Red Hook Vendors Face Mystery Opponents; Pies-N-Thighs Scores New LocationThe Red Hook ball field vendors are in a bidding war with two anonymous groups for control of the weekend food market. [Brooklyn Paper]
Dylan Lauren, founder and CEO of Dylan’s Candy Bar, used to have a diet consisting of “almost entirely of candy, frozen yogurt and vegetables,” but these days she’s paying hundreds of dollars per hour for personal training sessions that keep her slim. [WSJ]
You only have until the end of the month to snag yourself an invite to the secret makeshift nightclub operating in a boutique on Sullivan Street. [Villager]
Neighborhood Watch
Pies-N-Thighs Will Survive in Williamsburg; Pastrami Queen Extends Reign toAstoria: Last-minute Valentine’s Day options from Joey. [Joey in Astoria] The Foodista’s include JJ’s Asian Fusion and Sushi Bar, which isn’t trying to do anything special for the holiday. [Foodista]
Brooklyn Heights: The bartender at Jack the Horse Tavern, Maxwell Britten, created a timely cocktail called Love Lane, which combines Prosecco, harvest syrup, house-made brandy, poached cherries, and rose water. Ladies on the town tomorrow take note: It’s a sexy drink, and he’s pretty cute. [Vittles Vamp via Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Chelsea: The owners of Pastrami Queen have opened a delicatessen in Chelsea Market called Friedman’s. [NYT]
Clinton Hill: June reopens tonight after dealing with multiple break-ins. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Little Italy: Gimme! Coffee has opened its first Manhattan outlet at 228 Mott Street between Prince and Spring streets. [NYS]
Upper West Side: Ruby Foo’s new lunch plan includes free wi-fi. [Zagat]
Williamsburg: Pies-N-Thighs seems to have already found a new home at 166 South 4th Street. [Eater]
NewsFeed
Have Egg for Dinner, Starting Tomorrow — And Here’s the MenuIt was an especially timely moment that Egg (which started serving lunch only last year) chose to open for dinner. The southern-style hole-in-the-wall has swooped in to fill the neighborhood’s fried-chicken void just as Pies-N-Thighs mourners start to recover from their mid-month farewell binges. George Weld’s partner in Egg, Steve Tanner, has a P-N-T pedigree so the deep-fried bird that will be available Thursdays through Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. (and includes a biscuit and collard greens) should prove a reasonable stand-in. The menu aims to be much more however, with appetizers like seared duck breast served with a celery root, fennel, and apple slaw and an entrée of braised pork, which comes over Anson Mills grits. You won’t find crisp-edged and properly dense doughnuts for dessert, but we think toasted homemade pound cake weighted down with vanilla ice cream and custard sauce is just homey enough to help you forget. —Alexandra Vallis
Egg’s dinner menu
NewsFeed
Under the Bridge in Williamsburg, We Could Not Get Enough Pies-N-ThighsLining up for one last look.Photo: Melissa HomOur photographer Melissa Hom, whose love of fried chicken has been well documented (by herself), hit the scene at Pies-N-Thighs last night and somehow managed to snap some photos through teary eyes. She had this to report: “There was a huge line out the door and around the corner. The two e-mail sign-up sheets weren’t enough for fans eager to hear where they move next, so the crowd started tacking up their own sheets and taping business cards to the wall. Lots of free food, well-wishing in the form of big tips, and wistful smiles.” Sigh.
NewsFeed
Pies-N-Thighs Moving! Get There Tomorrow for Your Last Chicken Under the Bridge
Set in its own cozy postindustrial hellhole, Pies-N-Thighs had one of the coolest spaces in New York. Attached to a bar under the Williamsburg bridge and blocks from any other kind of commerce or even human habitation, the place drew customers purely for the greatness of its chicken and pies, and the above-average-ness of its pulled pork. Well, the pulled pork is gone, and now, apparently, so is the space. Pies-N-Thighs will reopen in another Williamsburg location in time for summer. But owner Carolyn Bane sent us an e-mail saying tomorrow is the last meal for a while.
Back of the House
Pies-N-Thighs Co-founder Flies Coop; Menu Stretches OutIf you’ve visited Pies-N-Thighs in the last six or seven weeks, you may have noticed Steven Tanner, the restaurant’s resident chicken and barbecue man, missing in action. The laconic chef exited the business in early February, leaving the “thighs” half of the business in the capable hands of Diner and Spotted Pig alum Carolyn Bane, who bought out his interest. (“Steven loves to cook,” Bane tells us, “but he didn’t want to own a restaurant.”)
