Baird Jones Memorial Party at the Plumm Might Have Actually Pissed Him OffSo on Friday night there will be a big, open-to-all bash to celebrate the memory of New York nightlife mainstay Baird Jones at the Plumm. The art collector, promoter, and gossip stringer died two weeks ago of a heart attack, and now everyone’s invited to toast his memory. Except, according to Grub Street, the venue might not be one that Baird himself would have been too happy about. In fact, at times he even worked to shut the club down. Baird called New York to complain of some of Plumm owner Noel Ashman’s poor business practices, including paying for underage models to visit the club and ripping off promoters. (He didn’t complain about how Plumm publicists incessantly exaggerated celebrity items to gossip columnists, but we’ll throw that in there because it’s always annoyed us.) Baird’s fellow promoter, Ivy Supersonic, says that she and the Webster Hall curator had a whole bunch of correspondence over the issue. Click on through to Grub for the whole story and Noel Ashman’s response.
Baird Jones’s Memorial Party to Be Held at Club He Secretly Tried to Close [Grub Street]
Related: Gossip Guru Baird Jones Reported Dead
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Egad! Change at Peter Luger!
How’d we miss this yesterday? Our compatriots at Grub Street report that — are you sitting down? — Peter Luger has changed its menu. (The south-Williamsburg beef temple does, by the way, officially have a menu, though one rarely actually sees, much less uses, one.) After 120 years of serving porterhouse, Luger has added the option of rib eye. Why the change? It seems there just isn’t enough good porterhouse in the city to meet the restaurant’s needs, so the only alternative was to start offering other cuts (or to, as the Grubbies say has recently happened, force some diners to eat fish). Grub Street is not displeased with this development: “Truly great porterhouses are hard to come by; they’re not marbled the way rib eyes are, and they don’t have the same depth of flavor.” Perhaps, but we won’t be eating them. You go to Luger for the experience as much as for the food, and the experience includes porterhouse. We could get a good rib eye without riding the J train.
After 120 Years, Peter Luger Introduces a New Steak [Grub Street]
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Boxed OutRemember when we told you that the Box, Simon Hammerstein’s new, insufferably pretentious so-called “dinner theater” non-club on the Lower East Side was in fact so insufferably pretentious that we’d never set foot in the place again? Well, we rest our case.
Michael Herr of the Box Serves Scarlett Johansson, Experiences a ‘Brush of Excitement’ [Grub Street]
Earlier: ‘Radar’ Throws a Party, and We Discover We Are Not Cool Enough to Buy Drinks
Related: What’s In the Box? [NYM]
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Will Katz’s Make Way for Condos?
We had to give smelling salts to Grub Street’s Josh Ozersky after he heard a rumor that Katz’s Deli might be the next victim of a new Lower East Side condo. Working all night, sustained only by a crust of rye and one slice of pastrami, Josh uncovered the truth. Or at least some more reliable rumors. Look to Grub Street for reassurance.
Mother of Mercy! Is This the End of Katz’s [Grub Street]
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The Cheese Commutes Alone
Whatever your plans are for today, they should include a stop at Grand Central to see “The World’s Largest Cheese.” Murray’s Cheese and the Dutch cheesemaker Beemster have somehow rolled a Guinness-record-holding Gouda into the train station. Besides a tasting, the cheese gets its own press conference (gleefully imagined, above). We’re not sure what you do with a cheese that big, but Grub Street has some excellent suggestions.
World’s Biggest Cheese in Town Today [Grub Street]
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‘Top Chef’s Marcel Still Viewed as Bad Guy
Remember Marcel Vigneron, the foamy villain from last season of Top Chef? He may not be on TV anymore, but he’s still causing trouble in the kitchen. The staff of wd-50 believes Vigneron ripped off a Wylie Dufresne dish in a recent issue of Wired. Grub Street has all the dirt. Or foam.
