New York City : News

Death & Co.'s New Menu and More

BuzzEditor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:03:00 GMT

Photo: courtesy of Death and Co.

In an effort to ramp up its food program, Death & Co. enlisted Luis Gonzalez (formerly of Mercer Kitchen, JoJo, and Bond Street) for a new dinner menu that launched this week. Among the offerings are tuna tartar with crushed avocado and housemade kettle chips ($12); pan-seared foie gras with a corn pancake and poached quince purée ($18); lobster brioche rolls with crunchy jicama, apple and fennel slaw; and truffle macaroni with aged cheddar and truffle bread crumbs ($12). The full menu can be found here. For aspiring home mixologists, the bar has also posted recipes for new fall libations, including "Daisy Buchanan" and "Little Engine" (212-388-0882).

For those wondering what's next for the D&C team, Cien Fuegos, the new Cuban concept they are opening (with Gonzalez helming the kitchen), should launch by the end of the year at 95 Avenue A and Sixth Street. By December, expect sandwiches to be sold in the first-floor space; closer to spring, be on the lookout for an upstairs cocktail and dining area. Unlike Death & Co., which stresses the speakeasy theme, co-owner Ravi DeRossi, who had just gotten keys to the locale, says the space will be much more "open."

The Buzz “J Walks” With Next Iron Chef Finalist

BuzzEditor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:22:00 GMT

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.

Momofuku Mania: Get a Taste of Má Pêche

BuzzEditor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:43:00 GMT

Má Pêche has started serving in the Chambers Hotel lobby mezzanine.

Photo: courtesy of Má Pêche

David Chang’s Momofuku empire expands northward with the arrival of Má Pêche, an upscale French-Vietnamese dining room inside Midtown’s Chambers Hotel (the erstwhile Town space), where former Ssäm Bar chef Tien Ho is overseeing the kitchen; though the finishing touches are still being applied, it’s currently open on the hotel’s lobby mezzanine, serving breakfast as well as a limited all-day menu featuring a few banh mi and noodle options, priced right at $10 including drink (15 W. 56th St.; 212-974-5656).

Jane's Gitane Opens Monday

BuzzEditor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:34:00 GMT

Though it has been open to guests at the Jane Hotel for the past two weeks, the second branch of NoLita Moroccan Cafe Gitane opens to the general public on Monday, November 16 (113 Jane St.; 212-924-6700).

Meyer's Maialino Opens Tomorrow

BuzzEditor — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:09:00 GMT

Maialino, Danny Meyer's latest, opens tomorrow night in the Gramercy Park Hotel space formerly inhabited by Wakiya. Initially open for dinner only, Monday–Saturday, the restaurant will launch breakfast in December with lunch following in January 2010. The environs include a trattoria (Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 PM; Friday–Saturday, 5:30–11 PM) and a bar area (Monday–Saturday, 5 PM–midnight). Reservations are being taken now, although only a limited number are available for the first week – meaning a walk-in approach isn't unreasonable (212-777-2410).

Zagat To Go, Now On Android

BuzzEditor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:28:00 GMT

Finally, something that both the iPhone and the Droid does: Zagat To Go, our popular smartphone application for finding ratings and reviews of over 40,000 restaurants, hotels, nightlife and shopping worldwide, has come to Google's Android phone OS. And not only can you search for your favorite spots, the home-screen widget will offer you a randomly selected nearby restaurant for you to try. To get the app, which costs just $9.99, point your finger to the Android Marketplace.

Chefs Place Their Bets at the Borgata

BuzzEditor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:24:00 GMT

Photos: Hernan F. Rodriguez

Celeb chefs and 700 food fans gathered at The Water Club in Atlantic City this weekend for the second-annual Savor Borgata event. Wolfgang Puck worked his station for over four hours straight, serving up pad Thai, grilled shrimp, steak and scallop skewers, and Chinese chicken salad. When the Buzz asked the super chef if he was a gambling man, he responded that he used to be but since opening restaurants, he rarely gambles: “Opening a restaurant is a gamble in itself because of the investment of time and money. But unlike blackjack, if people sit at our table at least they get something for their money!” Puck also responded to rumors of opening an NYC spot, “It hasn’t happened yet, because I am very difficult, but it may finally happen.”

