Ten Moments to Remember From 2007“Life fades … vision dims … and all that remains is memory.” Such are the haunting first words ofThe Road Warrior,我们不禁认为我们back, through heavy lids, at the year that was. 2007 was a memorable restaurant year in so many ways, but there are a few that stick out in our minds. Our favorite moments of the last year would definitely have to include:
Back of the House
What to Expect on Your Job Interview With Gordon RamsayStarchefs plugs big-name chefs as often as Heinz bottles ketchup, so you’ll find all the top toques in their new guidebook,Chefs to Know. Aimed at aspiring kitchen lackeys, the book is fun for civilian perusal as well, if only for the “offbeat restaurants,” favorite kitchen tools, and, best of all, their go-to job interview question.
Mediavore
Gordo Envisions Demise of Bruni; David Burke Scores Cabaret LicenseGordo scoffs at Frank Bruni for panning his restaurant after theTimescritic called to “schmarm” him and ask about a dish since “if you don’t know what you’re criticising, then don’t write about it.” But the snappy chef still feels generous toward food critics: He’ll “do all the canapés at their funerals free of charge.” [Daily Star] David Burke just acquired a cabaret license for Hawaiian Tropic Zone, though thankfully it won’t be Burke himself doing the dancing but rather professionals copying the Pussycat Dolls. [NYP] Smart small businesses like Little Cupcake Bake Shop in Bay Ridge are leading the green front because they can “benefit from conservation efforts in two ways — by saving money on their monthly utility bills and by raising their profile in the community for much less money than they might spend on local advertising.” [NYT]
Neighborhood Watch
Primehouse Opening in Flatiron; Trabocchi Siphoned Former Staff to SohoCarroll Gardens: New wine bar Black Mountain Wine House on Union Street is filled to the brim with lovely sipping ladies. [Eat for Victory/VV] Flatiron: Diddy has closed Justin’s because it’s not big enough. [NYP] Stephen Hanson’s steakhouse, Primehouse, opens Monday. [Zagat] Harlem: Fall registration is open for free proper-dining lessons at “New York City’s only tuition-free etiquette school for children,” the Development and Finishing Institute. [Uptown Flavor] Soho: New Fiamma chef Fabio Trabocchi “brought with him 12 members of the staff of Maestro, in McLean, Va., his previous employer” in order to ease his New York transition. [NYT] Upper East Side: David Burke’s Hudson Valley Foie Gras ‘PB&J’ Tourchon is pushing it. [NYO] Williamsburg: The best way to be sure your beef is prime is to eat at a top steakhouse, and lucky for you, according to “Amy Rubenstein, whose family owns Peter Luger, the shortage is over.” [NYP]
NewsFeed
Why Have One David Burke Restaurant When You Can Have Three?At the Foxwoods Food and Wine Festival this weekend, we learned that David Burke (one of the event’s headline chefs) is in talks to do not one, not two, but three restaurants for the planned MGM Grand casino. The mulleted superchef, known for his showbizzy creativity, is far along in negotiations to do a David Burke Prime steakhouse, similar in spirit to his place in Chicago; a Burke in a Box fast-food place, twin to the one at Bloomingdale’s; and an as-yet-unnamed seafood restaurant, which is the most intriguing of the three. (Despite being a member of the Refined Meathead Hall of Fame, Burke’s most famous creations are his angry lobster and his pastrami salmon.)
Ask a Waiter
Don’t Put Ketchup on Your Steak, Pleads Carly Skinner of Davidburke & DonatellaCarly Skinner was a server at Houston’s before she came to Upper East Side foodie fixture davidburke & donatella. The change was not a small one. “I had to learn a new food vocabulary,” she says. “I was working with servers who had been at places like Le Cirque for twenty years.” Nine months later, she’s now a captain at the restaurant and training to be a sommelier. We asked her to enlighten us about fussy diners, angry lobsters, and smelly smokers.
NewsFeed
Beard After-parties: Hawaiian Tropic Zone, Momofuku Party Bus, MoreThe James Beard Awards after-parties presented special challenges which could only be solved by the liberal use of an open bar. The place to go was the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, whose bikini-clad waitresses and go-go dancers, serving at the behest of chef David Burke, provided a welcome dose of vulgarity after the high-class Beard gala. But the truly hot ticket was the Momofuku party bus, which, if David Chang & Co. were to be believed, was a chartered party vehicle where the most intense celebrating would be done. Regretfully, though, it was closed to press. “Sorry, dude,” David Chang told us, dazed and blissful and still unbelieving in the wake of his victory.
