SHUKO

After a fantastic Sushi Kaiseki menu at Shuko, we were invited behind the sushi bar to chat with the chefs!

#shukonyc  #tastingmenu  #kaiseki  #sushi  #tastingnewyork

BIRDS AND BUBBLES

Fried chicken and Champagne...now that's my kind of restaurant!

Simmons Will Open Birds & Bubbles in the Grotto Space

Thursday, May 29, 2014, by Marguerite Preston for ny.eater.com

Photo: Daniel Krieger

Chef Sarah Simmons and her team at City Grit will open her fried chicken and Champagne restaurant, Birds & Bubbles in the Forsyth Street space that formerly held Grotto. Bowery Boogie notes that the restaurant is on the June Community Board 3 agenda, applying for a full liquor license in the basement-level space, and Simmons confirms the location. Bowery Boogie also hears reports of major renovations in the restaurant's back garden, but Simmons tells Eater, "we aren't knocking down any walls or tearing down any structures in the space...We are making some simple cosmetic changes, replacing some kitchen equipment and bringing in new furniture." Birds & Bubbles isn't slated to open until the end of the year, but Simmons did host a preview at City Grit last night, where she served dishes like milk-braised pork shanks with hominy as well as the namesake items. 

#eater  #birdsandbubbles  #sarahsimmons  #citygrit  #friedchicken  #champagne  #tastingnewyork

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS FROM "A PRIVATE EVENING WITH CHEF TODD ENGLISH"

Chef Todd English and yours truly

Chef Todd English with a couple of lovely ladies

Chef Todd English performing a pasta-making demonstration

A captivating cooking demo by Chef Todd English

Chef English signing a menu for my mother - I'm always thinking of her!

The massive charcuterie spread...before guests attacked it

Take-home swag: A signed cookbook and a cookie

#cheftoddenglish #plazafoodhall #insideaccess #tastingnewyork

A PRIVATE EVENING WITH CHEF TODD ENGLISH

Thanks to the Chase Inside Access program, some gal pals and I attended the "A Private Evening with Chef Todd English" event earlier this week at The Plaza Food Hall. This exclusive experience included a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception and pasta demonstration by Chef English followed by a family-style dinner - plus a signed cookbook. The wine was flowing, the food was plentiful, and we had such a fun time!

The Plaza Food Hall, where Chef Todd English reigns supreme

Inside The Plaza Food Hall

The pasta station, where Chef English performed his pasta-making demonstration

Chef Todd English and me

The massive charcuterie spread (after being attacked by diners!)

The menu for the evening

Goat Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Baby Beets and Walnut Pesto
 Beautiful looking, but, sadly, didn't taste nearly as good as it looked

Flatbread Pizza with Portobello, Fontina, Truffle Vinaigrette
Delicious!

Chicken Parmesan Sliders with Roasted Tomato Sauce,
Mozzarella Cheese, Shaved Romaine, Balsamic Vinaigrette
These were surprisingly 'meh,' and the Prime Rib sliders
that followed were disappointing also.

I didn't get any photos of the dessert table, but there was an array of mini red velvet cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, and freshly made whipped cream - they were all yummy!

Although the food was hit or miss, the overall event was an absolute success. A good time was had by all, and I hope Inside Access offers another foodie-friendly event soon!

#cheftoddenglish  #plazafoodhall  #insideaccess  #tastingnewyork

DA investigating reBar owner who ran off with couples’ cash

By Josh Saul, Amanda Lozada and Bruce Golding for the New York Post 

May 12, 2014 | 10:32pm

Tables and chairs are all that remain of the DUMBO hot spot reBar.
Photo: William C. Lopez

The Brooklyn district attorney is investigating a Dumbo wedding venue that suddenly shut its doors last week — leaving dozens of brides and grooms in the lurch after they forked over big bucks for upcoming receptions.

The reBar gastropub and its runaway owner, Jason Stevens, are the subjects of the probe amid allegations by customers that he pocketed full payment for reservations before disappearing, a spokeswoman for DA Ken Thompson told The Post Monday.

Authorities are also looking into multiple recent financial complaints against the business, a law-enforcement source said.

The popular eatery and event space at 147 Front St. abruptly closed down on Friday, with one employee telling a reporter Monday that its workers all got stiffed out of three weeks’ pay by Stevens.

The darkened restaurant was a shambles on Monday, its bar littered with half-empty bottles of booze and partially eaten hamburgers. At one point, a linen-company worker showed up to drop off a $1,300 bill.

Bride-to-be Stephanie Kutch, 26, said she and fiancé Christian Pascarella, 34, both of Brooklyn, spent their life savings of $17,500 to reserve the space for next year.

“I’m lost,” Kutch said. “We’re trying to keep cool, but we’ve got to start over from scratch.”

Stevens’ competitors quickly stepped up to try to accommodate the crushed couples, with some offering discounts.

“We’re getting so many e-mails, and they’re so hard to read. These clients are really devastated. Some have lost almost $30,000 to $40,000,” said Slavica Stafanovic, manager of Baco, which is slashing its prices by up to 50 percent.

Brooklyn Winery manger Rachel Sackheim said, “The calls have been nonstop” since reBar closed.

“Over the weekend, I spoke with one couple, and we were able to book their wedding for June 1,” she said. “This couple had lost around $20,000, and at the end of the meeting, everyone in the room just broke down and cried.”

