Thirty Days of (Free) Vodka
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 12, 2010. You can view the original post here.
There’s a joke in here somewhere about Dorothy Parker’s quip, “You can lead horticulture, but you can’t make her think (or maybe just a joke about “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”).
Via the fine, frugal fellows at My Open Bar.com, there’s ThirtyDaysNY, a celebration of arts and culture and, well, booze. Sponsored by Absolut vodka, the Tribeca fest will feature “weekly performances, symposiums, and showcases from contemporary artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers from all over the world.” A quick poke around the web site turns up pictures of SNL funnyman Fred Armisen, a short film by “Where the Wild Things Are” director Spike Jonze, and artist Meryl Smith who will be creating whimsical sculptures from genuine New York City trash.
Of course, in addition to all the music, film, and art, there’s a well concealed marketing campaign for Absolut vodka, preferred drink of the culture curators. Let’s hope their vodka will flow freely throughout the month.
The Tribeca loft will be open from noon to 9 p.m. (and until 10 p.m. on event nights) at 70 Franklin Street. Check out the calendar for upcoming events.
[Photo by pviojo]
Takashi Brings on the Beef
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 12, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Takashi, a new Korean-Japanese fusion spot in the West Village, promises via their web site to be “beef, all beef, and nothing but the beef!”
While that might be a cheesy tagline (maybe the right to use “Where’s the beef?” was restricted), the menu is intriguing enough to warrant a visit. Seasonal namul (regular pickled vegetables), seasonal kimchi, and asatsuki salad (chives), represent small starting bites. The majority of the menu is divided into raw and grilled (yakiniku) offerings with some cow soup (Nikuniku soup-Shiro) and cold noodles made by Soba master Hideji Asanuma thrown in for good measure.
While the menu is predictably beef heavy, Takashi focuses on using different parts of the cow, so flavor and texture are never boring. In this bovine version of snout-to-tail cooking, livers, hearts, tongues, and various parts of the stomach are all served alongside various sauces, though there’s also ribeye and short rib for the less adventurous.
Additionally, according to their web site, the restaurant will feature beef from local New York state farms like Dickson’s Farmstand in Chelsea Market, from Kansas’ Creekstone Farm courtesy of Pat Lafrieda, and Oregon’s Washugyu cows courtesy of Japanese Premium Beef.
Takashi will have a soft-open tomorrow, April 13. It’s certainly worth a look for Chef Takashi’s take on “the bold, heartiness of Korean flavors combined with the finesse of Japanese cuisine.”
Takashi, 456 Hudson Street, http://twitter.com/Takashinyc
[Photo by avlxyz]
Iron Chef Party at Vermilion
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 8, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Beginning at 7:00 p.m. tonight, Midtown East’s At Vermilion will celebrate Chef Maneet Chauchan’s rumble in the kitchen against Iron Chef Morimoto on tonight’s episode of the Food Network’s winning Japanese-adapted show.
The watching party, in keeping with the theme of “Iron Chef,” will feature a secret cocktail and special menu mirroring Chauchan’s “Iron Chef” performance.
At Vermilion is recovering from something of a bad rap among the New York press circuit. Steve Cuozzo of the New York Post said in 2008, “The 200-seat, two-level eatery’s liabilities start with a stark, colorless design (without a trace of red) and a moronic name (why not just call it “Vermilion” like the celebrated Chicago original)?” But then acquiesces that “Tandoori-baked, churrasco-style skirt steak lit my fire on a bitter night.”
Chauchan’s fusion of Indian and Latin American flavors admittedly works better in some dishes than others. Lobster Portuguese stewed in goan (from Goa) gravy with coconut rice is a dud. Tamarind margaritas and tandoori skirt steak are keepers.
Of course, it’s probably not a secret that this Salman Rushdie-backed restaurant ends up winning Iron Chef, or At Vermilion’s PR blitz will end up with proverbial egg on its face. Diners also get the benefit of hearing Chauchan’s behind-the-scenes commentary on the filming.
Make your next stop restaurateur Steven Starr’s New York foray, Morimoto, and be your own judge.
