Beneath the merciless UV light, the cartilage (bright white, center) is exposed for all to see.Photo: Melissa Hom
All Posts Tagged: ‘eric ripert’
Under the Ultraviolet Light, the Crab Cartilage Can't Hide
Eric Ripert and Friends Cook for Tibet
From left, Alfredo Ayala, Eric Ripert, Yosuke Suga, Michel Richard, and Jennie Lorenzo.Photo: Lyn Hughes
Quality Meats Testing Its Own Ice-Cream Brand; Wild Bill Clinton Eats at Hill Country
Bridgehampton: Tom Colicchio, Claudia Fleming, and the Ripper will be among the faces at the Great Chefs Dinner benefit on July 13. [Zagat Buzz]
East Village: Counter is hosting a tasting of organic and earth-friendly spirits and foods on Saturday afternoon to support green companies. [Local Wine Events]
Blue & Gold was robbed Monday, but don't worry — the burglars couldn't get the TVs off the wall. [Down by the Hipster]
Flatiron: Bill Clinton was at Hill Country last night. [Eater]
Long Island City: Mundo's specialty, Red Sonjas, are soft, red-lentil patties "flavored perfectly with parsley, scallions, and a hint of garlic" and served with fresh lettuce wraps. [Joey in Astoria]
Midtown East: Oceana is moving to a larger space next summer when its lease expires, and the new spot will have a raw bar. [NYS]
Midtown West: Dreamy-eyed Quality Meats pastry chef Cory Colton's ice creams are so good (he did study at Ice Cream University) that he's working on a trial run to retail a Quality Meats ice cream. [Restaurant Girl]
The Southside has abruptly closed. It was "no landmark, but Times Square has lost another affordable, independent restaurant. And that's not good." [Lost City]
Murray Hill: "Artisanal is like an uptown (really, midtown) Balthazar, with less noise, less crowding, and, true, much less of a frisson." Now with delicious aged steak. [NYT]
‘Top Chef’ Is Over, and Adam Platt Can Rest
Richard, Lisa, Stephanie: from frustration to anger to earnest effort.Photo courtesy Bravo
Eric Ripert Launches Blog With Ode to Toaster-ovens
When Eric Ripert told us that he was starting his own Website, Avec Eric, we knew it wouldn't be full of random woolgathering like some other chef blogs. Though only two posts in, the Ripper already has a laserlike focus on one subject: toaster-ovens. While it will no doubt become a more traditional chef site, right now the Le Bernardin chef is devoted to exploring the use and greatness of toasters. And why not? After all, when you think of Eric Ripert, you just think of toaster-ovens.
Avec Eric [Official site]
Related: Paul Liebrandt Stuns Web With Most Banal Blog Ever
Denver Writer Pens Longing Love Letter to Le Bernardin
Anytime you want to fly over...Photo: Josh Ozersky
Dinner at Le Bernardin [Denver Westward, via Fork in the Road]
Related: Le Bernardin's VIPs Get Baby Eels
Samuelsson and Ripert Sell New York to the Tourists
Samuelsson happens to like Aquavit.Photo: Getty Images
Just Ask the Locals [NYC Visit]
Union Square Restaurant Plans on Hold; Pot-Dealing Food Workers
• Plans for a new restaurant at the north end of Union Square are now indefinitely on hold. [NYP]
• In addition to seemingly ignoring a stop-work order, Studio B’s rooftop could get the Greenpoint club in more hot water with the city if it adds too much capacity. [Gothamist]
• It’s apparently not that uncommon for food workers to deal a little pot from their workplaces. [Grinder/CHOW]
Ducasse Dines at Brasserie Cognac; Don't Eat Too Many Soft-shell Crabs
• Alain Ducasse and Eric Ripert dined together at Brasserie Cognac the other night, in spite of the fact that it was the night Ducasse’s Benoit opened. [NYP]
• Stephen Aspirino, the well-attired former Top Chef contestant, may open a second restaurant in Miami. [NYP]
• There’s more to Cinco de Mayo than just drinking margaritas. [Feed/TONY]
Le Bernardin's VIPs Get Baby Eels
Baby eels, before Eric Ripert gets his hands on them. Photo: Melissa Hom
Gramercy Tavern Goes Through 120 Pounds of Garlic a Month
And a little bit of butter…Photo: Courtesy of ABC News
'Nightline' Plate List: Michael Anthony [ABC News]
Ripert Admits Organic Doesn’t Always Mean Tasty
No less a personage than Eric Ripert spilled the beans on the great unspoken secret of the organic movement: A lot of the food tastes bad. Speaking to an audience of trendsetters at the PSFK New York conference last week, the Le Bernardin chef said, “Organic and sustainable doesn’t mean that your product is good. An organic cheese ten years ago was inedible, like rubber.” Of course, the Ripper also said that with technology on the march, sustainable food will soon be as good as it is virtuous. But it isn’t yet, not always; and only a man of the Ripper’s caliber could get away with saying so in public.
