Toloache Experiments With Haute TacosMexican food hovers close to the ground in New York, but with the opening of Toloache and Rayuela, it’s beginning to take its place among the city’s great restaurant cuisines. Considering how vital Mexican line cooks are to the city’s restaurants, this respect is long overdue. At Toloache, Julian Medina’s menu is both huge and modern, highlighted by a dozen different tacos drawing on his youth in Mexico City. “I’m a taco fanatic,” the chef says. “Now is a perfect opportunity for me to put them on my menu and show what they can be.” As always, mouse over the different elements of the image to see them described in the chef’s own words.
Brad Pitt Makes Derek Jeter Weak in the StirrupsOMG! Brad Pitt and his magical face went to see the Yankees play last night! And they totally won! Pitt and his son Maddox, 5, sat in Mayor Bloomberg’s box. At one point, Derek Jeter came over and actually gave Maddox a bat and a ball. “He loved it,” the normally reserved Pitt told the press happily about his son. But then, as usual, the Post had to make it personal — asking where Angelina Jolie was that night. “Hey, we got three other kids!” Pitt shot back. Wait, really? We had no idea
Pitt ‘Pops’ up in Bronx [NYP]
NewsFeed
Meatpacking Rent Party: Lotus and Pizza Bar for Sale
Last week “Page Six” reported that Tenjune owners Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum were eyeing Lotus and Pizza Bar. Sure, even Lotus’ waitress considers it a “tourist attraction” and the owners do have a lot on their hands (their new Mexican restaurant Los Dados is now up and running and Double Seven, previously slated for a mid-summer reopening is now scheduled to do business “in the next few months,” according to a rep), but is Lotus really for sale?
Vox Populi: The Boerum Hill BreakupAs the end of the day nears, it’s time we assessed the people’s reaction to New York’s biggest news of the holiday weekend, the breakup of Brooklyn Über-couple Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams. We have our own opinions on the matter (read a couple that never, ever looks happy might actually not be), but on this we’ll turn to the experts – the commenters on the Us Weekly blog, which broke the news. Their words of wisdom after the jump, God bless ‘em.
Chris Stein at Smith and Mills Is Proud to Be a Luddite
Chris Stein was a server at La Esquina before he started work at the equally atmospheric — if much smaller — Smith and Mills, where he’s the only man on the floor. Does he miss working at a larger spot? “Other jobs there have been managers saying the same shit to you over and over, and trying to get you to sell certain things,” he says. “Here, there aren’t any of the gross vibes. A lot of the times the owner is having a drink also, or we’re all having a drink.” Sadly we weren’t having a drink when we chatted with Stein, but that didn’t make our conversation any less spirited.
Alek Wek: Still Smiling, Trying• Glamour Fashion Gives Back. Aglow Studios, 421 Broome St., nr. Crosby St., 8 p.m. Scheduled guests include Amanda Peet, Emily Mortimer, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Catalina Sandino Moreno. Quite a collection of actressing talent… you could probably get a one-hour family drama picked up on a major network based entirely on footage of conversations that take place tonight in the women’s bathroom.
NewsFeed
Anyone for Tennis? And Lobster Salad?
Damn! You’ve been so busy bragging about the tickets you snagged to tonight’s showdown between Federer and Roddick that you’ve forgotten to eat. Obviously, when you get to the Tennis Center, you’re going to want to know what’s what. According to our rundown of U.S. Open offerings, it looks like Aces is the best place to catch Newt Gingrich, Janet Jackson, Anna Wintour, Martha Stewart, or any of the other weird celebs that have been spotted courtside this year. Heineken’s Red Star Café? Not so much.
U.S. Open Eats [NYM]
overnights
‘The Closer’: Brenda’s Off the WagonLast night’s episode of The Closer delivered not only an engrossing, hard-to-solve case involving the poolside murder of an in-demand Orange County divorce lawyer (police procedural gold!) but also a hefty dose of Brenda Johnson’s Personal Life, resulting in a satisfying double-whammy that will undoubtedly get legions of viewers back in front of the tube next week for the second half of the episode.
