Grub Street Grub Street New York

Amanda Freitag is no longer employed by the Harrison, and owner Jimmy Bradley will replace her in the kitchen, reports Diner’s Journal (who should not think it has gone unnoticed that said reporting occurred at 4 p.m. on the Friday before Labor Day weekend). The split was apparently in the works for some time, Bradley tells the Times, with the changeover tied to his renegotiation of the Harrison’s lease. Bradley is excited about his return to the kitchen: “I hired chefs because I had four joints and needed them,” he told Diner’s Journal. “Then we brought it down to two joints. Now that we have an opening I am excited to do what I started out doing." No word yet on where Freitag will land. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz are clearly still in their honeymoon phase, enjoying a string of romantic dates and meals out around the city (this week at Via Dei Mille). Unfortunately, the situation was not so rosy for Mary-Louise Parker at Sweetiepie. After her daughter Caroline accidentally knocked a glass over, a fellow patron at the restaurant felt the need to impart some firm — and unwarranted — parenting advice. Words were exchanged, Sweetiepie staff intervened, and the meddlesome diner soon left. But hey, Caroline got a lollipop so it wasn’t all bad. The rest of this week’s delicious celebrity spottings straight-ahead.

Yesterday’s trend was Asian sandwiches; could tomorrow’s be Portuguese? Anyone who's been to Lisbon knows that it’s a sandwich-lover’s mecca (okay, maybe not “mecca”— there’s a lot of pork involved), so we squealed like suckling pigs when we caught wind of City Sandwich, opening a couple of doors down from Xie Xie. Owner Michael Guerrieri (born in Naples and raised in Long Island) test-ran the shop in his adopted hometown of Lisbon, where he also owns Mezzaluna. But don’t expect your traditional Portuguese sandwich bar, with pre-made sandwiches marinating in the window — this one will have a sleeker “Mediterranean” look (playing on the colors of the Portuguese and Italian flags), and rather than sticking to the classics, Guerrieri’s twenty or so concoctions (generally priced between $6 and $10) will consist of ingredients that he says are 40 percent Portuguese, 25 percent Italian, and 35 percent “New York twist.”

“We had a good laugh— all 60 million of them are endangered? It’s crazy but it was the law. Our lawyer is a guy named Jack— so I named him Kangaroo Jack.” -Eight Mile Creek’s Andrew Jordan revealing more details about how he got kangaroo back on his menu. [Sydney Morning Herald]

If you’re on the fence about responding to one of those Craigslist ads suggesting that you “get pay for looking HOT!!”, the Wall Street Journal reveals that you can make between $300 to $600 a night as a shot girl. Douchetinations like Turtle Bay and McFadden’s make Jell-O shots at a cost of 15 cents, sell them for between $3 to $4 — and the shot girl gets 25 cents for each guy who buys alcoholic gelatin and slurs “I’m gonna marry that girl” (actual quote from a guy wearing a backpack), plus the occasional Benjamin for a tip. Just know that your boss will ask you to “shake what your mama gave ya’”.

The Friendliest Young Woman in the Room [WSJ]

As part of this week's Grub Street Diet, Jeffrey Steingarten went to a press preview of Eataly. He gave an extensive breakdown that deserves to stand on its own.

I almost never go to press previews because it seems to me that they're not my business, but I go if I want to be supportive or if I'm really, really curious, and here both were the case. It was spectacular. Mario and Joe had brought in their best people from their whole empire, from every restaurant. For example David Pasternack, who's the chef at Esca, was right there at the counter preparing crudo. I had a grouper with pistachio, an Alaskan wild king salmon with capers — I'm not totally sure about the “wild” and the “king,” since we're out of season for that — there was a bigeye tuna with olive oil, I think there were sardines or fresh anchovies as well.