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Grub Street

Edited by Josh Ozersky with Daniel Maurer

All Posts Tagged: ‘eater’

NewsFeed 

7/15/08

12:45 PM

Sapa–Douglas Rodriguez Deal May Be on the Rocks

We were happy to read last week that the Times had confirmed our report that Nuevo Latino chef Douglas Rodriguez was returning to New York to run a restaurant called Nuela in the old Sapa space. But an item on Eater, via an anonymous tipster, has us concerned: “It looks as though that has fallen through. Staff members are coming to the restaurant trying to get their paychecks, and no one is there to open the door.” Sapa owner Brian Matzkow denied to Eater that anything is amiss, but now there's nothing to do but wait and see.

EaterWire: Sapa/Nuela Deal Delayed [Eater]
Related: Douglas Rodriguez May Be Headed to Sapa

NewsFeed 

7/14/08

12:55 PM

Zakarian Says He’s Still at Country

Geoffrey Zakarian has denied a report that he is out at Country . “It’s nonsense. Adam Block and I are full partners,” says Zakarian. “It’s been the same thing, this rumor, for three years. It’s absolutely false. It’s hard to say who has the time to do this sort of thing, to spread rumors for the sole purpose of trying to damage someone’s reputation.” Over the weekend, Zakarian told us he was busy working on the menu for Country Steak -- an unlikely task if he were actually leaving the restaurant.

Earlier: Country Steak Planned for Country’s Upstairs

NewsFeed 

6/27/08

3:43 PM

Resto: Now Hiring?

Eater is reporting that chef Ryan Skeen is out at Resto. Owner Christian Pappanicholas wasn't at the gastropub to confirm or deny the report. If true, it’s a blow to the spot, which enjoyed immediate success with Skeen’s meaty, Zak Pelaccio–influenced cooking. Per Eater, sous-chefs Dan Ross and Bobby Hellen are now running the kitchen.

EaterWire Midday Edition: Ryan Skeen Out at Resto? [Eater]

NewsFeed 

6/25/08

12:22 PM

‘Top Chef’ Contestants Headed to Williamsburg?

Break out the binoculars. Eater is reporting that Top Chef contestants will be housed in Williamsburg during this summer's shooting. The site speculates that it will maybe be at the “new condos around McCarren Park,” but nobody knows for sure. (As reality-show housing goes, though, it's definitely an upgrade over the downtown-Brooklyn digs the stars of The Real World: Brooklyn will inhabit.) Will the cheftestants outdo native hipsters with bad haircuts? We can't wait to find out, on what will surely be the best season of Top Chef ever.

Top Chef Rumormongering: Cheftestants to Be Housed in Williamsburg [Eater]
Related: This Fall, Seven Strangers Will Move to an Apartment Nicer Than Yours [Daily Intel]

NewsFeed 

5/22/08

2:30 PM

Is Café Gray Moving? And Is Gray Out at Grayz?

Eater is reporting, via the unconfirmed word of a tipster, that Café Gray will move to Times Square, to a smaller and presumably more affordable space, where chef Gray Kunz can appeal to a tourist crowd more effectively. That is a little hard to picture. So is the other tip the site is reporting — that Grayz, the small-plates restaurant and catering space Kunz opened last year on the East Side, is ejecting the eponymous chef and fixing to close in August, only to reopen as a cocktail lounge. We are reaching out to our own sources within the Gray administration and will see if there’s any truth to either of these rumors.

Unconfirmed Rumormongering: Developments in the Gray Kunz Universe [Eater]

NewsFeed 

5/ 7/08

4:20 PM

Veniero's Closed Owing to a Sh**load of Mice Droppings

Yesterday, Veniero’s was closed by the Department of Health and a sign went up saying the 114-year-old patisserie was renovating. Today, the skeletons have come out of the closet — or the mouse droppings have come out of the chocolate box. According to a report that Eater has obtained, “over 300 mice droppings were found in six separate areas of the café. Two dead mice were found, live roaches were observed, and mice droppings were found in a 10 lb box of chocolate.” Mama mia! Better double-check that cake you bought for Mom’s Day.

DOH Chronicles: Mice Droppings Found in Veniero's Chocolate [Eater]
Related: Holy Cannoli! Veniero’s Shuttered by Health Department

The In-box 

5/ 5/08

5:45 PM

Gael Greene's Ko Conspirator Goes on the Defensive

By now you might be almost as sick of hearing about Gael Greene's and Tom Dobrowski's Ko reservation debacle as you are of, say, trying to get a reservation at the place (thanks to the guy who e-mailed us today offering us his time slot, but we’ll pass) — but we thought we'd post Dobrowski's latest e-mail to us by way of a coda. Let the record show that one of his co-workers may have canceled his reservation after he forwarded it around, and an IT guy at Momofuku may have leaked the log of his reservation activity to Eater despite assurances that he wouldn’t.

