Adrian Benepe takes it on the chin.Photo: brooklynpaper.com
Our Man Grills the Commish [Brooklyn Paper]
Earlier: Come Meet Us Sunday at the Red Hook Ball Fields
Grub Street's Complete Coverage of the Red Hook Vendors
All Posts Tagged: ‘red hook’
Parks Commissioner Grilled by Brooklyn Journalist
Former Country Chef Out at Elizabeth; Choice Market Opening in Dumbo
Dumbo: An outpost of Clinton Hill's Choice Market will open on the corner of York and Jay streets (near the F subway stop at York Street). [Dumbo NYC]
Flatiron: Jay-Z's 40/40 Club turns five this summer and will start serving a new sports bar–type menu in August. [Grub Street]
Nolita: Elizabeth restaurant has let go executive chef John Iconomou, and former Ilili chef Ryan Grant is filling in for the time being. [Eater]
Red Hook: The 360 space should reopen as an Italian restaurant by September. [Eater]
West Village: Danyelle Freeman reviewed Sheridan Square this week and only noted in the last line that chef Gary Robbins, who created the menu she focused on, has left. [NYDN]
Upper East Side: The burger at J.G. Melon "is the epitome of aesthetic perfection: griddle-cooked fresh ground beef, American cheese, a toasted white bun, sliced red onions, and pickles. It is served straddling both sides of the bun, which is laid out with the two halves facing up." [Hamburger Today]
Come Meet Us Sunday at the Red Hook Ball Fields
Photo: Alexa Matson
Serious Eats Meet-Up: Sunday July 27 at the Red Hook Ball Fields [Serious Eats]
Cataloguing Midtown’s Meat-Over-Rice Carts; You Can Dance If Want to in Chinatown
Chinatown: Santos' Party House is already a dancing nirvana. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Greenwich Village: Even concierge services find making reservations at Babbo to be a big pain. [Diner's Journal/NYT]
Midtown: This tasting guide to the hood's thirteen meat-on-rice carts includes a photo for each spot's serving. [Midtown Lunch]
Related: Cartography
Park Slope: Corner Burger has just opened at 381 Fifth Avenue in a space where at least three other restaurants have failed, but their onion rings are off to a yummy start. [A Hamburger Today via Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn]
Red Hook: Coal-oven pizzeria Anselmo's was supposed to open by the Fourth of July, but the storefront is still under construction. [Slice]
Union Square: Tristar-strawberry season won't putter out until September, and until then you can find the teeny berries at the Berried Treasures stand on Wednesdays and Fridays. [Restaurant Girl]
Red Hook Vendors Need Your Taco Dollars
The Brooklyn Paper tells an awful tale today of the Red Hook vendors and their misery in trying to comply with the Health Department’s byzantine regulations. Aside from all the ridiculous equipment they’ve been forced to buy, they’ve been prevented from selling their Latino street foods and are now doubly in debt from the delays and the outfitting. One pupusa vendor shelled out $35,000 to come up to code; another taco vendor spent between $45,000 and $50,000 to get his rig ready, and, as his daughter laments, “We’re out three months of work.” But this weekend is the vendors' chance to start turning things around. So go to Red Hook soon, and bring cash.
Hook Vendors in the Red; City Rules, Delays Cause Lo$$es [Brooklyn Paper]
Grub Street's Full Coverage of the Red Hook Vendors
Look for Red Hook Vendors Next Weekend
A Chowhound poster reprinted this e-mail from Red Hook vendor rep Cesar Fuentes this morning, and it's in line with what we last heard from him.
Dear friends and supporters,We have decided to pass in this exciting update for your information before its official press release or its official announcement.
Upon our last compliance hurdle being met -that is, the vendors' food trucks and carts passing DOHMH inspection next week- our affair can finally open its season as early as the weekend of July 19th!!
While we are almost certain that most vendors will be compliant & ready to operate by July 19th, we have also set up a 'rain date' for the weekend of July 26th in case the majority of our vendors are required to further adjust their mobile food vending units to meet inspection standards.