The In-box
A Restaurant World ‘Howl’
A reader sent us this Ginsbergian screed earlier this week, which struck us as a perfect snapshot of the restaurant world, circa summer 2007. We leave you now for the holiday weekend. Enjoy!
DanYelle as a restaurant critic? Anne Burell shticking it up in the kitchen with a skirt with horsies on it? David Chang morphing from shy nice smiley ramen guy to F-bomb dropping Esquire spread noodle mob boss? Johnny Iuzzini in a meringue body stocking? Tattoos as the new talent. Top Chef as the new Michelin. Glorified fryers, grass fed peaches, 1,000 day meat. I mean, it’s as if we are all now Cracker Jacks ripping open the next prize every time we open a menu. It’s always going to be a disposable toy. Or wash-off ink. It’s a 3 onion ring circus, this industry. We have our freaks and our clowns and our daredevils and our bearded ladies. It’s “I invented the lobster roll and that white wicker chair to sit on while you eat it.” Huh? It’s sellouts: Bertoli, Starbucks, Target, FreshDirect, Appleby’s. It’s all hypocritical: Eat fresh … and then buy my frozen dinner meals. Hitchcock would have tapped into a whole new genre with the horror of the food world.
—An Appalled Spectator
last night’s gig
Broken Social Scene Get Sociable; Feist Gets FeistyBrendan Canning, one of the two founding members of Canadian supergroup Broken Social Scene, cracked several tired jokes about people swimming in the waterless pool, before changing tacks and heckling a fan who was talking on his cell phone. Kevin Drew, Canning’s more focused half, had to cut him off several times so they could move on with the set.
Ron Burkle’s Village Woes Just BeginningBillionaire Ron Burkle’s gotta be regretting buying Sky Studios, the spectacular Village penthouse that was formerly a glamorous event space. A judge just ruled that brides-to-be who had previously reserved it for weddings can still use the multi-tiered apartment (which has a rooftop pool) for their nuptials — even though Burkle now owns the space and is presumably itching to move in (or make it nice and sell it). The Post reported that he plans to make it a residential palace. But we’re thinking that Burkle will have other reasons to regret the purchase. Last time Daily Intel was there, managers told us that the reason it was turned into an event space instead of a private home was that leakage, heating, and structural problems (not to mention unfabulous service-elevator access) made it virtually unlivable. Though, frankly, for our own rooftop pool in the summer, we’d live in a yurt for the rest of the year.
Wedded Diss to Bliss [NYP]
model tracker
American Girls Are Back on the Runways
We’ve seen two waves of model nationalism in the last five years: first, the Brazilian glamazons, led by Gisele, and then alien-eyed waifs from the Eastern Bloc, led by Sasha Pivovarova. But the runways this Fashion Week are going to look less like the U.N. and more like high school.
User’s Guide
The New Cold War: Fro-Yo Standoff in FlushingThe Frozen-Yogurt Wars have intensified in Flushing. We spotted two new stores going up a mere 85 feet from each other on Roosevelt Avenue. Does Pinkberry have the advantage, being so close to the heavily trafficked Main Street stop on the 7 train? Or will the discriminating dessert aficionado bypass the throngs (by walking about 40 steps) to Red Mango? Too soon to tell, but we fear New York’s post-apocalyptic future where the only structures standing are bank branches and frozen-yogurt stores. Oh, and the Arepa Lady. —Aileen Gallagher
Earlier: Our coverage of the frozen-yogurt invasion
‘Times’ Wants College Students to Turn Down That Damned MusicNewspapers face all sorts of problems, not insignificant among them that younger people don’t so much read the paper. Then today we saw the cover story of the “Metro” section, “Welcome, Students. Now Watch It,” geared toward the college students — and, we should think, potential new Times readers — newly arrived in the city. It includes such useful tips as “Don’t fall asleep on the subway,” “Don’t play chess for money with the hustlers in Washington Square Park,” and “Don’t drink too much beer and use the street as a toilet.” Plus, this gem, from the end of the “Don’t light up in a bar” tip: “And besides, if you’re not 21, you shouldn’t be in a bar anyway.” We have no idea why “Make sure to clean your room” and “Just say no” weren’t included as tips, but, yeah, we think we understand why kids don’t read the paper.
Welcome, Students. Now Watch It [NYT]