A First Look at Studio B’s New Rooftop BarStudio B’s rooftop was getting complaints from the neighbors even before it opened, but it was up and running this Friday when Brazilian Girls performed.
Jerry’s Asian Opens Today in Tribeca; Gold-Plated Twinkies in GreenpointThe owner of now-closed Jerry’s opens an Asian restaurant on Chambers Street, a new shop in Greenpoint is selling newfangled twinkies coated in gold, and there’s still non-hyped ramen to be had in the East Village in today’s neighborhood food news.
NewsFeed
Thai Restaurant Gives Dinner Away to Discerning CraigslistersThere are plenty of Thai restaurants on Greenpoint’s Manhattan Avenue (Amarin Café, Thai Café, OTT, and that one we can never remember the name of), but only Ton Kao II — “LATEST IN GREENPOINT ASIAN INVASION” — is giving away free dinners! Suck up any semblance of pride you may have, give the owner a ring, and a gratis dish of pad Thai is all yours, baby. Dinner for free [Craigslist]
Neighborhood Watch
No Ssäm at Ssäm Bar; Neighbors Oppose Carroll Gardens RestaurantAstoria: Oleput reopened. But does it have a liquor license? [Joey in Astoria] Carroll Gardens: Residents are opposed to a bar and grill next to Black Mountain Wine House. [Brooklyn Paper] East Village: Is ssäm off the menu at Ssäm Bar? [Eater] Gowanus: Look for a new coffee-and-sandwich shop called the Crooked Tail Café coming soon to Third Avenue and President Street. [Brownstoner] Greenpoint: One patron at Greenpoint Coffeehouse wants his anti-brunch message heard. [New York Shitty] Midtown: Combine dinner with people-watching at the food court at Grand Central Station. [Weblicist of Manhattan] West Village: The panini at ’ino are salty and sweet. [Gothamist]
User’s Guide
New Service Lets You Text for a Car From the BarA new Williamsburg-based service lets you request a car going from the Billyburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Boerum Hill, or Fort Greene areas simply by texting your coordinates to the number 767222 (SMSCab). We can think of a few situations in which this would be useful — say, the bar is loud, or you’re slurring your speech too much to be understood, or you don’t want to hurt your date’s feelings by actually speaking the words, “I’d like two separate cars, please” — but in general we just like the idea of not having to deal with spazzed-out dispatchers, radio static, and busy signals. But how does this brilliant theory work in execution?
NewsFeed
Greenpoint Man Eats Everything on Four LegsWe are especially attached to edible animals, but we have to hand it to Greenpoint resident Scott Gold, the author of the forthcoming bookThe Shameless Carnivore. The 30-year-old former literary agent puts us to shame when it comes to the breadth of his appetites. Although his book is filled with dietetic information, ethics, meat lore, cultural anthropology, and the like, the thing that really turns us on is the part where he ate 31 animals in 31 days. “It wasn’t one a day,” Gold assures us. “Some nights it would be three or four. On venison night, I ate whitetail deer, antelope, elk, and caribou. But on the other hand, turtle soup took two days to prepare.”
Neighborhood Watch
Calling All Casseroles; Jonathan Waxman to Cook Southern on the UWSGreenpoint: Casserole fanatic turned cookbook author Emily Farris is hosting a cook-off at Brooklyn Label on October 16. Register now! [Brooklyn Based] Midtown East: The Tao formula should fit right in on Lincoln Road in South Beach. [Down by the Hipster] Tribeca: Bubby’s owner Ron Silver is finally giving up his pie recipes in a cookbook out this month. [NYS] Upper West Side: Barbuto chef-partner Jonathan Waxman turns to southern fare this fall when he opens Madaleine Mae on Columbus Avenue at 82nd Street. [NYT] West Village: In comparing Bay Area restaurant trends to those in New York, critic Michael Bauer concedes: Blue Hill chef Dan Barber “does Chez Panisse one better by growing most of the food at his farm in Hudson Valley.” [Between Meals/San Francisco Chronicle]
Openings
A Japanese Mercenary Enters Noodle War纽约能支持增兵的拉面佤邦吗rs? A Chowhound poster recently reported that an Ichiran ramen shop would open in Greenpoint. While Ramen Setagaya and Momofuku vie for soup-bowl supremacy, Ichiran, one of Japan’s top ramen chains, is making its entry in an area better known for tenements and pork stores.
