Bondage and Brownies Together at Last in Soho on SundayAstoria: Time Cafe at 44-18 Broadway will have a jazz brunch Sunday. [Joey in Astoria]
Midtown East: In line with its plans for a New York expansion of immense proportions, Pret A Manger is opening a store on Madison at 49th Street. [Grub Street]
Soho: Use up all your indulgences on Mercer Street this Sunday when the Treats Truck sidles up next to Babeland. [The Treats Truck]
Southampton: You might consider dropping the name of Dune nightclub co-owner and cheesemonger Matt Schendell if you want to get in. [Down by the Hipster]
Tribeca: The grand opening of the new pub and restaurant Harrison Tavern on Chambers Street at West Broadway has revealed drab lighting, green-checked tablecloths, and a extensive menu of bar food that includes a ranch-chicken pizza. [Grub Street]
Neighborhood Watch
Hottest Club in the Hamptons Run by CheesemongersChelsea: Izakaya Ten now serves weekend brunch featuring shrimp-fried-rice omelettes, wasabi Bloody Marys, and “Chu-Hais” made with shochu and citrus juices. [NYS]
Southampton: The owners of a Murray Hill fondue parlor are behind the Hamptons’ hottest new club. [Down by the Hipster]
Lower East Side: Spitzer’s Corner, having been spurned by Sam Talbot, has finally gotten around to installing a chef: Le Bernardin veteran Michael Cooperman. [Restaurant Girl]
Union Square: Reserve a spot for Italian Wine Merchants’ Saturday wine tasting dedicated to women winemakers; Batali-approved antipasti are sure to be served. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Upper West Side: The ten-year-old dining room at Jean Georges will close for renovations August 20 through 28. [NYT]
NewsFeed
Lower Eastpacking District Tells Bar, ‘No Bull’When we visited Johnny Utah’s a few days ago, it was a mere construction site with a $25,000 mechanical bull at the center. Granted, in these first interior shots, we still see nothing but the bull, but that’s just because we’re obsessed. And as obsessives, we were a bit concerned when a source told us that Rob Shamlian of Fat Baby had abandoned his plans to install the city’s second bull at 133 Essex Street, the site of the honky-tonk bar and restaurant, at one point called Evan Ford, that Sam Talbot walked away from along with his other project with Shamlian, Spitzer’s.
NewsFeed
‘Top Chef’ Heartthrob to Cook on the Bowery?
On the agenda for tonight’s Community Board 2 meeting is a liquor-license application that a one “Sam Talbot or Corp. to be formed” has filed for 312–314 Bowery, a recently renovated mixed-use building between Houston and Bleecker Streets, walking distance from the restaurant Daniel Boulud hopes to open at Avalon Chrystie Place II. It seems, in other words, that Top Chef also-ran Talbot has found a new project after moving on from Spitzer’s, his ill-fated partnership with Fat Baby owner Rob Shamlian (you’ll recall “Page Six” rumors that big-name restaurateurs lured him into a mystery project). Trouble is, a Bravo publicist tells us Talbot doesn’t know anything about the Bowery application, and the other Sam Talbot, the beloved pushcart vendor, says he doesn’t know anything about it either. Will the real Sam Talbot stand up at tonight’s meeting?
Related: CB2 July agenda
gossipmonger
Gore ’08!Michael Moore may support Al Gore for president. A theater in the HBO building was named for former network chief Michael Fuchs, and Fuchs gave a weird, bad, awkward speech at the ceremony. Jerry Seinfeld is very excited about his upcoming Bee Movie. 50 Cent is very excited about playing a drug dealer opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in his upcoming movie. A lot of racehorse owners are not pleased with Eliot Spitzer’s plan for Aqueduct to be government-run. David Burke took home $10,000 after beating Bobby Flay and Sam Talbot in a poker tournament in Aspen. Jimmy Fallon wants to lose weight. “Utter pandemonium” broke out, says a “Page Six” source, after Debra Messing, Mike Nichols, and other guests were rained upon during the Public Theater’s premiere of Romeo and Juliet in Central Park. (Actually, we thought it was pretty fun.) Ian Claus dedicated his first book to Chelsea Clinton.