Mediavore
Openings for Dieterle, Pelaccio; Strange Beard BylawsZak Pelaccio andTop Chef’s Harold Dieterle open new restaurants. [NYT] Related: Harold Dieterle’s Perilla to Open … on Jones Street! [Grub Street] And Jeffrey Chodorow’s new Malaysian restaurant, for which Pelaccio was consulting chef, opens in London. [This Is London] Related: Has the Food Over There Really Become Edible? [NYM] The rat expert who instructed the Department of Health says the city is a rodent’s paradise. [WP]
Back of the House
Does David Burke Come With That Steakhouse?B.R. Guest, the mammoth restaurant group behind Dos Caminos, Ruby Foo’s, and a lot of other big-money operations, is installing a steakhouse in the old Park Avenue Country Club space. The question is, will it be a sister to their hugely successful David Burke Primehouse in Chicago, or just another run-of-the-mill meatery? Burke tells us that negotiations are ongoing (the company is currently giving the name as “Prime’s”). But what’s holding up the negotiation?
在the Magazine
The Robs Heart Kefi; Gael Greene Hits the Hawaiian Tropic Zone本周是一个奇怪的食品区:盖尔人格林es to a restaurant most critics wouldn’t go near; four restaurants open all at once, and not one of them in a familiar genre; a chef describes a dangerous encounter with Adam Platt’s ravenous actor brother; and in the review, Rob and Robin bestow a rare four-star review on the Upper West Side’s Kefi.
Back of the House
All We Want For Christmas …在case you’re wondering what we want for Christmas here on Grub Street, we’ve actually gone to the trouble of making a list. • A Grub Street outpost in Las Vegas. Possibly built in conjunction with Hawaiian Tropic Zone, with David Burke as consulting chef. • A James Beard Rising Star Chef award. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! • A bar stool alongside Mario Batali and Courtney Love at the Spotted Pig. Then a hot ice pick with which to blind ourselves. • A new restaurant which brags about “year-round” ingredients grown “all over the place, and bought from SysCo.” • A menu that eschews subtitles, credits, translations, geography, or recipes in favor of big, detailed full-color pictures of every dish — just like at Denny’s. • The permanent destruction of the Cookshack smoker, the last refuge of mediocre urban barbecue cooks. (The Cookshack, a refrigerator-size device that “smokes” with the aid of a handful of electrically warmed chips, is a sad replacement for a real wood smoker, like the ones used at RUB and other major barbecue establishments.) • An end to “soft openings.” When you’re ready to open, open. Come hard or don’t come at all! • Three good new Jewish delis, five good new non-gourmet pizzerias, ten good new local Chinese restaurants, and no more gourmet-burger operations. • Unless, of course, it’s the White Castle on Avenue B we’ve always wished for.
在the Magazine
New Year’s Eve: Where to Eat Before You Get HammeredThe usual New Year’s Eve drill, of course, is to get hammered at a party while noshing away at whatever happens to be put out. This year, why not preface the evening with a real meal, sending out the old with one last act of gluttony? In one of this week’s Short Lists — “Out With a Bang” — Rob and Robin suggest the most extravagant NYE dinner options. For those of us who have made resolutions to spend something less than $650 on holiday meals, there are some other possibilities more likely to fall within your credit limit.