At Vermilion, 480 Lexington Ave (at 46th street), 7:00 p.m., $65 per person.
[Photo by jenny downing]
88 Cent Burgers at Pop Burger Today
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 8, 2010. You can view the original post here.
It’s a burger joint worthy of Andy Warhol.
At both locations, Pop Burger puts as much focus on design at it does French fries. A hip cafeteria-style counter in the front leads into a sleekly minimalist lounge and bar with a pool table. It’s business lunch in the front and happy hour in the back.
Both sections belie different menus. The counter menu has slider-style Pop burgers, hot dogs, thick shakes and jittery Red Bull, and Caesar, tuna, and Cobb salads for the diet-conscious. The lounge menu boats more grown up fare like shrimp with cocktail sauce, New England lobster rolls and chicken Waldorf salad on mini brioche. There’s also a fuller dinner menu featuring fried calamari, duck confit egg rolls, and steak.
Much of the menu is blissfully uncomplicated, while Pop Burger’s cocktail menu trends toward the unnecessarily intricate with concoctions like the “pink panty pull down” (Stoli vanilla, lime, pineapple, orange, grenadine) or the “pama perfect” (Patron silver, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, lime). At $15 and $20 respectively, they stray toward the ludicrous. Better to sneak some rum into your black & white shake if you need a fix.
The Meatpacking District location is especially prone to celebrity sighting—Sarah Jessica Parker, Matt Dillon, and Ed Burns were all spotted lately, according to Pop Burger’s Web site.
Better yet, Pop Burger is honoring the 8th of April by deeply discounting their beefy patties. This month (and on the 8th of every month), get 2 burgers for 88 cents, at a regular price of $6.75, this deal is perfect to tide you over until your paycheck arrives.
Pop Burger is located at 14 East 58th Street (between Madison and 5th) and at 59-60 9th Avenue (at 15th Street).
[Photo by seabaryo]
Weekend Eating and Drinking Roundup
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 9, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Friday:
Pichet Ong, of the shuttered P’ong, recreated his madly modern art dessert creations at Tribeca’s Bubble Lounge (228 West Broadway) beginning this weekend. Get your chocolate chip cookies rare, medium, or well done and dip a frozen tiramisu cannoli in a chocolate fondue.
Saturday:
Take a “j-CATION” at the Japan Society (333 East 47th Street) and explore Japanese culture with “starters” like a seminar by Manga Artist, Hiroki Otsuka or a tea and sweet tour. Sink your teeth in with “main dishes” such as the live game show, “Clash of the Foodies!” and shoe-gazing pop band Asobi Seksu. Japanese treats will be available for the tasting from 1 p.m.-9 p.m. at the day’s events conclude with an after party by DJ AKI.
Enjoy New York’s spate of sunny weather with an afternoon tea and poetry reading in Tribeca’s Duane Park (55 Hudson Street). Sandwiches and scones will be served to Frost and Woolf fans alike for $35.
Travel through the Lower East Side’s culinary underbelly with Chef Jehangir Mehta, star of the Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef.” Tours leave between 10 a.m. and noon from the Bowery’s Whole Foods (95 East Houston St) and are specially geared toward kids. Adults can also explore new tastes and textures. $30 for 1 child and 1 adult.
There’s whiskey in the jar at the Astor Center (399 Lafayette St.) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with their “Whisky 101: Whisky from Around the Globe.” For $85, patrons will be guided by Robin Robinson, blogger at OneMalt.com and Brand Ambassador for Compass Box Scotch Whisky. The man knows his single malts from his blends, from Wales to Japan.
Sunday:
Jimmy’s No. 43 (43 East 7th Street) will be hosting a fundraiser for the nonprofit artisanal bakery Hot Bread Kitchen from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Chefs will face off for how creatively they can use Hot Bread products in recipes from granola to organic corn tortillas, as presented by Tastebuds NYC. All proceeds go to workforce development program for immigrant women. Jimmy’s also serves up an all-you-can-eat ribs and all-you-can-drink draft beers on Sundays and Mondays.
Hearth (403 East 12th Street) shares the warmth with their Red Sauce Sundays for a three-course family dinner of $39. These classics like spaghetti and meatballs, or eggplant parmesan will remind even non-Italians of home.