Did Marcel From ‘Top Chef’ Really Just Rip Off Wylie Dufresne? [Grub Street]
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Pork: It’s What’s for Lunch
If you’re looking for an inspired lunch to grab this week, go no further than Grub Street’s “Sandwich of the Week.” This week, sandwich seekers Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld happily discover the tamarind-pork sandwich (above) from Lassi. This “Indian-Dominican powerhouse” includes pork, garlic, chiles, cilantro, ginger, salt, and a tandoori masala, among other ingredients. Too bad it’s only available Wednesday through Sunday.
Sandwich of the Week: Lassi’s Tamarind-Pork Sandwich [Grub Street]
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N.Y. Diet: What Rapper Sean Mims Eats on the Road
While rapper Sean Mims is off tearing up clubs performing “This Is Why I’m Hot,” he thinks longingly of the habichuela con dulce from his native Washington Heights. Mims loves shrimp, is working his way toward sushi, and refuses to eat on planes (not even in first class). Find out what Mims puts on his rider and how you balance Blue Fin with Sonic over on Grub Street.
This Is Why Rapper Mims Likes His Tea Hot [Grub Street]
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When Brunch Goes Bad Meet Lynnea Scalora, a waiter-bartender (and bassist-artist) treading the fine line between the “dolled-up” LES cool and the “messy” Greenpoint cool: She slings booze at the Annex, where “people are very concerned about their image” but prefers waiting tables at the laid-back Enid’s. How laid-back? Well, they toss Polish locals out for talking to customers. And scoff at the rubes who order dirty martinis, or coffee-and-dessert, or decaf, or Splenda (“these things aren’t what happens at Enid’s”). And snicker at bickering couples. Otherwise, it’s an oasis of tolerance! There’s more Lynnea at Grub Street.
Lynnea Scalora of Enid’s and the Annex Can Tell Her Hipsters Apart [Grub Street]
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Pure Food and Wine Is Turning French-ish, Bro
David Moltz has been a waiter at the raw-food mecca Pure Food and Wine for a little more than a year. So how does he withstand the onslaught of celebrities, raw-food obsessives, and irritable vegans? By talking to the new chef. “Our new chef makes French-style cuisine,” he says. “Me and him totally bro down about French stuff.” To learn more about bro-ing down and why the staff had to stop ordering nachos and what goes down on the “hump couch,” head to Grub Street.
Pure Food and Wine’s David Moltz Hangs With Gisele, Chases Raw Foodists for Tips [Grub Street]
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Not the Nosh!
When they came for John’s Pizzeria, we did not stand up, because we do not frequent John’s Pizzeria. But who’s left to stand up now? Everyone loves the Inhouse Nosh Café, the, well, in-house noshery in the lobby of New York HQ, 444 Madison Avenue. Or, at least, everyone does with the notable exception of city’s Health Department, which in its ongoing, rats-video-fueled crackdown yesterday closed the place, claiming 110 violation points. (Twenty-eight or more points necessitates a reinspection.) Grub Street is crushed, and, in this rare case, we’ve got to say we agree. Poor Nosh.
Health Department Rampage Hits Grub Street Close to Home [Grub Street]
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It’d Be Better With Oompa-Loompas
Looks like Max Brenner, the nonexistent “Bald Man” of high-concept choco-bar infamy, has started a trend: Call it the Willie Wonka–fication of the coffeehouse experience. The weirdness continues at the Roasting Plant, where freshly roasted coffee beans are sucked out of transparent vessels through overhead pipes and into a souped-up espresso machine. We’re as baffled as anyone, but we also have to grudgingly admit that the shop’s main attraction, a Rube Goldberg–meets–H.R. Giger device, looks pretty damn cool. And, who knows, perhaps the beans do stay fresher this way. We’ll let Rob and Robin provide further explanation over at Grub Street.