Chefs Disappoint Their Parents; Cooking With 99 Cent–Store Food
• The parents of today’s notable chefs weren’t all so happy when they found out their young ones’ career plans. Kolly Mehta, whose son, Jehangir, mans the kitchen at Graffiti, recalls, "I had mixed emotions, because we had cooks and servants in the house, and where we are from it’s not recognized as such an outstanding job." [TONY]
• Seamus Mullen doesn't want to hear a lot of that damn rock and roll in the kitchen. [NYT]
• Starbucks has purchased the Coffee Equipment Company of Seattle, maker of the $11,000 Clover coffee maker, and coffee snobs are already revolting: “In protest, Stumptown Coffee in Portland, Ore., one of Clover’s earliest champions, said it had decided to stop using Clover machines.” [NYT]
Eric Ripert Hobnobs With the Dalai Lama
Over at her blog, Insatiable Gourmet, our own Gael Greene delivers news of Eric Ripert’s pilgrimage to India to meet with his holiness, the Dalai Lama. Yes, as Carl Spackler says in Caddyshack, “the Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald … striking.” But did the Ripper get, you know, a little something for the effort? Even if it’s just total consciousness when he dies? Apparently not. While Ripert did get to hear the Lama speak, the chef's plan to train the refugees who run the Norbulingka Institute in India, which was founded by the Lama to preserve Tibetan culture, has run aground on the rocks of Sino-Tibetan political strife. Ripert had hoped to start a foundation to send American chefs there, but that's on hold for the moment, as you might expect. Ripert, we are happy to report, is back safe and sound at his post at Le Bernardin.
Short Order [Insatiable Critic]
Tom Colicchio’s Lessons in Manliness
That dome was created with Braun clippers.Photo: Getty Images
A Peek Into the Kitchen of Les Halles on a Not-So-Normal Night
Earlier, we brought you the aftermath of Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain’s one-night stint at Les Halles, and now, for those who missed it on No Reservations earlier this week, footage of the actual flustercluck has hit YouTube. Watch as “the fancy French guy and the broke-down guy,” as Bourdain calls Ripert and himself, try to keep up with executive chef Carlos Llaguno. The Ripper, clad in a do-rag, begs for margaritas while Bourdain tries not to pass out. Llaguno’s closing thoughts — “He says he loves his profession, but for some reason he became famous and he doesn’t need to cook anymore” — are kind of ominous in light of Alan Richman’s takedown of the “truck-stop cuisine,” but a note affixed to the kitchen window — “THAT WAS A FUCKING GREAT MEAL” — says that at least someone (if only a Travel Channel producer?) is happy.
