Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Everybody Loves Sam

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

– Sorry, ladies (and gents of that persuasion)!  Looks like Chef Talbot is off the market.

– Sweet God in heaven, why would you put Paula Deen on American Idol?  It’s like two crappy tastes that taste crappy together.

After the jump…an updated Delicious Dish, alternative medicine and the culinary world collide and one of The New York Times’ recent cutbacks must have been in their linguistics department.

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Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Masters of the Foodiverse

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

– The crew for the second season of Top Chef Masters was announced and includes Wylie Dufresne.  I’m installing him as an early 4-to-1 favorite and placing the over/under for foams at 7.5.  I suggest you take the over.

– Speaking of Top Chef, you can now pay to take a TC-themed walking tour of NYC.  Just remember…our Top Chef NYC guide is free!!!

After the jump…Tony Bourdain freelances in the sports section, The Ripper regresses to his dorm room days and our latest Old Media Update.

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Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: A Situation at the Bar

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

– Slightly hoppy with a strong finish of  meathead:  Iron Hill, a brewpub in Maple Shade, New Jersey, is celebrating everyone’s favorite Jersey Shore guido with a namesake beer.

– Ferran Adria, the chef that other chefs want to be when they grow up, is shutting his world-renowned El Bulli down for two years.  Funny…if a genius closes his business for two years, he’s regarded as quirky or enigmatic.  If you or I did it, people would think we’re bat-shit crazy.

After the jump…we learn that it’s important to sound out possible restaurant names before committing to one, that former competitors can pull together for a good cause and that all food writers will be the subject of a movie at some point.

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Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Everything’s Coming Up Gail

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

– Sweet News: Smörg fave Gail Simmons will be the host of Top Chef: Just Desserts.

– And she’ll also be a regular judge on the second season of Top Chef: Masters beginning April 14th.

After the jump…taking shots as Alice Waters, the Jersey Shore crew contributes to our knowledge of the mixology and Food Network gets muy caliente!

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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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ES Local: The Top 10 Most Anticipated New NYC Restaurants of 2010

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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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Honky Tonk Princess

Fuck. So I’m back at work now. But at least I have these so-so photos from my iPhone to remember my looooong road trip from Atlanta to Hartsville to Nashville to Knoxville to Kingsport and back to DC. Let me walk you through my trip, via food, of course.

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Toured World of Coca-Cola. (Atlanta)

I learned a few things. Sex in different language sells. Coke’s secret formula has nothing to do with taste. Chile’s Lift is the best soft drink in South America. I paid $45 for 80P, 80P’s Mom and me to be brainwashed into drinking Coke for the rest of our lives. And it was worth it.

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Met a top chef. (Atlanta)

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Met another top chef. (Atlanta)

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Ate Sonic for the first time. (Somewhere off the highway in Monteagle, Tennessee)

Don’t worry. I didn’t eat that enormous chili cheese dog pictured above (80 did!). I try to avoid meat and fast food. Shockingly, though, the mozzarella sticks were awesome. And the black and white shake, even better. Actually, get this.

We all know what a black and white shake is, right? So I wake up drunk on New Years Day, giggle my ass off for an hour, start to feel crappy, head to a diner and try to order a milkshake on my way out. And my fucking server looks at me like I’m insane. She took a triple take. And she goes, “Um, like put them on top of each other?”

What the fuck? What would that even mean? I clearly did not order a milkshake from that establishment.

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