Despite Bar Rescue’s Best Efforts, Downey’s May Not PullPlus: Fallout from Japan’s nuclear meltdown still threatens the country’s food supply; and Red Lobster’s new ad campaign features ‘real’ people, all in our morning news roundup.
Stewart O’Nan Writes the Great American Red Lobster NovelAcclaimed writer Stewart O’Nan’s latest novel, Last Night at the Lobster, isn’t about a couple who hits the motel after one too many gargantuan Lobsteritas — instead it follows a hard-working general manager, Manny DeLeon, through his last night at a Red Lobster in New Briton, Connecticut, that has been closed by parent corporation Darden Restaurants. O’Nan got the idea after a Red Lobster near his home in Avon suffered a similar fate. “I knew how it fit into the community and started thinking about how every restaurant is a world onto itself,” he tells us. “I thought of that suddenly going away.” We asked him what he learned about the chain while doing research so obsessive that it involved poaching the Lob’s menus and coasters.
Neighborhood Watch
Rayuela Brings More Brunch to the LESDumbo/Fulton Ferry: Friday night at Rebar promises “free partial-nude drawing.” [Dumbo NYC]
East Village: Simone on First Avenue is closed, but let’s pray not for good. [Down by the Hipster]
Lower East Side: Rayuela has launched a weekend brunch with arepas and poached eggs, churros and Mayan chocolate, and guanabana mimosas plus live salsa music Sundays. [Grub Street]
Midtown West: Just when you thought he’d had enough of the limelight, Rocco DiSpirito will be the guest chef tomorrow at the Condé Nast cafeteria. [Eater]
Times Square: Ruby Tuesday will sidle up next to Red Lobster but may fare better with New York diners thanks to “fully upholstered chairs.” [Lost City]
Williamsburg: New fro-yo destination /eks/ whips up fresh organic yogurt and incorporates recycling holes into its cartoon-covered walls. [Gridskipper]
Back of the House
Gay Waiter Literally Has It Shoved in His Face; Falai to Open More CasualJean Georges waiter claims to have been abused by the restaurant’s homophobic staff — including a forced after-hours lap dance. We might have expected this at Mercer Kitchen, but … [Newsday]
The Times considers the banana-cream pie as a Zeitgeist item, concludes that it unites the diverse population of Los Angeles. Also, it’s funny when people throw them. [NYT]
Iacopo Falai set to open Caffe Falai, a more casual version of his restaurant later this week. Get there while it’s still BYOB. [The Strong Buzz]
New York has better bars and restaurants than London, says English op-ed. And they’re just figuring this out now? [Telegraph]
Chinatown is the place to go for cheap, high-quality vegetables. Also, we would add, for cheap, high-quality fish, turtles, dumplings … [WNYC]
Cook and cashier brutally shot at Brooklyn’s Happy House Chinese restaurant. [NY1]
Whether to add other brands to your core business, or shed them: McDonald’s versus Red Lobster. True inside-baseball, but interesting. [Foodservice Blog]
Back of the House
Chains Slipping, Child’s Returning, and Restaurant Spy AdvertisingSales are slipping in restaurant chains everywhere, and not even because of E. coli. [Houston Chronicle]
Back from the dead: Child’s restaurant, a booming New York cafeteria chain for most of the twentieth century, is reopening in Coney Island. [NYDN]
For the restaurateur who knows the staff is cheating him, but just can’t quite prove it … [Craigslist]
Synergy at work: Glossy restaurant-branded lifestyle magazines for rich diners at posh restaurants. To no one’s surprise, David Burke has a hand in this. [NYT]
Related: Hawaiian Tropic Zone’s Tina Marino Probably Won’t Be Sharing Her Life With You
Red Lobster and Olive Garden jump on the trans-fat banned-wagon [CNN]