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Grub Street

Edited by Josh Ozersky with Daniel Maurer

All Posts Tagged: ‘il buco’

Mediavore 

7/18/08

10:00 AM

Don’t Fear the Tomato; Blais’s Burger Coming to New York

• The FDA deems tomatoes safe to eat again, but beware the potentially salmonella-laden jalapeño and serrano peppers. [WSJ]

• Ben & Jerry’s has unveiled a new ice cream inspired by Elton John called Goodbye, Yellow Brickle Road. It contains a lot of things that probably shouldn’t be eaten together in good conscience, like chocolate ice cream, peanut-butter cookie dough, butter "brickle," and white-chocolate chunks. [Serious Eats]

• Finally, a book on cannibalism clears up that huge misunderstanding about human flesh tasting like pork; it actually tastes like beef, but better. [NYS]

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Two for Eight 

7/15/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Alto and Insieme; Scarpetta and Il Buco Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian.

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In the Magazine 

7/14/08

9:30 AM

Platt on Scarpetta; Recession-Era Lemonade Stands

scarpetta

Scarpetta: three stars from Adam Platt.Photo: Noah Sheldon

In New York this week, Adam Platt finds three stars in his heart for Scott Conant's Scarpetta and Gael Greene calls the soba at Matsugen an “exciting revelation.” In "Openings" this week, Rob and Robin introduce us to Brooklyn's new American bistro Peaches, Soho's long-awaited Delicatessen, Michael White's new Convivio, and the Tabla Street Cart. Ignacio Mattos provides this week's recipe for grilled fava beans, and the staff of three lemonade stands talk business in a recession. It's tough all over.

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Two for Eight 

6/27/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Abboccato and Felidia; Il Buco and Del Posto Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian.

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The New York Diet 

6/20/08

9:00 AM

Marco Pierre White Has an Impromptu Wrap Party at Katz's

marco pierre white

Katz's: "The best pastrami in the world."Photo: Dave Bentley

Yesterday, the lionized (and lion-haired) British chef Marco Pierre White finished filming his NBC reality show, Chopping Block. The two teams that competed for the chance to open a restaurant sometimes served up “horrific” and “painful” food, he says. Unsurprisingly, his most memorable meals occurred off of the set. “New York is the most exciting restaurant city in the world. It’s more exciting than London.” That doesn’t mean he sought out the five-star joints: “I’ve been there and done that. Do I want to be told how to eat my food? Do I want to be told that I have to have 12 or 24 courses? Or made to feel privileged because I got a table?” So where did he find what he calls “that balance of serving great food in fantastic environments at affordable prices”?

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NewsFeed 

6/17/08

1:55 PM

Il Buco’s Olive Oil Harvested by Seniors

olive oil

Harvesting olives in the Umbria region of Italy.Photo courtesy Donna Lennard

Il Buco owner Donna Lennard will debut her olive-oil documentary, La Raccolta, at the Food Film Festival tomorrow night. The film captures the waning traditions of Umbria's olive-oil harvest, and a tasting of what Lennard calls the region's "full-flavored, herbaceous, and spicy oil" will follow. Lennard attended NYU's graduate film program, but this is her first short about food. She spoke to Grub Street's Alexandra Vallis.

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Neighborhood Watch 

5/28/08

3:00 PM

Welcome to Beer Island; Get Psyched for the Food Film Festival

Coney Island: The new sand-stocked bar Beer Island has a lot of potential, but, so far, its hot-dog-only menu and non-view can't compare to the awesomeness that is Water Taxi Beach. [Eater]
Fort Greene: The people at 67 Burger makes a ridiculously juicy one. [Hamburger Today]
Midtown East: The Oyster Bar has scheduled a herring-and–Heineken Light festival running from June 3 to 20. Netherlands consul general Gajus Scheltema will be present at the opening ceremony. [Grub Street]
Park Slope: The food co-op has voted to ban plastic bags and will no longer stock them for customers, so don't forget your tote. [Brooklyn Paper]
Soho: Il Buco owner Donna Lennard's film about Italy's olive harvest will show at Water Taxi Beach's Food Film Festival on June 18. [Grub Street]

NewsFeed 

5/14/08

3:30 PM

A Guided Tour of Pig Parts, Here in New Pork City

pork
In honor of the pig, the official fetish animal of the New Carnivore movement, Time Out New York this week has a breakdown (literally) of where each part of the animal can be had at its best. The highlights include the following: head (via terrine) at Bar Boulud, shoulder at Il Buco, skin at El Quinto Pino, and belly at Sakagura. It’s a great read, but we have our own suggestions: bacon at RUB, rather than Westville; the Spotted Pig's ears, over Ba Xuyen; and Hill Country's ribs, instead of the oven-roasted version at Georgia’s Eastside BBQ.

