Tom Colicchio has a lot going for him. A pile of wildly successful Craft-brandedrestaurants far flung throughout the country, national celebrity as host of Top Chef, an oh-so-shiny bald pate. But one thing his fame and fortune haven't delivered is the one thing he started with in the first place: A kitchen of his own, where he could man the stoves himself and directly oversee the plating and service of a handful of happy diners.
So now that he's rich and famous enough to build a small, humble restaurant, he's building himself a small, humble restaurant: the tentatively-named Tom: Tuesday Dinner, which will be located in the private dining room of his New York Craft flagship, and will run dinner service every other Tuesday, to the tune of a few benjamins a head. The first seating is October 14.
While we can see this raising eyebrows in some circles, and we certainly see the ironic circularity of the situation, we are ultimately of the opinion that this kind of return-to-the-kitchen situation is precisely what's needed to counteract the current national scourge of celeb chef empires. For every Mario Batali, who can effortlessly pull off helming Babbo in New York and Osteria Mozza in LA with equal aplomb, there are a dozen wannabe-national chefs like Marcus Samuelsson, whose C-House flounders helplessly in Chicago while in New York, his Merkato 55 circles the drain. Not to mention Wolfgang Puck, who has become little more than a glorified Chef Boyardee: a well-known name and a smiling face, readily available on soup cans and in your grocer's freezer.
What Colicchio's doing is a smart antidote to Puck-style market oversaturation (or Samuelsson-style too-much-too-soon). While anyone with basic cable knows Tom's name and face, and anyone in New York, Atlanta, LA, or Las Vegas is within 30 minutes of a menu he's personally signed off on, he's taking it one step further. He's simultaneously appeasing his original fans, the ones who knew him by taste instead of by DVR, and also shoring up the core value of his celebrity. Both of these, fortuitously, are achieved merely by offering the real thing: Himself, in a kitchen, making a plate of food just for you.
So, Robert Parker wants us to boycott restaurants that over-charge for wine. The publisher of Wine Advocatereportedly writes in an upcoming article that restaurants jacking up the price of wine is, "nothing more or less than a legitimized mugging."
Strong words, no doubt. But for as much as we'd like to see his campaign work, it might be a non-starter. Parker decries the idea of wine as "a luxury item," but the fact is, for many people, it really is a luxury item. Take, for example, the recent study that found more expensive wine tastes better. And, as long as there is disposable income left in this country, somebody's probably going to dispose of theirs on fancy wines.
But he's right that it's infuriating to know you're overpaying by as much as 500 percent simply because other suckers out there are willing to do so. So yeah, go ahead and boycott those places that gouge you into the poorhouse, but you may just have to write them off for good. We don't think they're going to see the light any time soon.
if you do still want enjoy a glass of wine the next time you're out to dinner, get a look at Lettie Teague's Food and Wine tips for getting the best deals in a restaurant. Also, check out this 2003 New York Times article on how wines are priced.
I am always amazed at the placid dogs that sit quietly on a restaurant's outside patio while their owners happily munch away. The only dog my family ever had, Lucy, is a 50-pound headstrong and hyper German shepherd-terrier mix. No way she would've sat for an hour when there were people and dogs walking by and untold items to sniff. (Think the Boca Raton coffee shop scene in Marley and Me, although thankfully, Lucy is nowhere near as strong as the 97-pound Marley was.)
But clearly some dogs are better trained than Lucy, or smaller and more easy to manage, and owners just love to bring their pets along to brunch/lunch/dinner. And since the passing of the doggie dining bill by the Florida legislature in June 2006, restaurants have run with the idea. Sam Snead's in Orlando has a "furry friends menu" with items like chicken and kibble and bow wow pizza that are served on a frisbee; with prices in the $4-10 range, it's actually a pretty smart way to pad the bill. And China Grill in Miami Beach recently hosted "Dogs Gone Wild" on Sunday evenings, which also offered a menu just for pets. (The promotion is no longer available, but guests are still welcome to sit with their dogs on the outdoor patio.)
Here's where I want to hear what you guys think. Do you know of any other pet-friendly restaurants in South Florida? Or do you think the furry beasts belong at home and should stay there?
• Today the new FDA country-of-origin labeling requirements go into effect for produce and meat! [Seattle Times]
• ... for most produce and meat, that is. Mixed vegetables and Spam are exempt. [Bloomberg]
• Part of yesterday's failed bailout included a bill that would prevent non-ambulatory cattle from entering the food supply. [Pork Magazine {a real publication!)]
