David Bouley and Art Smith at last night's dinner.Photo: Patricia Willis
All Posts Tagged: ‘wine’
Chicago Chef Art Smith Plans New York Venture and Possible White House Gig
Top Wine Prices Not Dropping; Taste the ‘Frozen Popcornsicle’
• You’d think that prices for top bottles of wine are falling in this economy, but you’d be wrong. [Portfolio]
• Is Starbucks killing off independent coffeehouses in Harlem just like it has everywhere else? [Uptown Flavor]
• Finish an order of the incredibly spicy phaal curry at Brick Lane Curry House, and they’ll give you a free beer and a certificate to prove you ate it. [Serious Eats]
Grayz to Become Straight-Up Restaurant; Fran Derby Lands at Solex
• Grayz will be closing on August 10 and reopening as a full-fledged restaurant. [NYS]
• Andrew Carmellini is officially out at A Voce, and Fran Derby, formerly of Tailor, is cooking at Solex. [NYT]
Related: Fran Derby, Sam Mason's Co-Chef, Leaves Tailor
• Top Chef's Stephanie Izard had to sit on the secret of her success for a good long time, but it was all worthwhile in the end. [Stamford Advocate]
Related: 'Top Chef' Winner Tells All
Eat Pizza in Brooklyn and Buy Meat in Union Square
Brooklyn pizza beyond Di Fara and Totonno's.Photo: Noah Kalina
Good News: Wealthy Wine Collectors Are Easier to Fleece Than You Might Think
Courtesy of Crown Publishers
Le Bernardin’s Aldo Sohm Wins World Sommelier Contest
Aldo Sohm had his eyes on the prize for a year.Photo courtesy Le Bernardin
Update: The Ripper chimes in on Sohn's win: “Of course this is a very big deal for Aldo and Le Bernardin,” says the Le Bernardin's chef. “What is truly impressive and makes Aldo even more of a champion is that he accomplished this enormous task while working full time as our wine director, never taking off one day to study or prepare.”
Vintner Robert Mondavi Dead at 94
The name Robert Mondavi may mean inexpensive California wine to a lot of people, but the vintner, who died today at the age of 94, was responsible for making Napa Valley known internationally as a great wine-making region. He was inducted into the CIA's Vintner's Hall of Fame in 2007, an honor Mondavi's wife called “a pearl in the crown of our family's winemaking history in the Napa Valley.”
Wine Lovers Are Dupes, and Line-Waiting Foodies Are Sheep
Frank Bruni’s Bedtime; Cola Companies’ New Bottles
• Frank Bruni is always in bed by midnight and he likes the East Village’s “scruffy glee.” [Yelp]
• Whoever ranked Chipotle in this top five list of healthiest chain restaurants must not have seen their calorie information. [Health]
Related: The Shocking Secrets of Chain-Restaurant Calorie Counts
• Apparently that new pizza bus tour is doing just fine. [Eater]
This Week, It’s the Little Things
Persephone's white-walled simplicity.Photo: Noah Sheldon
Brooklyn Uncorked to Impress Long Island Wines Upon City Minds
Related: Coming Soon: 'Edible Manhattan'
The Brooklyn Food Mag You Should Be Reading
Inflation Running Rampant; Richman Hits Terroir
• Americans are currently experiencing the highest inflation in food prices in seventeen years. While last year’s increase of 4 percent was well over the average of 2.5 percent, this year could be even worse. [NYDN]
• Guests were stunned at Time Out New York’s Eat Out Awards ceremony when the Mermaid Inn won for best place to be seen. [Feed/TONY]
• Just because a wine is kosher doesn’t mean it has to taste like sugar-loaded Manischewitz. [Zagat Buzz]
• Now that your taxes are done, feast on some free bar snacks at Pastis, Bemelman’s Bar, and Peasant Wine Bar. [Gridskipper]
Related: Cheap Eats: Gourmet Bar Snacks
• Alan Richman finds Terroir to be overrun by tables of girls. [Forked/GQ]
Cheyenne Diner to Rise From Ashes; Lil' Jon Has a Wine Label
• The Cheyenne Diner's days in this town may not be over just yet: There’s a chance it will relocate to Coney Island. [NYDN]
• Brasserie Cognac, the latest venture from the team behind Serafina, will open in midtown on Monday. [Zagat Buzz]
• All hail the death of the [insert gross word here]-tini. [NYT]
Would You Like the Red, the White, or the Rainbow?