Think Pig [TONY]

Two for Eight 

5/ 9/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at i Trulli and San Domenico; Del Posto and Il Buco Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: Haute Italian.

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NewsFeed 

5/ 9/08

11:00 AM

Chefs Love What Mom Used to Make

Pichet Ong, Jean Adamson, Sue Torres, Alex Urena

Clockwise from top left, Pichet Ong, Jean Adamson, Sue Torres, Alex Ureña.Photos courtesy of the chefs

We’re into foams and deconstruction as much as the next guy, but nothing satisfies us more than our mom’s simple yet singular gazpacho (this is the half-Spanish half of Grub Street talking). We’re not the only ones prone to such nostalgia: Pichet Ong’s mother, Ruby, who to this day frosts the cupcakes at his bakery, raised him on a roasted-eggplant dish that will make an appearance on the Mother’s Day tasting menu at P*ONG. We asked a handful of chefs which childhood dishes they remember most fondly, and which ones, if any, they’ve reinvented as their own.

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Two for Eight 

4/23/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Morandi and Insieme; Del Posto and Il Buco Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: Haute Italian.

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Neighborhood Watch 

4/16/08

3:00 PM

Jerry's Asian Opens Today in Tribeca; Gold-Plated Twinkies in Greenpoint

East Village: Minca is one "great and relatively unhyped" ramen spot left in the — at least according to this blogger — as-yet unsaturated noodle neighborhood. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Flatiron: Some of the desserts pastry chef Nancy Olson makes for Gramercy Tavern were inspired by her grandmother's German-Russian-American baking. [Restaurant Girl]
Greenpoint: A new shop called jan & äya sells local confections like baker Sarah Magid's gold-coated Twinkie-esque cakes. [Gridskipper]
Soho: Il Buco's getting in the Earth Day spirit next week by donating all proceeds from prix fixe lunches served on April 22–27 to Al Gore's latest global-warming campaign. [Zagat]
Tribeca: Jerry, of the now-closed Jerry’s in Soho, debuts his Pan-Asian spot, YourAsian, at 90 Chambers Street today. [NYT]
Williamsburg: Bean-to-bar chocolate makers the Mast Brothers are opening a retail shop (and will also replace a Greenpoint apartment building for their new factory!) on North 3rd Street, between Wythe and Berry. [NYS]

Two for Eight 

4/ 7/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at A Voce and Felidia; Babbo Fully Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian.

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Two for Eight 

3/ 4/08

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Abboccato and San Domenico; Babbo Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: high Italian.

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Two for Eight 

12/20/07

4:00 PM

Tables Available at A Voce and Insieme; Il Buco Mostly Booked

It's 4:30 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian.

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Neighborhood Watch 

12/17/07

3:00 PM

Holiday High Tea Returns to Midtown East; Avenue B New Dining Hotbed

Dumbo: An Eva Solo Oil/Vinegar Bottle, from Tivoli Home on 111 Front Street, made this list of gifts available in the neighborhood. [Dumbo NYC]
East Village: Avenue B "has developed a thriving restaurant scene" now that Back Forty has joined the ranks of classics 26 Seats and Max. Even if there were tumbleweeds at Cantina the other night. [NYT] Food critic David Rosengarten has named Il Buco his pick for restaurant of the year in his weekly e-zine called Tastings. They do have great gift-worthy chandeliers. [Grub Street]
Midtown East: The Four Seasons is serving high tea with a view of its lobby’s 24-foot Christmas tree from 3 to 5 p.m. daily until December 29. [Zagat]
West Village: Little owl chef Joey Campanaro created this recipe for spinach gnocchi with pancetta beurre noisette and chanterelles. [Restaurant Girl]