The Roasting Plant’s Coffee Beans Dance Overhead [Grub Street]
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God Save the King Burger
Ever feel like a big, juicy, greasy hamburger doesn’t pack quite big enough of a fat-and-cholesterol punch for you? The line cooks at BLT Burger to the rescue, then. Killing time at the end of a shift one night, the kitchen crew at Laurent Tourondel’s Sixth Avenue outpost threw a burger in the deep fryer to see what would happen. The magnificent result was the King Burger, a five-ounce hunk of ground beef coated, fried, and served on a soft bun with lettuce, tomato, and onion. There’s more to it, and it’s this week’s Sandwich of the Week.
Sandwich of the Week: BLT’s King Burger, in All Its Deep-Fried Glory [Grub Street]
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Sam Mason Always Has Room for Dessert
Last time Grub Street checked in with Sam Mason, the former wd-50 pastry chef who’s slowly working toward opening his own spot, Tailor, he was worried about the floor. Would the hardwood acclimate to the humidity? Would he have to have grout in his kitchen? This week, it’s on to the ceiling and the stairs — who knew there are specific “staircase architects”? — and to that little manner of the menu. But first, it’s time to get dessert with members of the Experimental Cuisine Collective. What’s that? Find out at Grub Street.
Sam Mason Joins a Molecular Secret Society [Grub Street]
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Employees Only Is Always Crowded, Sometimes With a Brass BandAt West Village cocktail joint Employees Only, the place is jammed from eight till midnight or so nearly every night, on weekends the line to get in runs down the block, and the upstairs neighbors sometimes throw fruit on revelers in the back garden, according to manager and maître d’ Dagny Mendelsohn. But it’s also just about impossible to get a bad drink from one of the expert bartenders, she says, and there’s a decent chance you might snag yourself a barback. Find out the other secrets of Employees Only at Grub Street, where Mendelsohn is this week’s Ask a Waiter.
Dagny Mendelsohn of Employees Only Defends Her Customers From Flying Fruit [Grub Street]
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Say Cheese
Happy National Grilled-Cheese Sandwich Month! We presume Hallmark has a card for the occasion — how could they not? — but Grub Street has an even better way to send cheesily good tidings: The Underground Gourmet’s list of the eight best grilled-cheese sandwiches in New York. They all sound delicious, and they’re this week’s Sandwiches of the Week.
Sandwiches of the Week: In Celebration of National Grilled-Cheese Sandwich Month [Grub Street]
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Born to Be Wild Salmon
Over-the-top restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow — the man behind the near-universally reviled Kobe Club, which has caused him to revile, in turn, critics like our Adam Platt and the Times’ Frank Bruni — opens his latest offering, Wild Salmon, today. Grub Street got a look inside the place yesterday, and a look at the menu, and based on that — and not, mind you, on actually eating anything there — pronounces it “the best hand he’s dealt himself in a while.” Why? Find out at Grub Street.
Wild Salmon Swims Into View. Yes, ‘Pun Intended’ [Grub Street]
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Sam Mason Waits for His Wood
It’s time for another Grub Street check-in with Sam Mason, the former wd-50 pastry chef who’s working (and working and working) to open his own Soho spot, Tailor. Today we learn of yet another hiccup. Who knew you have to wait three days before laying hardwood floors? But there’s an upside to that delay: It gave Sam time to go shopping for sexy Japanese knives. Everything you ever wanted to know about humidity, grout, and Japanese carbon steel awaits in The Launch at Grub Street.
Sam Mason on the Sexiness of Japanese Steel [Grub Street]
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Mom Always Said Not to Play Ball in the Fancy French Restaurant
You think it’s easy being a waiter at a high-end French restaurant? Hardly. Chanterelle server Ian Tomaschik has to serve and clear a six-course tasting menu while also replenishing bread and silverware and making drinks and coffees. “In the beginning,” he told Grub Street, “I didn’t think I could pull it off.” But he has, for six years, and it’s worth it: “Once I saw the name Barry Williams on the reservation list. I was like, I can’t believe I’m waiting on Greg Brady.” Tomaschik is this week’s Ask a Waiter.