Very fruity.Photo: Courtesy of Luxist.
Chelsea Wine Bar Has Southern Italian–Wine Mission
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...Photo courtesy Bar Baresco
Beard Awards Get ‘Sex’y; Pizza.com Selling for $2.6 Mil
• Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall will host this year’s James Beard Awards ceremony, with the hope that she can “elevate the nation’s consciousness of America’s culinary culture.” [Eater]
• You’ve got just under five hours to cough up $2.6 million to secure the potentially lucrative pizza.com. [Slice]
• The latest development in the Patsy’s v. Patsy’s trial: Jackie Gleason’s wife and George Clooney’s father appeared in court via video to profess their allegiance to Patsy’s Italian Restaurant in midtown. [NYP]
Dr. Vino Brings First View of Wine Madhouse Terroir
Inside the mind of a madman.Photo courtesy Dr. Vino
Hipster wine bar, Terroir, now open! Wine by the glass starts at $2.75 [Dr. Vino]
Related: What You'll Eat and Drink at Terroir
Dovetail's Food Editor–Hostess Tells Her Tale; Dessert Truck vs. Treats Truck Tonight
The Food & Wine editor–cum–hostess at Dovetail had a hard time learning the ropes of the job at first, but by the end she learned that star ratings from critics matter, and there’s more to being a hostess than checking coats. [TONY]
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a suit against Tonic East for “a pattern or practice of denying African-Americans from admittance into its club.” [Down by the Hipster]
Unbeknownst to us, rapper Coolio has a cooking show on the Web called, succinctly, Cookin’ With Coolio, but he might not be the most adventurous kitchen personality we’ve ever seen: “I don’t like pork, I don’t eat pork, and I don’t cook pork.” [Serious Eats]
Ron Ciavolino Gives It To You Straight on Wine Bars
Sometimes you read an interview and immediately you wish you were friends with the subject. Such is the case with Metromix’s sit-down with Ron Ciavolino, the head of wine studies at the Institute of Culinary Education, and a man who speaks his mind. Our favorite quotes:
• On modern bartenders: “Most bartenders feel like they’re giving away something for nothing if they’re charming. I want schmaltz. There’s no schmaltz.”
• On the downtown wine scene: “You go to those wine bars in Soho, they’re more bowling alleys — there’s no romance. Everybody’s 12 years old.”
• What happens when a bartender allows ice to melt in a shaker: “You hemorrhage through all of your apertures.”
Days of Wine and Poses [Metromix NY]
Department of Agriculture Sued Over Beef; Skip Wine Pairings in Top Restaurants
The Humane Society filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Agriculture Department, alleging the bureau has created a legal loophole that consistently permits potentially sick cows to enter the food supply. [NYT]
The City Council’s bill to place more fruit-and-vegetable street vendors in poor neighborhoods could hurt business for grocery stores and bodegas in those neighborhoods. [NYT]
Even with a reservation, dining at hot spots in L.A. can be just as bad, if not worse, than in New York. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Women Rule the Wine Cellars of New York
Jen Lordan, beverage director at Dovetail.Photo: Melissa Hom
A Strong Case Made for the ‘Greatest Wine on the Planet’
Articles about some well-heeled journalist's quest for eating/drinking/smoking/owning the “best ever” usually leave us pretty cold, but Mike Steinberger’s Slate essay about trying to drink the legendary 1947 Cheval Blanc might be one of the most enjoyable wine tales we’ve ever read. The best part of the piece isn’t about the wine itself, a freak Bordeaux that somehow has only gotten better over 61 years or even that [SPOILER WARNING!] Steinberger gets to drink it (“The '47 Cheval I drank that night now ranks as the greatest wine of my life, a title I doubt it will relinquish”). Reading the essay, you actually get some feeling for what the wine is like and how it’s possible for a vintage Bordeaux to be accurately likened to Forrest Gump. A great read.
