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Ko No-Show Issues?
The real tragedy of Ko's reservation system is when there are several empty seats going to waste.
Posted 09/23/08 in Grub Street : Annals of Ko
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Foodies Fight Programmers in Ko-Comments Bloodbath
Food nerds battle tech nerds over at Diner's Journal.
Posted 04/04/08 in Grub Street : NewsFeed
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Demi and Ashton Not the Box's Favorite Patrons; PM Closing for January
Box owner Simon Hammerstein is happy one of his performers spilled a drink on Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher this week. [NYP] 2008 probably won’t be the year that sees the establishment of a large, indoor public market along the lines of London’s Borough Market or San Francisco’s farmer’s market. [NYT] Related: Batali Shows a Little Leg to Sex Up New Amsterdam Public Gael Greene puts forth her list of culinary predictions for the New Year, including this gem: “Jeffrey Chodorow and Frank Bruni will have a food fight in Madison Square Park televised by the Food Network. If Bruni loses he will be required to review restaurants in Des Moines for six months. If Chodorow is the loser he will be forbidden to open a new restaurant for three weeks.” [Insatiable Critic]
Posted 01/02/08 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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O'Reilly Amazed at Politeness of Black Diners; Insieme's Paul Grieco Gets His Due
Bill O’Reilly amazed upon dining at Sylvia’s in Harlem: “It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun.” [NYP] Related: Black People, They're Just Like Us! [Daily Intel] Insieme co-owner Paul Grieco seamlessly manages both the front and back of the house, a talent often overlooked in restaurants. [NYT] The Post's top ten overrated restaurants include Nobu, the Corner Bistro, and the Carnegie Deli. [NYP]
Posted 09/26/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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Vongerichten Sued Once Again; East Village Cooks Nab Perv
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is being sued by employees from eight of his restaurants, who claim he underpaid them, cheated them of overtime, and made them share tips with bosses. This is the chef’s third suit of the year. [NYDN] Two East Village cooks spot the serial groper they had previously saved a woman from. [NYP] Millions of cans of food are literally bursting with botulism, and New York is among the states where the germ bombs have turned up. [Fox News]
Posted 07/27/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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Restaurants Sue to Keep Calorie Info Out of Sight; Online Reservations Dominate
The New York State Restaurant Association sues the city to stop having to reveal calorie information. [Nation's Restaurant News] The days of making, and keeping, reservations off-line are over: OpenTable has come to dominate the restaurant business. [NYT] In a Times op-ed, the Zagats plead for real regional Chinese cooking to come and save us from egg foo yong. It would be a revelation, they say — “Imagine … what it would be like to discover for the first time Memphis-style barbecue, New York deli food, soul food and Creole, Tex-Mex, Southwestern, California and Hawaiian cuisines all at once.” [NYT]
Posted 06/18/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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Amanda Hesser in Trouble Again; Room 4 Dessert to Reopen
Times Magazine food editor Amanda Hesser runs afoul (again) of the paper’s strict conflict-of-interest policy, this time by reviewing a book by someone who had blurbed one of hers. [Gawker] Room 4 Dessert, currently closed, will be reopening in a week. [Eater] The DeMarco family has a special message to the public about Di Fara’s imminent reopening. [Gothamist]
Posted 06/12/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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Ruhlman Blasts Beards; Waverly Inn Impedes Ambulances
Michael Ruhlman blasts the Beards in his blog, questioning the organization’s whole purpose: “I’d like to know exactly what it is they intend to do, beyond give themselves an expensive party once a year.” [Ruhlman] Yum Brands, owner of the E. coli–ridden Taco Bell and the rat-infested Taco Bell–KFC, is making all kinds of money despite two PR disasters in one year. [International Herald-Tribune] A St. Vincent’s Hospital–bound ambulance was delayed, and not for the first time, by the congestion in front of the Waverly Inn, as “drivers for wealthy patrons slowly inched their limos out of the way.” [NYP]
Posted 05/03/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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Is There a Warrant Out on Jason Neroni?
The owner of Porchetta claims that not only was Jason Neroni fired but that the termination was for misappropriation of funds — and there’s a warrant out for his arrest. (If so, the Desperate Chef is hiding in plain sight, as we just saw him last night at the TONY awards.) [Eater] Nearly everyone got an award at last night's Time Out New York food awards, including Per Se for Best Splurge and A Voce for New Restaurant of the Year. But the Russian Tea Room for Best Reopening? Those manipulated blurbs must be working. [TONY] Talk about gross dereliction: The Department of Health, it turns out, ignored complaints about that KFC–Taco Bell for two months before sending an inspector — who did such a bad job that she would have been fired had she not just quit. [NYP]
Posted 04/10/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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Soon You Will Have to Pay for All Your Reservations
It might not stir up the controversy that scalperlike reservation service PrimeTime Tables did a few weeks back, but PTT’s brand-new rival, Weekend Epicure, can at least count on the fact that as of ten days ago, its forerunner ended free registration — the original’s doing so well you have to shell out $450 for an annual membership. The new guys offer only tables for two on Fridays and Saturdays, but you can see what’s available (right now: Nobu, Union Square Cafe, Jean Georges, and fourteen others) without logging on, and there’s a flat fee of $35 per table. As of this afternoon, PrimeTime Tables owner Pascal Riffaud hadn’t heard of his new competition. “I’m shocked at how fast somebody was able to create something like this,” he tells us, before promising a “restructuring” of his site to handle all the interest it has sparked. New York dining, it now seems inevitable, will become pricier and somewhat more convenient.
Posted 02/28/07 in Grub Street : User's Guide
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Pelaccio Opens in London; Hotel Gansevoort Boycotted
Zak Pelaccio’s new London restaurant (first announced here) finally opens and issues a press release with a menu. [Snack] In a recent post, we called Michael Ruhlman a mandarin and critiqued his hauteur. Count us wrong on both counts: This response, titled “Grub Street Wankers,” and the vitriol that follows in the comment section, isn’t exactly high-minded. [Ruhlman] Related: In Defense of Rachael Ray and the Food Network [Grub Street] The big billboards erected on Hudson Street by the Hotel Gansevoort are so ugly that Pastis’ Keith McNally and 5 Ninth’s Joel Michel are refusing to take hotel reservations in protest. [NYP]
Posted 02/21/07 in Grub Street : Mediavore
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How in God’s Name Do I Get a Table at Babbo?
Dear Grub Street,
I’m trying to make a rez for a two-year-anniversary dinner at Babbo, and the lines are busy. Ought I: Try to make a reservation in person? See if I can shake down anyone for the “special” number? Or enlist the services of a pal who is a concierge? Seriously — it shouldn’t be this hard in January, should it? UGH!
Yours,
FrustratedPosted 01/10/07 in Grub Street : The In-box
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