[Photo by jshj]
Graffiti is a Tight Squeeze
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 9, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Jehangir Mehta, Jean Georges former pastry chef, can make a mean dessert. But we’ll get to that later.
Graffiti, his East Village jewel box of a restaurant, focused on the details. In fact, with a space so small it’s almost a parody of a New York apartment, Mehta does more with less.
First, there’s the décor, which Chef Mehta designed himself. The restaurant is narrow, the tables communal, the vibe loud but intimate. An exposed brick wall features scrawls of what’s featured (including the fact that water comes in both sparkling and still). The opposing wall is decked out in prints, lush fabrics, statues, and mirrors, foreshadowing the eclectic and tenderly juxtaposed flavors to come.
All plates are meant to be shared—tapas style—but are helpfully grouped into categories by price. Scallops with candied red chilies seemed on the paltry side, but the slender discs melted to the tongue, punctuated by a spicy kick. Braised pork buns with apricot chutney cannot match David Chang’s and the apricot chutney frustratingly came with pits included, but the combination of juicy flavors still worked. A shredded duck topped Portobello mushroom with mustard onion confit combined too many textures—meaty mushrooms, fatty duck, crunchy confit. But the desserts, and rightly so, are the star of the show. A hazelnut chocolate “caviar” cupcake with chocolate chip ice cream was wonderfully decadent, a deconstructed cupcake of sorts with a crunchy pop of chocolate-dipped Rice Krispies on top.
Food Network fans will flock to Graffiti if only because Mehta is the star of “The Next Iron Chef,” and Martha Stewart viewers will recognize him from her show. The staff are hip to this brewing buzz, and are amazingly friendly and warm as a result. They’ll even put your oversized bags downtowns to be picked up post-meal. Perhaps the greatest show of hospitality at Graffiti are the line cooks you must push past on your way to the restroom. When you’re this close together, everyone’s family.
Graffiti, 224 E. 10th St., New York, NY 10003 (near First Ave)
[Photo by avlxyz]
It’s Peat Week at Brandy Library
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 7, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Whether throwing a corporate gala or a soiree for someone you love, Brandy Library is the ultimate spot for both
Ahh, the weather is warm and whiskey is in the air. Through Saturday, Brandy Library will be celebrating Peat Week on behalf of the fermented grain.
This Tribeca bar is something of an imbiber’s dream. With ample wood paneling and leather, Brandy Library substitutes books for spirits—they have an ample collection of brandies (ranging from the $12 VS Hennessy to the $340 Richard, Very Rare), whiskeys, and rum. It’s precisely the kind of setup to make a non-smoker wish for a cigar in one hand and a smartly made Sidecar in the other. Brandy Library also offers Dark & Stormy’s, Bermuda rum and ginger beer, which are perfect for sunny days as well.
The hors d’oeuvres are elegant with a healthy sense of humor. They don’t serve wings, because “we could never match the ones at Hooters,” the menu declares. Instead, there’s foie gras (scandalous!), prosciutto wrapped figs (“pigs and figs”), gougeres, and lambs in a blanket. For dinner, tuna and steak tartar and more foie gras. Brandy Library even makes the burger classier by offering two 2.5 oz sliders with bacon. For dessert, what else but a crème brulee or Dulce de Leche topped éclairs?
But, of course, you’re here for the whiskey. Tonight there’s the enigmatically named Whisky Live NYC and there will be tastings of Isle of Jura Scotch, Connemara Irish Whiskey, and single malts through the end of the week. Check out their Web site for a full listing of what’s going on when. Of course, there’s always the recurring “Single Malt Saturdays” from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Read up on the dos and don’ts of mixology etiquette from the Village Voice’s interview with Brandy Library beverage director, Ethan Kelley.
Sailors, step aside. Peat Week is here to stay.
Brandy Library 25 N Moore St (between Varick and Hudson).
[Photo by flickr4jazz]
Alice Waters in Town Today for Book Signing
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 7, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Top chef and founding father of the locavore food movement, Alice Waters is in town today to promote her new book, In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart.