Ian Tomaschik of Chanterelle Will Serve You Fake Wine If Your Secretary Asks [Grub Street]
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Welcome, Whole Foods Backlash!With a brand new Whole Foods on Bowery (and, seemingly, everywhere else), will neighborhood organic markets wither? Indie rocker Jason Trachtenberg, who leads the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players when he’s not stocking shelves at the all-volunteer 4th Street Co-op, fears losing customers to the giant supermarket. “They’ve completely oversaturated the organic market, and they’re not even all organic,” says Trachtenberg . What did Whole Foods say in its defense? Find out about the benefits of foot traffic over on Grub Street.
Bowery Whole Foods: An Effing Steamroller? [Grub Street]
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You Deserve a Big, Fishy Break Today
Something’s particularly fishy around town right now, and it’s not just all those Catholics abandoning meat. Or, actually, it ever so slightly is: Loosely timed to coincide with the Lenten season, McDonald’s has debuted the Double Filet-o-Fish — and the Underground Gourmet is giddy. There’s more to the sandwich than just a double dose of deep-fried mystery fish. What’s the special twist? The UG tells all at Grub Street, where it’s the Sandwich of the Week.
Filet-o-Fish Sandwich Now Twice As Delicious [Grub Street]
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Morgan Spurlock Is Getting FatSelf-styled muckraker Morgan Spurlock — whose facial hair, if you can believe it, is now even more irritating than when he first ate his way to prominence in Super Size Me — claims he’s getting fat. And that’s hardly a surprise when you consider what he’s been eating: chicken parm, doughnuts, dinner at Per Se. He even had a burger! (Though it wasn’t McDonald’s.) Find out how else he’s super-sizing himself in this week’s New York Diet.
Morgan Spurlock Splurges at Per Se, Loves Peanut-Butter Doughnuts [Grub Street]
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Sam Mason’s Floor Won’t Weather Itself
Former wd-50 pastry chef Sam Mason may have run into some speed bumps on the road to opening his Tailor, on Broome Street, but he’s still chugging along, and he’s still chronicling said chugging for Grub Street. In the latest installment, Mason sees his restaurant taking shape — literally: They’re framing the kitchen and laying floors — and wonders how he’ll make those floors look as weathered as he wants them to be. Stiletto-heeled dancing, anyone?
Sam Mason Needs Fifteen Women in Stilettos to Complete Construction [Grub Street]
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Duck!
We haven’t yet been to Morandi, Keith McNally’s new Italian spot in the West Village, but as lunchtime approaches — and as we learn about chef Jody Williams’s duck sandwich — we must say we’re tempted to head over. It’s Muscovy duck breast on Balthazar Bakery bread, plus lots of other things. We’ll let Williams explain, in this week’s Annotated Dish at Grub Street.
Morandi’s Deceptively Simple Duck Sandwich [Grub Street]
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We All Scream for Lobster!
If it were us, we might not have named the thing a Lobster-Roll Ice-Cream Sandwich, because it sounds, well, gross. But look at the picture and consider the ingredients: a buttered-and-griddled top-cut hot-dog bun, filled with chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, and more chocolate sauce. And then remember that had Ed McFarland, of Ed’s Lobster Bar, called it something else, it might not be this week’s Sandwich of the Week. And then where would we be?
That’s Right: A Lobster-Roll-Inspired Ice-Cream Sandwich [Grub Street]
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Daniel Boulud Chefs Where He Eats
So what does a chef actually eat? Grub Street dared to ask the question of Chef Daniel Boulud. Turns out he eats regularly at his own restaurant Daniel. But he also spares twenty minutes for sushi at Sushi Yasuda, samples new spice mixes, and previews his upcoming spring menu. Sunday means brunch at Balthazar and the occasional Citymeals-on-Wheels gala, where Boulud can sample hors d’oeuvre from the city’s finest chefs. So work, eat, and raise $1.1 million. Not a bad gig. To find out who makes Chef’s favorite tart flambé, check out Grub Street.
