While we have just a day off (we’re out tomorrow), lucky Jets safety Kerry Rhodes doesn’t have to report to training camp till July 29. When he's not preparing for two-a-days, Rhodes is working on his reel — he played a police officer in Lady Gaga’s music video for “Paparazzi.” The Alabama native is enjoying our cool summer (I’m not really a warm-weather guy,” he says), but he misses his hometown food. See how teammates and friends like LL Cool J help him get acquainted with local restaurants in this week’s New York Diet. And we’ll see you Monday!

Friday, June 26
I didn’t eat breakfast because I was flying. I was coming back to New York from Atlanta. On the plane, I had a turkey sandwich with chips.

Then, when I landed in New York, I went to Subway. I always get either the Philly cheesesteak or regular ham and cheese.

For dinner, I went to my favorite spot, Ricardo’s in Harlem. LL Cool J told me about it a long time ago. I’ve been going since I moved here. It’s semi-low-key. I had some sautéed shrimp for an appetizer. For my meal, I had a steak, potatoes, and string beans. To drink, I had a glass of sangria.

Saturday, June 27
For breakfast I had Honey Nut Cheerios with 2 percent milk, mandarin oranges, strawberries, and some orange juice.

I went to Pink Tea Cup in the city for lunch. Every once in a while I go there when I need my dose of southern food. I go either there, or to Tavern on Nostrand in Brooklyn. At Pink Tea Cup, I had the fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. The cornbread there is pretty good, too.

For a snack, I had a banana.

Saturday dinner I went to STK. I like to go there, but in general I’m more of a stay-home guy. I went with my team — my assistant, my publicist — to talk about my foundation. I had the rib eye and string beans. I’m a big string-bean guy. Probably because I like collard greens but they don’t make them here much, and I need some source of greens. I had red wine to drink.

Sunday, June 28
I had waffles, two eggs, turkey sausage, and orange juice. I have a chef, but I cooked the breakfast myself. I’m a southern boy; I can do something.

I went to Tavern on Nostrand for lunch on Sunday because I went to go play ball in Brooklyn as an extra workout, and was near there after. My assistant lives in Brooklyn and told me about it. For an appetizer, I had the plantains. Then I had jerk chicken with black beans and rice. I just had Sprite to drink.

I went to the Yankees and Mets game that night so I had game stuff at Citi Field. I’m ashamed to say what I ate: I had nachos, Nathan’s fries ... I don’t do hot dogs. I don’t know why, but [between] the taste, what’s in them ... I’m not a believer. Everyone keeps telling me about the Shake Shack after I went. Is it good? I had an iced tea. No beer.

When I got home I went to a diner near my house and had chicken fingers and fries.

Monday, June 29
I had a banana, Cheerios, and orange juice.

It’s not official training, but I work out every day with the team. After the workout, I had Subway again.

Dinner, I went to Redeye Grill with a couple of teammates. I had the shrimp cocktail, then lamb chops with mashed potatoes. I’m not from New York, so my team is always giving me suggestions [about where to eat]. I’m still learning. I like dessert, but I try to stay away from it. I never eat it when I’m out. I had some Riesling to drink. That’s my favorite wine.

Tuesday, June 30
I had a plain bagel with cream cheese and cereal that morning, with orange juice.

Lunch, I did Ricardo’s again. This time I had the flank steak, green beans, and mashed potatoes. To start, I had empanadas, plain beef. I had water since it was lunchtime.

For dinner, I went to Houston’s in the city with my parents. They come up for games and when they’re free. I had a Caesar salad to start. I had the filet with a baked potato, and a glass of Riesling to drink.

Wednesday, July 1
This morning I had the traditional cereal, orange juice, and mandarin oranges.

I haven’t had lunch yet, but I’m hungry and I don’t know where I’m going to go yet. Suggestions?

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Filed Under: kerry rhodes, new york jets, the new york diet

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About fifteen minutes ago, Brooklyn Bowl finally, finally, finally announced its opening date via Twitter. July 7 at 6 p.m.! Weekday hours will be 6 p.m. till 2 a.m., with bowling till 4 a.m. on weekends. There’ll be a snack menu at first, and Blue Ribbon’s full food menu should be in place by the end of the month. Friends and family are already previewing the venue, so you might want to try to work some magic this weekend. Update: The venue just published a juicy press release with some details about its beer program (ten Brooklyn-brewed draughts) and more.

