember seeing. As if in tribute, the new venture has put an equally sad, ugly yellow coat thing in the window. Let's hope this store can lure some of that Elizabeth Street traffic. Otherwise, these folks are going to be ordering cheap Thai for lunch.

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Filed Under: funky broome, funky thai, Retail Retardedness, the 1929

Cipriani Aide Gone

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:00:28 -0500

Governor Paterson’s aide Carl Andrews has resigned in the wake of an investigation to determine whether he applied “illegal pressure” to the SLA in order to get the authority to renew the Cipriani liquor license. Andrews says his departure from the $170,000-a-year post has nothing to do with the case, and that he’s starting a consulting and lobbying firm. [NYP]

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Filed Under: carl andrews, cipriani, corruption, Departures, governor david paterson, sla, state liquor authority

Sortie Is Outie

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:41:10 -0500

According to the ’bag, the Hell’s Kitchen lounge whose name meant “to leave” has done just that. It’s closed. [Feedbag]

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Filed Under: Closings, hell's kitchen, nightlife, sortie

Pink Elephant Insists It’s Alive and Well, Unlike Other Clubs

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:29:32 -0500

Dave Cohen, manager of the Pink Elephant, tells Guest of a Guest more than anyone could possibly want to know about the departure of two employees (one of them a partner) from the club. Bottom line: The Elephant is still kicking, though it seems possible that it may leave its current West Chelsea location: “Will [future anniversary parties] be on 27th Street? Who the hell knows … But we are doing VERY well here right now … I know a lot of other nightclub people, behind the scenes, and I know how bad some of them are doing. I won’t mention names, but I know clubs are 3–6 weeks behind on paying vendors, promoters and employees.” Hmmm, who could that be?

A Not So Short Statement on the Recent (Tumultous?) Pink Elephant Departures [Guest of a Guest]
Earlier: Elephant in the Room

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Filed Under: dave cohen, Models and Bottles, nightlife, pink elephant, west chelsea

All Systems Go on McNally and Double Happiness Projects

Daniel Maurer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:35:27 -0500

A couple of construction developments in the Nolita area. First, we noticed while passing the site of Emma Cleary’s undertaking at the old Double Happiness address (still in the works a year after its planned opening date) that the DOB has rescinded an earlier Stop Work order and construction has begun anew. Meanwhile, a little farther north, Bowery Boogie notices that Keith McNally’s joint on Bowery and Houston is now under plywood.

McNally Developments [Bowery Boogie]

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Filed Under: bowery, Construction Sites, double happiness, emma cleary, femme fatale, keith mcnally, little italy, nightlife, nolita