While most of Hollywood’s elite are gearing up for the Oscars, many stars were still out and about in New York. Twilight’s hottest couple ditched their shy reps and made big news by getting cozy at Tribeca’s Locanda Verde. Meanwhile, fellow Twilight star and Calvin Klein underwear model Kellan Lutz was spotted with 90210’s Annalynne McCord at Serendipity 3. The two were not so willing to flaunt their together time, however, and tried to avoid attention by leaving the sweet eatery fifteen minutes apart. Read our complete roundup of boldface dining, below.

Abe & Arthur’s: Michelle Paige, wife of soon-to-be ex-governor Paterson, ate an early dinner with a mystery male companion and tried her best not to be recognized. [NYP]

Brasserie 44: Mark Ruffalo shared a turkey club that was Just Like Heaven at the former lunchtime hot spot. [<a href=" http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/03/02/2010-03-02_old_spice_star_isaiah_mustafa_says_his_top_goal_is_guest_spot_on_howard_stern_sh.html
">NYDN]

Dos Caminos: Gossip Girl’s villain Michelle Trachtenberg enjoyed a midday fiesta, ordering a margarita with extra strawberry purée to go along with her guac. [People]

La Esquina: Up to his old antics, John Mayer drank and flirted the night away at the Nolita bar. [NYDN]

Laconda Verde: Apparently no longer able to contain themselves, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart partook in some public canoodling at the Tribeca Restaurant. [NYDN]

Lure Fishbar A spy saw Kanye West and Amber Rose hanging out here and being “mad adorable.” [Grub Street]

Serendipity 3: 90210’s Annalynne McCord snuck in a sweet date with Twilight’s Kellan Lutz and his killer abs. [NYP]

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Filed Under: abe-arthurs, brasserie 44, celebrity settings la esquina, dos caminos, locanda verde, serendipity 3, twilight

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As promised, Anthony Bourdain faced off against Jonathan Safran Foer in a rematch of his Larry King Live appearance, with “Turn and Burn” co-host Eric Ripert backing him up (Ripert, of course, is a Buddhist who operates a seafood restaurant but likes his chorizo, though he says his parents grew up eating it only once a week or so). Bourdain took a surprisingly diplomatic stance, calling Eating Animals “fascinating and deeply disturbing” and admitting, “I think that everybody at this table right now would probably agree … that it would be in general, for a variety of reasons, better for society if we ate a little less meat, at least.” Before that can of worms was opened, Ripert and Bourdain (both of whom admitted to being on Lipitor) talked about a few other topics. Like salt! Here are the highlights.

ON SALT
Bourdain: “It really bothers me anytime the government steps in and says, ‘You can’t eat that or you shouldn’t eat that.’ It bothers me as a semi-libertarian. But on the other hand, let’s face it, we are a country of fat bastards.”
Ripert: “I don’t know anyone who’s going to oversalt his food more than once. You learn your lesson.”

Bourdain: “Generations of people slaughtered themselves and fought wars for salt for a reason — because it’s good.”

ON IRON CHEF
Bourdain: “Here’s the problem with American Iron Chef, is you got these great chefs on there, right? You see Wylie Dufresne on there and then you look at who’s judging — you look over and it’s like Chris Angel Mind-douche is one of the judges … So, Iron Chef America — we don’t like that, either.”

ON CUPCAKES
Ripert: “I don’t like cupcakes.”
Bourdain: “I hate cupcakes, I hate people who like cupcakes. We need to snuff out cupcakes.”
Ripert: “Hate is a strong word.”
Bourdain: “Okay, I don’t hate them. I mildly dislike cupcakes … They’re just so hip and trendy. And you don’t really like the cupcake, it’s just that top quarter inch. Except for red-velvet cupcakes … I kind of like them.”

ON KFC MACARONI AND CHEESE
Bourdain: “I kind of want to put a bag on my head … Every once in a while I’ll try to be in disguise and I’ll order that stuff. It’s a very shameful dirty thing — it’s like going into a porn shop. Not that you’ve ever done that.”
Ripert: “I’ve never been there … I don’t even know what they serve.”
Bourdain: “Really? You’ve never been to see Colonel?”
Ripert: “No. No.”
Bourdain: “You’ve never been so stoned or so drunk that you staggered into the Colonel?”
Ripert: “I have been very stoned and very drunk, but I’ve never been that bad.”

ON JUNK FOOD
Ripert: “I don’t like nasty food. To me, what I would call nasty food would be like a great burger … I have seen a can [of Spam] once in my house and I got freaked out by the can.”