Read more»

Beef 

5/ 2/08

9:30 AM

Gael Greene's Craigslist Date Keeps Getting Shadier

gael greene

Photo: Patrick McMullan

It 's been a rare mix of bad luck for Gael Greene. First, our Insatiable Critic is misled by her Craigslist date into thinking that she has a legit reservation at Ko; then she gets read the riot act at the end of the meal by the famously prickly David Chang (“If the confusion was our fault, please accept our apologies. If you tried to sneak your way into Ko, we don't want your money”). And then, not realizing that the tiny restaurant is essentially an Eater satellite office, she has to sit and watch as the whole thing is broadcast to the world. Now it turns out that the Craigslist guy was lying to her about having turned down Frank Bruni, too, clearly in an attempt to fluff the ego. The critic writes us to say, “I'm not doubting that weird guy told Gael what he told her, but he didn't turn me/us down. That's so not true! I have e-mails to prove it.” Welcome to the world of Craigslist dating, Gael. It's even worse than you thought.

Earlier: Gael Greene Goes on a Craigslist Date at Ko, Stirs Controversy

NewsFeed 

4/24/08

3:30 PM

Abbe Diaz Accuses Eater of Morandi Favoritism

Ben Leventhal

Diaz arch-nemesis Ben Leventhal, of Eater.Photo: Patrick McMullan

In addition to bringing news that the Cain team is taking over Montauk’s 32-room Surf Lodge (Bar! Hot tubs! Outdoor deck!), Steve Lewis interviews industry veteran and PX This author and forum moderator Abbe Diaz today. After about two pages of inane flirtation, Steve and Abbe get into the meat of her feud with Eater, whose EIC, Ben Leventhal, she calls “a giant ass.” These blog wars can be a little confusing, so we’ve revealed specific names in brackets and added links for ease of reading.

Read more»

NewsFeed 

4/ 7/08

1:45 PM

The Burger That Ate Seymour Burton

Seymour Burton

One day burger greatness walked in the door.Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Eater has one of its enjoyable "On the House" essays today, featuring the story of the Seymour Burton hamburger, as told by the restaurant’s co-owner, Adam Cohn. Cohn tells the story about the meteoric rise of the Seymour Burton burger from a marginal item to the staple of their inventory, thanks to a Peter Meehan review. It's a dramatic tale, with suitable narrative flourishes: “We went from selling three burgers a week to selling 30 a day. I mercifully dropped the chili. [Chef Josh] Shuffman starting giving interviews in which he claimed that the burger recipe came to him while on peyote, free-climbing in the Andes.”

On The House: The Creation of a Famous Burger [Eater]

Related: Get Your Seder on at Seymour Burton

NewsFeed 

3/21/08

1:23 PM

Down by the Hipster's Scott Solish Steps Forward

scott solish

The face of the operation.Photo courtesy of Down by the Hipster

Yesterday Eater exposed the identity of the author of one of our favorite nightlife blogs, Down by the Hipster. Though his day job remains a mystery (he won’t reveal details), Scott Solish wrote for Eater’s parent company Curbed for a year before launching his own blog to share scoops (notable early stories were about the New York ventures of L.A. clubs Mondrian and Ago). He’s been going strong in the year since then, regularly turning up nightlife and hospitality stories that are the envy of bigger blogs. That’s why, Solish believes, he was outed. We spoke to him now that his face has been put to his blog’s name.

Read more»

Back of the House 

2/29/08

2:00 PM

Joël Robuchon Dislikes Blogs and Fancy Dishes

Joel Robuchon

Joël Robuchon is no fan of blogs? Really?Photo: Patrick McMullan

Eater L.A. posted an interesting interview with Joël Robuchon yesterday afternoon, conducted by Las Vegas public-radio host John Curtas, one of that city’s top food journalists. Of special note is Robuchon’s predictably hostile stance toward food bloggers (“Too often the Internet can be used as a revenge tool by people who have something against the chef or restaurant”). Like, say, paying $800 for a disappointing lunch? Robuchon also weighs in on what he considers “the most dangerous thing you can do as a chef”: overthinking and trying too hard to impress customers. (Which, again, you have to do if you’re going to charge the cost of airfare to China for lunch.) In any case, it’s a good, and short, read. Maybe too short: Is Curtas saving the outtakes for his radio show?

Joël Robuchon and the Dangers of the Foodblogging Age [Eater L.A.]

