When is a cocktail more than a cocktail? When it is a cocktail from the future. In the videos below from PopSci, culinary technowizard Dave Arnold shows off some of the drinks he's got working for Booker & Dax, the new cocktail bar in the back of David Chang's Momofuku Ssam Bar in New York. Because you could chill a glass with ice, but liquid nitrogen just looks way cooler.
Rogue Brewery, Newport, Oregon. [Photo: Sean Davis / Flickr]
· Batali and Lagasse Face Off For Chefs Make Change [F&W]
· In Mackerel's Plunder, Hints of Epic Fish Collapse [NYT]
· Help! Heston Blumenthal Is in My Kitchen [Telegraph]
· No Pizza For NY Giants Rookies [WSJ]
· Andrew Zimmern's NY Diet [GSNY]
· Christopher Kimball Lists Townhouse For $2.6M [Curbed Boston]
· Where to Eat Korean Food in Seattle Right Now [Eater Seattle]
· Eater Interviews: Stephen Starr Is Bringing Back Blue Angel [Eater Philly]
· Eater Scenes: Peter Luger Steakhouse, Thursday at 7 PM [Eater NY]
· Achewood's Chris Onstad Named Mercury Food Critic [Eater PDX]
· 12 Epic New York City Steaks to Eat Before You Die [Eater NY]
· Help: How Do I Pronounce This Beer? [CH]
· Are You Seeing Fewer Fast Food Restaurants? [CH]
· What Foods Do You Refuse to Settle For Lesser Quality? [SE]
· Do You Tip on Carryout? [SE]
· Do You Consider Food Carts to Be Restaurants? [Yelp]
Last week, José Andrés first revealed to Eater that he's been keeping a secret food truck named Pepe in Washington, DC (in addition the one planned for Miami). Today, after he tweeted a photo of the truck's tire, he confirmed to Eater DC that it will launch first in DC — perhaps as soon as late-February — and it will serve "the sandwiches I grew up with." [Eater DC]
Short Order, Los Angeles. [Photo: darindines / Eater LA Flickr Pool]
Irene Virbila checks out Nancy Silverton's famous backyard burger at Short Order in Los Angeles. Michael Nagrant calls Tony Mantuano's Bar Toma in Chicago "spectacular . . . for tourists and Gold Coast residents."
Yesterday Eater made fun of (the now booted) cheftestapant Chris Jones for his "man bun," but it turns out his odd hair is actually for a good cause. In an exit interview with TV Guide, Jones explains: "[E]very opportunity I get, I grow my hair out for Locks of Love. So during the competition, my hair was in an awkward stage where I couldn't wrap it up with a bandana because it'd fall, so I just put it up in a ponytail and I rocked this look the whole time... And in a couple months, I'll shave it off and donate it to Locks of Love." [TV Guide]
Chef, banker-hater, and professional bed-breaker Mario Batali will be a guest tonight on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher. Will he again claim he was "deliberately misquoted" or will he just chew food for other people? [RTWBM]
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Alas, the Subway sandwich shop that had been rising alongside the new World Trade Center for the past 18 months has closed. Apparently the 90th story was just too narrow to handle it. The construction company involved is calling it a success despite $180,000 in losses to the franchisee. [Eater NY]
With the news that several major chefs (Alain Allegretti, Marc Forgione, Jose Garces, and perhaps Michel Richard) will be opening restaurants at Atlantic City's forthcoming Revel Resort, it looks like the charmingly dreary casino town might become a dining destination in its own right, or at least a reliable option for chefs — especially those based on the east coast — looking to go beyond their hometowns.
In addition to the glitzy new restaurants at Revel, there are a number of projects from noted restaurateurs (Steve Hanson, Stephen Starr) and expansionist chefs (Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Mina) that represent a nice foundation for what may soon come. It's not as varied as Vegas or boast as many big names as the Caribbean, but things are starting to heat up.
Because this season of Top Chef is called Top Chef Texas — and completely avoided Houston for some reason — the logical city to host the finale is, well, duh: Vancouver. Like Eater hinted ten days ago, the judges today decided to "hint" en masse to "reveal" the city. [Eaterwire]
Here's the cover of Yes, Chef, the upcoming memoir from Marcus Samuelsson. The book will detail Samuelsson's childhood in Sweden and his time in the kitchens of Switzerland and France before finally ending up in New York. Yes, Chef will be out June 26 from Random House. [Random House via GSNY]
You could hear Les Claypool's bass outside of 50 Clinton Street, on New York's Lower East Side, even in the midst of a dreary afternoon rainstorm and with a jammed up line of frustrated cabs just steps from the doorway. Inside the address, there was an empty dining room, but in the back, a brigade of chefs worked as if the restaurant were full, preparing for the following evening's service while blasting tunes from someone's iPod. They played mostly Primus and Bloc Party.
The booth in the back — the one closest to wd-50's open kitchen — is where the restaurant's chef Wylie Dufresne met me for an interview. Here, in part one of the conversation, Dufresne discusses how he's matured, whether or not he worries about alienating diners with his progressive cooking, and the fact that he's still struggling to survive after nine years in business.
This is an important question from the OC Register: If bars had string quartets, would you go more often? Apparently 2nd Floor in Huntington Beach, California, a place which is more famous for "tattoos, piercings, big Harleys, [and] stiff drinks" has featured a weekly "Classical Carnage" night for the past six months. It is apparently quite popular. [OC Register]
Gastronomika, the annual festival and chefs' congress in San Sebastián, Spain, announced a date change: normally held in November, this year it's October 7-10. Also, this year, France will be the "guest country." The event promises "a huge immersion in the gala cuisine of past, present and future, with a delegation of its great chefs, from the myths of the Nouvelle Cuisine to the new values of French cuisine. 'La Grande France' in style." [Gastronomika]
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