Last weekend we noticed that Barocco (the Zampa team’s redo of Barocco Café on Ninth Avenue) was papered over, and today Jeremiah’s Vanishing hears the narrow wine bar has been shuttered (and under renovation) for weeks. An employee at Zampa tells us that Anthony Briatico is no longer involved as of a few months ago, so it’s safe to say Barocco is a goner after just a year. It’s a sad day for focaccia lovers.

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Filed Under: closings, barocco, chelsea

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Jason Bunin, who was executive chef at the Knickerbocker before moving on to Vintage Irving and Sidecar and then bringing “caviar nachos” to Hudson Terrace, has taken a gig as chef of the Ainsworth. In an attempt to upgrade the menu installed by chef Dave Feimster, we’re told he’s ditching Sysco products (wait a minute — Feimster was marketed as a locavore!); making marinades and sauces; grinding ginger from scratch (in the case of the Thai chili buffalo rings); and adding daily specials as well as menu items such as lamb burgers stuffed with goat cheese. The quarter chicken you see here is now paired with roasted asparagus instead of a fried side. No word on whether the nachos will be topped with caviar.

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Filed Under: chef shuffle, dave feimster, jason bunin, sidecar, the ainsworth, the knickerbocker, vintage irving

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Ditmas Park: Castello Plan, the wine bar companion to Mimi’s Hummus, has a new late-night menu featuring beausoleil oysters, crostini, and a ricotta blini with blueberry compote. [DitmasParkBlog]
East Village: Caffé Buon Gusto on Avenue B and Fifth Street will remain vacant for the time being. The restaurant’s appearance before the Community Board regarding its liquor license was scrapped. [EV Grieve]
Grand Central: Preview some of the St. Patrick’s Day–themed treats available at the massive Terminal Market. [Feisty Foodie]

Midtown East: Pump Energy Food is hosting their own March Madness pool; the winner gets “a party for 10″ at their newest location on 52nd Street between Lexington and Third Avenue. Enter your brackets online (the password is pump52nd) before Thursday. [Grub Street]
Midtown West: Most of newcomer Buk Balkan Bistro’s menu falls above the $10 benchmark, but a 30 percent off promotion might make a quick lunch affordable. [Midtown Lunch]
Sunset Park: An awning for Jules Coffee House has sprung up at the massive 725 Fourth Avenue apartment complex. [Brownstoner]

Read more posts by Evan Mulvihill and Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, buk balkan bistro, castello plan, ditmas park, dumbo, east village, grand central, jules coffee house, midtown east, midtown west, pump energy food, st. ann’s warehouse, sunset park, williamsburg

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We’re hearing that Didier Elena, the Monaco-born chef who helped open Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in 2000 as chef de cuisine, will come back to the nest to replace Adour chef Joel Dennis (Dennis himself replaced Tony Esnault in November of 2008). Before he ran the kitchen at Essex House, Elena had been with Ducasse since 1988. He left in 2004 to become executive chef at Cheateau Les Crayeres in Rheims (where he succeeded in winning back a Michelin star it lost after chef Gérard Boyer and his wife Elyane retired) and went from there to the controversially two-starred La Chèvre d’Or. Meanwhile, Adour lost one of its two Michelin stars under Dennis’s watch last year. As of now, these are just rumblings — we haven’t yet received a confirmation or denial from Adour, but will let you know what they tell us.

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Filed Under: chef shuffle, adour, alain ducasse, cheateau les crayeres, didier elena, joel dennis, la chèvre d’or

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First Virginia barbecue and now Montreal bagels are coming to the Hester Street Fair. The weekend market’s Facebook page reports that Mile End (New York’s Best Deli) has come aboard. What, Russ & Daughters bagels (as written about in the new issue of Edible Manhattan) weren’t good enough? And what about the Fair’s neighbor, Kossar’s Bialys? Are they chopped liver? Actually it’s a good move, since Manhattanites now won’t have to travel to Brooklyn to travel to Montreal.

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Filed Under: foodievents, bagels, hester street fair, kossar’s bialys, lower east side, mile end, montreal, russ & daughters

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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 can 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: Splurge.

Adour Alain Ducasse (Menu)
212-710-2277
Two for eight? No
Best available: 7:15 p.m.

Corton (Menu)
212-219-2777
Two for eight? No
Best available: 6 p.m.

Daniel (Menu)
212-288-0033
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9 p.m.

Jean Georges (Menu)
212-299-3900
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:45 p.m.

Le Bernardin (Menu)
212-554-1515
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:30 p.m.

Eleven Madison Park (Menu)
212-889-0905
Two for eight? 8:15 p.m.

Oceana</strong
212-759-5941
Two for eight? Yes

Per Se (Menu)
212-823-9335
Two for eight? No
Best available: 6:15 p.m.

Marea (Menu)
212-582-5100
Two for eight? No
Best Available Time: 6:15 p.m.

SHO Shaun Hergatt (Menu)
212-809-3993
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Filed Under: two for eight, adour alain ducasse, corton, daniel, eleven madison park, jean-georges, le bernardin, marea, oceana, per se, sho shaun hergatt

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Oh, boy! Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, the longest day of the year for transit workers, bartenders, and the NYPD. Our advice? Avoid bars with Irish names. But if you absolutely have to wear a plastic green bowler hat and stumble through “Danny Boy,” at least go beyond a pint of Guinness.

