Lower East Side: Michael Huynh, the chef behind the Baoguette empire, is opening a "high-volume bakery" in the old Kebab House on the corner of Orchard and Rivington Streets. [Fork in the Road/VV]

Midtown East: Barros Luco will host a fund-raiser at Niall's Pub to support the Chilean Red Cross and its hurricane relief efforts. [Midtown Lunch]

Midtown West: Chef Rose Levy Beranbaum was charged a $25 "forkage fee" by the Breslin to eat two slices of chocolate cake leftover from a television segment she had taped earlier. [Real Baking With Rose via Diner's Journal/NYT]

Noho: Faustina at the Cooper Square Hotel is now serving lunch daily. The menu includes the Cooper Square Burger ($21), a first for Chef Scott Conant, made from LaFrieda beef, taleggio cheese, caramelized onions, and pickled mustard seeds. [Grub Street]

Prospect-Lefferts: Gandhi, a new Indian restaurant, opened yesterday. It's run by the same team behind Joy in Prospect Heights. [Hawthorne Street]

Soho: L'ulivo reopens today as Chicca. The restaurant, at 184 Spring Street, will serve traditional Roman cuisine using mostly locally sourced ingredients. [Grub Street]

Upper East Side: 92nd Street Y hosts Chocolate Fest: A Walk-Around Tasting this Sunday night at Buttenwieser Hall. Tickets ($37) are available here. [Grub Street]

Windsor Terrace: Residents are planning to turn the vacant lot below the Seeley Street Bridge into a farm that will produce fresh vegetables for the community. For more information or to get involved, contact Tom Angotti at tangotti@nyc.rr.com or 347-226-0100. [Kensington Prospect]

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, 92nd street y, baoguette, bedford, chicca, cooper square hhotel, east village, fautina, gandhi, l'ulivo, lower east side, michael huynh, noho, porchetta, scott conant, soho, upper east side

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If you were wondering why the seventh season of Top Chef wasn’t on a list of upcoming Bravo programming, here’s the reason: Tom Colicchio tells the Post that Padma’s pregnancy has pushed the filming of season seven from January to April. No word on the location, but Kate Winslet wants in.

Kate Winslet's salivating at the thought of judging on 'Top Chef' [NYP]

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Filed Under: top chef, kate winslet, padma lakshmi, tom colicchio, tv land

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If the Meat Hook’s sausage-making video wasn’t loaded with enough innuendo for you, check out the Atlantic’s video on “the peeling, puncturing, roasting, and slicing of a pair of deer testicles,” complete with tasteful Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. Be careful when roasting, because the testicles “tend to explode.” And for more advice, seek out Joe Dobias, who has taken to selling fried lamb testicles at JoeDoe: “Man am I excited! The Balls are in the marinade!”

What's Next in Nose-to-Tail Cooking? Testicles [Food/Atlantic]

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Filed Under: what to eat, deer, home cookin', joe dobias, joedoe, lamb, testicles

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Feast reports that the company behind JFK’s Terminal Five is planning an “Italian-centric food mecca” for LaGuardia Airport. Michael White and Andrew Carmellini haven’t commented on rumors of their involvement, but Dom De Marco has confirmed he’s in talks to open a branch of Di Fara. If the master insists on manning the stand himself, make sure to show up for your flight five hours in advance.

Is There A Massive Italian Food Project Planned For LaGuardia Airport? [Feast]

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Filed Under: openings, andrew carmellini, di fara, dom de marco, italian, laguardia airport, michael white

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A couple of days ago Justin Ross Lee penned a highly subjective list of the “Top Ten Most Hated People in New York Nightlife” for Clubplanet, including himself, fellow promoters, and “rope rat” doormen. The most prominent figure was Noah Tepperberg of Marquee and Avenue, who was described as “Dr. Evil” and compared to Dick Cheney. Just like when Down by the Hipster pondered “The Least Important People in Nightlife,” clubland fixture Steve Lewis had something to say: “Noah loves what he does and has quietly been a friend to so many in need.” Now Tepperberg’s slot on the list reads “Number 8 has been removed due to technical difficulties,” and Chi Chi 212 thinks she knows why.