• Cadbury, Heinz, and Mars are all pulling their Chinese-made products, as they may contain melamine. Sigh. [Telegraph]
• Voters in California are debating Proposition 2, which would mandate that farm animals — including swine, veal, and chickens — be uncaged. In related news, why don't we live in California? [SF Chron]
Let no one tell you that you can't live forever: immortality has been discovered -- well, for a burger, anyway. Death eludes the indomitable McDonald's hamburger. Consider the following evidence, via Serious Eats and courtesy of Karen Hanrahan's website, bestwellnessconsultant.com:
The burger on the left, purchased 12 years ago looks exactly the same as the burger on the right, circa 2008. No wrinkling, no discoloration... the cosmetic industry ought to take a hint.
The Big Mac's source of fountain of youth is not, as popular conspiracy theories would have us believe, children who had been sucked into the ball pits, but rather an elixir blend of powerful anti-aging ingredients: distilled monoglycerides, DATEM, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, guar gum, mono-and diglycerides, calcium peroxide, calcium propionate and sodium propionate. And that's just the bun.
Now the patty is a real puzzle. According to the McDonald's website, the patty is composed of
"100% pure USDA inspected beef; no fillers, no extenders. Prepared with grill seasoning (salt, black pepper)." But this doesn't quite explain why meat that ought to have rotted beyond recognition still looks like a recent order. Got theories on this subject? Send us a line.
I leave you with one thought, however: wouldn't it be embarrassing (or poignant, depending on your point of view) if a millennium from now, an advanced future race discovered the only remaining fragment of our civilization -- the soul-less, youthful carcass of a cheeseburger? And, in any case, aren't there better alternatives?
Remember Jack Davis, the middle school student who wrote to the Florida legislature suggesting that restaurant donations to homeless shelters be shielded from litigation? Well, now that the law has passed, Davis is taking it upon himself to visit local restaurants and let them know what they can do to help.
Jack Davis, the Miami Shores student who inspired a state law last year that allowed restaurants to donate leftovers to the homeless, now wants to make sure the food is getting from the kitchens to the streets.
The 12-year-old boy is visiting restaurants and other commercial establishments to let them know about the law that allows them to donate food to shelters and soup kitchens without the risk of being sued.
...
Jack's biggest goal is to educate restaurant owners on the law so that they will be more inclined to donate excess food that would otherwise be tossed away. He is in the process of getting handouts printed to give to restaurant owners and other businesses that will spell out the highlights of the law.
''Restaurants can make a big difference, but first they have to know,'' Jack said.
Attention restaurateurs: if a red-haired pre-teen approaches with some pamphlets, pay attention.
This lovely review just came in a few minutes ago, yet it has already given me a headache:
We live in the neighbhor hood , this place has a great food as always needed some facelift to go & eat with our family, thank god the newmanagement took steps. nice decor ,atmosphere,ofcourse not missing the great food.we just read the banner out side while passing by they catered @ open this year!!!!!wow awsome!!
Where does one even begin with this? Why do so many people have such complete disregard for basic grammar? These kinds of things make grammar-loving nerds like me weep for the future.
Chicago put itself on the front burner this past weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, were on the scene. From Sunday: Big names, big fun.
Art Smith's shrimp and grits.
I think Gale Gand (of tru) and Art Smith (of Table 52) should start a TV show of their own so that they can cook together more often.
When they took the stage at Chicago Gourmet Sunday for a cooking demonstration, it was like getting a sneak peak into what that show would be like.
Both Gand and Smith are obviously at home in front of an audience because of the time they have spent in front of the camera, and they know how to put on a good show. They even had cookware prizes to give away! But there was also something more personal about their presentation.
The two friends cook together behind-the-scenes at events but rarely in public. Still, they know each other well. So Gand and Smith kicked things off by cracking open a bottle of wine. They raised a glass to Chicago Gourmet. Then they got busy helping each other cook.
Gand made apple fritters. And Smith whipped the egg whites for her. Smith made his famous shrimp and grits. And Gand helped with the sauce. Then they opened some champagne.
It was fun watching these two play in the kitchen! They share a love for food and cooking that's positively contagious.
I wish they'd come cook in my kitchen. As it is, I'm about to go heat up leftovers in the microwave.
