January 2010


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A Heartbreaking Taste of the Skyline

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It was a sad day at the 80P and Gansie apartment on Saturday. Our lives were devoid of luck  and wins, but thankfully, not of tequila shots and delicious dip.

First, Duke basketball lost a tight one to Georgia Tech. Then we had our friends Raj and Laura over for the Bengals game. The Cincinnati locals are huge fans and even brought over a special straight-from-Cinncy snack. The orange and black lost, though. And then. And then. The Eagles.

We should have left the apartment. Altered the mojo. But no, we kept in our same seats (although Raj did bring some outfit changes, switching gear depending on the flow) and watched the third losing game of the day.

However, I did learn the secret assemblage to a Midwestern treat. Which I’m sure tastes much better over not-missed field goal attempts. Sorry, Raj and Laura!

But as my friends’ Facebook messages say: 5 weeks until pitchers and catchers.

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in Recipe 3 comments
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ES Local: Four Tribeca Restaurants Worth the Tribeca Prices

FORGE INTERIOR 6

We don’t make it to Tribeca restaurants all that often, because, well, our food blogger salary isn’t quite cut out for it (and we don’t mean the subway fare). But you can hardly live among the New York food scene without feeling the urge to splurge once in a while, and this downtown ‘hood is home to some of Manhattan’s trendiest (and priciest) dining scenes.  Here are four restaurants that make breaking the bank well worth it.

Corton: New York’s current restaurant critics’ darling gives the greenmarket-fueled locavore trend its highest upgrade yet. You may need a dictionary to decode the menu, which starts with wakame seaweed buttered bread and ends with sour plum/lemon verbana/fig clafoutis for dessert. The three-course prix fixe starts at $85. 239 W. Broadway.

Marc Forgione: Only a year-and-a-half old, this young, Michelin-star chef’s eponymous restaurant — previously known as Forge until a doppelganger Miami resto threatened to sue — has a more laid-back vibe than its longer-standing neighbors, but the food is no less refined. The always-changing menu focuses on local, seasonal ingredients in creative dishes like parsnip agnolotti with braised oxtail and black truffles. 134 Reade St.

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in Restaurants 1 comments
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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

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– The Man Who Eats with Wolves has really stirred up ESers’ appetites. Don:

Yummmmm! I suddenly have the urge to hunt down the cat that digs and pees in my garden and eat its innards. I imagine that if this guy learned anything from his experience it was how to “wolf” his food down.

Sounds like someone’s trying to start a pun-off! If you haven’t caught the wolfman podcast yet, take a listen.

– Thanks to everyone for reporting back on all your foodie holiday presents.  Ben digs deep for a pepper mill analysis:

As lovely as that pepper mill is (and it is quite lovely), any mill that cannot be operated one handed is inferior. Now, granted, the one-handed mechanisms aren’t always as even, reliable, or voluminous as the unicorn appears to be. The advantage of being able to pepper something I’m stirring/holding/moving with the other hand FAR outweighs any other consideration.

– And reaching back to our list of the most outrageous holiday presents, erica eloquently defends the purchase of a seltzer maker:

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in Holiday 2 comments
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Cooking at the Consumer Electronics Show

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We can’t let the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas go by unnoticed. We here at ES still choose the iPhone over Google’s entry into the smart phone world, Nexus One, but we’re not for passing up an opportunity to talk about some sexy kitchen toys. I’ve found (from my office desk, not Vegas 🙁 ) the funkiest and perhaps most useless kitchen items to ever grace the earth currently.

MyDemy (above) is to cooks what Kindle is to avid readers: an all in one recipe book, timer, conversion chart and ingredient substitution thingy. It’s “kitchen safe” which basically means you can splash a few drops of water on it and you’ll be fine, just don’t drop it in a pot of boiling oil.

The MyDemy does seem like a great tool for storing all of your personal recipes (if the Kindle were color and had pictures I’d already be an owner of such a device). At $299 the MyDemy seems slightly overpriced considering it appears to only sync with its website Key Ingredient.  If I were to really make use of this then I would need to have hundreds of recipes, which I don’t really have. Even if I did, it would take me years to type them all out. Perhaps MyDemy 2.0 will interface with Epicurious and then we’d be good to go.

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in Trends 5 comments
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Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: High VOLTage

The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.

– The Voltaggios…no really, they’re much more likable in real life than they were on  Top Chef!

–  As part of our ongoing efforts to chronicle the food-related projects of the entire cast of Friends: Courtney Cox may be planning a food truck sitcom.  I can’t wait for the inevitable David Schwimmer hot dog pushcart crime drama.

After the jump…when food and politics collide and we go countdown crazy.

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in Celebs / TV 1 comments
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An Unopened Letter

gourmet bill

An eternity of regret.

in Personal 2 comments
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ES Local: The Top 10 Most Anticipated New NYC Restaurants of 2010

OpeningSoonSticky

2009, as we all know by now, was more a year for restaurant closings than openings. But with the economy kinda-sorta-maybe turning a corner-ish, here’s hoping that 2010 will be a banner year for eating out once again. With that thought in mind, take a look at the top 10 rumored/confirmed/dreamed up/maybe really happening NYC restaurants we’re crossing our fingers for in 2010.

10. No. 7 Sub

Fort Greene’s inventive No. 7—called one of 2009’s best new restaurants in America by Bon Appetit—is heading to Manhattan, of all places, to debut a more wallet-friendly menu. Rumored to open early this year inside midtown’s Ace Hotel, the take-out-only offshoot will feature a selection of under-$10 sandwiches made on house-baked bread and topped with yummy extras like kimchi pickles and Japanese kewpie mayo.  20 W. 29th St.

9. Three More Shake Shacks!

One day, there will be more Shake Shacks in New York than Starbucks. Until that glorious, heart-stopping moment arrives (we’ll set the over/under at February 2014), those not near existing shacks at Madison Square Park, the UWS, and Shea Stadium can get their burger fix at three new locations: downtown (Prince and Mulberry Streets), midtown (8th Avenue and 44th Street), and UES (86th Street and Lex). In the randomest restaurant news ever, there will also be one in Kuwait.

8. The Sam Talbot Project, Continued

The New York foodie set is certifiably obsessed with this Top Chef reject/pin-up model/chef at Long Island’s seasonal Surf Lodge. But despite being constantly seen all over town and rumored to be making a bid on every space that comes on the market, we’re still waiting for the great Sam Talbot restaurant. Supposedly, and emphasis on supposedly, Sam will be cooking at an as-yet-unnamed over-the-top eatery inside Chinatown’s upcoming Mondrian Hotel. Here’s hoping! 150 Lafayette St.

7. DessertTruck

It’s been a full five months since the truck that started the upscale mobile restaurant trend traded in its wheels and then announced it’s transformation into a permanent LES eatery. Let’s get this thing going, guys! New Yorkers can’t be expected to go without $5 rosemary-caramel goat cheese cheesecake for much longer, can we? 6 Clinton Street.

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in Bacon / Lists / Sandwich / Top 10 Lists 2 comments
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