Restaurant Review: L’Amico and JamsLaurent Tourondel brings casual Italian cooking to the Eventi Hotel and Jonathan Waxman revives his famous ’80s-era uptown restaurant in the 1 Hotel.
Leighton Meester Is a Text AddictThe ‘Gossip Girl’ star spent a party in her honor on her BlackBerry, and more bad behavior in our daily gossip roundup.
Laurent Tourondel’s Recipes Feed South Pole Residents; Greek Diner Ownership• Laurent Tourondel may not be working on a restaurant in Trump Soho, but he keeps himself busy with tasks like advising cooks at the South Pole on how to replicate his recipes. [WSJ]
• Saturday’s East Side crane accident leveled Irish tavern Fubar, which fortunately was not open at the time. [NYP]
• The owner of Stage Deli, which was shut down for health violations including “a severe vermin infestation,” claims the problems are limited only to the basement level, but last time we checked, rats aren’t really afraid of infesting restaurants at street level. [NYT]
NewsFeed
BLT Out at Trump SohoWell, we guess there won’t be a BLT restaurant in Trump Soho after all. Such is the gist of a press release that just went out from BLT’s representative, Bullfrog & Baum, which includes this telling quote: “BLT Restaurants are recognized for a particular style of food and service which ended up not being what the Trump Organization was interested in,” says Jimmy Haber, managing partner of BLT Restaurant Group. Did Trump want something cheaper or more casual than what BLT was ready to do? Or does this perhaps have to do with the rumor we’ve been hearing about a hip, young downtown chef being looked at for the space? Perhaps there was more to the rumor than we thought.
BLT Restaurant Group and Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium New York Amicably Part Ways [PDF]
Earlier: Laurent Tourondel to Do All-New Trump Soho Restaurant
Chefwatch
Amy Louise Eubanks and Emilie Bousquet Are the BLT Fish Tag TeamEach week, we highlight one (or in this case, two) of the city’s great — but obscure — young chefs.
Name: Amy Louise Eubanks and Emilie Bousquet
Age: Both 32
Restaurant: BLT Fish / BLT Fish Shack
Background: BLT Fish and BLT Fish Shack are twin restaurants under one roof and have separate chefs de cuisine. Eubanks cooked at Cello, Laurent Tourondel’s first big New York restaurant, and then with Andrew Carmellini at Café Boulud before returning to open BLT Steak and then BLT Fish. Bousquet worked on the line at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, Spice Market, and Olives NY, and was the executive chef at Café des Artistes.
NewsFeed
Laurent Tourondel to Do All-New Trump Soho Restaurant
The ever-expanding BLT empire is going to have a new addition and one that is a departure from previous generations. The Trump Soho, on which construction has recently resumed, is to have a big, new BLT restaurant, but chef-owner Laurent Tourondel says it won’t be a BLT Steak, Burger, Prime, Fish, or Market. “It’s going to be a new concept, something I’ve never done before,” he says. Tourondel also shot down a rumor we’d heard that a hot, young downtown chef was being recruited to do another big restaurant in the building. “I’m in charge of all the food and beverage there, so I would know,” he asserts. Unless he just isn’t telling.
Foodievents
‘Top Chef’ Parties at South Beach Wine and Food FestOur first night at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival made it pretty clear why this event is such a success. For one thing, it’s warm down here. And the two parties we attended were as carefree as hayrides. The full moon shone down on the Versace mansion, and we gained some useful knowledge. Such as…
Mediavore
A Hip-hop IHOP in Brooklyn; Grant Achatz Beats CancerMary J. Blige and Foxy Brown’s producer, known to fans as Don Pooh, owns what is already being called the “hip-hop IHOP” that opened in downtown Brooklyn yesterday. [NYDN]
Related: The Phantom IHOP of Midtown West
Meatpaper magazine is a popular read with both carnivores and vegetarians, which is how the founders learned that bacon, delectable treat of treats, “is how vegetarians change their minds” when they revert to their meat-eating ways. [NYT]
Today in unsubstantiated rumors: David Bouley’s forthcoming Japanese restaurant/cooking school will open across the street from Upstairs at Bouley. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Related: David Bouley to Open Restaurant With Japan’s Top Cooking School
Click and Save
Cook Like Your Favorite Chefs With Our New Recipe Database!
The hardworking listings department at nymag.com has just added a stellar new feature: recipes! Our extensive database includes dishes drawn from New York’s finest restaurants. Get Laurent Tourondel’s instructions for chestnut-stuffed guinea hens; serve Tom Colicchio’s bruschetta of clam ragout; and assemble your own tartlets, just like they do at Gramercy Tavern. Search by ingredient, cuisine, type of dish, and more. Now there’s no excuse to eat out.
nymag.com’s Recipe Finder
Back of the House
Bouley Staying Put for Now; Who Are the New Owners?The latest development in the David Bouley Evolution saga comes to us today via FloFab at the Times, who reports that Bouley isn’t leaving the project but rather reworking it more along the lines of his Tribeca eatery Bouley Upstairs. There is said to be a new ownership group, which is unidentified. (Our trusted source tells us that it’s the BLT Group, and we’re not buying Tourondel’s denial.) Still, the news seems weird. Bouley Upstairs is a small, quirky, easygoing place, a “haphazardly endearing restaurant,” as Rob and Robin call it. That’s going to be David Bouley’s presence at the Ritz-Carlton? Somehow, this doesn’t look promising.
Off the Menu [NYT]
Earlier: Will Laurent Tourondel Clean Up David Bouley’s Miami Mess?
NewsFeed
Will Laurent Tourondel Clean Up David Bouley’s Miami Mess?
David Bouley has been a busy man in recent months, first opening David Bouley Evolution in Miami’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and then taking over the Delphi restaurant in order to convert it to Brushstrokes, his tribute to Japanese gastronomy. But the Bouley empire has taken a step backward with the current chaos at Evolution, which has resulted in the restaurant’s supposedly temporary closure. Grub Street hears that Laurent Tourondel is in talks with the Ritz-Carlton to either operate the restaurant or take over the property entirely. (No word back yet from Bouley; Tourondel’s rep denies anything is in the works.)