• El Q-Bano brings some Cuban food to Biscayne Boulevard. [Daily Cocaine]
• The list of ingredients in the heath shake from Baskin-Robbins is scary; it's not just the actual ingredients, but the sheer number of them. Also, it packs 2,310 calories. Insane. [Short Order]
Chicago put itself on the front burner this past weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, were on the scene. From Sunday: Hitting The Bottle
Jackie Shen telling her story at Chicago Gourmet.
They say the secret is in the sauce, and folks rave about the sauce Jackie Shen serves on chicken at Chicago's Red Light restaurant.
"Honey, it comes from a bottle!" Shen admitted, with a rather devious smile during her "East Meets West: Wok and Wisk" seminar Sunday at Chicago Gourmet.
Of course Shen does a ton of stuff to that bottled sauce before she serves it.
You need to have a good foundation in cooking to know what to do, she says. Inspiration doesn't just strike. Finding the right balance of flavors is all about knowing what you're working with — and trial and error.
Shen went on to talk about how her entire cooking career has been about finding that balance. Originally trained as a French chef, she got bored with the cuisine (especially the sauces) about seven years ago and decided she needed a change.
"My dad said, you're not a chef anyway; you know nothing about Asian food," she said. "I wanted to prove him wrong!"
So Shen asked her mom to visit and teach her how to make wontons. She started to focus on the food she ate as a child in Hong Kong but didn't know how to make. And once she had a solid foundation in Asian cooking, she started to think of ways to fuse it with western-style food.
"I've had a good time going from fire to wok," said Shen. "People are traveling more, and trying new flavors. There can be balance between them."
Shen is currently exploring this further in a cookbook she is collaborating on in addition to teaching at Kendall College and working at Red Light.
One thing is for sure: I need to try that sauce from a bottle as soon as possible. Red Light here I come!
A story on the Barf Blog today raises a question so disturbing that much of our restaurant-o-phile readership will probably shudder at the very thought. But the evidence is there: Some restaurant and institutional kitchen food poisoning may be deliberate.
It's not pretty, but when you think we've all probably harbored some kind of sick revenge fantasy against a boss from hell or a job from hell or some such thing, you have to admit it's totally possible that some of the food poisoning cases in the world are no accident.
Barf Blog refers to a story of an International House of Pancakes in Texas that has been linked to more than 100 salmonella cases over the last five months. Police are investigating, and while they stopped short of calling the contamination intentional, they said they were, "investigating every option."
But don't let it scare you too bad. Really, when was the last time you heard a substantiated case of this kind of attack? Plus, it's one of those things you absolutely can't predict. So just try not to think about it, okay?
But do avoid the IHOP at I-40 and Western Street in Amarillo. Intentional or no, that's a shameful track record.
Chicago put itself on the front burner this past weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, were on the scene. From Sunday: Tasting California.
In the tasting tent.
I tasted my way through the Alexander Valley in Sonoma County Sunday without even leaving Chicago.
Stefen Soltysaik from Rodney Strong Vineyards was my guide; his wine seminar at Chicago Gourmet, called "Examination of Cool to Warm Climate Cabernet Sauvignon," was excellent. We were each given four glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon. The first three glasses were from different Rodney Strong wineries in the valley, and the fourth glass was the vineyard's current pride and joy, the 2005 Rockaway blend.
Then the geography lesson began, and Soltysaik explained how climate impacts wine. Each glass was incredibly different because of the location of the winery where it was produced.
As we tasted and learned more, Soltysaik also detailed how the wine we were drinking was made.
It was a fascinating and well-put-together presentation. I've taken a variety of wine tours and have gone to a number of tastings. This one was far-and- away the most educational and entertaining I've attended.
The wine was spectacular too… especially the Rockaway 2005! I sought out that wine and sipped some more at the Grand Cru Tasting later in the day. It just might inspire me to go to Sonoma one day. (As if I really needed an excuse!)
• Uh-oh, Jack-o-Lantern (and pumpkin baked good) enthusiasts! Too much rain this summer = poor pumpkin harvest this fall. [Boston Globe]
• The poisoned milk disaster spreads its melamine tainted tentacles even further, with news that White Rabbit candies, the inexplicably tasty vanilla-flavored chews, are NSFE (not safe for eating). [LA Times]
• The North Dakota Farmer's Union is opening a restaurant in Washington, D.C., and they're shooting for making it the "greenest" in the city. Ironically, since this demands an emphasis on local crops, most of the food will not come from North Dakota farms. [AP]
• Would you like Starbucks in exchange for your empty milk carton? RecycleBank awards per pounds recycled, and those points can be redeemed for Starbucks, groceries, Coca-Cola products and more. Filling your tummy by emptying your bottles and cans? Pretty sweet deal. [Newsweek]
• 103,000 pounds. Sound heavy? That is how much meat the Utah Food Bank got from 4-H members across the state, in an incredibly weighty donation. [The Salt Lake Tribune]
Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. Today: How to taste wine.