NewsFeed 

2/ 4/08

11:01 AM

Alan Richman Confirmed Out at Bloomberg

The Alan Richman era at Bloomberg is over.Photo: GQ

Alan Richman is out at Bloomberg, reports say. A tipster reported as much to Gawker over the weekend, and Eater currently is citing “reliable info” that the critic left on his own, rather than getting fired. Our own source on the subject, a figure close to the center of the situation, confirms for us that Richman is no longer reviewing for Bloomberg. As much as we admire Richman’s work, we weren’t entirely surprised: Richman had evidenced tablecloth fatigue over the last few years, and had been at the reviewing grind much longer than any of his current peers. According to Eater, Peter Eliot will replace Richman in the weeks before a permanent replacement is named. More on the story (and our source says there is more to the story) as we hear it.

EaterWire AM Edition: Alan Richman Out at Bloomberg [Eater]

NewsFeed 

1/15/08

4:30 PM

The State of the (Momofuku) Union

News on Eater about the Momofuku empire suggests that there's been a shake-up. In a letter, David Chang announces that Peter Serpico is the new chef at Momofuku Ko and goes on to mention that “Tien, Kev, Scott and Serpico” will be running the show. As for Joaquin Baca, formerly Chang's co-chef and the Trotsky of the Momofuku empire? He's not in on this one, instead "working on his own concepts." Huh. We had heard that there was friction between the two, but we didn't expect Quino to be uninvolved with Ko altogether.

From The Desk of Dave Chang: Peter Serpico Named Chef at Momofuku Ko, More Changes at the Momo Empire [Eater]

Update: David Chang called us to clarify what he says was our complete misunderstanding of his statement on Eater. While Quino is going to pursue his own concepts, Chang says, and
won't be involved in the day-to-day running of the restaurant, "he's still a co-owner of all the restaurants, will still be helping out, and is very much a part of the Momofuku team. We're
family, friends, and brothers forever. Quino will always be involved."

NewsFeed 

11/29/07

3:30 PM

128 Billiards Becomes Tropical 128: What a Difference a New Sign Makes

Bobby Van's

128 Billiards has left the building.Photo: Daniel Maurer

The guys at Thrillist outed a favorite spot of ours today — Tropical 128 — and to make matters worse for those of us who wanted to keep it a secret between us and the Chinatown pool sharks, they hype the place like it was just remodeled to acquire its over-the-top tropical décor (causing Eater to call it an “opening”). Sorry, dudes, those fake trees have been there forever.

Read more»

NewsFeed 

11/15/07

5:30 PM

DOH Violations Might Not Have Been Pioneer's Deepest, Darkest Secret

Photo: Lori Nix

When we read Eater’s headline "Live From Red Hook: Pioneer Bar’s Dirty Little Secret," we nearly spit out our spiked coffee, worrying that the general public had finally gotten wise to the fact that the place — shuttered since late June after a DOH violation and now under new ownership — routinely did the “lock-in” thing, along with at least a couple of other bars in Red Hook (hence the time a friend almost convinced us to sneak onto the Queen Elizabeth 2 before sunup). But no, the “secret” (readily apparent on the Department of Health’s page) is that the bar racked up a ton of health-code violations. Now that the place is owned by the parents of a 5-year-old, we doubt the after-hours tradition will live on when it reopens next year, and the fact that actual policing authorities exist in the Hook (the first we had heard of the law making it down there) makes us nervous that we’re going to lose the rest of our favorite after-hours spots, and we'll have to quit drinking at 4 a.m. like every other chump. Perhaps a 6 a.m. live-blogging session is in order … before it's too late.

Related, and Inspired by: The Embers of Gentrification [NYM]

NewsFeed 

9/17/07

4:30 PM

Goldfarb Pooh-Poohs Doubts of Picnick’s Success

Line out the door not shown.Photo courtesy the Pure Project.

How has the opening of Picnick been going? Some Goldfarbian skeptics might say not so well. Writers to Eater have detailed their disappointments in graphic terms (“There was a bone in my pork. Ow.”), and now one of our correspondents writes in to ask, “What's with Picnick? It was open for Labor Day and a couple days after, but now it seems to always be closed? Is there an official date for a re-opening?”

Read more»

NewsFeed 

8/23/07

4:15 PM

Eater, Everyone Else Hot for Sam Talbot

Sam Talbot

Sam Talbot grinds with his pepper mill.Photo: Getty Images

Eater today announced a “Win a Date With Sam Talbot,” contest, posting some smokin’ photos of Hot Chef Sam Talbot taken for a charity event, the Glad Steamiest Chef Contest. (Grub Street’s pal Aaron Sanchez is also one of the steamy nominees.) The Eater-sponsored date is not sanctioned by Talbot, but editor Ben Leventhal thinks he can convince Talbot to participate with “a hot photo and the right cover letter.” But is the whole exercise just an excuse for Leventhal to proclaim his man-crush on Talbot from the rooftops of the Internet?