Back of the House
“顶级大厨”Non-Winner卡米尔在她最喜欢的排版atriotCamille Becerra, owner of the Brooklyn restaurant Paloma, was the first hometown casualty on this season’sTop Chef. (It was what judge Tom Colicchio called “rubbery” pineapple upside-down cake that did her in.) After her elimination on Wednesday’s show, she talked to us about the other contestants and her plans to open aTop Chef–inspired restaurant blocks away from Paloma this fall.
Neighborhood Watch
Varietal’s Kitchen Closes in Chelsea克斯:意大利糕点店Egidio有圣历史eeped in family feuds, politics, and adultery; now a cannoli-wielding former owner has opened up shop nearby. [Lost City] Chelsea: Varietal has closed its dining room, though wine’s still being served at the bar. [Restaurant Girl] Great Small Works performing-arts group will host a Spaghetti Dinner this Sunday evening on the roof of the 14th Street Y. Besides bowls of garlicky pasta, ticket holders can look forward to “puppet theater [and] New Orleans brass band music.” [Blog Chelsea] Greenpoint: The Original Soup Man (a.k.a. the Soup Nazi) joins other chains on Manhattan Avenue and shocks customers by charging $9 for some selections. [Gothamist] Hell’s Kitchen: Alex Garcia’s new restaurant, Gaucho Steak Co., at 752 Tenth Avenue, is now open for lunch and offering delivery. [Grub Street] Soho: Savoy’s Clambake Dinners start July 6 and run through the end of the month. [Restaurant Girl]
The Underground Gourmet
Sandwich of the Week: Lassi’s Tamarind-Pork SandwichWhen the Underground Gourmet ponders flashes of fusion brilliance in the sandwich realm, he thinks of Zak Pelaccio’s interpretive Cubano at 5 Ninth, made with prosciutto and Boerenkass; the Greenpoint sandwich, a.k.a., the Polish bánh mì, at Williamsburg’s Silent H; and Sullivan St. Bakery’s deranged but delicious PBM (pancetta, basil, and mango). Add to this illustrious list the tamarind-pork sandwich at Lassi.
Ask a Waiter
Lynnea Scalora of Enid’s and the Annex Can Tell Her Hipsters ApartLynnea Scalora, who happens to be our third Ask a Waiter in a row who is in a band (she’s a bassist for White Hills and a performance artist in the show Ego Sensation) started working at Enid’s a year and a half ago when her previous employer, Oznot’s Dish, closed with three days’ notice. She’s also a bartender at Lower East Side nightspot the Annex. “When you’re bartending, people know they have to be good to get the alcohol from you,” she told us when we asked whether she preferred waiting tables or slinging drinks. “When you’re a server, you’re someone’s slave.” Not that she’s leaving Enid’s anytime soon. “It’s nicer because the customers are more relaxed.” Or are they? We asked her about overcaffeinated brunchers, bridge-and-tunnel invaders, and the tavern’s notoriously rowdy softball team.
The Underground Gourmet
The World’s First Polish Bánh Mì Is Our Sandwich of the WeekConsider the “Greenpoint” sandwich at the new Williamsburg Vietnamese restaurant, Silent H, the world’s first Polish bánh mì. At long last, these two seemingly unfusable cuisines have fused, and no one could be happier about this blessed union than the Underground Gourmet, who yields to no one in his devotion to both Polish sausages and Vietnamese sandwiches. The “Greenpoint” is by all outward appearances a regular bánh mì (itself, of course, one of the greatest fusion dishes of all time) meticulously primped with pickled carrot, cucumber, daikon, fresh jalapeño, and cilantro. One side of the bread is slicked with pork-liver pâté, which serves nicely as a condiment rather than a filling; the other with a judicious swipe of aïoli.
