Bushwick: Lee Mandell runs a hydroponic, 200-square-foot “farm” in his loft. Get his Boswyck Farm produce at the Bushwick Farmers’ Market. [BushwickBK]
Carroll Gardens: Order an Easter ham from Char No. 4: “brined for 10 days, smoked for 6 hours and then glazed with maple and clove.” [BococaLand via Cobble Hill Blog]
Greenpoint: The Richardson has new hours: open daily, noon to 2 a.m. [Greenpointers]
Hell’s Kitchen: Baker and chef Jim Lahey has partnered with a group of small farms in Boyeruca, Chile, to launch a line of olive-oil and sea-salt products. Prices range from $7 to $15, and items are available at Lahey’s Sullivan St. Bakery and Co.. [Grub Street]

Midtown: Celebrate “National Clam on the Half Shell Day” at Grand Central Oyster Bar tomorrow. All-day appetizer specials include steamed top-neck clams with chile and lemongrass, baked-clams oreganatto, and grilled little-neck clams with Meyer-lemon butter, each for $9.95. [Grub Street]
Prospect Heights The Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins on St. Marks and Flatbush Avenue was seized by authorities. [Brownstoner]
Soho: Try Kittichai’s Thai Fondue on Monday nights, where you (and a few friends) can enjoy unlimited meat, seafood, shellfish, and vegetables with three Thai-style dipping sauces for $45. [Grub Street]
West Village: Gen Yamamoto redesigned the drink menu at EN Japanese Brasserie, which features a new blend of cocktails made with shochu, seasonal fruits, and fresh vegetables. [Fork in the Road/VV]

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, brooklyn heights, co., crop to cup, east village, en japanese brasserie, grand central oyster bar, hell’s kitchen, jim lahey, kittichai, manhattan cocktail classic, midtown, soho, sullivan st bakery, west village

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How would you grade your favorite food truck? City Councilman Dan Garodnick has introduced a bill that requires food trucks to post health-inspection grades, just like restaurants. Remember what a mess it was for the Red Hook Vendors to comply with city cart codes? Expect more of the same. [Our Town]

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Filed Under: cartography, bureaucracy, dan garodnick, health inspectors

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New York editors are hard at work on an upcoming Neighborhood issue, but we need your help. Where do you live? Do you like it? What’s best about it? What’s not? (We assume that Grub Street readers shape their answers based on restaurants, and that’s just fine.) Please take a few minutes to respond to our brief poll, and tell us why your ‘hood is the best (or worst!) in the city. Find out what everybody else thinks on April 12.

Read more posts by Aileen Gallagher

Filed Under: survey says, neighborhood watch, neighborhoods

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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 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: TV Chefs.

Babbo (Menu)
212-777-0303
Two for eight? No
Best availabe: 11:00 p.m.

Becco (Menu)
212-397-7597
Two for eight? Yes

Butter (Menu)
212-253-2828
Two for eight? Yes

Daniel (Menu)
212-288-0033
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:15 p.m.

Felidia (Menu)
212-758-1479
Two for eight? Yes

Jean Georges (Menu)
212-299-3900
Two for eight? Yes

Le Bernardin (Menu)
212-554-1515
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Mesa Grill (Menu)
212-807-7400
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:15 p.m.

Morimoto (Menu)
212-989-8883
Two for eight? Yes

Wd-50 (Menu)
212-477-2900
Two for eight? No
Best available: Closed on Mondays

Filed Under: two for eight, babbo, becco, butter, daniel, felidia, jean georges, le bernardin, mesa grill, morimoto, wd-50

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This is one of those rare years when Easter and Orthodox (Greek) Easter fall on the same Sunday. We visited John Tsakinis’s kitchen at Aqaulis Grill to learn how to make yogurt-crusted lamb, a traditional Greek dish. Pick up a hind leg of lamb, then follow along with the video at home.

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Filed Under: video feed, aqualis grill, dish demo, easter, john tsakinis

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A baked ensaimada.

If you live in Chelsea, your breakfast options improve considerably as of tomorrow, when El Quinto Pino launches a new morning menu — a drool-inducing document if ever there was one. Freshly baked ensaimadas (above), the larded sweet rolls of Mallorca and Menorca, are reason enough not to mope around your apartment all day in your pajamas. Pair one with a carajillo (espresso with brandy) or a submarino de Chocovic (hot milk poured over a Spanish chocolate bar).

