Zagat Survey Discussions

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.

Sample Dishes: Mushroom barley soup ($8); short-rib corn taco ($14); blini and American caviar ($15); roasted organic chicken with herb jus ($25); LaFrieda dry-aged strip steak ($38).

Sample Dessert: Tarte tatin with crème fraîche ($9); chocolate mousse ($9).

Sample Drinks: Tom Morgan (Beefeater gin, tonic and lemon juice), Captain Berelsky (Gosling’s rum, amaretto, lemon and lime), Tiger Tail (bourbon, Benedictine, ginger ale and lemon juice). Grape aficionado John Slover (of Grand Cru Consulting) has put together a large wine list, with plenty of half-bottle options.

The Crowd: Village locals mixed with young professionals in their 30s, and wine-industry types.

The Tunes: Jazz standards and old R&B.

The Deets: 90 West Houston St.; 646-448-4559

–Beth Landman

• – 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).

• – 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]

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

Maialino

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Danny Meyer certainly knows how to pick ’em. Chefs that is. The restaurants within his Union Square Hospitality Group have produced a good share of mega-stars: Michael Romano, Tom Colicchio, Marco Canora, Daniel Humm and Floyd Cardoz to name a few. Meet Meyer’s new rising star, Nick Anderer, who makes his debut as an executive chef at Maialino within the Gramercy Park Hotel. Plucked from the kitchen of Gramercy Tavern, Anderer comes with a pedigree, having worked for Colicchio, Michael Anthony, Mario Batali and Larry Forgione. The Buzz chatted with the chef the morning after his first night of service.

Zagat Buzz: So we heard that Anna Wintour, Ruth Reichl, Dana Cowin and Alain Ducasse were all in the house on opening night? How did that go?

Nick Anderer: Yes, it’s true, they were all there. It went very well. It was all good to have that vibe in the house.

ZB: How do you know when a restaurant is ready to go when you’re opening it?

NA: It takes time. Any restaurant is a living organism that is going to grow over time. For me, I’ll know it’s there when I look up and see the big picture. Right now my head is focused on lots of small details trying to make that big picture come together. But the day where I can walk out of the kitchen comfortably and sit in that dining room and experience a meal is the day that I’ll say, “Ok, this vision is at least getting there.” But the short answer is that you’re never going to be there, it’s something that’s going to continue to grow. There’s always a lot of unfinished business. And that’s the beauty of restaurants, and of Danny’s restaurants, because they stick around and you always have opportunity to improve on things.

ZB: Were there any special considerations opening within a hotel?

NA: Absolutely. It was something we had to think long and hard about. It is a situation that is unique and we were given the opportunity that a lot of hotel restaurants haven’t been given in the sense that we can function Maialino pretty autonomously. There’s a room service kitchen that is separate from the regular kitchen. I have basically transplanted a team of new chefs that are all people that I have worked with in restaurants, so my entire management team has a restaurant-geared mentality. Of course, opening a hotel restaurant comes with a certain amount of hesitation from a chef. I think that all those fears go away with the fact that we do pretty much function as a free-standing restaurant.

ZB: So what is your approach to the menu at Maialino?

NA: We’re doing hearty Italian food inspired by Roman trattorias. Every single neighborhood in Rome has had an impact on the menu. Danny and I spent several weeks there researching for the menu and this is kind of a greatest hits of all the things that we tried. And Danny and I both have a shared love affair for Rome that goes way back. Danny spent a lot of time there and I spent a full year my junior year of college studying art history there. That time was the spark for my culinary career – I came back to New York and started cooking. So it was that shared love of Rome that inspired this restaurant.

ZB: What are some of the signature dishes?

NA: I don’t like to say “signature dish” because there are so many things that we pride ourselves on. But some of the things that stand out in my mind are the bucatini all’amatriciana, coda alla vaccinara (oxtails with tomato and celery) and spigola al forno (baked whole sea bass). But despite the fact that we are sticking to the Roman canon, the areas where we stray are in choosing the best ingredients. In any Roman trattoria the call is to what is really thriving at the market on that particular day. We’re not in Rome, we’re in New York, so we can’t make everything to the T. As a result we’re not going to have carciofi alla Romana every day. The things that we are coming up with on a daily basis are very market driven.

ZB: With so many Italian restaurants in New York, how do you feel that Maialino is going to stand out?

NA: Hopefully it will stand out because everyone who comes in will feel that they are getting a little slice of homeyness. I think the challenge for me as a chef is to try to make a pretty big restaurant feel smaller than it is. There’s love in each plate. I encourage all my cooks, with every single movement that they make throughout the day, to think about who they are cooking for. And we really take a lot of pride in the sourcing of our ingredients. That attention to detail will make us stand out.

ZB: This is the first kitchen that you have been in charge of as an executive chef. What have you learned from your years within the Union Square Hospitality Group that helps you to be a good leader in the kitchen?

NA: I have learned so much about building a cohesive unit and about putting together the perfect team. Danny Meyer really creates a great sense of family in all of his restaurants and makes every single person feel that their job is the most important job in the entire space. And every person takes pride in what they do because they feel valued. I have learned to make sure that every person realizes how important their job is. I think Danny is the master of making sure that each individual part of this big unit is functioning at a high level at all times.

– Kathleen Squires

Commerce

photo: Ryan Charles

Starting tomorrow, the West Village’s Commerce launches its tavern menu, to be served every Saturday, noon–5 PM. It’s a mix-and-match mash-up of chef Harold Moore’s greatest hits from his brunch and dinner menus. Expect favorites like spaghetti carbonara and croque madame with sunny-side-up egg, along with casual new bites such as a braised beef short-rib sandwich with caramelized onions and syrah mustard. A selection of nine cheeses rounds out the afternoon delight (212-524-2301).

–Kathleen Squires