Dani Gives Up the GhostDani has closed, apparently. Eater has it from a sign on the window that Don Pintabona’s much-praised, but seldom-visited, Southern Italian restaurant on the fringes of Hudson Square has gone into the banquet business full-time. While that’s generally been an indicator of failure, there’s no doubt that a lot of restaurants (Guastavino’s comes to mind) have continued to make pretty good money by not serving meals. The restaurant business is truly a strange one.
Deathwatching: Dani Goes Bye-Bye [Eater]
Related: Dani Says, ‘You Be the Chef — and the Investor!’
Mediavore
Yep, 66 Going Soba; Trans Fats on the Run in Long Island66 will become Matsu Gen in “late spring” and specialize in soba noodles. [NYT]
Related: Vongerichten May Deep-Six 66, Serve Sushi and Soba Instead [Grub Street]
Landmarc, in the Time Warner Center, is wildly inexpensive relative to its location and the restaurants around it, and Steve Cuozzo is predicting boffo business. [NYP]
Related: Will Landmarc’s Downtown Cool Play Alongside Its Ritzy New Neighbors? [Grub Street]
Think you’ll get your lard fix in Long Island? Not so fast: Nassau County is planning a trans-fat ban. [Newsday]
Back of the House
Spanish Chefs Cook With Dirt, Dazzle Avant-Garde at Weekend DemoSpain’s cooking wizards convened at Guastavino’s Saturday to demonstrate their cutting-edge techniques. We figured the wine would be fabulous. We were counting on acorn-fed jamón ibérico to make Smithfield, Virginia, weep. But “Spain’s 10,” the all-star team headed by the illustrious Ferran Adrià, are known for their dazzling concoctions, so all we really knew to expect were surprises.
NewsFeed
Greatest Chef Ever to Make Best Meal Ever, Give or TakeThe most admired chef in the world doesn’t have a restaurant in New York, Paris, or Las Vegas. He doesn’t appear on TV. His name is little known among the general public, but chefs speak it with awe, in low whispers. He is Ferran Adrià, and he is coming to New York on Saturday.
We kid you not: Adrià, who heads up the kitchen at Spain’s El Bulli, probably rates as the most influential cook in the world. As Rob and Robin explain, New Yorkers will finally have a chance to see him at work when he and nine other leading Spanish cooks demonstrate their “molecular gastronomy” techniques for Spain’s 10: Cocina de Vanguardia, at Guastivino’s, in the magazine. At $300 per person, the event, which includes food and wine samplings throughout the day and a tapas lunch, ain’t cheap. But neither is a Manhattan tablecloth meal. Nor round-trip airfare to Spain.
Buy tickets here.
Spain’s Ten: The Summit
