With the height of summer travel upon us, Sarah Maslin Nir writes about food souvenirs and the people who are passionate about them.
We want to see your edible souvenirs. Is your suitcase full of soda cans from Texas? Potato chips from England? Submit a photo of what you’ve lugged home, or via e-mail at pix@nyt.com. We’ll post a slide show of finds from your travels.
Roughly three-quarters of the business of writing about restaurants for a living is answering questions from family members, colleagues and strangers cold-calling through the byzantine structure of The Times’s telephone system to ask where to eat before going over to the Walter Kerr to see Bernadette Peters kill in “A Little Night Music.” (Send in the clowns!)
It’s a delight sometimes to have a new answer, even if the place is a few years old. This week’s restaurant review is of just such a restaurant: Toloache, a likable theater district box-building that models Mexican food as bistro fare. The exterior is not precisely pretty, but it’s very much fun inside, with marvelous guacamoles and ceviches, tacos and quesadillas, as well as a quick and capable staff. As is true of virtually all of the best theater district finds, it’s not a restaurant where you would ever feel the urge to photo-blog your meal, or to reify the chef. It’s just a good restaurant, as precious and solid as a gem.
What are your favorite pre- or post-theater feeds? I’m partial to Joe Allen and Esca, to Gallagher’s and Chez Napoleon, to the fire of Pam Real Thai and the simple pleasures of Barbetta’s garden, to Frankie & Johnnie’s. I could eat a pound of cheese goo at Sardi’s and go see “Promises, Promises.” I could drain a Martini and paw a salad at Angus McIndoe, then put on my eyeliner for “American Idiot.”
You? Tell us about your choices in the comments below.
This year the French are returning on Sept. 24 and 25 with the second edition of Le Grand Fooding, their tasting of food and drink to benefit Action Against Hunger. It will be held at MOMA PS 1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue (46th Avenue), Long Island City, Queens. Starting at 6 p.m. both days there will be a Champagne reception and preview of the food for those who buy $80 tickets. General admission, $50, starts at 7 p.m. The theme this year is New York vs. San Francisco, with chefs from both cities, including Richard Torrisi and Dan Barber from New York, Brian Leth and Jeremy Fox from the West Coast, preparing food. The lineup of chefs is not the same for each night. Tickets include food and limited alcoholic beverages and are available now at a special Web site for Diner’s Journal readers.
As you might be able to tell by my column this week, I love mezcal. Even more so than its cousin tequila, which I love as well, mezcal is the most under-recognized great spirit on the planet.
I don’t claim to be an expert on mezcal by any means. My experience with mezcal consists mostly of sipping it neat, a method that I find ideal, just as I enjoy best a neat glass of single malt (although truth be told, one of the most glorious malts, 16-year-old Lagavulin, is best cut with a little water). Mezcal neat offers the undiluted expression of its complexity and purity, and is truly worth savoring.
Nonetheless, many people are more interested in cocktails today. For that, I defer to one of my guests on our mezcal tasting panel, Philip Ward, of Mayahuel, an East Village bar and restaurant that specializes in mezcal and tequila. Read more…
A couple of weeks ago, the Minimalist was about grilled corn. But city dwellers don’t always have that option, obviously.
On the other hand, we sometimes have corn, and we sometimes don’t want to boil or steam it, and we are sometimes too lazy to strip the corn from the cob. Or at least I was, the other night. Yet I wanted browned corn.
Then I had one of those interesting thoughts that do actually occur from time to time: why not sauté the corn right there on the cob? So I tried it.
Ian Pasquer, a chef at L’Orange Bleue in Manhattan, serves a salade niçoise whose basic ingredients — potatoes, haricots verts, tomatoes and eggs — are classic, but whose preparation has subtleties that make it especially appealing.
The tiny Yukon Gold potatoes are simmered not in plain water, but with cloves of garlic, whole black peppercorns, a bay leaf, thyme and salt. Best, the potatoes are served warm. The bed of greens is not just one lettuce, but a mix of romaine, assorted baby lettuces and arugula. The creamy vinaigrette includes thyme, two mustards — Dijon and whole grain — olive oil and a splash of water. Read more…
I’d like to meet someone who hasn’t overcooked chicken breasts while grilling; it can happen in an instant. This week’s Minimalist column explores three strategies to keep those babies moist.