While we will issue an official statement advising the specific start date soon, please feel free to spread word that our affair will definitely start on either date this month.
Thanks as always for your constant support & solidarity!
Red Hook Ball Fields [Chowhound]
Earlier: Grub Street's complete coverage of the Red Hook vendors.
No Red Hook Vendors This Weekend, But Still Plenty to Eat
Not this Fourth of July, we're sorry to say.Photo: Alexa Matson
Weekend Buzz [Strong Buzz]
Earlier: Can I Take My Parents to the Red Hook Vendors This Weekend?
Cocktails Go Molecular; Hung Going to Bocuse d’Or?
• Oh, dear: “Molecular cocktails” — think watermelon foam on top of your Champagne — are the new trend at some of the city’s best bars. [amNY]
• With the reopening of the Cheyenne Diner in Red Hook, it looks like there will also be a Water Taxi Beach–like space there, as well as a beer garden. [Eater]
• Top Chef’s Hung Huynh wants a spot on team USA for the Bocuse d’Or. [YumSugar]
Related: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Bocuse d’Or Competition But Were Afraid to Ask
Sausage Haus Ingenue Training at Ssäm Bar; Early-Bird Jazz at Blue Water Grill
Cobble Hill: Cube 63, on Court Street, serves lovely little tea sets, which include four small plates, during lunch. [Brooklyn Life]
East Village: Has Iron Chang started banning cameras at Ko? [eGullet via Eater]
Murray Hill/Kips Bay: Pamplona will have its own celebration of the running of the bulls from July 7 through the 12th by offering a meaty prix fixe that ends with fried milk topped with dulce de leche ice cream. [Grub Street]
Red Hook: When the Grindhaus opens, according to its owner, the spot will be "a boisterous sausage parlor." To prepare for the debauchery, she's getting front-of-the-house training at Ssäm Bar. [Eater]
Union Square: Blue Water Grill will kick off a series of live-jazz nights next Wednesday, aimed at people who don't want to stay out too late. That's the spirit. [Zagat Buzz]
West Village: Stand has swapped its too-tough burger bun for a soft, complementing briochelike version. So keep that in mind if you were b-unhappy in the beginning and haven't stopped in since. [Hamburger Today]
Hell's Kitchen White Castle Provides Support for Smokers; Red Hook Gets Yet Another Outdoor-Garden Spot
Coney Island: The shortening of the Nathan's hot-dog contest is causing a major stir. [City Room/NYT]
Hell's Kitchen: White Castle has a special kind of trash can out front with an ashtray attachment. [Lost City]
Midtown East: The Roosevelt Hotel's new rooftop bar, Mad46, sells bottles for around $300. [Down by the Hipster]
Red Hook: A beer-and-sausage spot called Grindhaus will have an outdoor garden and is opening at 275 Van Brunt Street. [NewYorkology via Eater]
And 354 Van Brunt Street will get a coal oven, so Anselmo's Bakery Restaurant can bake its pizza, pastas, pastries, and breads! [Slice]
West Village: Where there was a Yummy Shawarma there will be a Hummus Place. [Eater]
Can I Take My Parents to the Red Hook Vendors This Weekend?
Come back in two weeks.Photo: Alexa Matson
Dear Grub Street,
I'm writing because I'm assuming the stalls are open on Saturdays and Sundays currently, but I've seen no official notice. I want to head there this weekend with my parents while they are visiting, but I don't want to trek all the way to Red Hook only to find that nothing is going on. If you could confirm that the stalls are now operating, as it seems you've reported on their happenings a bit, that would be much appreciated.
Kyle
LeNell Still Looking for a New York Home
Grub Street crush and beloved bourbon queen LeNell Smothers may stay in New York after all, according to her latest e-mail. How about Chinatown or Bed-Stuy? LeNell's words are below.
