Coming in 2009 to this space: Marea.Photo: Shanna Ravindra
Earlier: L’Impero to Close, Reopen As Convivio
San Domenico to Go Big Downtown
All Posts Tagged: ‘seafood’
Michael White to Open Seafood Restaurant in Former San Domenico Space
Video: A Summer Fish Grill With Eric Ripert
With the possible exception of the god Neptune, no one has authority over the fishes of the sea like Eric Ripert, the chef at Le Bernardin. Taking over the big grill last week at Harry's at Water Taxi Beach, the Ripper showed us how to cook black bass on a piece of slate. It was a new method to us, but after tasting the results, we'll never grill fish another way again.
Related: What a Grill Wants [NYM]
Under the Ultraviolet Light, the Crab Cartilage Can't Hide
Beneath the merciless UV light, the cartilage (bright white, center) is exposed for all to see.Photo: Melissa Hom
What to Eat During the Wild-Salmon Shortage
Go with the flow, and forget Pacific wild salmon for now.Photo: Getty Images
How to Disassemble a Lobster
If you’ve ever tried to take apart a lobster, aided only by hunger, a few crude tools, and the desire to get your money’s worth out of an outrageously expensive crustacean, we have the solution: a video demonstration by Jose Luis Martinez of the Mermaid Inn. And don’t forget to check out the accompanying article from the magazine, which elaborates on the surgery, and gives you some tips for picking out and cooking lobsters as well.
Lobster Forensics [NYM]
‘Top Chef’ Guest Judge Denies All Relations With Frozen Scallops
Rick Tramonto never even met that scallop.Photo courtesy Bravp
Truce Declared in Battle of the Lobster Rolls
Lawyers for the lobster were unavailable for comment.Photo: Melissa Hom
Chef’s Lawsuit Against a Former Assistant Is Settled Out of Court [NYT]
John McCain Likes Pepperoni Slices; Hung’s First Passover
• John McCain bought a slice of pepperoni pizza for $3 yesterday at Verrazano Pizza in Bay Ridge and, generous tipper that he is, left a $20 bill. [AP]
• In order to prepare his Passover menu at Solo, Top Chef winner Hung Huynh had to learn a lot, namely what matzo is and how to cook with it. [NYDN]
• As seafood prices rise, you might need to pick up some less expensive varieties. Tautog and croakers, anyone? [NYDN]
• If the British are throwing a third of their perfectly edible food away, then surely Americans are doing the same or worse. [Bitten/NYT]
Major Wild-Salmon Shortage on the Way
Maybe we should have had the chicken.Photo: Getty Images
Wild salmon at $40 a pound? [Seattle Post-Intelligencer, via Chow]
Cheap Lobsters, Dancing Girls Join Gordon Ramsay As Harbingers of Doom
Signs that a seafood restaurant may be in trouble, in order of severity: adding a $20 whole lobster to the menu; adding a free burlesque show; having Gordon Ramsay come into your restaurant to torment you for his reality-TV show, Kitchen Nightmares. We knew about number three, but now it turns out, via Metromix, that symptoms one and two have appeared at Black Pearl, the troubled seafood restaurant across from Hill Country. And you know what? Conditions sound pretty damn entertaining. As long as Ramsay, the burlesque show, and the lobster aren't physically connected in any way.
Black Pearl Lobster & Burlesque Tuesdays [Metromix NY]
Related: Gordon Ramsay to Inflict ‘Kitchen Nightmare’ on Black Pearl
Adour’s Elegant Fish-and-Shellfish Double-decker
Sea Salt Is Closed; Orhan Yegen Blames the Neighbors
Orhan Yegen has decided to close Sea Salt, the Turkish seafood restaurant he opened in the East Village last July. “I sold the place to an American,” the chef tells us. “He’s going to make it into a bar.” Yegen blamed the close on neighborhood demographics. “The age of those people, they don’t want to come to my restaurant. The people didn’t like me,” he explains. “They spit on my window. Then the neighbors, they don’t want to give me a license upgrade from beer and wine to full liquor. So now they get a bar.” He’s got another project in mind but declined to discuss the details now. In the meantime, Yegen will keep things running at Sip Sak.
