Kinds gross, Campbell's
MASONWIRE— Chef/TV star Sam Mason goes on the record about what went wrong at Tailor and what he's planning next: "The problem as he sees it was 'overzealousness,' from Tailor’s large serving staff to its exorbitant SoHo rent...he shared his intention of opening a smaller restaurant in Brooklyn. Thinking out loud, he said, 'Maybe it’ll be a place with a stage, where bands can play.'" How about that plus bowling and a bar? [NYT]
WILLIAMSBURG— Today Fork in the Road runs a listicle of their top ten favorite restaurants in Williamsburg (with some curious choices). Meanwhile, Brooklyn Based reports that one of the chefs at Egg (no. seven on the Voice list) has moved to Roebling Tea Room, while the better known Stephen Tanner has moved on to work on his new Metropolitan restaurant space. [FotR; BB]
]]> MIDTOWN— Some additional shutter news from the tipline: "Sadly the Pump Energy Food location on 38th between Broadway and 6th is serving its last day of ultra healthy food :( I'm gonna have to find a new place to get my healthy lunches now." [EaterWire]REALITY TV— Reader Brian Lerch reveals the new NBC/Magical Elves show won't be the only food show next year to be called "United Plates of America." He's been producing a show of the same name for the last year: "The show premise centers around celebrating cultural and culinary diversity in America. Each episode co-hosts Chad Kessler and Tati Amare are introduced to an ethnically diverse relationship through a viewer video submission or a live skype conversation. The viewers have an upcoming event in which they want to celebrate the uniting of their own distinct cultures in one dish that fuses both of their cuisines together- thus uniting their plates!" That sounds just as good as a glossy cutthroat reality competition. [EaterWire]
TOP CHEFFAGE— In a piece in Time, writer Joel Stein taste tests the Top Chef line of Schwan frozen dinners and realizes they aren't half bad. He also reveals that Top Chef alums are not paid for their efforts. [Time]
In what is probably not the final chapter in the Paradou saga, Gawker records their phone call between writer Gabriel Snyder and the Vadim Ponorovsky, the owner of the Meatpacking District restaurant who made the blogs today after a hostile email sent to him employees went public. Sadly, it does not include the part where he compares Snyder to Hitler. [Gawker; previously]]]>
1) Hamptons: A tipster 
Kate Krader elaborates on her earlier tweet about the MomoMidtown cocktail program. Drinks are served from 5 PM—when the hostess stand coverts into a bar—until the end of dinner service at 10 PM: "Lee has installed classics like Dark & Stormys, Manhattans and Negronis, as well as ingenious items like the Sesame Old-Fashioned, made with toasted-sesame-infused Cognac, and my new favorite, the sake-based 7 Spice Sour, flavored with togarashi, the Japanese seven-spice powder." No word on chances of an after work happy hour. [Mouthing Off]]]>
As close followers are aware, departing cheftestant Eli lives with his mom. So it's no surprise that she's on Richard Blais' Bravo blog to wish her snookums the best: "...he put every part of himself into this competition just as he does everything else. We sat with him last night and watched what we knew the outcome was going to be. We all wept, and we all felt incredibly proud to be his family...to my son, may I say to you that you have made the the proudest mom on earth." [Bravo]]]>
The owner of Gaslight Pizzeria emails both Eater and Slice this morning to reveal he has received a warning from DOH not to serve reheated slices from the display case because it's a clear violation of agency rules. The owner knows that "cheese cannot be left between 40°F and 140°F and then reheated", but wonders how they can follow these rules and run a successful business. There are only a handful of pizzerias (DiFara's, Joe's, Artichoke come to mind) that are either popular enough or crazy enough to serve slices as the pies are finished, and any crackdown on the ubiquitous New York slice joint will surely turn the pizza industry upside down. Of course, certain places (like Ray's at St Marks and Third) certainly push the limit of letting their pies sit in the case, but let's not let a few bad apples spoil the bunch. Save the slice!
After his angry email to employees went public this morning (see the back story here), we reached out to Vadim Ponorovsky, the owner of Paradou to figure out what exactly was going on there. He had a lot to say, much of which is printed below, but in summation, he says that with the exception of a few choice phrases, he regrets nothing about his email. As a small businessman, he's just trying to do the best he can to get by and drum up business. And his relationship with his staff is not adversarial in the least. In fact, he says, he's probably more hands-off than most restaurant owners. His workers have it great!
Curious as to why Midtown eatery Mantao Chinese Sandwiches tweeted they would be closed for the holidays a week before the holidays, Midtown Lunch realizes it was all a ruse, an attempt to hide the real reason for their shutter. That reason, of course, was a DOH smackdown. New technology, new way to deceive restaurant patrons. [ML]]]>
Last time he spoke to The Moment, Danny Meyer related opening a restaurant to working in a new baseball glove. Now, it's like having a baby: "the conceiving is fun, but the pregnancy and birth aren’t easy. The first couple of weeks after the baby is born, when you’re not sleeping through the night, you think, What the heck did I do?" [The Moment]]]>
UPPER EAST SIDE— An interesting little invite popped into the inbox this afternoon announcing a preview party for The Wright, a new restaurant in the Guggenheim, early next month. Press people won't reveal much but say it will be "elegant." It has us, and Pete Wells, intrigued. [EaterWire]
1) East Village: Urban Daddy writes about La Lucha, the Mexican wrestling-inspired taqueria and T-shirt shop opening on 9th Street and Ave. A. Says UD: "Here, the ground rules of Mexico City are in effect—no guacamole, no sides of rice and beans, and a staunch anti-burrito position." Careful readers will recall that CB3 gave the restaurant's owner an unreasonably tough time when she came before them to present for a beer and wine license. Glad she finally made it. Status: Opening Friday; 147 Ave. A, 212-260-0235.