Summer Preview: Red Hook Vendors
No one has devoted themselves to the cause of the Red Hook vendors like J. Slab, the blogger behind the Porkchop Express. Today, he interviews vendor spokesman Cesar Fuentes and learns that the tents and tarps have been replaced with food trucks, but the vendors might sell year-round. The highlights are below.
LeNell Smothers Fears the End-times for Red Hook
Won't someone find a new home for LeNell’s?Photo: Jeremy Liebman
Tickets Still Available for Taste of the Nation; Jean-Jacques Rachou Cooks Classics for Free at Benoit (But You Have to Pay for Them)
Midtown West: Alain Ducasse lets septuagenarian chef Jean-Jacques Rachou (who owned La Côte Basque, which once occupied the Benoit space) cook the quenelles de brochet (classic pike dumplings) and cassoulet served at Benoit. He does this for free from 9 a.m. to noon. [Diner's Journal/NYT]
Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation event still has tickets available; visit the event site to get in on tomorrow's huge tasting. [Grub Street]
Nolita: Small, quality bar the Randolph might be opening up its basement to drinkers. [Down by the Hipster]
Red Hook: The Pioneer Inn, which was shuttered on Van Brunt Street, has changed hands and will reopen as the Brooklyn Ice House. The 360 space isn't so fortunate: Since the owner "cracked," the spot's "for rent. Still looks like 360 inside. But there's a new message, emblazoned on a t-shirt, hanging in the window: 'Stop and Think.' Stop and think about what? About renting the place?...About life?" [Lost City]
West Village: The new "Mr. Skewer (at 43 West 14th Street) has about as much in common with a Brazilian churrascaria as its neighbor Quizno’s does," but the chorizo plate is pretty tasty. [Gothamist]
The Rusty Knot has pros (like the space) and cons (sugary cocktails). [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Red Hook Vendors Coming to Brooklyn Flea
After securing their place in the Red Hook ball fields for another six years, the Red Hook vendors are delving into Brooklyn brand extension! As of next Sunday, look for some vendors at Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, which already offers a great mix of eats (Cuban sandwiches! Organic ice cream! Hot bread!) along with the vintage furnishings and hipster crafts. Find at first a simple fruit-and-vegetable stand with grilled corn, watermelon, and the like, then in future Sundays expect Red Hook favorites like huaraches and pupusas. "We're kind of freaking out that our market is now sharing in one of the most wonderful, authentic food institutions in our city," says Eric Demby, who coordinates vendors for the Flea. Cesar Fuentes, point man for the Red Hook vendors, says he considers the expansion "a very interesting experiment." The vendors will hit the ball fields the first weekend in June, but get your fix in Fort Greene till then, says Fuentes. "We're feeling the love of the people." —Tim Murphy
Cheyenne Diner Heads to Red Hook
When the Cheyenne Diner closed two weeks ago, we worried it would be relocated to somewhere like Wyoming, à la Moondance, but now AMNY’s Urbanite assures us it’ll be parked closer to home: Construction worker Mike O’Connell has purchased the former rail car for $5,000 and, with the help of preservationist Michael Perlman, will move it to Red Hook (home of another throwback gem, Sunny’s) and restore it to its forties splendor. We hope O’Connell will serve beer at the new place, because we’d like to buy him one.