NewsFeed 

12/12/07

9:30 AM

Pig Farmer to Deliver Pigs in Pig-Fueled Truck

Pig Mobile

This is not Eggleston's fleet, though we wish it were.Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Bev Eggleston, the Virginia pig farmer trying to revive Ossabaw pigs, has refitted his truck to run on barbecue grease! He's struck up a symbiotic friendship with Hill Country’s Robbie Richter (Richter gets to try great pork, Bev gets to eat great barbecue), and the two have come to an understanding by which Richter will save his grease for Eggleston’s special diesel engine. The idea’s not as crazy as it sounds: San Francisco asks restaurants to recycle grease for the city's bus fleet.

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Two for Eight 

12/ 3/07

4:00 PM

Tables Available at i Trulli and Insieme; Il Buco Mostly Booked

It's 4:30 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian.

Read more»

Trimmings 

11/16/07

5:50 PM

(Some of!) Il Buco's Nutso Chandeliers Can Be Yours for a Price

Let there be light.Photo: Courtesy of Il Buco

Thirteen years ago Donna Lennard and Alberto Avalle took over what was then the studio and workshop of artist Warren Muller and opened an antiques store with Muller’s quirky chandeliers front and center. It would become the little slice of loveliness known as Il Buco, where Muller’s creations are still for sale at prices starting around $3,000. You’re likely to get the owners to part with the one incorporating oil cans — Lennard says customers always bang their heads on it — but if your heart is set on the not-for-sale one above the bar (an antique rake with porcelain sockets on each rung, not pictured) Lennard will send you to the artist’s Philadelphia studio. “He’s a magical guy,” Lennard says of Muller. “He loves to play with light in fantastical ways.” So fantastical, in fact, that Muller, who now sells larger pieces made from Mini Coopers and the like for as much as $200,000, is hard-pressed to describe his creative process. Nevertheless, we asked him to try.

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Two for Eight 

10/24/07

4:00 PM

Tables Available at Morandi and San Domenico; Del Posto Mostly Booked

It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian.

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Foodievents 

9/18/07

2:25 PM

Il Buco Goes Hog Wild Thursday Afternoon

Big deal on Bond Street: last year’s Sagra del MailePhoto courtesy of Il Buco

Il Buco’s annual Sagra del Maiale festival (pig party to us Americans) runs Thursday from 1 to 6 p.m., and it kills us that we can’t go. The restaurant, which has always been a source of ingredient-driven Italian food, has taken its aesthetic up a notch under chef Ignacio Mattos’ watch. The pigfest is perfectly symbolic of that — it’s not just whole hog, but Ossabaw pork from an island off Georgia. It’s one of the most intensely flavorful pigs in the world, with a taste reminiscent of Spanish Ibérico hogs, wild boars, the sound of rushing water, first kisses in prehistoric South American jungles, and your first pork chop. The menu, which includes barbecued pork, Ossabaw panini, ricotta fritters, farmer's-market panzanella, and wild arugula with lemon, red onion, and Pecorino, is a paltry $20 a plate. Do what you can to get there; it looks to be pretty special.

Sagra del Maiale Festival

At the Market 

3/26/07

2:00 PM

For Chef-Worthy Ingredients, Head to the Source

A taste of honey.Photo: Zoe Singer

Chefs are always going on about the importance of raw ingredients. Get in on the action by shopping at restaurants with gourmet markets attached.

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In the Magazine 

9/21/06

12:24 PM

Today: A Sidewalk Pork Roast

A roast pig, cooked slowly for the whole honest world to see, is one of the supreme gastronomic spectacles. Rob and Robin tell us about one going on between 12:30 and 7 p.m. today at the pork-cellent downtown eatery Il Buco. We believe that the biggest draw of a pig roast is the exceedingly crisp and flavorful skin, known as the "crackling." In his 1822 essay "A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig," Charles Lamb had this to say: "There is no flavour comparable, I will contend, to that of the crisp, tawny, well-watched, not over-roasted crackling, as it is well called." [Pig Festival]

 

 

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