“I have doubts about the physical demands of the kitchen,” Dan Barber confessed last night at the 92nd Street Y. “I am a part of the service and I find my stamina decreasing.” The chef joined Tom Colicchio, and French expats André Soltner and Jacques Torres on a panel with FCI founder Dorothy Hamilton to discuss her new book,
Love What You Do. Loving it, it seems, doesn’t make it easy. Keep reading, aspiring chefs. It’s time to be scared straight.

Dan Barber is tired. “At Stone Barns, for example, there are no menus. You come to the restaurant, you sit at the table, and the ticket comes in as an interview with the captain: What are your likes, dislikes, allergies, things you’re very interested in. There’s notes: They range from “this person has been dying to come to the restaurant for the last year or two,” to “this person is totally uninterested in what we’re doing, and would rather be someplace else.” The menus tend to be different between tables, and very different from night to night, and that requires a commitment and a flexibility and devotion that I hadn’t really anticipated. The best way to inspire a tired, physically and mentally rundown chef is to be there, with him or her, doing the same thing, which is really hard to do. So I wonder about this philosophy.”

Tom Colicchio is … the Apprentice “We don’t have an apprenticeship system here, but you can put yourself through one if you try. All you have to do is work in one restaurant for a year, and then you move to another restaurant. I grew up in New Jersey, and I worked at some pretty bad restaurants until I found myself at a pretty good restaurant.”

Jacques Torres, Food Orthopedist “If you look at the medical profession, the chef is in the emergency room. You see the chefs really reacting to the service and dealing with what’s going on at the moment. The pastry chef would be the knee guy or something. You cannot bake a cake by the time a customer sits. You can assemble desserts, put whipped cream and berries together, but it takes a lot more planning … At Le Cirque, we were twelve pastry cooks in one restaurant; that’s pretty unbelievable. Once the manager came and said, ‘Can you do a tanker in chocolate?’ And we said, ‘Yes, how long?’ And he said, ‘Oh, you have time, the customer just sat.’ Sirio was on top of his game when I started and it was unbelievable. He was magic and it was a magic place.”

André Soltner Gets Poached “I was working in Paris as a sous-chef, and one of my pastry chefs emigrated here. The person he was working for had an idea that he wanted to open a restaurant — Henri Soulé. He came to Paris, ate at the restaurant, and after his dinner he said to the maitre d’, ‘I bring greetings to the chef from Robert, the pastry chef, can I see the chef?’ The maitre d’ told me; I went to see him; and he said, ‘I bring greetings from Robert and, well, the real reason is I would like to talk to you outside.’ We had a meeting the next day, and that’s the way you steal chefs.”

Read more posts by Alexandra Vallis

Filed Under: back of the house, andre soltner, dan barber, dorothy hamilton, foodievents, jaques torres, tom colicchio

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Tried Blue water grill in January during Restaurant Week in New York. The special $24.07 luncheon menu offered…

Blue Water Grill

31 Union Sq W, New York

(212) 675-9500

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Brooklyn Heights: A soon-to-open café at 71 Pineapple Street received a liquor license. [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

Cobble Hill: Blue Marble plans to open a new location at 196 Court Street, at Wyckoff Avenue. The location will serve a new line of soft-serve ice cream. [Brownstoner]

East Village: The Niagara and Cabin Down Below sibling set to replace Pizza Shop will be called Black Market. [Gothamist]

Flatiron: The bar Ken Friedman has installed below the Breslin will open tonight. [UrbanDaddy]

Meatpacking District: Kiss & Fly reopens tonight after being closed for renovations. New features include an expanded dance floor, new lighting, and booth seating. [Eater NY]

Midtown West: Virgil’s celebrates Mardi Gras February 9 through 16, with Zydeco music, a menu featuring po’ boys, and free necklaces with no flashing required. [Grub Street]

Read more posts by Alexandra Martell

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, blue marble, brooklyn heights, gowanus, kiss & fly, meatpacking district, midtown west, the bell house, virgils

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Scott Conant’s Faustina, in the Table 8 space at the Cooper Square Hotel, opens tomorrow night. The Scarpetta chef had about a month to transform the space and create the menu, dominated by Mediterranean small plates and a few wild cards, like short ribs and spaetzle, and fried chicken with porcini and potato stufato. There are few reservations available this weekend, but you can eat vicariously thanks to Grub Street photographer Melissa Hom. Watch our slideshow to see what Conant’s got cooking.

Read more posts by Aileen Gallagher and Melissa Hom

Filed Under: photo plates, cooper square hotel, faustina, scott conant

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Paul Sevigny has revealed to us that that Kenmare, the Mediterranean restaurant he and Nur Khan are opening in the Civetta space, will open for previews during Fashion Week. “I wouldn’t even call it a soft opening,” he explained. “More than a few things aren’t finished. But we made a couple of commitments earlier on to friends and family, so we’re going to follow through with those. There’s not an exact [opening] date yet, but probably the end of February.” Don’t let the Fashion Week folks fool you, though; this isn’t the second coming: “It’s not a new Beatrice,” Sevigny said.