Cheyenne saved and moving to Red Hook [AMNY/Urbanite]
Rose Bar Blossoms With Beautiful Women; Pizza Prices Rise in Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst: L&B Spumoni Gardens has upped its slice price (for Sicilian and regular pieces) to $2.25. [Slice]
Gramercy: According to this poll, which attracted a whopping 195 voters, the Rose Bar has the best-looking female clientele in NYC (as compared with six other nightclubs). Sadly, no one answered our call to add Lucky Cheng's to the list. [Down by the Hipster]
Lower East Side: Broadway East has a simple recipe for cooking spring's first pea shoots, available now at the Greenmarket. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Red Hook: The former 360 space is up for rent. [Eater]
Tribeca: Chambers Street Wines has lured 22 "natural" winemakers (who are either organic and/or sustainable) to Cercle Rouge this Saturday for an afternoon tasting. Show up with $5 for a tasting glass, which you can even keep when all is drunk and done. [Grub Street]
Upper West Side: A new trattoria called Campo, from Nonna owner Jeremy Wladis, opens today on Broadway between 112th and 113th Streets and will serve grilled pizzas from Gonzo alum David Rotter. [Strong Buzz]
Sohui Kim Is Just Trying to Bring It All Together
Sohui Kim has had a fast rise, after a false start.Photo: Melissa Hom
Name: Sohui Kim
Age: 37
Restaurant: The Good Fork
Background: Kim had a false start in a publishing career, but decided to go to the Institute of Culinary Education, afterwards training with Michael Anthony and Dan Barber at Blue Hill and with Peter Hoffman at Savoy. Kim put in time with Anita Lo at Annisa, and then Italian Wine Merchants with Anne Burrell. After all that, there was work in catering, food styling, and recipe testing, before finally opening up the Good Fork with her husband, Ben Schneider.
Red Hook Vendors: Safe for Six Years, But in What Form?
The forces of good have triumphed! The Parks Department has issued a permit to the Red Hook food vendors, ensuring deliciousness at the Red Hook ball fields for at least another six years. But the vendors aren't out of the woods yet. "Two hours ago I got a call from Parks saying we won the bid," Carlos Fuentes, the vendors' leader, tells us. "This has been an uphill battle. It's by no means an end. It's a big victory though. Now the biggest challenge is DOH compliance. In winning the bid we understood that we need to comply with health regulations. It might change the character of the affair — the ethnic, rustic, mercado style. We may have to turn into a more generic type of activity. We need to look at options in hopes of trying to find a way to preserve what we already had."
It’s the End of the Line for Schnäck
BLTs, R.I.P. Photo: Kate Attardo
Red Hook Vendors Bid for Ball Fields
If Red Hook vendors want to cook at the ball fields, they’ll have to use approved food-preparation carts, according to a report in the Daily News. The city Parks Department is now accepting bids from vendors, but the traditional mom-and-pop stands may not be able to afford the upgrade. Plus, are those carts even suitable for the kind of deliciousness served in Red Hook? One vendor, who requires four grills to make her pupusas, says no: “We’re not just boiling hot dogs.” You said it, lady. The city will award vendor permits at the end of February.
New Rules May Grill Taco Stands [NYDN]
Earlier: Grub Street's complete coverage of the Red Hook vendors.
Last Weekend at Red Hook Ball Fields; RUB Introduces Frito Pie to Chelsea
Astoria: You can ask the chefs from Bistro 33, at 19-33 Ditmars Boulevard, to prepare a special tasting menu — but be sure to request the chocolate-espresso-stout ice cream served on a warm fudge brownie for dessert. [Joey in Astoria]
Chelsea: RUB has introduced the “open-face” and “sloppy” grease fest that is Frito pie to its menu and it’s best inhaled with a kindred Texas brew. [Gothamist]
East Village: David Chang is looking for one experienced cook to join his team for Momofuku Ko, "a very unique operation, with the possibility of no servers." [Eat for Victory/VV]
Greenwich Village: Anita Lo has released a recipe for Rickshaw Dumpling Bar’s kimchee-and-tofu dumplings. [Restaurant Girl]
Red Hook: This is the last Sunday of the season for the ball-fields vendors. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Momofuku Won't Close for Even One Day; Half Off Wine at Artisanal
East Village: David Chang plans on wasting no time turning Momofuku Noodle Bar into Momofuku Ko next month: The place won't close for even much a day but rather will morph overnight into its new identity. [Grub Street]
Related: Keeping Up With the Momofukus
Flatiron: Cookbook editor Judith Jones will lead a discussion and wine tasting at Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit on October 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. [Grub Street]
Fort Greene: On Saturday evenings the gourmet shop L’Epicerie turns into “a $40 per head, BYOB, family-style restaurant offering a casually sophisticated take on the dinner party.” [NYO]
Midtown: All the wines by the glass at Artisanal will be half off after 10 p.m., starting next week. [Grub Street]
Red Hook: The bar-robbing thugs who held up Bait & Tackle bartenders at gunpoint have been apprehended. [Eater]
Times Square: The Palm West will be serving a Purple Martini this season that includes some new liquor that to our knowledge does not include grape juice. [Grub Street]
Grub’s Gold: The Best From Year One
Scenes from a year on Grub Street…Photo: Melissa Hom, Lee Balterman/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Magnolia to Lure Cupcake Crazies to the Upper West Side
Chelsea: Trestle on Tenth launches weekend brunch this Saturday with a fall menu that includes bacon-and-onion rösti and banana-stuffed French toast with vanilla syrup.