Lined up and ready to pour.
Pairing wine with food is what makes wine great. And Master Sommelier Fred Dame says there's a scientific reason for that.
"Food is full of fat, and wine is acidic," he explained Saturday during a wine seminar at Chicago Gourmet. "Think about eating steak. You're essentially coating your palate with fat. As you sip wine, it cleans your palate so you can taste the next bite."
The first bite is always the best, he continued, and when you pair food with wine you get 30 first bites.
That's a good reason to become a wine lover, and once you start tasting a variety of wine it's a whole new world.
In the seminar "Tasting the Masters' Way," Dame walked us through that world a bit with a blind tasting. He detailed techniques sommeliers use to identify and appreciate wine and discussed what it takes to become a sommelier. Some of his best tips:
Identify the scents in the wine you're about to taste. What fruits do you smell?
Look at the color of the wine. Is it bright? Clear?
Keep in mind that white wines grow darker with age and red wines grow lighter.
Swish your wine around. Look at the legs. Wines with a lot of tannins are fuller-bodied wines.
Taste a variety of wine. It will surprise you.
Take notes whenever practical.
Enhance your skill with taste tests — especially blind ones.
Becoming a sommelier is not easy, and it takes additional years of study to become a master. But what I learned from Dame will surely enhance my wine experience — not to mention come in handy the next time I'm trying to select a bottle to go with dinner.
Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. Today: Food demos!
Jose Garces, head chef at Chicago's Mercat a la Planxa, prepares octopus.
Do you know how to "scare" an octopus? Dip it in boiling water three times before dropping it in to cook.
No joke. This simple technique, known as scaring, tenderizes the octopus, making it more succulent to eat.
Jose Garces, the head chef at Chicago's Mercat a la Planxa, explained this to a captive audience yesterday during a Best of Spain and Mexico cooking demonstration at Chicago Gourmet.
Sharing the stage with Rick Bayless, Garces got everyone's attention before he even started cooking, simply by holding up the octopus. Then he showed us how to cook it. I know I'm not ready to give this a shot myself, but it was utterly fascinating to watch. Until yesterday, I had absolutely no idea how to "scare" an octopus.
You know what else? Start saving the corks from the red wine you drink. When you throw them in the boiling water with the octopus it adds to the flavor. Cool, huh?
Watching a cooking demo at Chicago Gourmet is what I imagine it would be like to be on the set of a cooking show that airs on the Food Network. The stage at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park is currently the home of a snazzy looking kitchen set, complete with professional appliances and cookware. Large mirrors hang over the prep tables so that you can watch the chefs work.
And it's really fun to watch a great chef cook. They make it look easy. Cooking and plating well is an art… and I like to see it as it happens.
Having said that, I must admit that I don't watch cooking demos often. That's because I find it very dissatisfying not to be able to taste the food I'm watching people prepare. I know for a fact that if I were to make the same dish myself it wouldn't taste as good. So I was really hoping to get to taste the food after watching live cooking demos.
No such luck. In some cases, I could find samples of the dish made in a demo at a tasting table later in the day, but not always.
Still, the demos were great to watch and they may even inspire me to cook! Garces certainly inspired me to eat: Tammy and I made our way Mercat a la Planxa for dinner last night and splurged on not one, but two orders of octopus.
—BRIDGET HOULIHAN
After the jump, photos of Rick Bayless's two demo dishes, plus salted cactus!
Rick Bayless' demo dish: Stewed ribeye.
A sample portion of the ribeye, served up at a tasting table later.
Salted cactus from another demo, "The Best of Latin Flavors."
Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. Today: Where's the food?
Dried fruit display at Pastoral Artisan Cheese
Chicago Gourmet is a food festival without food.
My tummy was rumbling when I arrived at the main entrance Saturday morning, primed to sample everything Chicago's best chefs had to throw at me. It turns out that wasn't much.
The majority of the booths at the main event, located on the lawn of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, offered wine, not food.