Chef Daniel Boulud Eats Sushi at $10 Per Minute [Grub Street]
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Eating London: Please, Platt, We Want Some More
From Scotland to England: New York’s inimitable and indomitable Adam Platt spent five days eating his way through London for this week’s magazine. He learned that now, finally, there’s plenty worth eating alongside the Thames but that there’s more density and variety — and less cost — next to the Hudson. But he also learned a whole lot more, which couldn’t all fit into his allotted magazine space. Head, then, to Grub Street, where he provides the Gobbler’s Ten Rules for Eating Well in London. (Hint: You’d better like lamb.)
How to Eat in London [Grub Street]
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Everybody’s Friends at Nolita Thai Joint Lovely DayEve Dunlop has been a waitress at Nolita’s neighborhood Thai joint, Lovely Day, for two years, and she tries to give the place a “hangout” kind of vibe. “We’re trying to make a friendly environment,” she says. “Anyone’s welcome to join in our conversation.” So might the locals who come by to hang out and converse — some of whom have been known to get naked (“we’re all friends here,” Dunlop says) — be the sort you’d call hipsters? Not at all, she says. “They’re neighborhood people, young working professionals who are into music and art.” Of course. Totally different. Eve’s got much more to say at Grub Street; she’s this week’s Ask a Waiter.
Eve Dunlop of Lovely Day Insists Her Customers Aren’t Hipsters [Grub Street]
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Back to the Shack: Danny Meyer Speaks
It’s not spring till tomorrow, but even in this last remaining dark day of winter, there’s a glimmer of happy, summery news: The Shake Shack has reopened. It happened yesterday afternoon, Grub guru Josh Ozersky reports, and he spoke to Danny Meyer, the Shake Shack’s owner and arguably New York’s favorite restaurateur, about what new is in store at the Madison Square burgery. The part we find most exciting: Magic wands! Huh? Find out at Grub Street.
Danny Meyer on Shake Shack 2.0 [Grub Street]
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Manhattan’s Bargain Is Brooklyn’s SplurgeMoroccan in Bay Ridge? Turkish in Gravesend? Sign us up. Grub Street has prepared a quick, opinionated guide to the more offbeat pleasures of Brooklyn Restaurant Week. At some places, the three-courses-for-$21.12 model actually sounds like a markup (how much chicken do you need to put away at Los Pollitos II to even hit that total?), but hell, that’s part of the charm.
Take the Cab to Deepest Brooklyn for Restaurant Week [Grub Street]
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If You Have 1.7 Million Friends, Do You Really Need to Eat? Tila “Tequila” Nguyen is the queen of MySpace (or the “Madonna of MySpace,” if you read Time), with about 1.7 million virtual friends. She flies back and forth from Los Angeles to New York for photo shoots (here) and celebrity appearances (there). And when she’s in town, Tila likes to sample the room service at the W Hotel and the vegan faux-meat goodness at Red Bamboo. Sound pricey? Don’t fret. Tila’s allergic to alcohol. “I’m still a cheap date,” she assures Grub Street.
‘MySpace Queen’ Tila Tequila Drinks Sprite with her Fugu, Likes her Omelets with Ketchup [Grub Street]
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The Gobbler’s Guide to Eating Like a FrenchmanWhere, o where, in this city of hiply casual dress codes and hautely fusioned cuisine options and Danny Meyerly chatty service can one find a good, old-fashioned, exorbitantly expensive, extravagantly presented, high French meal? That’s what the Gobbler’s globe-trotting friend Maurice wanted to know. And the Gobbler, as is his wont, came up with the answers. His list of New York’s top 10 outposts of continental opulence is at Grub Street.
Where to Send Your French Friend Maurice for Continental Opulence [Grub Street]
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There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute, and Some of Them Must Like Pizza
A further sign — as if more were needed — that New York is today a bastion of late-Roman decadence: One city slice shop now serves a $1,000 pizza. The pricey pie comes laden not with gold but with caviar, and Grub Street had the chance to taste it yesterday. So what does caviar’d pizza taste like? Bagels and lox, apparently. In which case we humbly remind you that the Zabar’s premade bagel-and-nova sandwich costs something like four bucks. We’re just saying.