It’s a cookbook that should be a companion to any farmer’s market goer. Waters draws upon her nearly forty years of experience at the helm of Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California bastion of haute couture sustainable and local cooking. She is also the founder of the Edible Schoolyard, a garden and kitchen classroom for middle school students, and Slow Food USA, a nonprofit dedicated to “linking the pleasures of food with the community and the environment.”
In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart seeks to translate this ethos for the home kitchen with more than 50 seasonal recipes covering the basics of cookery (e.g. roasting a chicken, steaming vegetables, making stock, filleting a fish, cooking fruit). You can also check out http://alicewatersgreenkitchen.com/for a collection of video recipes from her highly decorated peers like Momofuku’s David Chang and Per Se’s Thomas Keller.
Stop by Book Court (163 Court Street (between Pacific & Dean))–a gem of an independent bookstore in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn—at 7pm to hear Alice Waters share some of her recipes and sign copies of In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart. Then go out and explore the “new Brooklyn cuisine,” restaurants that take local, organic, sustainably farmed ingredients as seriously as the Gospel. One prime example is nearby Frankies 457 Court Street Spuntino, recently featured in Food & Wine.
[Photo by Sbocaj]
Time Out New York Announces 2010 Eat Out Award Winners
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 6, 2010. You can view the original post here.
Last night at Le Poisson Rouge, the Emmys of the foodie world were dished out. Time Out New York’s (TONY) annual Eat Out Award winners may not have shocked and awed but credit was given where credit was due in both readers’ and critics’ choice categories.
On the critics’ choice side, “hottest little restaurant” went to Joseph Leonard in the West Village, a postage stamp of a place from the owners of the former hot Little Owl. “Best ooooh Canada,” a category that couldn’t have been too highly contested, still Mile End, a Brooklyn-based deli with Montreal roots deservedly took the poutine. Continuing with the puns, “best balls-out endeavor” was handed to The Meatball Shop in the Lower East Side, which sells nothing but the homely creatures. Danny Meyer’s recently opened Maialino (meaning “little pig”) got a nod for “best Roman conquest” for its trattorian takes on pastas, fish, and cheese. Perhaps the most apt category, “best splurge in a bad economy” was won by Marea, Michael White’s ethereally good Italian for those on an expensive account or stopping by for a last supper.
The readers’ choice winners stray toward the predicable (“best new hotel restaurant” The Breslin; “best new bar with bonus features” Brooklyn Bowl; “best burger” Minetta Tavern), but there are still some surprises. The “best new bar” title was bequeathed to Superdive, perhaps because they let you order the ever-economical keg and host flip cup parties. For afterwards, there’s also “best new drunk food” at Led Zeppole’s carnival fare like fried Oreos, funnel cake, and, of course, the zeppole.
View the full list as a PDF or by location. Collect them all.
[Photo by ginnerobot]
Takeout at the Grand Hyatt to Open Monday
This post originally appeared on Manhattan Style on April 6, 2010. You can view the original post here.
The Grand Hyatt, affixed on the East 42nd side of Grand Central, is a bustling hub of tourists, business travelers, convention goers, and . . . lunch seekers?
Starting Monday, the Hyatt will offer tasty to-go lunches at Market, an upscale cafeteria offering pastries, salads, and hot meals, according to The New York Times. For those who have suffered pangs of hunger waiting for that $30 room service burger that never comes, Market represents a DYI alternative.
“This on-demand, I-want-it-now kind of customer that we’re dealing with doesn’t necessarily have the time to wait or wants to be able to self-select,” vice president and managing director Matthew Adams told The New York Times.
The space is designed by the same firm that tackled Gordon Ramsay’s the Modern and Danny Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern. Beyond representing a new horizon in hotel dining options, Market is also part of a three-year, $130 million renovation to freshen up the Hyatt.
Of course, all offerings will be locally sourced and organic—seemingly de rigueur for any opening venture in New York these days. Tisserie pastries, Roasting Plant coffee, Manhattan Special soda, and desserts from Chikalicious will be ready for passing commuters and late-night snackers alike.
[Photo by Rob Lee]
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