Related: Anthony Bourdain - Into the Fire - Scene With Eric Ripert [YouTube]
Anthony Bourdain Insults Alan Richman Right Back
Bourdain and Ripert Postgame Over Tequila in the Les Halles Kitchen
A while back, we revealed that Anthony Bourdain was planning to return to the kitchen of Les Halles for an episode of No Reservations. A clip of the show’s aftermath is now up, and it’s priceless: Post-shift, Bourdain and Eric Ripert sit down for what Ripert calls a glass of “pure water,” but is probably his favorite Patrón Silver. True to his name, the Ripper rips into Bourdain for having just one person at a station that he thinks should be manned by two — “Those guys are promoting slavery.” Bourdain pooh-poohs him: “If you put two people back there, they get in each other’s way.” But he admits it’s one of the toughest cooking stations in the city. Which is why, Bourdain says, he wouldn’t last long on it: “After a week, my brain would snap.” Our favorite part comes at the end, when Ripert admits, “At one point I was totally lost.… I had no idea what I was grilling.…” In tequila veritas!
Anthony Bourdain Interviews Chef Eric Ripert [YouTube]
Related: Bourdain to Cook at Les Halles, Yearns for Giant Food Courts
Eric Ripert Defends Escolar; Ed Koch: Bib Wearer
Radar ran a story on escolar’s tendency to cause leaky bowel movements and mentioned that the fish was served at Le Bernardin. This, in turn, prompted a response from Eric Ripert himself, which prompted the author of the article to respond, “I’m sure Eric Ripert serves his escolar in such a way that it doesn’t make people shit orange oil. He’s good like that.” [Fresh Intelligence/Radar]
Chef Craig Hopson says the ghost of Aaron Burr haunts the kitchen of One if by Land, Two if by Sea and has a tendency to steal batches of brioche. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Related: One if by Land Breaks Out a Bar Menu, and Not a Minute Too Soon
Katrina Markoff, founder of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, likes to pair her company’s bacon-laden chocolate bar with pieces of Gruyère and a glass of Shiraz. [WSJ]
Related: A Bacon Tribute Product We Can Get Behind
Food Network to Publish Magazine?; Food-Porn Photos for Sale
Hearst Publications is supposedly in talks with the Food Network to publish a new food magazine and has been stealing editors from Every Day With Rachael Ray for months. The only problem? The channel’s big stars don’t seem to be a part of the publication. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
Soto chef Sotohiro Kosugi responds to fears of too much mercury in tuna. “Eat with balance. Balance of meals is the key to a healthy life.” [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Related: Sushi Eaters Face Tuna Fears
Neil Ferguson, Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, and others are leading a full-on British culinary invasion on our shores. [Chicago Tribune]
Chef Eric Ripert Starts the Day With Chocolate, Ends It With Chorizo and Tequila
Eric Ripert in serrano heaven.Photo: Dorothy Hong
Sign On to FohBoh; Stay Dry at Death & Co.
There’s a new social-networking site for members of the restaurant industry called FohBoh, but if you’re not an industry insider, you can enjoy the forums, blogs, and videos on all aspects of food. [Red Herring via The Grinder/Chow]
Le Bernadin’s Eric Ripert will open a new restaurant called 10 Arts at the Philadelphia Ritz-Carlton this spring. [Zagat Buzz]
A lot of people may be freaking out over the FDA’s approval of meat and milk from cloned livestock for consumption, but cloned food products have been in the food supply for some time. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Related: FDA to Beef Industry: Send in the Clones
Eric Ripert Builds a Perfect Burger — But You Can't Eat It
Having conquered the oceanic sphere, the Ripper is on burgers now.Photo: Josh Ozersky
Bourdain to Cook at Les Halles, Yearns for Giant Food Courts
Bourdain on the state of Siberia, and more.Photo: Melissa Hom
Given all of his travels, what does Bourdain think New York needs? A giant food court, of course.