After being featured at number 8 on Justin Ross Lee’s list of Top 10 Most Hated People In Nightlife, Noah Tepperberg called up Track Entertainment and threw the biggest fit … ever. In fact this fit was so big the column now reads “Number 8 has been removed due to technical difficulties.” He even asked to have JRL fired.

Actually, we’ve been on the receiving end of one of these phone calls, though Tepperberg was mostly civil in objecting to a Grub Street item that implied people were dancing at Avenue (the “gastrolounge” doesn't have a cabaret license and we all know the city pooh-poohs these things). The irony is that in addition to a birthday party at La Esquina, the most recent episode of HBO show How to Make It in America depicted a raging dance party at Avenue! Guess Tepperberg decided to let the secret out …

Why Is Noah Tepperberg Afraid Of Justin Ross Lee? [Chi Chi 212]

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Filed Under: personalities, avenue, how to make it in america, nightlife, noah tepperberg

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It's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: Seasonal American.

10 Downing (Menu)
212-255-0300
Two for eight? Yes

BLT Market (Menu)
212-521-6125
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:15 p.m.

Blue Hill (Menu)
212-539-1776
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Cookshop (Menu)
212-924-4440
Two for eight? Yes

Craft (Menu)
212-780-0880
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30

Eighty One (Menu)
212-873-8181
Two for eight? Yes

Park Avenue Winter (Menu)
212-644-1900
Two for eight? Yes

Mas (farmhouse) (Menu)
212-255-1790
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Telepan (Menu)
212-580-4300
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

The Wright
212-427-5690
Two for eight? Yes

Filed Under: two for eight, 10 downing, blt market, blue hill, cookshop, craft, eighty one, mas, park avenue winter, telepas, the wright

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Awhile back it was announced that Magical Elves, the company behind Top Chef, is bringing a new Amazing Race–style cooking-competition show, Around the World in 80 Plates, to Bravo. Now a release from Bravo indicates that Commander in Chef is also on the horizon. No host has been named, but here’s the pitch.

COMMANDER IN CHEF (wt)
This self-contained, weekly one-hour competition series tests established chefs with a series of intense culinary challenges before a live studio audience. The chefs must survive five consecutive head-to-head battles, ultimately taking on the chef host in a final showdown. The longer they stay in the game, the more money they can win. But with just one single defeat, they are out. This series is being developed by Stone & Co. Entertainment with executive producer Scott Stone.

Think of it as Iron Chef meets The Next Iron Chef meets Top Chef meets Top Chef Masters meets Hell's Kitchen meets Throwdown meets Chopped.

Bravo Announces Pick-Ups and Series in Development [Bravo]

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Filed Under: tv land, bravo, commander in chef, cooking shows, reality television

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Michael Psilakis tells Diner’s Journal more about his possible Williamsburg project in a 10,000 square-foot-space where “he might put one or more casual restaurants along the lines of Kefi and Gus & Gabriel,” and also reveals that after leaving Mia Dona to his partner Donatella Arpaia last year, he has now also broken from Michelin-starred Anthos. He’ll still be involved in Kefi but Arpaia says of their partnership “we’re both heading in different directions.”

Michael Psilakis Has Left Anthos [NYT/Diner’s Journal]

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Filed Under: chef shuffle, anthos, gus & gabriel, kefi, mia dona, michael psilakis

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Ice cream is having an excellent preseason, what with the recent arrival of a stationary Van Leeuwen in Greenpoint, the impending mega-expansion of Il Laboratorio del Gelato to Houston Street, and the belated addition of soft serve to the repertoire at the new Cobble Hill branch of Blue Marble (which, incidentally, has become a wild weekday-afternoon rave of sorts spilling out onto the sidewalk with infant sugar addicts, chocolate-mustachioed toddlers, and menacing stroller-moms). More good news on the horizon: Next month, the General Greene’s Nick Morgenstern plans to strategically position a Greene Ice Cream cart outside Five Leaves, a mere cone’s throw from Van Leeuwen. And just this week, a Philly import has landed on the dessert menus of a few local restaurants, and should not be overlooked, even by the staunchest lacto-locavore.