Read more»

Beef 

8/14/07

11:00 AM

Restaurant Girl News Makes Commenters Dish

Danyelle Freeman

The Daily News' new restaurant critic.Photo: Patrick McMullan

Yesterday’s Eater news of the installation Danyelle “Restaurant Girl” Freeman as the Daily News’ new restaurant critic unleashed a torrent of snarky hostility on the site’s message boards. Sadly, the comments were infinitely more entertaining than anything the victuals vixen is likely to write in the paper. A few choice selections are after the jump.

Read more»

Mediavore 

5/21/07

9:57 AM

A Rescue Plan for Restaurant Workers; No Fatty Crab for the UWS

The Restaurant Responsibility Act, just introduced in City Council, would keep eateries from abusing the help by tying operating permits to labor laws. [Gotham Gazette]

Fatty Crab owner writes in to say that Eater has it all wrong about an Upper West Side location. [Eater]

It’s salmon season in Alaska’s Copper River, and some of the city’s top fish cooks are spawning original dishes to take advantage. [NYDN]

Read more»

Beef 

5/ 8/07

2:14 PM

McNally Takes a Cheap Shot at Bruni

Did Keith McNally really have to go there?Photo: Patrick McMullan

In yet another retributive strike by a restaurateur against Frank Bruni (Jeffrey Chodorow's much-discussed broadside being the first), Morandi owner Keith McNally has planted a letter with Eater accusing the Times critic of being biased against woman chefs. “Bruni had never given a female chef in Manhattan anything more than one star, ever,” McNally writes. The complaint goes on for a long time and seems unlike McNally, who has almost always stayed above the fray. What’s especially unseemly is the way the letter dwells on Bruni’s attitude toward gender (“…when the chef is a man Bruni often makes quite a song and dance about it.”) Given the amount of food-world speculation about Bruni’s sexual orientation, this seems like a low blow, especially since the Times’ review echoed a near-universal critical consensus about Morandi. Times dining editor Pete Wells, asked to comment about the letter, agrees, saying simply, “Frank’s review speaks for itself. Period.”

Keith McNally: Bruni Has 'Unremittingly Sexist Slant' [Eater]

Beef 

3/29/07

4:17 PM

The Death of Paid Reservations?

As Eater reported, Weekend Epicure seems to be a scam (we’ve heard the same), and now both Danny Meyer and Keith McNally are on to PrimeTime Tables and the telltale ways in which they call in for the spots they then sell. Is this it for the reservation biz? PTT will surely change up their methods, and we’re guessing that other restaurateurs won’t be quite so aggressive as long as their tables are filled. But blame it on karma or the plain hard realities of business, just know that a seat you buy might not be a seat you actually get.

Commence Resy Scalper Retreat: McNally, Meyer onto Primetime Tables [Eater]
Earlier: Soon You Will Have to Pay for All Your Reservations

Back of the House 

3/23/07

2:34 PM

Danny Meyer May Not Be So Down on New Restaurants After All

Eater is reporting that Danny Meyer is preparing to start building a new restaurant at 100 Eleventh Avenue in West Chelsea, to be opened sometime in 2009. If true, color us unsurprised! When Danny Meyer tells you in an interview that “I haven’t opened a new restaurant since 2004. I just want to keep getting more deeply into the ones I do have right now,” take it with a grain of fleur de sel. You don't get a world-class restaurant empire by showing your cards to everybody who asks.

Update: The hospitality king is sticking to his story: “This is not a deal I even knew we were contemplating,” Meyer tells us. “It’s unbelievable! I have a partner whose full-time job consists of looking for these projects, and this is not something I even remember us having a lengthy conversation about.”

West Chelsea Slated to Get a Danny Meyer Restaurant [Eater]
Earlier: Danny Meyer on Shake Shack 2.0

Mediavore 

3/12/07

10:20 AM

Kitchen Abuse Exposed; Health Department Shutdowns Triple

Apparently, abuse of every kind is rampant in kitchens. Herewith, complaints leveled against Daniel, Jean Georges, Megu, Babbo, and more. [NYP]

Post–KFC–Taco Bell scandal, New York restaurant closures triple. [NYP]

Morandi is, like every other Keith McNally venture, a smashing success, and likely to remain so. [NYP]

Read more»

NewsFeed 

3/ 9/07

12:00 PM

Gordon Ramsay Chef Has Tomorrow (and the Next Day, and Day After That...) Off

Gordon Ramsay at the London chef de cuisine Neil Ferguson — basically, the guy running the kitchen — has apparently been canned. According to our source, as well as Eater, the staff was informed last night.