ON CHICKEN
Bourdain: “What we do to satisfy our collective lust for anything in batter form — but particularly chicken is pretty grotesque.”
Safran Foer: “It’s not a lust, though. It’s funny that you use that word because Americans now eat 150 times as much chicken per capita as we did 80 years ago. That’s not a consumer preference. That’s not because we as a people decided it was delicious. It’s an industry very actively, deliberately manipulating our taste.”
Bourdain: “It tastes good or people wouldn’t eat it. They have also been manipulated, there’s no question about it.”
Safran Foer: “No, clearly it tastes good. I think it tastes good.”
Bourdain: “But a good question you bring up is how much more meat and poultry we insist upon as our birthright … ”
Ripert: “Americans are the champions of eating meat worldwide, that’s for sure.”

ON EATING MEAT OUT OF POLITENESS OR ON CEREMONY
Safran Foer: “People sometimes say to me, ‘Well, we go to my grandmother’s house on Christmas and she makes this thing,’ and I say, ‘Well, then eat that thing, that’s a great use of food. The McNugget is not a great use of food. And if we can all just agree that we’re only going to eat meat when it matters, that we’re only going to eat meat when we really enjoy it, when we care, when it makes a difference, when it serves any kind of social function, that would be eliminating I think 80 percent of the meat we eat.”
Bourdain: “Would you be willing to do that?”
Safran Foer: “I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t argue against it. I mean, I wouldn’t because it’s something I’m personally uncomfortable with.”
Bourdain: “See, I’d do it if you do it, you know what I mean? I would eat less meat if you eat meat.”
Safran Foer: “It’s a funny logic.”
Bourdain: “No, I really would. Generally speaking, I really would.”
Ripert: “I have never seen you so diplomatic, Tony … It’s a big deal for him.”
Safran Foer: “We all know what’s at stake in people eating less meat. What’s at stake in my eating any meat? I’m not forcing you to give it up completely, I’m not saying I’m better than you. I’m just saying we have this industry that’s a real problem. Everyone should give up factory-farmed meat — I think that’s something we really should agree on even if we disagree on how possible it is.”
Bourdain: “Everyone who can should give up factory-farmed meat. Let’s face it, most people cant. They’re lined up outside Popeye’s fried chicken in the Mission District right now for 45 minutes waiting for their $1.99 chicken not because it’s good, but because it’s cheap.”
Ripert: “It’s cheaper than to eat beans at home?”
Bourdain: “Yeah, but come on, try to get some fresh vegetables in inner-city Baltimore.”
Safran Foer: “You’re right — there are these urban food deserts and also, and maybe even more importantly, we’ve totally forgotten or lost the culture of food. The idea that a meal is to be eaten with silverware, that it’s to be eaten at a table, that it’s to be cooked by someone you know.”

ON MEAT-EATING AS PLEASURE
Bourdain: “What about pleasure? I mean, for God’s sake man — pleasure! We were on Larry King together and I made what sounded like a facile jokey remark — you know, what about bacon? It’s good — but the fact is it is good. … Isn’t pleasure important? Isn’t taking pleasure, not just alone (sitting there alone stoned at 2 a.m. in the morning, eating bacon in front of the tube as an essential human experience), but sitting together at a table and enjoying meat — isn’t deliciousness important? Isn’t it really important?”
Safran Foer: “Absolutely, absolutely. And it’s sad that any of that would have to be lost. And some of it has to be lost, there’s no way around it.”
Bourdain: “Turkey on Thanksgiving!”
Safran Foer: “Listen we make these choices many times a day every day, we just no longer recognize them because they’ve been socialized. I think on Larry King I responded to something about sex. Most people have sexual urges throughout the day. It’s probably the case that you would like to have sex with at least some of the people you see on the street every day, but you don’t.”
Bourdain: “Speak for yourself!”
Ripert: “Tony, you have to go back home. Watch out. It’s cold outside.”
Bourdain: “No, I’m talking ’bout you, Eric.”

LAST WORD
Bourdain: “I will kill a pig and I will eat it. I will shoot an animal in the head and eat it. But I’m not doing it for fun, and I’m not blind to the circumstances and conditions in which animals are raised. I think there’s a lot of common ground here and we’re going to move, hopefully, toward the side of the angels.”