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Filed Under: blue ribbon, brooklyn bowl, openings, williamsburg

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Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club tells us it’s gussying up its menu of “third base” entrées (formerly limited to quesadillas, fajitas, and the like) with proper dishes like strip steak in brandy cream sauce (you can see the whole menu below), as well as adding a 30-seat dining area with three plasmas. And Terrance Brennan’s Bar Artisanal joins Macao, Ward III, and others serving late-night bites in Tribeca with a new menu available from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. See it here.

40 / 40 FIRST BASE
(SANDWICHES, WRAPS, & SALADS)

Grilled Turkey Club $15
Smoked turkey stacked with bacon, lettuce, Swiss cheese, tomato and mayo on hero

Beef Steak Salad $16
Grilled sirloin steak, romaine lettuce, red onions, cucumber, scallions, red peppers, and rice vinegar dressing

Asian Salad $13
Mixed mescaline, chow mein noodles, cucumber, Mandarin oranges, scallions, red pepper, With a homemade ginger soy dressing

Baby Arugula Salad $14
Served with roasted peppers, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, red onions and a tangy citrus dressing

40/40 THIRD BASE
(ENTREES)
Grilled New York Strip Steak $21
Served in a pepper corn, brandy cream sauce, with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetable du jour

Pan Seared Skirt Steak $20
Served with roasted potatoes and vegetable du jour

Grilled Atlantic Salmon $19
In a soy glaze topped with mushrooms. Served with sautéed arugula and mashed potatoes

Sautéed Chicken Breast $18
In a Marsala wine sauce served with mashed potatoes and vegetable du jour

Penne Pasta with Sautéed Chicken $16
In a tomato vodka cream sauce

Rigatoni with Oven Dried Tomatoes $15
Artichokes hearts and basil and white wine butter sauce

Spaghetti Bolognese $14
With zesty homemade meat sauce with fresh herbed garlic bread

Grilled Chicken $15
Marinated in fresh herbs served with grilled vegetables

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Filed Under: 40/40 club, bar artisanal, jay-z, late night dining, menu changes, nightlife, sports bars, terrance brennan

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India Ennis tried to sell her Smith Street restaurant, Panino’teca 275, for eighteen months before closing it last Sunday, but she doesn’t entirely blame the economy. Instead, she faults, in part, the South Brooklyn restaurant explosion. “Business brings business, and that’s good for the neighborhood. Then we hit a wall and there were way, way too many restaurants,” she told us from her new home in Boston. “High-style, concept restaurants. I didn’t think the food was all that great. It started hurting everybody — there’s just not enough people in the neighborhood.” Ennis, who opened her restaurant eight years ago as a first-time owner, predicts that any new spots will also be helmed by rookies. “It’s going to cycle again. They’re going to open up and a lot of those places are going to be closed in the next year. Restaurant groups are not jumping on these little places. They see that it’s just not going to pay,” she says. As for her own space, Ennis tentatively refers to its next incarnation as a sports bar, but only because the new operators said “they were going to put in ‘a bunch more fryers and a bunch of TVs.’” More competition for Angry Wade’s?

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Filed Under: carroll gardens, foodienomics, india ennis, paninoteca 275, smith street

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There’s a new entrant in the beer-cocktails field: A good six months after opening, the day has finally come for La Barra Cevicheria, which had teamed up with An Choi in an appeal to the SLA. The tiny Lower East Sider tells us it scored a beer-and-wine license this morning and plans to be serving micheladas shortly.

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Filed Under: an choi, booze news, la barra cevicheria, liquor licenses, lower east side

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Midtown East: The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory has pitched a tented cart outside Grand Central to sell ice cream daily through August from noon to 7 p.m. [Blondie and Brownie]
Adour has unveiled a $65 three-course summer prix fixe with mignardises that’s available Sundays through Thursdays from 6 to 7 p.m. through September 10. [Grub Street]
Park Slope: Onetime Monkey Bar chef (pre–Graydon Carter) Chris Cheung is helming the kitchen of Vue Restaurant and Lounge in Hotel Le Bleu. [Feed/TONY]
Williamsburg: The Feast of the Giglio — a 122-year-old festival that involves people selling cannoli and men lifting a three-ton statue of Paulinus of Nola — returns to North Eighth Street at Havemeyer from July 8 through the 19. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Filed Under: adour, brooklyn ice cream factory, chris cheung, fort greene, midtown east, neighborhood watch, park slope, williamsburg

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Just in time for Memorial July 4 weekend, Water Taxi Beach informs us that Harry Hawk will be serving a bacon-wrapped hot dog at the new Governors Island location. And true to his love of obscure sodas, he’s eschewing Dr Pepper ribs for RC Cola pork spareribs. What, Mr. Pibb didn’t cut it? The beach soft-opens July 4 with a limited food-and-beverage program — the grill fully opens July 11, and at the end of July the “backstage café” will begin serving salads, wraps, and other items made with produce purchased from the island’s sustainable farm. Take your first look at the menu and the performance schedule below. Highlights: Mos Def, Erykah Badu, a hip-hop karaoke barbecue, and Tragedy, a metal-band tribute to the Bee Gees.