An interesting tidbit from the tipline:
The upcoming issue of Esquire has a highly entertaining piece wherein a writer/average home cook attempts to make a six course meal for Per Se chef Thomas Keller. It pretty much confirms TK's god-like status in the food world. Choice quote: "Use your fingers, use your fingers, come on. Don't be a girl." Choice line: "He tells stories, including one about the first time he killed a rabbit with his bare hands." [Esquire via Eater National]]]>
The worst kept secret in New York nightlife is that smoking is now allowed in numerous nightspots. Mayor Bloomberg's 2003 law was meant to effectively eliminate all smoking inside bars, and for a while it seemed to work. It was possible for non-smokers to spend a night at their favorite bar or club and not come home reeking of Parliaments, as smokers were forced to step outside to light up. Memories. By 2006, indoor smoking seemed to slowly reappear, starting with a handful of tiny little joints popular with A-list crowds and quickly spreading to just about any and every lounge and club with a doorman and a rope. Now, as soon as one person lights up, the rest of the smoking sheep follow along, and before can say Joe Camel, the whole room is filled with sweet Carolina smoke. Neighbors love it because it keeps noisy smokers off the streets, and smokers love not having to go outdoors for their fix. It seems the only places that are still enforcing the ban are the dingier and more low key bars that probably were the home of many a smoker before the ban. ]]>
From what operatives here have witnessed, It's obvious that the smoking ban is failing on a number of levels. Numerous lounge and club owners are turning a blind eye to their smoking customers breaking the law as they realize that the likelihood of the City catching them in the act is almost zilch. Meanwhile, non-smoking employees and customers, for whom the law was passed, are forced to inhale the second hand smoke. So what can be done?
The Smile, the adorable Bond Street Cafe and shop from an Ernest Sewn vet, has been limited to serving breakfast, lunch and brunch since their opening in March. Until now that is. The Smile recently had their wine and beer license approved, and as of today will extend their hours until 9PM to serve their full beer and wine lists, cheese plates and coffee and tea service. This is in advance of dinner service, which was previewed sporadically during the summer and is expected to begin in three weeks. Smile!
Can you believe how far we've come? I say "we" because in some ways just watching this season we've all worked nearly as hard as the cheftestants. Or at least I have. Do you realize how long these recaps take to write? I have to watch each episode four to 12 times, filling multiple Moleskines with every pass, and then I spend eight hours storyboarding, animating, writing, and editing. My butt is not big enough to hold all the Adderall I need to jam up there to finish these! "We're gonna need a bigger butt." That is a quote from Quint, played by George Bernard Shaw, in the hit film Jaws. But I am kidding. Positivity and optimism is my speed. I am also kidding about my butt not being big enough.
With small kitchens, a penchant for dining out, and a wide array of the country's best restaurants at their fingertips, it's no shocker that a great number of New Yorkers eat out on America's big food holiday Thanksgiving. New Yorkers are also, quite often, last minute planners. So for those who want to dine out next week, have yet to pick up the phone, and have no idea where to go, Team Eater's got you covered. The following map includes the best restaurants with reservations left, from fancy to down home cooking (and the prices to match), from the Upper West Side to Carroll Gardens. There's no guarantee those resys will be around tomorrow, so get on it. 
Tonight on Nightline, Martha Stewart gives her first interview since landing in prison five years ago, and she has some not-so-nice words for Rachael Ray: "She -- just did a new cookbook which is just a re-edit of a lot of her old recipes...and that's not good enough for me...She's more of an entertainer, with her bubbly personality, than she is a teacher, like me." And in usual Ray-Ray fashion, the 30 minute chef agrees: "Her skill set is far beyond mine...I'd rather eat Martha's than mine, too." [EMD via Eater National]]]>
After the belly flop that was Chopping Block with Marco Pierre White, NBC is ready to get back into the food show competition racket. The network has ordered up an ambitious new show from Magical Elves, the production company that created sister network Bravo's Top Chef, called "The United Plates of America." Combined with the three Top Chef shows set to air next year and Gordon Ramsay's culinary American Idol, it's going to be quite a crowded field. What sets this one apart: both pro and amateur cooks and restaurateurs will compete for one of the biggest television prizes ever in cooking show history.
Just six months after the Upper West Side location of famed bagel shop H&H Bagels was seized by the taxman, the City Room reports that the store's owner has been indicted for tax fraud and accused of grand larceny, falsifying records, and violating labor laws. He owes over three hundred thousand dollars in payroll taxes and unemployment insurance tax, and he got away with it by setting up new shell companies every year for six years. As the Times explains, "The longer a company has been around and the more employees it has let go, the higher the company’s unemployment insurance rate will be."
Sad news for fans of the JELLY Pool Parties. After being banished from its original McCarren Pool location so it could be converted back to a pool, JELLY found a new home for its hipster concerts at the East River State Park. Now, the Open Space Alliance and State Parks Department have informed organizers that the park may not be available in 2010, which would effectively kill the event forever. JELLY is asking supporters to call or email Senator Chuck Schumer, with the hope that the Brooklyn born power broker and Pool Party lover can help save the event. [EaterWire, previously]]]>
Straight from the inbox, an email that merits a spot in Eater's frequent round ups highlighting the worst press release openers of the week. However, the release is so good/bad it's getting the Hall of Fame treatment. It's not only because of its lede and references to Titanic and Seinfeld, but also because it comes from a restaurant that once had some potential, Harbour. Meet "Aphrodisiac Thursdays":