Bobby Flay took some time between assembling surf ‘n’ turf skewers to tell the Buzz about his recent visit to the White House to film an episode of Iron Chef America. “No matter what your politics are, I just found the Obamas so impressive as people. And the White House seemed to be a house in every sense of the word. The first lady can go from being as professional as she could possibly be as first lady, then spin on her heels and become mom two seconds later. The President made me feel so comfortable, he made me feel like I knew him 30 seconds into it.” When Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming came by to introduce herself, Flay was so awestruck he asked the Buzz to take a picture of him with the famous figure skater-turned-winemaker (her label Fleming-Jenkins provided wine for the event).

Geoffrey Zakarian, who is the culinary consultant for the hotel, served beef tartare with mostarda and pickled chanterelles. The chef said even though he’s not by nature a gambling man, his biggest gamble in life was leaving business school for cooking school. He confided to the Buzz about being a Chopped judge, saying, “There is certainly a lot of nonsense in reality TV because everyone wants to be a star, and everyone wants to think they are a chef. But in the real world, in a restaurant, we have to find competent people who understand what's on TV is not real. You can cook in 30 minutes but can you run a kitchen day after day? Can you make your money back to investors? The people who can't cut it get ground to the dust very quickly.” Zakarian also confirmed that his new NYC spot, The Lamb’s Club, his “luxury bar and grill” in Midtown’s Chatwal Hotel, is on target for a spring opening.

Other chefs in the house: Fornelletto's Stephen Kalt, who said that his recent opening in Atlantic City foreshadows a return to NYC; izakaya’s Michael Schulson; and SeaBlue’s Michael Mina.

– Kathleen Squires

Malanga Takes a Bao

BuzzEditor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:49:00 GMT

Bao Noodles' Malanga appetizer

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

While dining at Bao Noodles in Gramercy Park recently, the Buzz came across a striking dish we had never seen before, Malanga ($7.95), a crispy sesame pancake with an assortment of toppings: taro root purée with garlic and scallions, pickled baby eggplant with pineapple and green and red peppers and a tofu curry. Owner Chris Johnson explains that it's actually the chef’s take on a traditional Vietnamese comfort food dish that’s “like our version of mashed potato or sweet potato. It may change slightly from area to area or household to household.” Highly shareable, the appetizer certainly makes a strong bid for the attention of those looking to venture beyond summer rolls (212-725-7770).

Shake Shack Flies South

BuzzEditor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:36:00 GMT

Hear that? That's the sound of a squeal of joy coming from Florida. Why? Because Danny Meyer's New York institution Shake Shack has set its sights on Miami for its first operation outside of New York. Opening sometime in spring/summer 2010, the new Shack will be located in a new development at 11 11 Lincoln Road on Lenox Avenue. The only real question is, will Miami flip for the same Shackburgers, concretes and long lines that New Yorkers have grown to love so much?

Piccola Picks Itself Back Up

BuzzEditor — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:41:00 GMT

Piccola Cucina

Photo: Michael Tulipan

Teeny-tiny SoHo Italian Piccola Cucina reopens today after a hiatus, and to celebrate they're uncorking the bubbly. From now until Sunday, November 8, the restaurant will be offering all of its diners at lunch and dinner a comp glass of Prosecco. Oh, and they've got a new fall menu, too, after the jump (212-625-3200).

ANTIPASTI
Fish carpaccio (market fish)
15
Marinated fish (market fish)
14
Swordfish rolls with bufala mozzarella and tomatoes
13
Grilled calamari with garlic bruschetta filling
12
Grilled octopus with potato cream
12
Beef tartar with artichokes, shaved parmigiano and cream of mozzarella
14
Prosciutto crudo and pears
10
Caprese salad
12

PRIMI
Braised beef agnolotti with natural jus
14
Paccheri carbonara style with amatriciana sauce
12
Potato gnocchi with bitter greens, langoustine scampi and tomato confit
15
Tagliolini with artichokes and sea urchin
15
Champagne risotto with oysters and a touch of porcini mushroom sauce
18
Porcini mushroom risotto
16
Maccheroni with mozzarella and eggplant in a tomato basil sauce
12
Soup of the day with bruschetta and crispy guanciale
12