Mediavore
Twinkies Now Stuffed With Bananas; Lower Eastpacking District Now OnlineReporter files 500 words on the new banana Twinkie. [NYDN]
Talbot loses to Hall again in cooking contest. The real winners here: the women of New York. [NYDN]
The Spotted Pig’s DOH record is not exactly spotless — it’s accused of “vermin harborage,” and not just on weekend bridge-and-tunnel nights. [NYP]
De Niro may be choosing his L.A. partner Sciandri over his N.Y. partner Nieporent as partner in new hotel — turf war! [NYDN]
Vice creates a Virtual Lower Eastpacking District, uniting Internet dorks and party animals. [Gawker]
Mediavore
New York is Now Fat City; Korean KFC Comes to New YorkFat is where it’s at in New York today, thanks to the efforts of what Adam Platt would call the “refined meathead” school of chefs like David Chang and Zak Pelaccio. [NYT]
Related: You Know You’re a Meathead When… [NYM]
Kyochon Chicken, the Korean chain behind the current wave of Korean fried-chicken restaurants, has opened in Flushing. Two more locations are planned for Bayside. [NYT]
Ilan Hall defeated Sam Talbot in their outdoor Top Chef rematch yesterday, Hall’s soft-shell crab salad triumphing over Talbot’s grilled quail and potatoes. [NYDN]
Mediavore
Sam Talbot Has a Mystery Suitor; Marco Pierre White Is Still the ManSam Talbot bailed from Spitzer’s Corner because some powerful restaurateur made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and something big is in the offing. [NYP]
Marco Pierre White’s rags-to-riches memoir continues to inspire struggling cooks on both sides of the Atlantic. [Gothamist]
Related: Batali, Bourdain, and Ramsay Mentor to Finally Take on America? [Grub Street]
A shocking new study reveals that — are you sitting down? — there are more bodegas and fast-food restaurants in Harlem than on the Upper East Side. [NYP]
Mediavore
‘Top Chef’ Talbot Out at Spitzer’s Corner; FDA Too Weak EvenTop Chef runner-up Sam Talbot is out at what was to be his debut restaurant, Spitzer’s Corner. [Eater]
The FDA is facing increasing ire about its having largely abdicated its regulatory role. Even the produce industry wants the agency to do its job; suppliers are “virtually begging for stronger intervention.” [NYT]
Salsa mogul gives the Culinary Institute of America $35 million to advance the careers of Latin cooks and kitchen workers and to “deepen the United States’ relationship with food from Latin America.” [NYT]
Mediavore
‘Food & Wine’ Parties Rock; Yuppies Heart Joe Jr.’sThe Food & Wine Best New Chef parties were pretty good — especially the after-party at the Spotted Pig. We wonder who that unnamed chef doing shots all night could possibly be. Are his initials M.B.? [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Joe Jr.’s coffee shop is becoming a cult favorite among well-heeled Manhattanites – one even rented it out for a party and put up a disco ball. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Top Chef runner-up Sam Talbot to open an already trendy eatery on the Lower East Side, but his liquor-license papers seem not to be in order yet. [Eater]
The New York Diet
Sam Talbot (Formerly) of ‘Top Chef’ Splurges at NobuAround the time he helmed the kitchen at Williamsburgh Café, before becoming an executive chef at Punch and then a contestant on Top Chef, Forbes named Sam Talbot one of the city’s up-and-coming chefs and Zink declared him one of its sexiest: “He is like a girl when it comes to shopping and grooming himself,” his Bravo bio reads. Unfortunately this didn’t cut it with the judges, and Sam was kicked to the curb on this week’s penultimate episode. Admirers will be happy to hear, however, that he’s still zipping around on his Vespa and consulting with the owners of Fat Baby on their two new Lower East Side restaurants. We asked him what he ate this week and learned that he likes his food cheap but solid — aside from his monthly splurge at Nobu.
Back of the House
Red Cat Owner Betting on Ilan to Win ‘Top Chef’Immediately following the penultimate episode of Top Chef, we instant-messaged with Jimmy Bradley, the chef and restaurateur behind the Red Cat, the Mermaid Inn, and the Harrison, and the co-author of The Red Cat Cookbook. Last year’s winner, Harold Dieterle, was a sous-chef at the Harrison, so we thought Jimmy might have an interesting angle on the battle between Ilan, Sam, Elia, and the much-maligned Marcel.
Back of the House
‘Top Chef’ Fans Going Wild OnlineUpdate: Snack reports that Ilan Hall has quit his line cook post at Casa Mono. Let the speculation as to whether this is because he won the show or lost it begin!
The Top Chef fans have spoken – or, rather, they’ve been bitching on the Internet. As America waits to find out whether Sam, Ilan, Elia, or Marcel gets the boot in tonight’s penultimate episode, it’s clear that the crowd’s heart is with Marcel, the Joël Robuchon cook the rest of the cast has been bullying all season. “I’m full of impotent rage at the idea that Ilan, Sam or Elia will win either of the competitions (fan favorite or Top Chef),” writes baconeggs on Television Without Pity.