“We’re working on that. But first of all, there’s never going to be a new Beatrice. We never planned for there to be a Beatrice. Beatrice is not a franchise. Kenmare is a small neighborhood restaurant that’s going to cater to people who are hungry. That’s obviously something different than the Beatrice, I think.” A Vogue item (not online) promises “plastered walls, sage banquettes, and bursts of orange inspired by the Almafi Coast of the seventies,” and says Chloë Sevigny will be designing the uniforms.

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Filed Under: openings, civetta, kenmare, nolita, nur khan, paul sevigny

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It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked nine restaurants the best time they could squeeze in a couple for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Destination, Brooklyn.

Applewood (Menu)
718-788-1810
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:45 p.m.

Chestnut (Menu)
718-243-0049
Two for eight? Yes

Dressler (Menu)
718-384-6343
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

The Good Fork (Menu)
718-643-6636
Two for eight? Yes

The Grocery (Menu)
718-596-3335
Two for eight? Yes

iCi (Menu)
718-789-2778
Two for eight? Yes

Peter Luger (Menu)
718-387-7400
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:45 p.m.

Rose Water (Menu)
718-783-3800
Two for eight? Yes

Saul (Menu)
718-935-9844
Two for eight? Yes

Filed Under: Applewood, Chestnut, Dressler, iCi, Peter Luger, Rose Water, Saul, Sel de Mer, The Good Fork, The Grocery, Two for Eight

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Big Brother is busy today: EV Grieve spots a Department of Health sticker on the door of the temporarily closed Moonstruck Diner; NY Barfly notices a Department of Buildings posting that indicates Superdive’s basement Mad Dog Room may be in trouble, and Eater gets word from Sox bar Professor Thom’s that it will be closed until at least February 22 because of “a procedural error regarding the renewal of our liquor license.”

License Snafu Shutters Professor Thom’s Until Feb 22 [Eater NY]
A Bad News Sticker for Superdive [NY Barfly]
Moonstruck Diner closed for a variety of reasons [EV Grieve]

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Filed Under: temporary closings, moonstruck diner, professor thom’s, superdive

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According to Daily Intel, none other than God himself (you know, Steve Jobs?) had a secret dinner at Pranna last night. That’s right, the elusive Apple head actually showed up in person rather than using the new MenuPages app. It’s uncertain whether he tried some of the satays that were served to New York Times execs (it’s said he’s avoiding strong foods after his liver transplant last year), but he did order two mango lassis and a penne pasta, neither of which are on the menu. Good thinking with the meat on the stick, though — no greasy fingers on the iPad’s screen!

Steve Jobs in Secret New York Meeting With Top Times Execs [Daily Intel]

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Filed Under: celebrity settings, pranna, steve jobs

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Alan Philips’s ranking of nightlife players consists of revenue numbers that are “purely speculative,” so it’s impossible to know whether (for instance) Chodorow’s China Grill Management really is the top dog, taking in $200 million. But here’s a fun tidbit about Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum of Tenjune and Abe & Arthur’s: “They have also signed a deal for a club in Midtown with Highgate Hotels, re-imagining the Paramount Hotel’s 10,000 square-foot restaurant space, which was once perennial hotspot, Diamond Horseshoe.” Given that this line was more or less cut and pasted from a press release from hospitality consultant Steven Kamali, who is working with Birnbaum and Remm, it’s probably true!

The First Annual A-List: Nightlife’s Biggest Players by the Numbers [Clubplanet]

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Filed Under: lists, emm group, eugene remm, mark birnbaum, nightlife, rankings, steven kamali, tenjune

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Well now, this is curiously timed. On the week of El Quinto Pino’s reopening, Blackboard Eats is offering 30 percent off at Tía Pol. Sure, maybe it’s just coincidence — or maybe Heather Belz and Mani Dawes are trying to steal some thunder from their neighbor and former partner Alex Raij? Then again, the beauty of a tapas crawl is that you can have both! (Assuming there’s room at either, that is.)

Tía Pol [Blackboard Eats]

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Filed Under: discounts, alex raij, chelsea, el quinto pino, heather belz, mani dawes, reopenings, spanish, tapas, tia pol

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In the long, narrow space you’re greeted with rows of goodies: cupcakes, cookies, muffins, coffee cakes, plus…

Magnolia Bakery

1240 Avenue of the Americas, New York

(212) 767-1123

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Yesterday we revealed that Ed Levine and Adam Kuban had, on Every Day With Rachael Ray’s dime, named the best pizza in America. As of now, we don’t know exactly which pie they chose (the story isn’t online), but to facilitate debate, here’s the March Madness–style bracketing that ended in regional winners Pizzeria Mozza, Great Lake, Motorino, and Pizzeria Bianco. Click below to zoom in.

March Madness: Pizzerias [PDF]

Earlier: Pizza Slices: Movies at Co., Rumblings at Totonno’s, and the Best Pie in America

Read more posts by Daniel Maurer

Filed Under: lists, every day with rachael ray, pizza

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