We Try a $1,000 Pizza, Maintain That We Aren’t Publicity Tools [Grub Street]
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The Oyster Bar’s Got Soft-Shells — in March!
And they keep making it sound like rising global temperatures are a bad thing. Feh! How else would we be lucky enough to have soft-shell crabs in March? Yup, that’s right, rising ocean temperatures have tricked the clueless crustaceans into shedding their skins early, making the summertime treat available before you’ve even filed your taxes. Where can you find ‘em? Only at Grand Central’s Oyster Bar, which claims to have cornered the market on the currently available supply of the critters. What else does global warming mean for the fate of crabkind? Find out on Grub Street.
Don’t Tell Al Gore: Soft-Shell Crabs Already Here [Grub Street]
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Fancy French Dip: Mmm, Jus-y
The things we did not know about the humble French-dip sandwich are, it is now clear, legion. We did not know that it was invented in Los Angeles. We did not know two restaurants dispute which of them came up with it first. And we did not know that Flatbush Farm, in Park Slope, serves what is quite possibly the best one in New York, an Haute Barnyard combination of heritage meat, melted Gruyère, and a horseradish sauce, served on name-brand bread. It’s Grub Street’s Sandwich of the Week, and we now know we’ll be disappointed by whatever we end up scrounging for lunch.
Haute Barnyard Take on a Classic SoCal Sandwich [Grub Street]
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Some Models, Apparently, Eat As Much As You Do
Think models don’t eat? If Missy Rayder — currently featured in Gap’s khakis campaign — is any indication, that’s hardly the case. Missy runs down her week of noshes in the new New York Diet, and we count mentions of “really greasy” French fries, lobster rolls, “the best brisket ever,” and Heath bar ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. That’s not all. Find out what else she scarfed down this week on Grub Street.
Model Missy Rayder Drinks Garlic and Eats ‘Dragon Bowls’ [Grub Street]
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We Just Go to the Penthouse Club for the Intellectual Conversation
You’re not particularly surprised that Sara, a waitress at the Penthouse Executive Club — presumably Frank Bruni’s new favorite cocktail lounge — looks like, well, that. You’re also probably not entirely surprised that Sara once received as a tip a pair of two-carat, platinum-set diamonds, from a regular customer who, she explains, “always liked to sit with me.” But you likely didn’t expect that Sara is also working on a doctorate in philosophy, that she calls working at the club her “mind-body dualism” (“I maintain an accurate balance in the social-physical world and the thought-filled world,” she says), or that she’s never walked in on anything more explicit that PG-13. Learn lots more about Sara at Grub Street.
Sara of the Penthouse Executive Club Knows Your Children’s Names [Grub Street]
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None Is the Lonesomest NumberIt’s a classic story: A brash outsider, fizzing with ambition, comes to the big city and gets a thoroughly educational thrashing. And yet now that Lonesome Dove, the Manhattan outpost of Tim Love’s Texas steakhouse, has shuttered, the blogs are pouring a little moonshine on the ground for the departing joint. Sure, some of the dishes were ridiculous, as was that cowhide on the sidewalk, but there was also a little Manhattan snobbery and, dare we say, a touch of misplaced blue-state rage in the collective drubbing administered to Love. Grub Street has put together a collection of links in tribute.
Lonesome Dove Flies Away [Grub Street]
Bonus: Adam Platt’s original evisceration [NYM]
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Rats Ruin It for Everyone
Grub Street brings us the worrisome news that the New York City Department of Health is going all vigilante on area restaurants following last week’s embarrassing rat infestations. This weekend’s victims? West Village stalwart John’s Pizzeria and neighboring Risotteria. Operators of both restaurants were furious, as were thwarted customers. Grub Street has all the dirt (which may or may not be in the restaurants themselves).