Menu

• Hot Dog $3

• Hot Dogito $4

• Hot Dog with Coney Sauce $5

• Hot Dog with cheese and coney sauce $5

• Bacon Dog $5

• Fries $3

• Coney sauce $1.50

• Cheese $1

• Motz burger $6 (rare, med, well)

• Vegan Potato Salad $3

• Cole slaw, $3

• Made in Park Slope Sausages

• Vodwawelska (Extra Lean Kielbasa) - 1/3 lb - $6

• Wiejska (Grilling Kielbasa) - $5

• Barowki - (Knockwurst) - 1/3 lb - $5

• RC Cola Pork Spareribs $9 (with 1 side)

• Whole Racks By the Pound $7.50

• Beer Braised Beef Short Ribs $10 (with 1 side)

• Local Beer Braised Beef Short Ribs (grass fed) $16 (with 1 side)

• Watermelon $2

• Sturbridge Cookies 2 for $4

Schedule

July 12, 4 p.m. - DJ khz
July 18, 2 p.m. - Wheel Up! w/ DJs DRM (Bastard Jazz) + Erik The Red (Giant Step)
July 19, 2 p.m. - Tragedy
July 25, 2 p.m. - The Beatards
July 26, 3 p.m. - Turntables on the Hudson
Aug 4, 8 p.m. - Erykah Badu
Aug 15, 2 p.m. - Hip-Hop Karaoke BBQ
Aug 18, 8 p.m. - B52s
Aug 23, 3 p.m. - Turntables on the Hudson
Sept. 6, 3 p.m. - Turntables on the Hudson.
Sept 12, 9:30 p.m. - Mos Def.
Sept. 26, 8 p.m. - Buckethead

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Filed Under: barbecue, buckethead, erykah badu, harry hawk, hip-hop karaoke, hot dogs, memorial day, mos def, openings, summer concerts, the great outdoors, turntables on the hudson, water taxi beach governor's island

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This happened in Jersey, but it’s the freakin’ weekend and this story is just … awesome: In a “messin’ with Sasquatch” commercial come alive, 52-year-old Henry Rouwendal went through a “pretty wild ordeal” when a bear knocked him down from behind and made off with his hoagie. Dude was not about to be “sub-dued”, since the sandwich was loaded with salami and all the fixings. He tells the Star-Ledger: “I kicked him three times in the snout and one time in the throat.” Never mind the foot-long — it’s clear Henry Rouwendal is the real hero here.

Black bear knocks down Vernon man, steals sandwich [Real-Time News via Gothamist]

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Filed Under: bear attacks, henry rouwendal, hoagies, new jersey, sandwiches, sandwichland

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Some news from Jim Lahey et al.: “Co. is taking a break next week to give the wonderful and hardworking staff a much needed break and for some renovations. We’ll be closed Sunday, July 5th - Sunday, July 12th. During the team’s time off, we’ll be developing a new summer menu that will roll out shortly after we reopen on July 14th. Plus, we’re also entertaining the idea of possibly incorporating a delivery service soon after the reopen!” Interesting. Also delivering these days is Veloce Pizzeria, and it’s doing something pizzerias like Lombardi’s and L’asso won’t: delivering their clam pie, sometimes available as a special. (Lombardi’s used to deliver theirs, but says it got too many customer complaints when steam trapped in a pizza box caused the clams to become rubbery.) Delivery parameters are between 10th Street and Houston and between Second Avenue and Avenue A. The pizzeria also has a special from noon till 2 p.m. and from midnight till 2 a.m.: A mushroom or margherita slice plus a salad and a beer or wine is $10.

