The Food Chain: Charlie Palmer Endorses RN74’s CassouletWherein one chef tells about a dish they recently enjoyed courtesy of another chef, then that chef tells us about a dish they enjoyed from another chef, and so on and so forth.
Why Not to Be a ChefExpect to get burned, be on your feet all the time, and spend all your time cleaning fish. Other than that, it’s great!
Neighborhood Watch
Boerum Hill Gains Food Cred; Aureole ReopensAstoria: Spanking-new spot La Dolce Italia Bakery has, ironically, replaced the old Modern Italian Bakery. [Joey in Astoria]
Boerum Hill: Five recent openings have contributed to the neighborhood’s growing food cred. [NYT]
Union Square: The Greenmarket is selling teeny baby peaches that were too sweet and adorable to just get knocked-off their trees. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Upper East Side: Aureole reopens this Friday and will treat each diner on Friday and Saturday night to a glass of house wine. [Eater]
West Village: Joey Campanaro is hiring staff who will serve and sell Pat LaFrieda ground beef at Market Table. [Eat for Victory/VV] Day-O has been closed for months with no signs of progress on blamed “repairs.” [Blog Chelsea]
NewsFeed
Broken Water Pipe Closes AureoleHold off on making any reservations at Aureole for a while. A broken water pipe has closed the restaurant until September 17, Charlie Palmer’s people tell us:
Aureole, Chef Charlie Palmer’s flagship property, is currently closed due to flooding caused by a broken water pipe suffered on Monday while the restaurant was closed for the Labor Day holiday. Aureole is scheduled to reopen on Monday, September 17, 2007. During the closure, Aureole’s phone line, 212-687-4600, is open for accepting reservations from September 17 forward.
Openings
Restaurant Vets Take Refuge in Chill New East Side Eatery
When Nish went under earlier this week, partner Joe Scalice didn’t have to look far for his next home: He simply walked two blocks over and took up residence as general manager at Solace, a one-week-old “American seasonal” restaurant created by David Regueiro of Aureole, Metrazur, and most recently the Water Club. (Given what Salice just went through at the late Nish, and Regueiro’s years under famously demanding taskmasters like Charlie Palmer and Michael “Buzzy” O’Keefe, Solace would seem to be just what the two men are seeking.) “We wanted to create a space where people would feel comfortable, with food they could understand,” the chef says. We can certainly see standards like salt cod and gnocchi ragout, butter braised lobster, and eggplant, goat cheese, and tomato terrine hitting the spot on a quiet night in the garden (open till 11 p.m.), with our own bottle in tow (Solace is still waiting on its liquor license).
Solace, 406 E. 64th St., at First Ave.; 212-750-0434.
Solace menu
Earlier: Nish, Felled by Its Own Best Efforts
Neighborhood Watch
Maddened Teens Attack Clinton Hill’s Locanda Vini e OliiClinton Hill: Teens getting more than frisky this spring: Two hooligans terrorized Locanda Vini e Olii by attempting to crash outdoor metal chairs through the glass façade during Friday’s dinner service. [Brooklyn Record]
Dumbo: Foragers Market has an inspired banana display. [Dumbo NYC]
East Village: The new bar entered through Crif Dogs and known as PDT does not take its name from ”Please Don’t Tell.” A pierced girl says it’s Porno Dog Tavern. [Down by the Hipster]
Harlem: West 145th Street welcomes a Starbucks. [Uptown Flavor]
Long Island City: Fresh Start natural grocer is opening a garden to allow you to enjoy the prepared foods outdoors and, one hopes, to lend out to community groups. [Joey in Astoria]
Midtown West: Aureole is moving to One Bryant Park. [NYM]
Prospect-Lefferts-Gardens: Papa’s market not only has nice cheese, but Papa wants to ride the wonderful wave that is gentrification and renovate. [Across the Park]
NewsFeed
Chef Leaving Aureole — Just After Valentine’s Day!Friday is the last day for Dante Bucozzi, the Aureole chef whose Italian cooking kept the restaurant popular after its New American heyday under Charlie Palmer and then Gerry Hayden. Bucozzi will be opening an eatery in Cleveland, his hometown. “It was a situation I couldn’t say no to,” he tells us. “The restaurant [I’m taking over] was an institution. We’re going to call it Dante and reopen after Labor Day.” Aureole’s corporate chef Tony Aiazzi will be promoted to Bucozzi’s spot.
Foodievents
Almost as Good as Rodney Dangerfield: Back to School With Culinary StarsThis spring — a season which we’re glad to remind ourselves of as we enter drab February — the Institute of Culinary Education will be offering a roster of recreational classes that we heartily recommend, despite the fact that (full disclosure) self-deprecating Grub Street editor Josh Ozersky will be teaching one. Many friends of Grub Street — and a colleague, Gael Greene, who will head up “An Evening of Excess” — will be passing along wisdom on everything from blintzes to methylcellulose.
User’s Guide
New Cookbooks You Might Actually Open
Back in the day, of course, most kitchens could get by with a single massive reference tome; as the Times just pointed out, it was often Joy of Cooking. Now so many cookbooks come out every season that you could spend your entire grocery budget on them. Here are an exceptional handful by New York chefs or celebrities that have come out this fall.
