Bar Henry

Photo: Evan W. Miller

From the moment the doors opened last week at Bar Henry, the restaurant’s antique mahogany bar was packed with patrons. The third venture from Winston and Carole Bergman Kulok – who own Café Henri in the West Village and Long Island City – it gets its name from their pet Maltese.

The Food: Limited bistro fare, presented in a small and basic but well-prepared menu.

The Design: Old New York. Think vintage brass chandeliers and polished wood floors, plus a copper ceiling and bar top that give a warm glow to rooms. The entrance has striking black-and-white Italian marble floors, while the back room is bordered by brick walls, with red velvet ballroom chairs bought at the Plaza Hotel auction.

The room’s as lacquered as the crowd at Bar Pleiades, a new black-and-white boîte in the Upper East Side’s Surrey Hotel, where the glam mood matches the art-deco-meets-Coco-Chanel decor; courtesy of Daniel Boulud (proprietor of Café Boulud next door), it’s named after a star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, an oblique reference to the astronomical prices.

20 E. 76th St.; 212-772-2600

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• – By 2018, 43% of Americans are expected to be obese. [NYDN]
• – Gordon Ramsay has lost his right-hand man. [Bloomberg]
• – The Senate is considering requiring beef to be tested for E. coli. [NYT]

• – Top Chef contestants aren't being paid for the TV dinners that feature their faces (and recipes). [Time]
• – First canned pumpkins, now an Eggo shortage looms. [NYDN]
• – The art of complaining to a restaurant. [Guardian]
• – A modest proposal for fixing restaurant and bar smoking bans. [Eater]
• – Related: the science behind banning smoking outside. [Time]
• – Ever wonder what it would be like to cook dinner for Thomas Keller? [Esquire]
• – Talking cooking with Coolio. [Fork in the Road]
• – NBC's newest cooking show, United Plates of America, will give away a four-restaurant chain. [Reuters]
• – Hey, so, while you eat that sushi, this guy here is going to swallow a sword. [WSJ]
• – Starbucks continues to roll out its unbranded coffee shops. [Diner's Journal]
• – If New York loses its lawsuit, Tavern on the Green will become Tavern in the Park. [Crain's]
• – Restaurants embrace Twilight. [NRN]
• – Martha Stewart is not a fan of Rachael Ray. [ABC News, via EMD and GS]
• – The Rolling Stones, the wine. [Examiner]
• – Pork belly and other over-served dishes. [Between Meals]
• – Students arrested for not paying their tip. [Philly]
• – Plastic wishbones: what will the kids fight over? [SE]

Shoolbred's deviled eggs with candied bacon

Photo: courtesy of the bar

Comfort foods hold that title for a reason, and with the economy still shaky, people seem to be turning to them in droves (see: chicken, fried). So it comes as little surprise that that family-picnic staple, deviled eggs, are currently in the midst of a renaissance. The classic dish is not just on the menu at Southern-accented spots like Hill Country ($3.95), Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (three for $3.95, six for $6.95, 12 for $10.95), Tipsy Parson ($5) and The Redhead (whose new brunch menu includes pickled shrimp and deviled eggs, $6), but also at spots like Lure Fishbar (where the dish is served as an amuse-bouche when you are seated), Little Giant ($6), Centro Vinoteca ($4), Spotted Pig ($3) and the brand new Café Henri spin-off Bar Henry ($9). Looking for a twist on your deviled eggs? Resto's rendition comes with crispy pork toast and green onions ($9), while the ones at Shoolbred's are topped with candied bacon ($8).

Maialino

Photo: Evan W Miller

Maialino

Photo: Evan W Miller

To the revamped Gramercy Park Hotel space that was Wakiya comes Maialino, an Italiano from restaurateur Danny Meyer, which takes its visual and culinary cues from the classic trattorias of Rome and, à la Gramercy Tavern, is divided into a casual (and cheaper) front bar section and a checked tablecloth–equipped rear dining room; connecting the two areas are counters showcasing its housemade bread and salumi, the latter of which stars on the moderately expensive menu that also features pastas, traditional entrees like the eponymous roast pig and an impressive formaggio selection.

2 Lexington Ave.; 212-777-2410

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Maialino

Photo: Evan W Miller

• – Marcus Samuelsson will be working the kitchen at Obama's first state dinner. [Obama Foodorama]
• – The fight for Cadbury intensifies. [WSJ]
• – Chipotle sets its sights on London, Europe. [NRN]

• – Costco drops Coke. [AP]
• – Related: Coke bottles, 1899–1986. [Pixdaus]
• – Milk producers wish they could sell their product "raw." [NYT]
• – Hooters is having trouble in Vegas. [Eater]
• – A canned pumpkin shortage looms. [Diner's Journal]
• – Putting things in perspective with the Fat Map. [HP]
• – Jamie Oliver wants to help you find a date. [Marketing]
• – A Shake Shack in Boston looks increasingly possible. [GS:B]
• – What a $20 Thanksgiving feast from Walmart gets you. [The Awl]
• – A word we'd like to quickly forget? "Koodie." [SE]
• – Foods named after people. [Mental Floss and Cakespy, via SE]
• – They found water on the moon...can you drink it? [Slate]
• – Making mushrooms with coffee grinds. [Chronicle, via Coldmud]
• – Making art with meat, some wires, a videocamera and a stove. [EMD]

Fans of sustainable eating will soon have another option in Midtown. Otarian, a new vegetarian concept conceived in Australia (though initially launching in New York and London), is taking over the old Momo Sushi space at 927 Eighth Avenue. Designed with the environment in mind, the new restaurant plans to be "the first restaurant chain in the world to have a carbon footprinting system on its menu. When you order a veggie burger, there will be a statement about all of the emissions saved by your vegetarian meal compared to its non-vegetarian counterpart."

A rendering of the Ninety Acres Culinary Center at Natirar

Photo: courtesy of Natirar

Billionaire, hot-air balloon enthusiast and Knight of the Order Sir Richard Branson has converted Natirar, the King of Morocco’s former Peapack, NJ, estate, into a luxury resort, spa and culinary center. The first phase of the project, Ninety Acres Culinary Center, debuts December 1, with a restaurant, cooking school, wine school and working farm. Chef David C. Felton, formerly of the nearby Pluckemin Inn, will run the kitchen using ingredients from the estate’s farm to create dishes such as kabocha squash ravioli with ricotta, maitake mushrooms, duck confit and bouillon; and roasted Chatham cod with mustard spaetzle, braised cabbage and cracklings. The high-profile owner, and lush interiors designed by David Rockwell, are sure to be a draw for cityfolk looking to explore new foodie territory (2 Main St., Peapack-Gladstone, NJ; 908-901-9500).

– Kathleen Squires

Jehangir Mehta

We’ll have to wait until November 22 to find out who will take the title of The Next Iron Chef, but our bet is on Graffiti’s Jehangir Mehta, for no other reason than he invited the Buzz’s Kathleen Squires to appear on the first two episodes of his web TV show, J Walk. Check out Kathleen and Jehangir here and here as they buzz about unusual ingredients and cooking utensils from around the world.