Capogiro Gelato Artisans, Philadelphia’s highly acclaimed gelateria, has just introduced its tartufo, the baseball-size Italian classic that typically encases a fruit filling and two flavors of ice cream in a chocolate shell. Why is this news, exactly? In most cases, the dessert, an ice-cream truffle of sorts, is made with industrial-grade ice cream and is practically impossible to eat, or at least not worth the effort, its outer casing so impervious to the spoon’s assault that the whole mess goes flying. In Capogiro’s version — which can currently be sampled at Gottino, Fornino, Essex, and Inatteso Pizzabar Casano — the fruit is an amarena cherry, the gelati are characteristically dense, but creamy chocolate and hazelnut, and instead of a shell, the outer coating is a flurry of deep, dark Valrhona cocoa powder, allowing for effortless (if still fairly messy) eating.

Read more posts by Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

Filed Under: we all scream, capogiro gelato artisans, ice cream

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from Grub Street San Francisco

In its April issue, Food & Wine named thirteen new places in the U.S. and Italy where you can find great Italian food. Among them: A Voce Columbus and Maialino in New York (touted for their molto grande wine lists), the barely two-month-old Amis in Philadelphia, Chicago's Cibo Matto, and Tony's Pizza Neapoletana in San Francisco for its "true pizza cred." Looks like Anthony Mangieri missed this throwdown by a mere couple months, but watch out next year — or the next time one of these listicles drops.

Best New Italian Spots [Food & Wine]

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Filed Under: lists, a voce, amis, anthony mangieri, cibo matto, food & wine, maialino, pizza pizza, tony’s pizza napoletana

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City Room brings disturbing news that a woman was brutally beaten and possibly raped after declining to dance with a man at Social, a midtown bar that now moves even higher up on our list of places we wouldn’t go to for our best friend’s birthday party. [City Room/NYT]

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Filed Under: crime scenes, midtown, nightlife, social

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Now writing for The New York Times Magazine, Frank Bruni profiles Katie Lee, and reveals that although the Food Network didn’t take a liking to a pilot she is said to have shopped them (food-world insiders say Lee’s style wasn’t “catchy” enough), she’s currently working with none other than Brett Ratner (yes, the director of the Rush Hour flicks) on a new show that might be set in the West Village townhouse she snagged after divorcing Billy Joel.

A few months ago I accompanied her to a meeting in Beverly Hills with the two young producers working directly on her pilot. Over peppermint tea on a patio outside the Four Seasons, they and Lee spitballed scenarios for the “Untitled Katie Lee Project.” They envisioned her inviting a small group of girlfriends over to her town house for a “spa night” of healthful eating and facials. They pictured Lee bolting to the home of an acquaintance who is less skillful in the kitchen than she, surreptitiously helping her cook, then dashing away before the acquaintance’s date arrives to a sumptuous meal.
One producer: “The ideas are endless.”

The other producer: “You’re like the girl next door, everybody’s friend. People relate to you.”

The producers said they should ideally show enough of Lee’s life at home so that she could put her stamp on a variety of products — like linens or clothes. “If you’re wearing a sweater, people will want to know what it is,” one of them said. “They should be able to go to a Web site.”

The other: “Yeah, because you’re very stylish.”

Cue Anthony Bourdain: “Just as teenage girls need nonthreatening teen idols, whether they sing or appear in vampire movies, America clearly needs likable people who appear in the kitchen.”

Lee isn’t the only one going after her own show. In a Diner’s Journal pointer to his story, Bruni floats a rumor about Donatella Arpaia, whose first cookbook is coming out: “I’ve heard whispers that Ms. Arpaia, who’s been a regular presence on ‘Iron Chef America’ and ‘The Next Iron Chef,’ will be sautéing for the cameras in the very near future. The cookbook will inform the show, and vice versa, the two commingling to craft a culinary persona.”

How to Cook Up a Food Celebrity [NYT]
The Stove as a Steppingstone [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

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Filed Under: tv land, brett ratner, donatella arpaia, katie lee

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