"Isn't there supposed to be a Grand Cru Wine Tasting later today?" I asked Tammy, my Chicago Bites co-host, as she photographed the scene.
"Yeah."
"So what's with all the wine?" I asked, baffled. "Where's the food?"
So we set out on a tireless quest to find something to eat, relentlessly foraging from booth to booth.
The booths themselves were lovely. Many looked professionally designed, and were decorated with phenomenal flower arrangements and tempting pictures of food or large reproductions of restaurant menus. But time after time, we walked away with brochures and nothing to eat.
Then we saw a line stretching out of the Chaise Lounge booth… they were serving crab cake and salad! Victory!
"Have another plate," the owner said, after I'd devoured my first. "I've never been to a food fest with so little food."
True. And here's the kicker: I'd venture a guess that all that wine drove up ticket prices. So folks paid $100 to get in and drink on empty stomachs because they thought they were paying to eat.
Tammy and I were able to ferret out a few more food tastings throughout the day. But they was sparse and meat-heavy. Tammy is a "fussitarian": She eats fish but no meat. So she sat by patiently while I tried things like chicken salad wraps and bacon-and-onion tartlets.
She did get to sample A Mano's olive oil gelato though, which was one of the food highlights of my day. We both enjoyed Kefir smoothies from Star Fruit café in the Whole Foods kids' area, and there were a couple of booths with dried fruits and excellent cheese. I loved Rick Bayless' rib eye steak dish. But of course Tammy couldn't eat that.
—BRIDGET HOULIHAN
The crab cake at the Chaise Lounge booth was a saving grace.
Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. First up: The opening night reception.
When you know the bartender, the headwaiter, or the bus boy, you're in for a better dining experience. These are the folks whose service can make or break an evening.
So, when I spotted Carol, an acquaintance I met years ago through work, behind the bar last night at Chicago Gourmet's kickoff in Millennium Park, I had an inkling it was going to be an amazing night.
"I didn't even know you were a bartender!" I said, wandering over to say hello, while the press photographers were busy snapping shots of Mayor Daley.
"One of my four jobs," she replied with a smile. "This is such a cool event, isn't it?" she said, pouring me a glass of wine. "You've got to try the Seven Daughters white, it a blend of seven grapes. You'll love it!"
Chicago Gourmet aims to solidify the city's place as an international food contender through a series of cooking demos, seminars, and tastings this weekend. And the food I sampled last night was great, but it wasn't the most striking part of the launch.
The most striking part was a prevailing sense of excitement. Every chef and attendee I chatted with shared Carol's enthusiasm for the event and seemed genuinely thrilled that Chicago is finally flexing some culinary muscle. Last night's reception was attended mostly by presenting chefs, the media, and corporate sponsors, but it was anything but stuffy. It was more like a jolly convention of foodies.
I still have to wonder though if Chicago Gourmet will resonate with the general public. In Chicago, we're used to having a street fair every 15 minutes during the summer, so a weekend of food is nothing new. And as a result, we're also pros at eating food on a stick in a tent.
Ticket prices, chocolate pepper macaroons, and worries for the future, after the jump!
John Penn's salad gives me hope that the British won't starve!
But we don't usually have dark chocolate with sea salt on a stick as an option. And until Chicago Gourmet, we've never had to pay upwards of $150 just to get in the tent in the first place. This is not the Taste of Chicago. It aspires to something more.
The local lineup showcases Chicago's best, but just as impressive is the event's international flavor. Chefs from Chicago's sister cities throughout the world have flown in to participate, and last night there was much buzz about the 2016 Olympic bid.
In between chats with fellow foodies, I did manage to taste everything. The standouts for me were the tuna tartar starters, and the desserts – especially the chocolate pepper macaroons. Many of the main dish tastings were game heavy – featuring veal and ostrich. I didn't really like them, but appreciated what they were going for.
My favorite dish of the evening was John Penn's Haricot Vert Salad, a refreshing medley with some of the tastiest tomato and olive garnish I've ever had.
Penn is visiting from England, and when I lived there, I ate to live, not because I wanted to eat. If Penn's salad is any indication, he has the potential to greatly improve the food scene on the other side of the pond. He's a culinary teacher too… so he's passing his knowledge to others! There's hope!
The Risotto with Veal Sweatbread & Crawfish Moussaka was rich and flavorful, but not my thing.