Customers Rush to Pizzeria’s Defense [Grub Street]
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Daniel Pinchbeck Hates Processed Food, Likes Coffee
Daniel Pinchbeck, the mind-expanded author of Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey Into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, realized the first time he took mushrooms — back in college — just how much he didn’t like processed food, and he’s been trying to eat on a higher plane ever since. How does he do that? With a lot of coffee, it seems, and occasional stops for raw food. Find out his latest noshes in this week’s New York Diet, at Grub Street.
Psychedelic Writer Daniel Pinchbeck Likes His Chocolate With ‘Special Properties’ [Grub Street]
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Purple, Annotated
Varietal pastry chef Jordan Kahn is, we’re told, the pastry chef in New York right now. And what does the pastry chef want his desserts to taste like? Purple, apparently. In this week’s Annotated Dish, he deconstructs his “Meditation in Purple,” explaining all its luscious ingredients. Check it out at Grub Street.
Varietal’s ‘Meditation in Purple’: Need We Say More? [Grub Street]
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David Cross Is Both 12 and 42 Years OldIn the fall and winter, David Cross drinks red wine with “almost every meal.” (In the spring and summer, apparently, it’s beer.) We’d assume he means every non-breakfast meal, but, then, he also has chili for breakfast, so who knows? He even likes red wine with his favorite snack, pretzel rods dipped in Smucker’s all-natural peanut butter, chunky. What else did he have red wine with last week? Find out in the latest New York Diet at Grub Street.
Comedian David Cross Likes His Peanut Butter and Pretzels With a Glass of Wine [Grub Street]
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Apparently We’re Calling This ChodogateYesterday morning, as you likely saw and no doubt heard, Kobe Club proprietor Jeffrey Chodorow took out a full-page ad in the Times dining section to lambaste Frank Bruni’s previous pan of his establishment. In the seven-paragraph (and, we must note, poorly punctuated) screed, Chodorow claimed Bruni’s attack on him was personal and bashed the critic for having no real “food background.” (Remind us, by the way, not to eat in Chodorow’s restaurants, as, lacking a food background of our own, we’ll clearly be unqualified to know whether we enjoyed our experience.) He also named three critics who, unlike Bruni, liked the Kobe Club: New York’s beloved Gael Greene (who indeed fawned over the restaurant in her 240-word squib), and Bob Lape of Crain’s and John Mariani of Esquire (who are both known to be on the take). He didn’t mention that lots of critics hated it, including New York’s chief food critic, Adam Platt, who gave the Kobe Club no stars and called it “a bizarre agglomeration of restaurant fashions and trends, most of them bad.” But Platt earned a glancing dig, when Chodorow announced an “After Adam” feature on his new blog. Platt responded yesterday afternoon on Grub Street, and last night, Grub’s Josh Ozersky checked in with the ranting restaurateur to find out if there was more to say on the topic. Apparently there was.
The Gobbler Responds to Mr. Chodorow’s Broadside [Grub Street]
We Ask Jeffrey Chodorow If He’s Been Feeling Well Lately [Grub Street]
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Show Me the Way to the Next Liquor Bar
For as long as there have been bars, there have been bartenders, and for as long as there have been bartenders, there have been liquored-up customers talking to them. What do they say to you when you’re the bartender at Schiller’s Liquor Bar? Well, the girls give you their numbers, the guys tell you about the urinary exploits, and a middle-aged guy likes to ask about sex clubs. There’s a lot more in this week’s Ask a Waiter, at Grub Street.
Boyfriend Cheating? Corey Lima of Schiller’s Is There for You [Grub Street]
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Balthazar Boss Turns BologneseKeith McNally created the New York iteration of the French bistro. Now he’s gone Italian. The Underground Gourmet talked to him about his new West Village trattoria, Morandi, the great floor his wife picked out for it, and why this could be his last restaurant. It’s at Grub Street.
Keith McNally on Why Morandi Will Be His Last Restaurant Ever [Grub Street]