Katie Iles, co-founder of Nine Lines digital-strategy firm, set up an online fund to raise money for reBar victims — including employee Monica Pereira, who’s set to be hitched June 28.

Pereira, 32, said she and fiancée David Zisa lost $21,000 they paid for an 85-guest reception and are scrambling to see whether they can hold the party at the nearby Jane’s Carousel, where their ceremony is planned.

Stevens didn’t return a phone message and e-mail seeking comment.

Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli

#jasonstevens   #whereisjasonstevens     #rebar   #newyorkpost       #tastingnewyork  

DIVINE CUISINE AT DEL POSTO

In recent weeks I dined at the Relais & Chateaux classic, Del Posto, for the second time, and while, on the whole, we enjoyed ourselves, my recent excursion to the massive Mario Batali Italian eatery was, admittedly, less pleasing than my first visit. In both cases the food was fantastic – thank goodness! But during this second trip, I found myself somewhat disappointed in the service, so please allow me to get my service complaints out of the way before moving on to happier, yummier topics!

Let me begin by saying that the meal took four and a half hours… for five courses. Seriously. I spend less time at the table at Per Se, Jean Georges, and Daniel, all of which have 7+ course tasting menus. And it didn’t feel as though the pace was in an effort to keep things leisurely—in fact, it seemed that they were trying to intentionally stall the beginning of service. It took a good 10 minutes just to get a food menu, and ordering our first round of drinks became unnecessarily lengthy.

We later learned that another group of friends dining at Del Posto that same evening not only finished earlier than us despite having had a later reservation, but their entire meal was complimentary due to the severs’ computer system crashing—I suspect there were earlier issues with the computer, hence the stalling of our service, but who’s to say for sure? Either way, the sub par service hampered our overall experience.

In fairness, though, although sluggish, the service was genuinely attentive early on—but then it felt that we were essentially abandoned—I had to shamelessly spend several minutes trying to flag down ANYONE so that I could order another glass of champagne.... not something that makes me a happy camper when I’m dropping that kind of dough! They served a complimentary glass of Moscato with dessert as compensation, but I’d rather have had an attentive server than the low-quality syrupy dessert wine.

And…..phew! Now that I’ve gotten the snobbish bitching out of the way (I can’t help myself!), I’ll move on to what I most enjoyed…the CUISINE!!!

We chose to enjoy the Il Menú Del Posto, a lovely five course tasting. Each guest selects her own Antipasto, Secondo, and Dolce courses from the full a la carte menu, whereas for the back-to-back Primi courses (between the Antipasto and Secondo), everyone at the table must agree upon two pastas to share. Here’s the lowdown on the evening’s fabulous fare:

The trio of amuse bouches was a great opening act—I particularly enjoyed the savory celeriac soup with ground espresso on the cup’s rim.

Trio of Amuse Bouches

I love that instead of a traditional pairing of olive oil with the bread course, we were given both unsweetened butter and lardo (yum!) as spreads.

Lardo and Butter Spreads

The beef cruda was seriously one of the most flavorful raw beef dishes I’ve ever had – and it was a very generous portion…what an amazing way to kick off the meal!

Truffled Beef Carne Cruda with Grana Padano & Watercress Buds

For the Primi courses we opted first for one of the supplemental dishes, the Ricotta & Egg Yolk Gnudi – OMG soooo good—I loved breaking into the soft gnudi and reaching the yellow yolky goodness inside, which, paired with truffle butter and ricotta, was mouthwateringly delicious!

Ricotta & Egg Yolk Gnudi with White Truffle Butter Bird’s Nest Style

Ricotta & Egg Yolk Gnudi 

Our second pasta selection entailed a surprising garnish of ground chocolate espresso, which, coupled with a savory parsnip purée, really zhuzhed up the hearty pork and veal agnolotti.

Pork & Veal Agnolotti with Sugo Finto, Parsnip Purée & Chocolate Espresso

Despite my usual inclination to order a beef or duck dish as my main course, the Heritage Pork Trio sounded too good to pass up—and boy am I glad I didn’t! Each piece of pork was incredibly tender and scrumptious and, somehow, managed to taste even better than I thought pork could ever taste.

Heritage Pork Trio with Sunchoke Stew alla Norcese

Sadly, we felt we were a little ‘duped’ on the dessert course. Generally, each guest orders her own selection from the Dolci menu, but our server recommended that we receive an assortment of desserts instead. That sounds good in theory, but we expected a large plate of assorted desserts everyone could taste from—instead, each person received a separate, different dessert, and the only way for everyone to indulge in each would have been to pass all five plates around the oversized table—yeah, not gonna happen. So we all felt that we missed out on what may have been some really great desserts.

Thankfully the meal concluded with some mignardises on a box cheese grater, which included one of my favorite Italian desserts—bomboloni.

Mignardises

In sum, this trip to Del Posto left a bitter taste in my mouth service-wise, but the food really impressed – it’s so unfortunate when lackluster service infringes on a great culinary experience. But despite the dissatisfying service, I would return for a third visit—the food has consistently been amazing and the service the first time was up to par—but in a city full of near perfect dining experiences, I expect better from a topnotch place like Del Posto.

#delposto  #relaisandchateaux  #mariobatali  #michelinguide  #tastingmenu  #tastingnewyork