Foodies Flock to Networking Site; No Word If Any Have Dates
Food Candy is as simple as a baked potato: It’s the Foodie Friendster (or, as you cutting-edge types would probably prefer, MySpace). The strange thing about the site is how happy, normal, and attractive the people look. Can these really be the same hard-core geeks that we’ve eaten with? Or is this the food version of JDate, which for the longest time showed you pictures of one Sarah Silverman after another, only to deliver Golda Meirs? We appreciate how the site brings together established bloggers like Daisy Martinez with obscure but worthy writers we didn’t know about, like the farm-loving Pease Porridge and the admirably focused Burrito Blog. (Restaurant Girl and Famous Fat Dave had already made fans of us.) We just hope this social phenomenon reflects the foodie community’s increasing obsessiveness, not some attempt at reintegrating with normal human society.
Openings
Five Points Owners to Transform Provence (But Still Serve Bouillabaisse)It’s always a sad day for Francophiles and nostalgists when yet another beloved old-school French restaurant shutters its doors, but in the case of Provence — which served its last bowl of bouillabaisse on Saturday — it could be a lot worse.
Vicki Freeman and Marc Meyer, the owners of Cookshop and Five Points, have taken over the space with plans to completely gut the kitchen, redo the dining room, put in a raw bar, and reopen by January as — guess what? — a nice French restaurant called Provence.
the know-it-all
What Ails Mrs. Hevesi?Early and Often brings the exciting news that state comptroller Alan Hevesi’s name has received the greatest of honors. It has been verbed. To “hevesi” apparently means “to illegally convert governmental assets or resources to one’s personal use; and, when caught, to offer to make full restitution and public apology.”
It also reminded us of another issue we’ve had about Hevesi’s whole hevesi-ing episode. Namely, that he claimed he’d used the state employee to chauffeur his wife both due to security concerns and also because his wife is — as all the papers say — “ailing.” Why is the comptroller so concerned for his wife’s safety? And, more intriguingly, what ails Carol Hevesi?
gossipmonger
Bill, Hill, and BarbraBill and Hillary went to see Babs on their 31st anniversary. Alec Baldwin yelled at a cop near the plane-crash site, later needed a phone at a restaurant. Dixie Chick Natalie Maines still thinks Bush is dumb. Jennifer Aniston says she’s still dating Vince Vaughn and never had breast enhancement. Suzanne Somers’s new book could be harmful to women, doctors say. Christopher Hitchens doesn’t like Bob Woodward and doesn’t like his new book — but does like dry white wine. Jack Nicholson has a sore throat. Usher is sick, too, so he’s leaving Chicago. Gray Kunz won’t be opening a restaurant in the old Aquavit space. Felicity Huffman prefers to vote in the morning. Bonnie Fuller won a Woman of Valor award, brought her mom to the ceremony. DMX says his kid’s mother raped him; she says he defamed her. There’ll be a book party for The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB: A Secret History of Jewish Punk at CB’s Gallery. Some Dems thought Bill Clinton was sleeping around again last year, according to a new book; he said he wasn’t. Carson Kressley went to L.A., carried Louis Vuitton suitcases. A former Chanel model named Jackie Rogers apparently makes custom clothes. Someone posting on a message board doesn’t like Whoopi Goldberg’s radio show. John Mark Karr gave a drunken interview that will appear on Today. Prince William is reading Alien Rock: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Extraterrestrial Connection. Christina Aguilera wants to move back to New York. Tracy Morgan acted stupid at Bungalow 8.
Back of the House
Iron Sous-Chef Busts a Move; A Man Tells of His Meatballs, Liquor License• Bruni dropped in on a restaurant wearing a fanny pack and riding a scooter? No wonder he needed some R&R. [Eater]
• davidburke & donatella gets a new chef de cuisine (Eric Hara, doing bacon-wrapped duck) and pastry chef (Monica Bellissimo, standing by her egg cream in an eggshell). [NYO]
• Some October-November openings via ZagatWire: The former Tocqueville space is turning Japanese; Anne Burrell, sous-chef to Batali on Iron Chef, takes over the kitchen at Centro Vinoteca. [Zagat]
• John LaFemina of Ápizz and the Orchard recounts the joy of applying for a liquor license in an excerpt from the forthcoming A Man and His Meatballs. [Eater]
the sports section
And You Shall Name Your Children ‘Carlos’
For a very long time at Shea Stadium last night, nothing happened. Pitchers Tom Glavine and Jeff Weaver defied age and mediocrity, respectively, and went back and forth like Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson. Albert Pujols, the world’s best hitter (and, according to scientists, the fastest finger-tapper since Babe Ruth), struck out and lined out. The Mets took turns politely grounding out to second base. It started raining. Ugly Betty pulled at the remote from two channels up. You could feel the crowd getting more and more nervous the longer Glavine pitched — it was like watching the makeout scene in a horror movie.
Then, finally, something did happen, the first potentially defining moment of the Mets’ playoffs.