Liebrandt Previews New Restaurant at Autism Benefit
We predict he'll call it Restaurant Liebrandt.Photo: Melissa Hom
The Party to (Literally) End All Parties at Le Bernardin
There are book parties, there are banquets, and then there was the event held last night at Le Bernardin for Melanie Dunea’s My Last Supper. From the start, you knew it was going to be out of control: Rather than entering the front door, guests were led, à la the Copa scene in Goodfellas, through winding back stairs, hallways, and the kitchen, where winged dancing girls, identical twin Lenny Kravitz look-alikes, and even a Grim Reaper awaited. Eric Ripert’s meal was an astounding sleigh ride from a Puerto Rican whole hog to the most ethereal escolar imaginable, and included both a D.J. and cabaret performer Lady Rizo singing “White Wedding” on top of a piano, while dancers in veils and thongs frolicked underneath. The less said about the after-party, which inevitably ended with Daniel Boulud dancing on top of the banquet table, the better. But enough talk. On to the slideshow.
My Last Supper Book Party at Le Bernardin [Slideshow]
Related: Eating the Last Supper
Josie of ‘Top Chef’ Opens Restaurant; Schumer Opens a Second Front
Josie Malave’s restaurant Speakeasy in Clinton Hill has had its soft opening. [Eat for Victory/VV]
One food editor learned some things from last week’s nose-to-tail feast Fergus Henderson–at–the–Spotted Pig including “Hung Huynh is much sweeter than the series might lead you to believe … Ilan Hall has a project up his sleeve … there’s no graceful way to eat a roasted pig’s head when Heath Ledger is sitting at the next table watching.” [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Related: Fergus Henderson to Cook Tomorrow at Savoy, Wednesday at the Spotted Pig
Chuck Schumer has joined another foodie cause: In response to the recent Topps Meat contaminations, he has accused the USDA as being “toothless tiger” and plans to introduce legislation that would give the Department of Agriculture authority to close down plants that repeatedly fail inspections and order recalls. [NYP]
Related: Senator Schumer Springs to the Red Hook Ball-Fields’ Defense
My Meal at Le Bernardin Makes Me Want to Keep My Sense of Taste!
The pathway to despair, if losing your taste.Photo: Getty Images
Readers Respond to Ripert's Good Deed, Grieve for Lost Taste
A couple of letters recently came in support of Facing My Final Hour, the young fellow who might lose his sense of taste this weekend. We set him up with a special dinner at Le Bernardin, but it turns out he’s hardly alone:
Eric Ripert to Feed Reader Who May Lose Sense of Taste
In a bad spot? The Ripper will step into the breach.Photo: Josh Ozersky
Next weekend I’m getting surgery done on an impacted wisdom tooth which is growing very close to a central nerve. I’ve been told that if this nerve is damaged, there’s a chance I will lose a large part of feeling in my face – including a loss of my sense of taste. I’ve gone into “doomsday mode”, thinking of all the best flavors this city has to offer in an effort to get them ingrained into my gray memory. As of now I’ve got a reservation at Degustation, will be making at least three visits minimum to Ssäm Bar, and another to Sasabune. Are there maybe two or three dishes or places that should be added to this ever-growing list? Le Bernardin is in my sights of course, but understandably may be difficult to get into.
Signed,
Facing My Final Hour
No Rest for the Red Hook Vendors; Bourdain Considers 'Top Chef' Episode a Waste
Can the Red Hook Vendors never rest? Now Cesar Fuentes is causing concern for resigning and threatening to sue the same people he represented. [NYT]
Bourdain considers Wednesday’s Top Chef a waste, as the producers snagged Eric Ripert only to “shoehorn him into a Scout jamboree” when “it would have been nice, given the all-too-rare presence of a distinguished specialist, to see what the kids could REALLY do with fish.” And why won't Hung cook Vietnamese? [Bourdain’s Blog/Bravo]
Discrimination lawyer Marc Rapaport is surprised by his own defense of O’Reilly in a Times op-ed about the Sylvia’s incident, saying “it is apparent from [his comments’] context that O’Reilly was actually attempting to dispel racial stereotypes regarding African-Americans.” [PR Web]