As many tasting as there were at the reception, there wasn't nearly enough of it to make a real meal out of it. The ticket price was for quality, not quantity. There were also very few vegetarian options. That's unusual in a city that is normally veggie friendly.
My initial impression of Chicago Gourmet is good. But I do wish the price tag wasn't so high (although I'm told that it is much less expensive than similar events in New York) because everyone should have the opportunity to taste the best Chicago has to offer.
Will folks pay the price and show up for events today? Or will corporate sponsors make up the majority again? I'll keep you posted! No matter what, I'm looking forward to good eats. And I'd better get to it.
You read that right. As if the city's hot dogs, pizza, and Italian beef — oh, and the Taste — weren't enough, Chicago is putting itself on the haute culinary map this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine.
While much of the talent is homegrown — Frontera's Rick Bayless, Top Chef's Stephanie Izard, Gale Gand of Tru and PBS — the festival's got global reach, with chefs and wine experts flying in from all over: from Terrance Brennan of New York's Picholine and Maricel Presilla of Hoboken, NJ's criminally delicious Cucharamama and Zafra, to Mpuhe Dhlomo of Africa Meets Europe in Durban, South Africa and Francesca Marsetti from Milan's Brasserie Iseo Brescia.
Of course, MenuPages will be on the scene as well: special correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green (of the can't-miss dining podcast Chicago Bites) will be bringing their formidable skills to the table, filing regular reports throughout the weekend, starting with tonight's opening night gala.
For cop-out Friday, check out this classic Sesame Street video with Grover doing his best impression of yours truly as a waiter. No, not really. But seriously? If we're ever called upon to take up the mantle of the service industry once more, we're totally going to forgo a notebook in favor of Grover's rhyming memory technique. "Round and tasty on a bun..."
Almost exactly one year after being sold for $2 million, R J Gator's has once again filed for bankruptcy. It's not surprising, considering the recent closings of the Port St. Lucie and Okeechobee locations.
Palm Beach Gardens-based J&D Restaurant Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, said Alex Tyson, director of operations for the company.
The company is way behind on its bills, but it's hopeful that it can reorganize and keep its remaining five restaurants open, Tyson said.
The company closed its Port St. Lucie and Okeechobee restaurants this month and its Stuart restaurant in June.
Tyson blamed the soured economy for putting a dent in the restaurants' business.
"When you talk to people and you say, 'How are you going to save money?' ... the first thing that they say is, 'We're not going to go out to eat,' " Tyson said.
True. It's gotten really tough out there right now for restaurants. That said, some chains seem to be doing well, so perhaps some innovation is necessary.
• Europe is concerned that their condensed milk could be of the tainted Chinese variety. [New York Times]
• People in Japan and Taiwan have already become sickened by the melamine-tainted milk. [Washington Post]
• Hong Kong residents are staying as far away from food imported from China as possible. [Bloomberg]
• Here in the U.S., we don't need to worry about tainted food because the FDA has the resources to stay on top of it. Oh wait. They totally don't. [Chicago Tribune]
• Even amidst the financial meltdown, there's good news for at least one group of rich people: McDonald's shareholders. [LA Times]
We wrote about the delightfully eccentric Kenny Shopsin, of New York's Shopsin's, but a couple days ago and that same night, he appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. For those readers who have never been to Shopsin's, and perhaps may never go, this clip is a pretty stellar example (minus a lot of cursing) of what to expect from Mr. Shopsin. For those who have, he's in fine form, no?
The video is a fun watch, not only for the way these two banter (seriously, have two people ever looked more perplexed and befuddled by the other?), but also, because of what they cook up. Mac and cheese pancakes? A pancake with a tiny little burger in it? S'MORES PANCAKES? Kenny Shopsin is truly blowing our mind with all of these reinventions!
What's more, this video &mdash plus all of the Shopsin-mania swirling around the release of his cookbook &mdash just happens to fall during the same week as National Pancake Day, which is tomorrow. As far as coincidences go, this one could hardly get better: Shopsin has whet pancake appetites nationwide + you basically have no recourse but to stuff your face with pancakes tomorrow.
We can't all rush to Shopsin's for mac and cheese pancakes, but that doesn't mean that there aren't mighty fine pancakes to be found elsewhere in the country. So run on down to Blue Heaven tomorrow and remind yourself what a real short stack tastes like. Hell, order yourself a side of macaroni and see what happens.