The Greatest Wine on the Planet [Slate]
Hung to Cook in Midtown Kitchen; Chirico Pleads Not Guilty to Extortion
Top Chef winner Hung Huynh will begin a one-month stint at kosher restaurant Solo on March 2; Justin Smillie, formerly of Barbuto, has replaced Akhtar Nawab at the E.U. [NYT]
Related: Akhtar Nawab to *NOT* Leave E.U., Will Open New Restaurant
If you’re clamoring for a Valentine’s Day tablecloth dinner at White Castle, you still might be able to get one. [Eater]
Master Purveyors will live on: The fire destroyed the offices, but the meat is still safe and sound in the warehouse. [Crain's NY]
Related: Venerable Meat Purveyor Struck By Fire
Terroir Video Reveals the Depth of Paul Grieco’s Madness
Anyone who knows Paul Grieco will tell you that he is patently insane. Final proof, if any were needed, lies in this video promoting his new wine bar, Terroir. Grieco, the co-owner, manager, and wine director of both Hearth and Insieme, is the mad genius of the city’s wine corps, and Terroir is his padded cell and laboratory. The teaser site gives some hint of the white-knuckle wine-geek intensity that courses through Grieco’s veins: Among the vitriolic mottos that flash are “Our wine world is now dominated by over-manipulated, oak-chip-flavored, micro-oxygenated wines that have nothing to do with what Mother Nature, God, or the Cistercian Fathers had in mind” and “To go to Friuli for red wine is like going to Las Vegas and expecting to catch Arthur Miller's The Crucible.” But to really get a measure of his madness, watch this video. You won’t be sorry.
Freedom Tower Seeks Restaurant Developer; Le Cirque Does Restaurant Week All Month
Starting today, the Port Authority is accepting early bids from developers for control of a two-story restaurant atop the Freedom Tower, with a grand opening slated for early 2013. [The Real Estate/NYO]
More bad news about the FDA: It’s “so understaffed that, at its current pace, the agency would need at least 27 years to inspect every foreign medical device plant that exports to the United States, 13 years to check every foreign drug plant and 1,900 years to examine every foreign food plant.” [NYT]
Le Cirque’s Restaurant Week menus are such a hit that the Maccioni clan is going to make them available every weekday in February. [Zagat]
Oak Room Gets New Operators; Illegal Fish Trade Grows
Night Sky Holdings, which formerly operated Windows on the World at the World Trade Center as well as the Rainbow Room, has signed a contract to run the Oak Room and the Oak Bar at the Plaza Hotel. Also, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s former sous-chef Didier Virot will be helming the kitchen at the hotel’s other eatery, the Palm Court. [NYP]
Sushi chef Hiroshi Nakahara has left New York’s BondSt to run the kitchen at a new outpost in Beverly Hills. [PR Newswire]
Chipotle will be serving 200 million meals using naturally raised meat this year, a 40 percent increase from 2007. [The Grinder/Chow]
Carb Lovers Now Have Liquid Options at ’Wichcraft, Too
I present to you, beer!Photo: Patrick McMullan
Former Dictators Issue Punk-Rock Food Rules
W Hotel Stands for Wine (and Wooziness) This Saturday
Let's hope she won't be this peppy.Photo courtesy Wine-ing with Grae
A Respite From Gluttony in This Week's Magazine
One perfect black espresso and excellent pastries.Photo: Jeremy Liebman
Wine-Geek Heaven on the Way to the East Village
It’s been a while since we first got wind of it, but the Hearth's long-awaited spinoff wine bar, Terroir, is finally close to becoming a reality. The space, known in its former life as Bikes by George, will begin its transformation right after Thanksgiving, and co-owners Paul Grieco and Marco Canora hope to open the place by New Year’s. Grieco, the wine director, is a wine geek’s wine geek, which means he's got some lofty plans.
Seven Nights of Wine, and No Blackout
"The Grape that can with Logic absolute / The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute..."Courtesy of Vino, Italian Wine and Spirits
Chris Noth and Fellow Wineheads Toast the End of ‘Sex and the City’
You don't get this gig from Law & OrderPhoto: Getty Images
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