CHARITY— For the month of October, all B.R. Guest restaurants—Dos Caminos, Atlantic Grill, Blue Water Grill, Bill's Bar & Burger—will offer a special $10 dessert for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 75 percent of the proceeds from each dessert will go to the Breast Treatment Task Force. [EaterWire]
BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK— Ditch Plains Drop In, the new concession from Marc Murphy in Brooklyn Bridge Park officially opened today. [EaterWire]
WEST VILLAGE— Grub Street reports that Franco Bario, the former chef de cuisine of Boqueria, is opening a Spanish restaurant in the old Da Andrea space in the West Village. Caliu Tapas will serve straightforward tapas and paella and will open in November. [GS]
UNION SQUARE— Union Square Cafe turns 25 on October 21. They're celebrating by holding a class reunion (rsvp here if you want to go). See Danny Meyer's letter to regulars about his journey and chef MIchael Romano's haiku on the year in the life of a restaurant. [USC]
From the November issue of Food & Wine magazine comes the feature 40 Big Thinkers 40 & Under that eschews the olds and celebrates youthful idealism (and artisanal soy sauce making?). Says Food & Wine: "These 40 up-and-comers — all 40 years old or younger — are changing the way Americans eat and drink, from a vodka distiller who rewrote Nebraska's Prohibition-era laws to a White House chef who's fiercely fighting to improve school-lunch programs."
Among the list you will find food artist and vegetable butcher Jennifer Rubell, Midtown Lunch blog network impresario Zach Brooks, cookbook author Amanda Hesser, blogger/science nerd Kenji Lopez-Alt, Chili Take-down guy Matt Timms, and Roberta's Chris Parachini and Brandon Hoy.
The full list. >>>
[Krieger, 9/28/10]
Riverpark, Tom Colicchio's latest restaurant located, naturally, by a river - East, to be exact - opened last week and opens today for lunch. It features wonderful views of the river and the view inside isn't too shabby either. At the head is 'wichcraft alum Sisha Ortuzar whose modern American offerings keep it clearly within the Colicchio niche. Are diners comforted by the classic Colicchio touch? Is it just more of the same? Is it worth the trek? To the early word:
The "Curious Seating" News: A tipster sends us their take on the odd decision to reward the bar area with a better view than the formal dining room. "One of the ill-conceived ideas at Riverpark is to seat the diners wanting the 'grown up' menu (instead of the bar menu) in the least desirable space -- i.e., not by the windows overlooking the East River (that view if for people who want the much less expensive bar menu). Very curious. It turns out you can get the 'grown up' menu in the bar, but why design a restaurant facing the water with the fancy part of the restaurant hidden from the view? The food was good, but the restaurant is a bit of a slog to get to. The jury is out on whether this one will succeed over time." [Eater Tipline]
It's hard finding top quality staff to fill a new restaurant. That's why celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson has come up with what is most obviously the best, most efficient, and most effective way to hire someone, ever:
Need a job? I’m trying something new to fill the Bartender position for the Red Rooster. Where I would interview qualified candidates and the top 5 will submit a 30 to 60 second video that will be voted on by the public and the winner will get the job!
It's still unclear where Boqueria's founding chef Seamus Mullen will land after leaving the restaurant back in July, but the owners have finally found his replacement. Yann de Rochefort announces today that he has chosen Marc Vidal, a Spanish chef who most recently won attention (semifinalist for a Beard award) at Solea at the W South Beach Hotel, as his new man in charge for his Soho and Flatiron restaurants.
Vidal hails from Barcelona and has worked at El Bulli, L’Arpege and Alain Ducasse. So, he's probably got his Spanish food down. Also: handsome. Watch your back Allegretti.
· Chef Seamus Mullen OUT at Tapas Mini-Empire Boqueria [~ENY~]
[photo credit]
[Krieger, 09/29/10]
When Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s The Mark opened earlier this year, it quickly gained the reputation as something of a celeb hot spot. As Sam Sifton noted in his two star review, during the course of a week, he spotted Woody and Soon-Yi on one night, Paul McCartney on another. But at its heart, the restaurant is not a clubby A-lister haunt, it’s a hotel restaurant, bar and lounge, open for every meal of the day, and a huge draw for fans of the chef’s other projects, who can enjoy some of his trademark cuisine in both an elegant and more relaxed setting. The Mark's Maitre’d, Benjamin Annequin, a ten-year veteran of nearby Match 65, is the perfect man for the job: he knows the space, the clientele and that a great dining experience starts even before you sit down.
It's 8 PM on a Saturday night, what's the wait for a table? Well, first we honor all our reservations, so you’ll have your table right away if you’ve made a reservation. Then with the walk-in situation, we have a nice lounge area that can get really busy on a Saturday, but we can most likely seat anybody there within 15 minutes. That’s where pretty much everybody wants to be right now.