Related: ‘Dog Food!’ ‘Idiots!’ and Other Sweet Nothings From Orhan Yegen
EPA Joins Mercury Craze; A ‘Seinfeld’–Inspired Food Study
The Environmental Protection Agency is beginning to examine the mercury levels in the twenty most commonly eaten fish in the New York City region. [NYT]
Top Chef seductress/hostess Padma Lakshmi is moving into a full-floor loft in Alphabet City. [The Real Estate/NYO]
The holy triumvirate of burgers, fries, and milk shakes continues to dominate the nation's culinary imagination. [NRN]
Riding the V Line: The Life Aquatic at Ping’s
This far along the V, you can tempt death crossing Queens Boulevard, wander for blocks alone on the sidewalk, and pop into several houseware stores and travel agencies. Or you could go to Ping’s, a citadel of classic Cantonese food that makes even doubters delight and shout, “This is why I love Queens!”
Batali Denies Being Ditched; Pinkberry Issues Mea Culpa
Batali won’t admit he’s been canned by the Food Network even though inside sources say he’s just trying to save face. [NYP]
Pinkberry Corporation issues an apology upon learning its N.Y. outlets pump hollow servings. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Tony Bourdain analyzes what made Howie tick: "When I look at Howie, short, bald, pants looking two sizes too big on him, built like a small tank and with an expression on his face like a closed fist, I sense the end product of a long line of tormentors." Is Bourdain the best reality-show blogger ever, or what? [Bourdain’s Blog/Bravo]
‘Dog Food!’ ‘Idiots!’ and Other Sweet Nothings From Orhan Yegen
Orhan Yegen will filet you with words.Courtesy of Metromix
Seamus Mullen Forced to Pull the Nightshades
Mullen: not reduced to eating carrots.Photo courtesy Baltz & Co.
Wd-50’s Trout Dish Starts With Forbidden Rice
Great American Chef Sick; New Yorkers Enjoy Too Much Mercury
Grant Achatz of Chicago’s Alinea, arguably the most acclaimed of all American chefs, has an advanced form of cancer but vows to beat it. [Chicago Sun-Times]
A quarter of New Yorkers have elevated mercury levels in their bloodstreams. Especially those who eat fish. [NYP]
It’s tough for Top Chef rivals Howie and Joey. When your life has turned into a paella whipped up by Philip K. Dick and Andrew Sullivan, it's time to move to the suburbs with a pair of chocolate Labs. [Amuse Biatch]
Related: ‘Top Chef’’s Howie Tastes the Big Time, Briefly, at Gotham Bar and Grill
‘Top Chef’ Biases Finally Out on the Table
Ramsay Busted for More TV Fakery; Yes, the Google Cafeteria Is Awesome
Gordon Ramsay has been busted for new TV fakery — in this case pretending that three fish caught by someone else had been taken by him while spearfishing. [London Times]
The Google employee cafeteria is apparently even better than rumored, with a raw bar, seviche station, 50 different small farm suppliers, and even a Chef’s Wall of Fame. [Food & Wine]
Want to impress your posse by paying $90 for a bottle of water? Bling H20 is conspicuous consumption in a bottle. [NYDN]
Related: We’ll Have Your Finest Bottle of Water…
Le Cirque Scrambles for Relevance; P*ONG Expanding
A myriad of consultants and experts are surrounding Sirio Maccioni, giving advice on how Le Cirque can recapture its now-departed magic. [Insatiable Critic]
Dessert bars are a hot enough trend right now that some restaurants and bakeries are transforming themselves at certain hours, while others, like P*ONG, are built expressly for the genre. [NYP]
Related: Because Our Desserts Are as Good as Everyone Else’s Entire Meals
Speaking of which, Asian dessert guru Pichet Ong will open a shop devoted to ice cream, pudding, and cookies next door to P*ONG on August 17. [Strong Buzz]
Drop That Shrimp! FDA Announces Major Seafood Alert
When the FDA puts out an alert on a country’s exports to America, we sit up and take notice. When the country is China, and the exports include shrimp, catfish, and three other fish, we begin to feel more than a little anxious. The FDA is not allowing five kinds of seafood in unless they’re found free of carcinogens and antibiotics. About four-fifths of the seafood eaten in America is imported, and China is one of the main suppliers, so unless you are subsisting wholly on Esca’s porgy or Suba’s clams, chances are you’re eating Chinese seafood fairly often. The FDA has hastened to reassure Americans that there is, as they tell the New York Times, “no imminent danger to human health, but … prolonged consumption could cause health problems.”