Howard Glickberg, a partner in the Fairway megastores, has announced that the next link in the chain will be at 240 East 86th Street, formerly Barnes & Noble. Mr. Glickberg said the new store, the seventh in the group, would open in about six months and be on three floors. It would have about the same amount of selling area as the flagship at Broadway and 74th Street.
“I’m excited about this,” he said. “I love city stores.”
Despite the city bias, there are two more in the wings, in Douglaston, Queens, and Stamford, Conn.
What was originally to be a temporary closing of Gansevoort 69 (formerly Florent) last month is now permanent.
Demetrius Partridge and his partners are hoping to sell the lease on the space, which is on two floors, in the little building at 69 Gansevoort Street (Greenwich Street). The price? $1 million; it’s a 12-year lease. The reason? “We failed,” said Mr. Partridge, who owns other restaurants nearby. “People who go to the meatpacking district today want to wine and dine,” he said. “They’re not interested in ham and eggs at a diner. I think the diner thing has to go.”
Each Thursday, Florence Fabricant gives advice on the fine points of entertaining at home and eating in restaurants. Have a dining dilemma? Ask FloFab.
I have been inviting new acquaintances for brunch, dinner, or even just for tea in order to welcome newcomers to my neighborhood, have them meet other neighbors, or just expand my circle of friends. I do enjoy their company and most will bring flowers, a bottle of wine or a small gift (which I don’t think is necessary). Most will call the next day to thank me for a pleasant get-together. But very seldom do these guests ever invite me back. If they don’t want to invite me to their homes, they could invite me to go to a movie or concert with them, or even a picnic in a public park. Reciprocity doesn’t seem to occur to very many people.
What you have been doing for your new neighbors is extremely generous, friendly and nice. If these people do not see fit to reciprocate by having you in their homes, then you have to decide whether you want to continue any type of relationship with them and on what basis. My husband and I have friends who never invite us to their homes but we always make plans to go out to dinner with them or some other event. If you’re interested in pursuing the relationship, pursue it. And if not, let it be.
I love to dine out and am lucky to have become friendly with bartenders and waiters at some of my favorite restaurants. It is not uncommon for them to pour me an extra couple of glasses of wine for free or to send over a complimentary appetizer or two (once a delightful suckling pig!). When the bill comes I am always conscious of wanting to tip generously without being garishly extravagant. Is 25 percent appropriate, or should I shell out additional bucks for a resounding “thank you”? I always show my appreciation, but I am in my early 20s and cannot afford tacking on huge tips to an already pricey bill. Read more…
Sam Sifton reviews Toloache, a likable Mexican restaurant housed in a theater district box-building.
The French culinary group will hold an event in Queens pitting New York chefs against ones from San Francisco.
Eric Asimov discusses mezcal, a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant native to Mexico.
Beans from Hacienda la Esmeralda in Panama are now on the shelves at one coffee bar in Manhattan and can be sampled in another roaster’s free cupping later this week.
It’s easy to get nicely browned, super-crunchy corn on a stove. Just sauté it.
A salade niçoise whose basic ingredients — potatoes, haricots verts, tomatoes and eggs — are classic, but whose preparation has appealing subtleties.
It’s easy to get nicely browned, super-crunchy corn on a stove. Just sauté it.
A salade niçoise whose basic ingredients — potatoes, haricots verts, tomatoes and eggs — are classic, but whose preparation has appealing subtleties.
We’ve combined all three New York Times dining blogs – Bitten, The Pour and Diner’s Journal – into one free-range superblog. Contributors include Eric Asimov, Mark Bittman, Glenn Collins, Florence Fabricant, Nick Fox, Julia Moskin, Sam Sifton, Kim Severson, Samantha Storey, Emily Weinstein, Pete Wells and others. Diner’s Journal embraces news and opinion about recipes, wine, restaurants and other matters culinary.