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• Rachael Ray and Bill Clinton are opening a pop-up restaurant Monday night in the Barbuto space to benefit her Yum-o! organization. [NYDN]
• Pinkberry’s “all natural” frozen yogurt contains a lot of ingredients that aren’t so natural. [NYT]
• Stephen Mancini produces homemade grappa, limoncello, and wine in the cellar of Union Square Café. [NYS]
• Who should Peter Meehan’s successor at the Times be, according to him? “Somebody fucking hungry, that’s for sure.” [Eater]
• Just like food prices, beer prices are expected to rise due to global warming. [NYP]
• With lying chef Robert Irvine out of the way, Iron Chef Michael Symon will serve as the new star of the popular show Dinner: Impossible.
Related: Surprise, Surprise: Robert Irvine Gets the Boot From the Food Network
• Alain Ducasse’s Benoit opened yesterday in the former La Côte Basque space, and though it’s not as expensive as Adour, it’s still a pricey bistro. [Zagat Buzz]
• Dom DeMarco of Di Fara, the Saint of Avenue J, continues to be worshipped as a godlike figure. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]
Why should we care what the San Pellegrino company thinks are the world's 50 best restaurants? And yet, as with Michelin, Zagat, and every other ranking, we always do. San Pellegrino's angle is that they rank the top restaurants worldwide, thus awaking nationalist fury in every slighted country. (The list is determined by a global poll of chefs, restaurateurs, and food writers.) Which, as usual, means every country other than Spain, since again El Bulli has come out on top, followed by England's the Fat Duck, France's Pierre Gagnaire, and another Spanish entry, Mugaritz. But — a consolation to the U.S. — next on the list come back-to-back Americans: the French Laundry and Per Se. After that, the U.S. falls off the list until Jean Georges at 17, Le Bernardin at 18, and Chicago's Alinea at 21. No doubt the list has a major snob appeal and will make a fine to-do list for international bons vivants.
El Bulli Named World's Best Restaurant; Per Se, Noma Advance [Bloomberg]
Fernando Navas makes cheese air.
What can you do?Photo: Melissa Hom
Mix up your holiday charitable giving by entering a raffle for a coffee date with Per Se’s Thomas Keller or Ferran Adrià of Spain’s El Bulli. [NYT]
Related: Ferran Adrià, Molecular Gastronomist—Who, Me? [NYM]
On his No Reservations holiday special, Anthony Bourdain spoke with a veterinarian who explained that foie gras production is not the demonic act it has been portrayed as by animal-rights groups, so eat up! [Eat for Victory/VV]
If Amy Sacco didn’t convince you of the growing synergy between restaurants and real estate, consider that Centovini has just struck a deal with luxe condo Soho Mews that offers not only delivery to the building but also the option to have executive chef Patti Jackson provide in-home cooking. [NYP]
Keith McNally talks about Balthazar, where the breakfast service is "absurdly busy" and his last meal would be "on the navel of the actress Maria Bello." [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
More radio morons in hot water: CBS suspends Elvis and JV for pranking a Chinese restaurant, asking for "shrimp flied lice," making dumb egg-roll jokes, and other old-time, racist vulgarities. [CBS News]
Spain’s El Bulli named top restaurant in the world again. No. 2? The Fat Duck in London. It’s a proud day for molecular gastronomy. [CNN]
To add to Rob and Robin's picks for chocoholics and pork fiends, more gifts like wild-boar soppressata and the $350 El Bulli cookbook. [TONY]
A former sandwich of the week from Philly Slim's snubbed for 99 Miles to Philly in roundup of best sandwiches. [Gridskipper]
A list for latke lovers, including the $1.50 special at G&M. [amNY]
How to steer clear of Cuban-food "poseurs" like Azucar. [Epoch Times]
The coin of the realm.Photograph by Melissa Hom
This society may be unofficial, but we belong to it. It is made of men and women who have tasted the meat of the celebrated pata negra, or black-foot pig, and will do anything for more. "Once you taste ibérico, you can't compare it to anything else," Bar Jamón chef Andy Nusser has said. The society's holy grail, though, remains tantalizingly out of reach for Americans — even ones with a deep affinity for Spain.
The most admired chef in the world doesn't have a restaurant in New York, Paris, or Las Vegas. He doesn't appear on TV. His name is little known among the general public, but chefs speak it with awe, in low whispers. He is Ferran Adrià, and he is coming to New York on Saturday.
We kid you not: Adrià, who heads up the kitchen at Spain's El Bulli, probably rates as the most influential cook in the world. As Rob and Robin explain, New Yorkers will finally have a chance to see him at work when he and nine other leading Spanish cooks demonstrate their "molecular gastronomy" techniques for Spain's 10: Cocina de Vanguardia, at Guastivino's, in the magazine. At $300 per person, the event, which includes food and wine samplings throughout the day and a tapas lunch, ain't cheap. But neither is a Manhattan tablecloth meal. Nor round-trip airfare to Spain.
Buy tickets here.
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