Back of the House
Chains Slipping, Child’s Returning, and Restaurant Spy Advertising销量下滑的连锁餐厅随处可见, and not even because ofE. coli. [HoustonChronicle] Back from the dead: Child’s restaurant, a booming New York cafeteria chain for most of the twentieth century, is reopening in Coney Island. [NYDN] For the restaurateur who knows the staff is cheating him, but just can’t quite prove it … [Craigslist] Synergy at work: Glossy restaurant-branded lifestyle magazines for rich diners at posh restaurants. To no one’s surprise, David Burke has a hand in this. [NYT] Related: Hawaiian Tropic Zone’s Tina Marino Probably Won’t Be Sharing Her Life With You Red Lobster and Olive Garden jump on the trans-fat banned-wagon [CNN]
NewsFeed
David Burke May Open Restaurant in the Buckingham HotelOne of our best sources tells us that David Burke, the mulleted master of high-concept restaurants, has a new project in the works, and it’s a big one — judging by its home inside the Buckingham Hotel, at least. Burke’s people don’t deny that it’s in the works but refuse to go into specifics. But since davidburke & donatella won’t be closing, and Chicago’s David Burke Primehouse basically mints money even without the restaurateur there, we’re betting that he’ll be opening a meatery modeled after the latter. Davids Chang, Burke Now in Convenient Video Form [Grub Street] The Go-Go Gourmet [Grub Street]
在the Magazine
Davids Chang, Burke Now in Convenient Video FormMaybe you’ve thought about trying the high-flown recipes dreamed up by chefs David Burke and David Chang for our package on holiday entertaining (which you can check out here): Burke’s scrambled eggs with lobster and caviar and Chang’s spring rolls. But hey, that would involve reading. Wouldn’t you much rather watch the men at work and perhaps follow along at home? If you answered yes, then have we got the thing for you: videos, not much longer than your average pop song, showing the guys throwing together the foods in their kitchens. The camera captures both chefs’ personalities: Chang serious as a deacon, Burke gruff but good-natured — and ready with the wry comment on the pain and suffering of lobsters. Great stuff, courtesy of our own culinary editor, Gillian Duffy. David Chang’s shrimp spring rolls David Burke’s scrambled eggs with caviar and lobster
The In-box
Getting Your Goat; What’s Your Problem With the Hawaiian Tropic Zone?Letters, we got letters … Dear Grub Street, I just read your “review” of David Burke at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone … You the writer sound so uptight that you actually need to spend some time at a strip club. According to your article, the place is worse than Hooters. I am shocked at your lack of objectivity. The restaurant is actually a classy concept that mixes beautiful women with great food and drink. Give it a chance before you go for the jugular. I would like to think ofNew YorkMagazine as being fair. Not single-minded and judgmental based on your own insecurities! Loosen up! Mark, The item you’re referring to wasn’t a review, but in any case, you’ve got us all wrong. We LOVE the Hawaiian Tropic Zone precisely because it is such a crass idea. David Burke is a great chef, and there is no way the place can fail. Go for the jugular? We would invest in the Hawaiian Tropic Zone if we could! Yours, Grub Street
The Other Critics
The Economics of Big-Box DiningRegina Schrambling’s long L.A.Timesfeature on New York big-box restaurants might be a must-read for observers of the New York dining scene. Although better known as her brilliantly arch and caustic blog Gastropoda, Schrambling is a rock-solid food reporter when not in harridan mode, and she helps get to the bottom of a basic question. How, in a city where even small spaces are astronomically expensive, can it pay to open a restaurant the size of a bus terminal? The answer is volume, but the how and why of the way restaurants like Morimoto, Buddakan, and the Hawaiian Tropic Zone operate might not be immediately apparent to readers who don’t know a lot about the restaurant business.
Back of the House
News Flash: Masa Is Expensive; David Burke Gambles in VegasFrom the clandestinely costly to the unabashedly so, the latest industry news is all about the Benjamins. • Zagat opens the lid on hidden fees like Del Posto’s “straight up” martini charge. [Zagat] •Forbesruns down the country’s priciest restaurants (Masa, of course, is No. 1). What they don’t tell you is that the picks are apparently limited to one per city — or Per Se, Alain Ducasse, Gilt, Kuruma Zushi, and Daniel would’ve made the list. [Forbes] • The Hallo Berlin cart raises its prices (Dictator Special now $9). [Midtown Lunch] • The Met’s Grand Tier Restaurant lets in the unwashed masses (well, Lincoln Center patrons, anyway). [NYS] • David Burke: Vegas, baby, Vegas! [Nation’s Restaurant News]
User’s Guide
The Go-Go GourmetYou have to hand it to David Burke. The frequently mulletted meat-and-lobster whiz has done it all: He pulled off an experimental gastronomy restaurant in a neighborhood populated mostly by septuagenarians and rethought the hamburger inside a department store. Now, in his crowning glory, he has created a menu for bikini bar Hawaiian Tropic Zone on Seventh Avenue.