Don't know your Bordeaux glass from your Chardonnay glass? In a clever marketing effort, wine-glass maker Riedel is hosting a Riedel Wine Tasting tonight at Morton's in Coral Gables, during which the company intends to show "the profound difference a wine glass can make on how wines taste." (Hey, the critics at Wine Spectator say it's true..) If you're more interested in the wines, these are the ones that will be sampled tonight:
"Erath Pinot Noir with fresh fruit aromas of cherry, raspberry, and blueberry; Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Chardonnay with fresh apple, ripe pear and spice aromas and flavors; Chateau Ste. Michelle Cold Creek Cabernet with dense aromas of boysenberry and brown sugar spice with layers of fruit, nicely integrated, yet very age-worthy, tannins; Domaine Ste. Michelle Luxe, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling."
The wines will be poured in Riedel “Flow” series wine glasses, and guests will take home a case of four (a retail value of $60). The wine tasting is paired with Morton’s signature hors d’oeuvres, including petite filet mignon sandwiches, chicken goujonettes, broiled sea scallops, and miniature key lime tarts. T
he cost of attendance is $70. The event is tonight, September 25, from 6-7:30pm at Morton's in Coral Gables.
If beer is more your speed, downtown's Bin No. 18 is hosting a complimentary tasting of Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar, St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale and Unibroue Apple Ephemere, from 6:30-8:30pm. No word on the glasses they'll use...
• Lee Klein says of the new Pacific Time: "there are moments when you may find yourself thinking of Pacific Time as Michael's Genuine in a kimono." In other words, it's really great. [Miami New Times]
• Linda Bladholm writes about a restaurant with one of the more interesting ethnic mixes in an area full of them: El Tamarindo Restaurant in Hallandale Beach, which serves Salvadoran specialties in addition to pizza from the coal-fired brick oven. [Miami Herald]
• Trina used to serve unique and interesting Sicilian fare. Now? It's "Mediterranean," just like so many other restaurants, and the food is uneven. That said, the cocktails are great. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]
• Looking for a place to watch the game (any game, really) in Broward? Check out a few of these spots, which guarantee a television, sports fans, and good food. [Miami Herald]
• Mondo's has an eclectic menu, but the food is great and the price is right. And apparently the oatmeal pie dessert is great. (What is oatmeal pie? Must find out!) [Palm Beach Post]
So, um, remember that Swiss Chef we reported on, who was playing with the idea of using human milk in his restaurant dishes? Yeah, well guess who lurrrrved that story? PETA, of course.
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals hopped right on the human milk bandwagon, sending a letter to Ben and Jerry's co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield asking them to replace cow milk with human milk in their famously counterculture-embracing ice cream.
In response to our letter, Ben and Jerry's issued the following statement: "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child." Hey, guys, that's our point: Cow's milk is for baby cows.
Funny. The idea of breast-milk-based food made the rounds as recently as April 1. As a joke. But perhaps all this attention will legitimize the stuff enough for some local joint to give it a try? Well, you can always search our menus to find out.
• If it weren't for that pesky financial crash, this Chinese food safety thing would be really big news. As it is, you may not have heard that all sorts of potentially contaminated products are being yanked in all sorts of countries. [CNN]
• When San Francisco passed a health-care mandate, some restaurants tacked on a surcharge. Now a New York City grocery store is doing the same and blaming the high cost of energy. [Newsday]
• A London restaurant is offering a meal meant to replicate the diet of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. It contains 6,000 calories, but no penguin. [Times Online]
• Pity the French. Really. They had a good thing going with the long lunch, and now they're not only cutting that short, their options are shrinking as restaurants across France shutter in these tough times. [Business Week]
Tom Colicchio has a lot going for him. A pile of wildly successful Craft-branded restaurants far flung throughout the country, national celebrity as host of Top Chef, an oh-so-shiny bald pate. But one thing his fame and fortune haven't delivered is the one thing he started with in the first place: A kitchen of his own, where he could man the stoves himself and directly oversee the plating and service of a handful of happy diners.
I am always amazed at the placid dogs that sit quietly on a restaurant's outside patio while their owners happily munch away. The only dog my family ever had, Lucy, is a 50-pound headstrong and hyper German shepherd-terrier mix. No way she would've sat for an hour when there were people and dogs walking by and untold items to sniff. (Think the Boca Raton coffee shop scene in 
• Bostonians are dumbstruck with grief after a grease fires one of the area's best burger joints. [