Fort Greene: IHOP is making more New York moves: In addition to taking on Times Square, the chain will open an outlet on Livingston Street near Bond Street. [NYDN]
Midtown East: Bloomingdale's has moved tangy fro-yo pioneer Forty Carrots from the basement to a larger, more befitting seventh floor space. [NYT] Sherry-Lehmann wine store has completed its relocation to Park Avenue at 59th Street. [NYT]
Red Hook: You may have missed LeNell’s absinthe tasting (she drinks it up by the way), but she’ll host a tequila tasting this Sunday in honor of Mexican Independence Day. [LeNell’s]
Upper West Side: A second Magnolia bakery will open on 69th Street at Columbus this winter, and owner Steve Abrams thinks he can keep it a secret from tourists. [Eater] Juan Cuevas has left Blue Hill to be the chef de cuisine at Ed Brown’s Eighty One, which should open in December. [NYS]
Senator Schumer Springs to the Red Hook Vendors’ Defense Again
Nothing beats having friends in high places.
Senator Schumer's letter to the Department of Health [pdf]
Earlier: Red Hook Vendors Make It Official: Their Fingers Are Crossed
U.S. Open Stadium Eats; Red Hook Vendors' Bread and Butter in Jeopardy
Astoria: Get your feet rubbed while eating ice cream at Freeze Peach this Saturday — or maybe just stick to sampling the variety of flavors at this $9 tasting event that will also feature reflexology and tarot-card reading. [Joey in Astoria]
Flushing: New reasons not to fill up before a match: Five serious restaurants including a steakhouse, seafood restaurant, and Cuban café flank the U.S. Open stadium, all under the supervision of Charlie Palmer–trained chef Michael Lockard. [NYDN]
Hell’s Kitchen: Mitchel London Pizza from the owners of Burgers & Cupcakes has been open for a couple of weeks, but they’re still working on good char. [Slice]
Lower East Side: Whole Foods’ beer room, which stocks over 200 international, domestic, and local beers, opened this morning. [Gridskipper]
Meatpacking District: Los Dados from Sueños chef Sue Torres opens Monday. [Eater]
Red Hook: Department of Health inspectors are now turning a critical eye to restaurants associated with the ball-field vendors. Honduras Maya is already closed. [Brooklyn Eagle]
Duck! It's a Bay Area Culinary Invasion!
Clinton Hill: The old guy who sharpens knives out of a truck is still news to some residents. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Dumbo: Almondine Bakery is now serving crêpes and ice-cream sundaes. [Dumbo NYC]
East Village: A San Francisco chef has moved east and opened a café called Abraco on 7th Street at First Avenue with a pastry chef formerly of Babycakes. [Eater]
Morningside Heights: Night Cafe’s nightly rounds of trivia will be missed when the hangout closes in the next month. [NYT via Uptown Flavor]
Upper West Side: Bodrum, a Mediterranean restaurant that serves Turkish meze, has just opened on Amsterdam Avenue near 88th Street. [Grub Street]
West Village: Paris Commune gets no love from former diners, who want the place to give up already and close. [Eater]