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Filed Under: beef, anthony bourdain, carnivorism, eric ripert, factory farming, jonathan safran foer, meateating, turn and burn, veganism, vegetarianism

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I moved into the neighborhood early last year. It was then not long before I found Sal & Carmine’s pizza. Tucked away…

Sal’s & Carmine Pizza

2671 Broadway, New York

(212) 663-7651

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If user-generated critiques of restaurants aren’t enough for you, now there’s user-generated critiques of individual dishes! Twiddish, an unfortunately named new iPhone app and website, invites users (or “dishers”) to photograph their food and rate it according to criteria such as flavor, aroma, and value. You can also include a line or two of text in your evaluation, and search the site either by users or individual dishes. Twiddish is NYC-heavy right now, but anyone anywhere can post a review. [Twiddish]

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Filed Under: app-etizing, apps, twiddish

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Harry McNally

Keith McNally’s attorney David A. Kaminsky tells us he doesn’t plan to let 68–74 Thompson Realty evict the restaurateur’s son from his rent-stabilized apartment. “It’s troubling to me because I believe we did demonstrate [that the apartment was Harry’s primary residence] with ample evidence. We had the testimony of Harry’s mother, Harry’s father, Harry’s neighbors, and the decision was a bit surprising to me.” Kaminsky says Harry (a “it” kid who has appeared in Uniqlo ads along with his sister, Isabelle) is currently paying a “fair rent” (he didn’t say how much) and says of Thompson Realty’s motives for evicting young McNally: “I’m sure it’s the standard reason that they’d like to collect higher rents — nothing personal or negative about Harry.”

It’s uncertain which building McNally’s apartment is in, but according to tax assessments, 68–74 Thompson Realty owns two adjacent buildings on Thompson Street — a 42-unit building valued at $3.49 million in 2009 and a 36-unit building valued at $3.11 million. The owners, says Kaminksy, “didn’t present any evidence or a witness” in the case — in these proceedings, the burden of proof is on the tenant.

Kaminsky says he’ll next ask the Appellate Division to reconsider their verdict. “If they refused we would ask for permission to appeal to the court of appeals,” along with a stay that would allow Harry to keep his current digs while the already years-long case carries on.

Earlier: Court Ruling: Keith McNally Must Give Up Rent-Stabilized Pad

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Filed Under: lawsuits, david a. kaminsky, evictions, harry mcnally, keith mcnally, thompson realty

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It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten 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: Certified Geniuses.

Adour Alain Ducasse (Menu)
212-710-2277
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:45 p.m.

Anthos (Menu)
212-582-6900
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Benoit (Menu)
646-943-7373
Two for eight? Yes

Bouley (Menu)
212-964-2525
Two for eight? Yes

DBGB Kitchen & Bar (Menu)
212-933-5300
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10:45 p.m.

Eleven Madison Park (Menu)
212-889-0905
Two for eight? No
Best available: Fully booked

Esca (Menu)
212-564-7272, ext. 2
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10:15 p.m.

Falai (Menu)
212-253-1960
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Jean Georges (Menu)
212-299-3900
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10:30 p.m.

Nobu (Menu)
212-219-0500
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:15 p.m.

Filed Under: two for eight, adour alain ducasse, anthos, benoit, bouley, dbgb, eleven madison park, esca, falai, jean georges, nobu

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Don’t miss German photographer Oliver Schwarzwald’s images of breakfasts eaten around the world. Russia’s looks the prettiest. [Designboom via Atlantic]

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Filed Under: the most important meal of the day, breakfast, oliver schwarzwald

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Azucar’s Cuban sandwich

Jersey City has been getting some love from New Yorkers lately. A new sweets truck appeared outside of the Whitney Biennial, Robert Sietsema recently praised South Indian restaurant Sapthagiri, and now we’re told Bobby Flay paid a visit to Newport Cuban joint Azucar for a Cuban-sandwich Throwdown that airs on the Food Network next Wednesday. So why cubanos in Jersey City and not Miami?

Azucar’s chef-owner, Cuban-born Nick Vazquez, tells us that indeed, Flay originally wanted to fly his crew to Miami, but a Food Network producer who happened to be a regular at Azucar convinced him to keep it local. According to Vazquez, film crews taped him over the course of a dozen hours for an unnamed project, and then asked if they could return for a live taping in front of an audience. “Half an hour into it I see this guy walking through the door and I look at him and go, ‘Jesus, that’s Bobby Flay!’ My first reaction was ‘Look at this, a celebrity from the Food Network is coming to see my show.’”