SECONDI
Grilled lamb with wild herbs and Sicilian caponata
24
Cornish hen with grilled mushrooms and natural jus
23
Hamburger with french fries, onions, tomato and tartar sauce
14
Mediterranean style swordfish with clams and mussels
23
Fried seafood with grilled vegetables
24
Grilled seafood with Catalane salad
25

DESSERT

Tiramisu with lady fingers and fresh berries
7
Crème brulee with raspberries in a strawberry sauce
7
Panna cotta with bellini sauce and fresh berries
6
Chocolate half moon with crispy cookie and fruit sauce
9
Sicilian cannoli wth ricotta cheese and candied fruit
9

Chef Philip Guardione

Keep on Truckin' ... With Lists!

BuzzEditor — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:12:00 GMT

With so many food trucks using Twitter these days, keeping track of all those tweets can make your head spin. But by utilizing Twitter's new lists feature, we've made the truckin' life a little easier. With 19 food trucks and counting, our NYC Food Trucks list is your one-stop shop for street-meat tweets. Want a little more background about the trucks? Check out our food truck roundup.

Cooking With Coco

BuzzEditor — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:14:00 GMT

David Chang's pork neck with succotash

Photo and recipe: courtesy of Phaidon Press

For its latest cookbook, Coco, Phaidon Press turned to 10 world-leading chefs – Ferran Adrià, Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Alain Ducasse, Fergus Henderson, Yoshihiro Murata, Gordon Ramsay, René Redzepi, Alice Waters and Jacky Yu – to each pick 10 contemporary chefs from around the world. In turn, each of those chefs then wrote a menu and recipes for the book. The final product is more than 400 pages of gorgeous photographs, mouthwatering recipes and interesting tidbits from kitchens around the world. Want a taste? After the jump, get David Chang's recipe for pork neck with succotash.

Pork Neck with Succotash
Serves 4
Recipe by David Chang

For the pork neck
300 g kosher salt
270 g sugar
6 liters hot water
2 bay leaves
25 g black peppercorns
6 liters cold water
10 g pink salt
1 pork neck

Mix the salt, sugar, hot water, bay leaves, and black peppercorns.
Mix the cold water with the pink salt.
Add the pork neck and confit 5 hours at 300°F (150°C) covered.
When tender, press between 2 sheet trays. Portion into serving size pieces.
Crisp on a griddle or pan to heat through.

For the succotash
100 g ground (minced) smoked, think-cut pork belly
12 g chanterelle mushrooms
250 g lima (butter) beans
175 g corn (sweetcorn) kernels
Butter for sautéing
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
4 ml buttermilk
120 g butter
130 g arugula (rocket)

Sauté the pork belly, chanterelles, lima beans, and corn in a pan.
Finish with a pinch of salt and pepper, chopped tarragon, buttermilk, butter, and arugula.

Seconds for Sripraphai

BuzzEditor — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:29:00 GMT

Long Island fans of Sripraphai, start drooling. Six months after announcing it was expanding, Zagat's Top Thai officially opens its second outpost tonight in Williston Park (280 Hillside Ave., Williston Park; 516-280-3779).

Fries and Wine

BuzzEditor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:53:00 GMT

Next month's Community Board 3 SLA meeting on November 16 should be an interesting one when Second Avenue staple Pommes Frites, a standard stop on any drinking trip through the East Village, goes up for a restaurant wine license. Poutine and Montepulciano, anyone?

Test Your ZQ: Outer-Borough Champs

BuzzEditor — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:21:00 GMT

In Zagat’s 2010 NYC Survey the top-rated restaurants in the following categories are located outside of Manhattan, except:

Wrong!

The Top Italian in the 2010 Survey is Trattoria L’incontro in Astoria, Queens.

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Wrong!

The Top Steakhouse in the 2010 Survey is, for the 26th year in a row, Peter Luger Steak House in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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Correct!

Kenji Takahashi’s Japanese temple Sasabune is located on the Upper East Side.

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Wrong!

The Top Thai in the 2010 Survey is Sripraphai in Woodside, Queens.

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