Ramsay Dismisses Neil Ferguson [Eater]

Update: Representatives confirm the move, saying that Ramsay veteran Josh Emett has taken over, with Ferguson returning to London to “focus on upcoming projects for Gordon Ramsay Holdings.”

NewsFeed 

3/ 6/07

5:19 PM

Lonesome Dove Flies Away

Ride on, cowboy. Ride on.Photo courtesy Lonesome Dove Western Bistro

We knew it had to happen, but we’re still filled with sadness and regret: Tim Love’s critically unloved restaurant Lonesome Dove has bitten the dust. We remember fleeting good times: annotating the Tomahawk Chop, busting the chef’s chops … surely there are others we’re forgetting. The Fort Worth flagship is still going strong — drop on in there sometime, y’hear?

Deathwatching: Lonesome Dove SHUTTERED [Eater]

Back of the House 

2/12/07

12:45 PM

Russian Tea Room Fires Gary Robins, and Robins Fires Back

When a restaurant gets off to a shaky start the way the Russian Tea Room has, a high-priced chef is often the first to go. And sure enough, after running into trouble — which became apparent early on, when we noted a less “than a quarter-capacity crowd at 9 p.m. on Saturday night” — the Tea Room has just given chef Gary Robins his walking papers. But Robins didn't take his dismissal lying down, giving the Eater boys a detailed insider's account of the near-chaos engulfing the place — not to mention a long passage from an e-mail he wrote to owner Hasan Biberaj, calling his behavior “deceitful and wrong.”

Robins on Russian Tea Room: 'Opened Without Being Ready, Understaffed in All Areas' [Eater]

User's Guide 

1/29/07

4:01 PM

We Submit Ourselves to PrimeTime Tables

The dream: Esca, unoccupied.Photo: John Saponara

If you’ve read Eater in the past couple of weeks, you’ve heard of Primetimetables.com, a scalping-type service that gets you tough-to-score reservations for a flat fee. It’s true that the restaurant world could soon experience something similar to what’s happened on Broadway, where good seats at hot shows can go for as much as $500 – it’s simple market economics, and you don’t have to be a Marxist to see the downside. But it’s also true that $45 will get you a table at a top restaurant if you call that day before noon. Heady stuff. We thought we’d give it a whirl – see how well the system works, and just how dirty we felt afterward.

Read more»

NewsFeed 

11/13/06

7:01 PM

Zak Pelaccio Opening New Restaurant — in London

Zak Pelaccio: International male.Photo: 5 Ninth Restaurant

We were as surprised as all get-out to hear via Eater that Zak Pelaccio and Jeffrey Chodorow are planning to take Fatty Crab national. So we called Pelaccio: "It's simply inaccurate," the chef tells us. "I don't know where Eater gets their info, but it's not from me nor any of my business partners." Fine — we Web types sometimes get the wrong information. But then, Pelaccio delivered a real bit of news: He'll be taking over Alain Ducasse's Spoon (owned by Jeffrey Chodorow) in the Sanderson Hotel in London and launching a Malaysian restaurant as consulting chef. "But that has nothing to do with Fatty Crab or even America," he adds. But it has everything to do with a local guy making good.

EaterWire: Ramsay Lands, Drops Two-Hour Time Limit, Boxer's Loses Their Lease, Fatty Crab Goes National! [Eater]

Back of the House 

10/13/06

10:00 AM

Iron Sous-Chef Busts a Move; A Man Tells of His Meatballs, Liquor License

• Gray Kunz ditches plans to open his second restaurant, Grayz, in the Aquavit space. [NYP]

• Bruni dropped in on a restaurant wearing a fanny pack and riding a scooter? No wonder he needed some R&R. [Eater]

davidburke & donatella gets a new chef de cuisine (Eric Hara, doing bacon-wrapped duck) and pastry chef (Monica Bellissimo, standing by her egg cream in an eggshell). [NYO]

• Some October-November openings via ZagatWire: The former Tocqueville space is turning Japanese; Anne Burrell, sous-chef to Batali on Iron Chef, takes over the kitchen at Centro Vinoteca. [Zagat]

• John LaFemina of Ápizz and the Orchard recounts the joy of applying for a liquor license in an excerpt from the forthcoming A Man and His Meatballs. [Eater]

 

 

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