Suba’s Mariscos y Verduras Channel Spain, via Long Island and the Greenmarket
Basque in the glory of Spanish cooking — with New York products.Photo: Melissa Hom
Related: Suba’s Seamus Mullen Goes Through Something Even Worse Than an Opening
Adam Platt Thought Micah From ‘Top Chef’ Was a Train Wreck
Joey, Tre, and Dale try to figure out what went wrong.Photo courtesy Bravo.
Ed’s Lobster Bar to Pearl Oyster Bar: Step Off!
Ed McFarland explains why it's all just a big misunderstanding.Photo: Melissa Hom
P*ONG’s Elegant, Unlikely Trio of Chamomile, Scallops, and Soba
Copper River Salmon and Spring Vegetables Come Together, Briefly, at Lure
Salmon like this (not to mention the morels) don't come along every day.Photo: Melissa Hom
Brooklyn Heights About to Get a Candlelit Pizzeria
Brooklyn Heights: Oven, an “all candlelit, 150-label-wine-list pizza joint,” will soon open. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Flatiron: Hill Country barbecue does a preview, and Jason Perlow is there to document it in high-res detail. [Off the Broiler]
Flushing: A Fan Ti is doing amazing things with lamb. [Gothamist]
Long Island City: Water Taxi Beach to throw a “vegan extravaganza” on Saturday. [Joey in Astoria]
Lower East Side: Herring season has arrived at Russ & Daughters. [VV]
Park Slope: Rose Water chef Ethan Kostbar to leave in a few weeks. [NYT]
American Reclaims World Hot-Dog Record; Bruni Calls Out Sietsema
At a Nathan’s hot-dog-eating contest qualifier in Phoenix, American Joey Chestnut shatters the world record set by Takeru “the Tsunami” Kobayashi. [NYP]
In a rare critic-on-critic showdown, Frank Bruni comes down hard on Il Brigante, whose pizza the Voice’s Robert Sietsema called “the city’s most perfect evocation of the true Naples style.” Hardly, Bruni says. “Nothing about this pizza argued strongly for a trip outside your own neighborhood.” [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Related: New Restaurant Not Just for Lonely Mountain People [Grub Street]
A critical roundup of the city’s lobster rolls decrees Ed’s Lobster Bar “the world’s best.” [NYP]
Related: Consider the Lobster Roll [NYM]
Jay-Z Now Has 100 Problems; Beef Prices Through the Roof
Jay-Z now has 100 problems: He’s being sued by the staff of the 40/40 Club for withholding tips and paying less than the minimum wage. [NYP]
Beef prices are getting higher, and the supply of the best stuff getting shorter. Guess what that means for your next steakhouse bill. [NYT]
There is a slew of new restaurants opening in the Hamptons, although none are what you would call world-shaking. [Newsday]
A Rescue Plan for Restaurant Workers; No Fatty Crab for the UWS
The Restaurant Responsibility Act, just introduced in City Council, would keep eateries from abusing the help by tying operating permits to labor laws. [Gotham Gazette]
Fatty Crab owner writes in to say that Eater has it all wrong about an Upper West Side location. [Eater]
It’s salmon season in Alaska’s Copper River, and some of the city’s top fish cooks are spawning original dishes to take advantage. [NYDN]
New Bourgeoisie Magnet Opens in Harlem
I could swear this is where I dropped off my Torino last month…Photo: Melissa Hom
Hudson River Cafe, 697 W. 133rd St., nr. Twelfth Ave.; 212-491-9111
Hello, Five Guys Burgers; Bush Versus Overfishing
The Five Guys burger chain, which has fanatical adherents in Washington D.C., came to New York without anybody knowing it. And the burgers at its Queens location are outstanding. [Serious Eats]
All we have to do to replenish the ocean's devastated fish populations is to leave them alone, which is well within the power of our unpopular president. [NYT]
Shock jocks JV and Elvis have, predictably, been fired for their idiotic Chinese-restaurant phone prank, in which they called up live to ask for “shrimp flied lice” and “some old dung.” [WNBC]