There’s a pressed ham-and-cheese sandwich called a bikini, pa amb tomaquet, Spanish tortilla, and churros with dulce de leche. It’s all available (weekdays only) from 8 a.m. until the very civilized hour of 2 p.m. “I always felt that EQP should serve the old-fashioned function of the bar on your street in anywhere Spain,” says chef-partner Alex Raij. “You have your coffee there in the morning and by afternoon your manzanilla or your vermouth, and in the evening, tapas.” It sure beats Au Bon Pain.

EQP Breakfast Menu [pdf]

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Filed Under: the most important meal of the day, breakfast, el quinto pino, menus

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Marcus Samuelsson expects to open Red Rooster over Labor Day weekend, he tells the Journal today. “I’m just excited to be able to introduce Harlem through food,” he says. “There are some storytelling restaurants there and we’re the new kid on the block who can add our experience to it — farm-to-table fresh food, a little speakeasy in the basement.” [WSJ]

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Filed Under: openings, harlem, marcus samuelsson, red rooster

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The Dang family, who own the Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches chain, may close their East Village location. “I am not sure if my family will keep that location in the East Village but we will find out in the next month or two,” a rep wrote to EV Grieve, who spotted a “For Rent” sign above the 2nd Street shop. The good news is, the Dangs will open a new Nicky’s on Nassau and Anne Streets in a couple months. [EV Grieve]

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Filed Under: empire building, closings, nicky’s vietnamese sandwiches, openings, sandwiches

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Louis 649 is adding two more local purveyors to its food menu: Luke’s Lobster and Sigmund Pretzelshop. “The first time I walked into both I met the owners. I brought it up on the spot,” says GM Gianfranco Verga. The bar will debut Luke’s shrimp rolls and Gruyère- and salt-flavored pretzels from Sigmund tomorrow evening, with a free tasting and beer or wine pairing at 7 p.m.

The bar also invites amateur cocktail enthusiasts to submit original recipes by April 18 for its first annual cocktail competition. Ten semifinalists will mix their drinks at Louis 649 on April 21 for panel of discriminating bartenders. The winner’s cocktail will earn a spot on Louis’s menu. Don’t drown yourself in mixology, Verga advises would-be contenders: “I just wanted to make it clear that while it’s great that people are taking cocktails more seriously, we shouldn’t take it too seriously — anyone can do it.” Get inspired tonight at 7 p.m., when PDT’s Jim Meehan stops by to talk about cocktail creation. For complete contest rules, visit Louis 649’s Facebook page.

Read more posts by Jenny Miller

Filed Under: cocktailians, cocktails, contests, louis 649, menus, nightlife

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I walk into this chic and too nice restaurant to call itself a pizzeria, to hear a hot young Italian woman yelling in…

Dean’s Pizzeria

215 W 85st, New York

(212) 875-1100

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If you feel the need for a dessert course at Wildwood Barbeque, you can cap your dining experience with a glazed cinnamon doughnut topped with candied bacon. Really. [Always Hungry NY]

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Filed Under: excesses, bacon, doughnuts, wildwood barbeque

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Maile Carpenter

Crain’s New York lauds three food scene machers in its annual “40 Under 40″ list: chef Michael White, Craft exec Katie Grieco, and Food Network Magazine editor-in-chief Maile Carpenter. White has a bold expansion plan: “In five years, Mr. White says, he wants to have restaurants around the world and revenues of $100 million. Then he corrects himself: ‘We will be a $100 million company.’” Grieco was Tom Colicchio’s assistant at Gramercy Tavern and then went on to supervise the launch and operation of all the restaurants in the Craft empire. (Are you taking notes, Michael White? Colicchio’s restaurants are worth a mere $50 million.) Grieco is married to Hearth owner Paul Grieco, which makes her part of a food power couple just like fellow Crain’s pick Maile Carpenter, who is married to Wylie Dufresne. Carpenter, a former TONY food editor, launched one of the decade’s most successful magazines.

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Filed Under: lists, katie grieco, maile carpenter, michael white, personalities

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