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Flay’s five chefs helped prepare his version of a Cuban, which Vazquez says wasn’t exactly authentic — “he uses pork shoulder and pulls it in a southern kind of way.” Vazquez’s sandwich, meanwhile, is made with Nieman Ranch pork loin, fresh Virginia-baked ham with molasses, Swiss cheese with very small holes, and a soft water-based bread that’s heavily coated in butter before it goes under a big press (Vazquez shuns panini presses).

You can taste it for yourself (and find out who wins) during a viewing party at Azucar next Wednesday night, when free samples will be doled out along with free wine to match.

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Filed Under: tv land, bobby flay, cuban sandwiches, jersey city, miami, nick vazquez, throwdown

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The blogosphere is abuzz today over word that the owner of Japadog, an Asian hot-dog stand that drew enormous lines during the Vancouver Olympics, is looking to set up shop in New York. So how do our hometown heroes Asiadog feel about this? Just fine, it turns out. “Japadog may share a similar concept, but our menu and flavors are extremely different,” says Melanie Campbell.

“This is NYC, and there is enough business for everyone if your food tastes good, and we feel confident that ours does.” In fact, there’s so much business to go around that Asiadog, currently entrenched at the Brooklyn Flea, has decided to expand. “We are definitely opening up a storefront in downtown this year,” reveals Campbell, “and are working on another huge vending opportunity uptown for the summer.” USA! USA!

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Filed Under: empire building, asiadog, hot dogs, japadog, vancouver

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This summer, look for a bakery-café from François Payard in Greenwich Village. Payard is partnering in the new, unnamed venture with A Voce owner Marlon Abela. “Inexpensive, lots of bread, sandwiches and rustic stuff,” the chef told Diner’s Journal. Payard will also use the kitchen at 116 West Houston (near Sullivan Street) to prep for other locations, including another casual café planned for 2010. [Diner's Journal/NYT]

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Filed Under: empire building, bakeries, francois payard, openings

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A case summary we’ve discovered indicates that earlier this week, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York approved Thompson Realty’s attempt to take back a rent-stabilized West Village apartment that Keith McNally had lived in since 1993, and had sought to pass on to his son, Harry. Here’s the backstory: According to the court documents you can read below, McNally vacated the apartment in 2002 in order to move into a West Village townhouse he had purchased two years prior. He turned it over to his then-17-year-old son Harry, who went to college the next year and returned in 2005. That year, Thompson Realty got permission from the New York Civil Court to take the apartment back from the elder McNally on the basis that it was no longer his primary residence.

In 2008, however, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division ruled that although a 1994 divorce settlement had established McNally’s ex-wife Lynn Wagenkneckt’s West Village townhouse as their son’s primary residence, Harry had “spent at least four or five nights a week and often more” at McNally’s old apartment during the time that his father lived there (the settlement gave McNally joint custody), and Harry was therefore entitled to take it over. On Tuesday, however, that decision was reversed.

The burden of presenting legally sufficient proof to establish primary residency rests with the party claiming succession rights (see Gottlieb v Licursi, 191 AD2d 256 [1993]). “Primary residence” is judicially construed as “an ongoing, substantial, physical nexus with the … premises for actual living purposes” (Katz Park Ave. Corp. v Jagger, 11 NY3d 314, 317 [2008], quoting Emay Props. Corp. v Norton, 136 Misc 2d 127, 129 [App Term 1987]). Upon our review of the documentary and other evidence, we find, contrary to the view of the Appellate Term, that Harry failed to meet his burden of proof that his father’s former residence was his primary residence at all relevant times.

It’s uncertain whether McNally plans to appeal the decision, assuming he can. We’ve contacted his lawyer for comment.

68-74 Thompson Realty, LLC v. McNally, No. 570599/06 (N.Y.App.Div. 05/12/2008) [PDF]
68-74 Thompson Realty, LLC v. McNally, No. 1952 (N.Y.App.Div. 03/02/2010) [PDF]
Related: The Restaurant Auteur [NYM]

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Filed Under: lawsuits, evictions, harry mcnally, keith mcnally, lynn wagenkneckt, west village

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The New York City Parks Department is seeking food vendors for the highly anticipated Brooklyn Bridge Park. There’s room for two “mobile-food carts” (one with booze!), a big sit-down restaurant, and a smaller restaurant near Atlantic Avenue. What would you like to see in the park? Leave your suggestions in the comments, and be sure to let the city know your order. [Eater NY/NYP]

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Filed Under: parks and recreation, brooklyn bridge park, cartography

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