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Filed Under: chelsea, co., delivery, east village, pizza, temporary closings, veloce pizzeria

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It looks like it’s really over for Joe Jr. Restaurant. The owner, Teddy Hondros, tells us that it was his customers, not him, that posted a petition to save the place. He didn’t have the heart to stop them, but he says signatures are beside the point. In fact, he says that despite his lease having been up June 30, his landlord has asked him to stay in recent days — but he has already made arrangements to shut down the gas and telephone lines and says he will definitely close after Saturday night. Hondros says he has been attempting to renew his lease for six months, but it seemed the landlord no longer wanted a diner in the space. He says the landlords are a father-and-son team: “With the father I can agree all the time, but the son has new ideas,” Hondros told us in a Greek accent. “Maybe they want to clean this place, with all the smoke and oil. Young people don’t want the flames, the cooking, all this stuff … ” Hondros, who is 65 and spent 34 years and up to fifteen hours every day working in the restaurant, says he’s ready to retire. He says he’s “upset” and “weak,” but he isn’t blaming anyone: “Business was good so many years — it’s a good neighborhood, with excellent people, and I thank the people and landlords that they leave me here so many years now.”

Update: Reporting from the scene, Eater hears that a dispute over repairs for fire damage had something to do with the landlord conflict.

Earlier: Beloved Village Diner, Joe Jr., May Close on Sunday

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Filed Under: closings, greenwich village, joe jr., leases, rent, teddy hondros

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First Jefferson Market, and now this. David Camp has sent our camp an e-mail informing us that the end is near for Joe Jr., a greasy spoon in the Village favored by the likes of David Byrne, John Waters, and our own Adam Platt. (If we’re not mistaken, we once spied New York editor-in-chief Adam Moss holding court there, too.) Per Camp’s e-mail: “They have big handwritten signs in the window saying they've lost their lease after [4]5 yrs, are closing this Sunday. They are asking people to sign a petition to save Joe Jrs and to ‘spread the word,’ I guess in hopes of pressuring the landlord not to cut them loose.” It’ll be sad if those prime people-watching windows are papered over, but there may yet be hope. Joe Jr. went through a closing scare back in 1994; the Times then quoted designer and loyal patron Isaac Mizrahi: “It’s like everybody's dream diner, the perfect New York diner. Sort of tatty around the edges, very tatty around the edges. Excellent tuna-fish sandwiches on rye toast. Excellent scrambled eggs. Amazing immediate delivery. And it’s such a fixture in the neighborhood.” Of course, the Sunday closing date sounds pretty definite, but here’s hoping against hope they dodge the bullet again.

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Filed Under: closings, david byrne, diners, greenwich village, isaac mizrahi, joe jr., john waters

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Emma Cleary now confirms that her investors have pushed her out of the Mott: “I’ve been duped and I’m not engaging in further conversations with them — they can talk to my lawyer. I tried to resolve this and they continued to act hostile and continued to show they were untrustworthy.” The situation, based on what we’ve heard from sources, is this: Cleary entered into what was initially a handshake agreement with her friend and investor Fred Loh (who works in finance). As architectural and contracting snafus mounted, Loh and Cleary brought on another investor, Lewis Black (not the comedian). At some point a board of directors was created and Cleary was terminated. The dispute seems to be over whether the board of directors was legitimate (and hence had the power to terminate Cleary) and whether the build-out missteps were Cleary’s fault or that of her partners. For their part, the partners of the Mott have sent us a statement that makes it clear they believe they are in the right, and that claims they have sunk over $2 million into the project.

The investors in The Mott restaurant have terminated Emma Cleary as an officer of the Company and member of the board due to mismanagement, misappropriation of funds, and misleading the investors, among other reasons. In the two years that this project has been underway, Cleary has failed to achieve virtually every milestone, despite numerous assurances, forcing the investors to take over active management of the buildout, launch and operations of the venue. Over $2 million was funded by investors who are at a loss after numerous promises, excuses, and inaction. “Ms Cleary misled us into believing that she had the experience and ability to launch restaurant and club operations and open a successful venue. However, the facts show that this was utterly false and misleading.” The new management of The Mott has taken action to remedy the situation and is on track to open one of the most exciting and newsworthy venues in Nolita.”

The restaurant is set to open in July.

Cleary has cast doubt on whether the operators will be able to open with a liquor license that lists her as the principal (“I’m not going to accept liability,” she tells us, “because I don’t know what these characters are going to get up to”), but this much is certain: Chef Brain Bieler is still onboard, as is general manager Gordon Adams, who worked with Cleary at meatpacking club PM. They’re still aiming to open by next Wednesday.

Earlier: Emma Cleary May Be Out at the Mott

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Filed Under: beef, brian bieler, emma cleary, fred loh, gordon adams, lewis black, nightlife, nolita, pm, the mott

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