Irish Spirits [St. Patrick's Day Guide]

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Filed Under: booze you can use, nightlife, st. patrick’s day, user’s guide

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Last time we talked to Malik Fall, the Senegal-born onetime executive chef at Asia de Cuba and China Grill, he was opening Blue Elm on Orchard Street. Well, Fall has now left Blue Elm to return to an old haunt of his, 64 East 1st Street, where he once designed the menu for Boucarou. The restaurant he’s opening there with a silent partner (a first-time owner) won’t be as clubby as Boucarou, though there will be D.J.’s when food is served till 2 a.m. Instead, the focus at Red Betty’s (no relation to Black Betty) is on Fall’s French-Senegalese food, and cocktails like the Drugstore Cowboy (rye, ginger, and cover honey) and the Huckleberry Flip (huckleberry liqueur, rum, pear-cardamom syrup, and egg white). See the menu below, and have a look at the space’s new look (it now doubles as an art gallery) and a few of the dishes.

Red Betty [PDF]

Red Betty’s, 64 East 1st St., nr. First Ave.; 212-529-3262

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Filed Under: slideshow, boucarou, east village, french, malik fall, red betty’s, senegalese

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It was standing-room only today at a board meeting in which the Department of Health announced its ruling on the controversial letter-grading issue. After a two-hour hearing where members listened to opposition from Robert Bookman (attorney for the New York State Restaurant Association), the board voted 6–2 in favor of the bill. Restaurateurs in attendance were not happy. A red-faced Marc Murphy from Landmarc, who also complained at a public hearing last month, told us, “This just doesn’t seem right, and it’s going to be hurting a lot of businesses.”

Murphy’s and the NYSRA’s chief arguments are that having to display a poor grade for quibbling violations like a leaky faucet or an uncovered light bulb will mislead potential customers, and that the plan will encourage bribery of inspectors. “If you’re getting a B or a C,” Murphy told us, “people just won’t go into the restaurants. It’s not going to help the public, and it’s not going to help the people who are trying to keep their jobs. They [the DOH] are supposed to be educating the public, and they’re not educating the public at all, they’re making a fool out of them.” The bill is planned go into effect July 1.

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Filed Under: health concerns, department of health, health code violations, letter grades

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from Grub Street Los Angeles

“The lines were pretty horrific, like Scarface, and I was never embarrassed by it but my children helped me become more paranoid…In L.A. it was all ‘Oh my god, when did you go through the windscreen?’ You put up with it, but then you get f***ing sick of it.” -Gordon Ramsay, celebrity chef and star of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, on his decision to undergo cosmetic surgery. [Contact Music via Daily Mail U.K.]

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Filed Under: quote of the day, el gordo, gordon ramsay, tv land

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from Grub Street Chicago

Baaa.

Forget the tomato freeze and the Angostura bitters crisis — America is in the throes of a national goat-meat shortage thanks to massive demand that could spike prices. The Kansas City Star attributes goat’s increased selling rate to a growing “ethnic population,” noting that “many immigrants like it, especially on holy days,” but it can’t hurt that goat has been embraced of late by high-profile chefs.

The goat poached in whey at Michelin-starred Napa restaurant Meadowood was San Francisco critic Michael Bauer’s favorite of the year, and closer to home, Paul Kahan put tacos de chivo on the menu at Big Star, Chris Pandel at The Bristol uses it in ravioli, and Rick Bayless calls on suckling goat for his barbacoa. Stephanie Izard, meanwhile, is so committed to the ungulate that she’s actually naming her forthcoming place after it. But will there be any goat left for the menu by the time The Girl and the Goat opens this spring?

No kidding: Goats are in short supply as demand for meat rises [KC Star]

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Filed Under: foodienomics, big star, chris pandel, goat, meadowood, michael bauer, paul kahan, rick bayless, stephanie izard, the bristol, the girl and the goat

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Now that we’ve looked back on two years of Fatty ‘Cue anticipation, shall we see how it all turned out? We’ve just snagged the “preview menu” that was offered to friends and family. It will likely be tweaked by the time of opening (contrary to that earlier report, we’re told the restaurant is still waiting on its liquor license), but it’s substantial enough to make you finally break down crying, “Whole pig on Sundays? I can’t take it anymore!” Take a look.

‘Cue Specialties
‘Cue Bacon
Hand cut pork belly, served with steamed yellow curry custard and Dragon pullman toast points

Smoked Crab Soup
Topped with cold smoked pickled crab, crisped maitake mushrooms, shiitakes, ginger, green mango, fresh herbs, chili oil, smoked gula and brown rice vinegar

Fish Sausage
Served in a smoked green curry with fresh seasonal herbs

Clams
‘Cue bacon, curry leaf and bone broth, served with pickled Thai chili and scallions

Bowl of Noodles
Aromatic broth of smoky meat juices, scallions and chilies

Pork Loin
Brined with Indonesian bay leaf, served room temperature with smoked mackerel aioli

Brisket
Slow smoked and served with raw red onion, cilantro, aioli, sweet and spicy chili jam and bao

Pork spare ribs
Served with smoked fish palm syrup

Cincalok and White Wine Lamb Ribs
Served with a lemon garlic emulsion and whole Vietnamese mint

14-hour Smoked Garlic & Coriander Lamb shoulder
Served with Vietnamese mint, goat yogurt sauce and house made flatbread

Red Curry Duck
Served with smoked chili red curry and sweet pickled daikon

Whole Ikan Bakar
Rubbed with fresh turmeric powder and served with chili-garlic-lime sauce and kecap manis

Smoked Half Bobo Chicken
Fish Palm and lime juice, served with a fresh cucumber salad

Whole Pig
Pineapple curry (Sundays and special only)

Vegetables
Celery Salad: celery ribbon, yuzu, tianjin preserved veg salad
Cucumbers: smoked chili, brown rice vinegar, sesame seeds
Smoked eggplant and anchovy nam prik w/ crudite of raw seasonal vegetables and herbs

Sides/Extras
Pickles du jour
Salt and oil cured chilies
Steamed buns
Dragon Pullman Toast – with master fat

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Filed Under: openings, asian, barbecue, fatty cue, menu, williamsburg

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