Everywhere Dunkin’ Donuts is bringing back its heart-shaped donuts for Valentine’s Day. This year’s specials include the Cupid’s Choice Donut, a heart-shaped donut filled with Bavarian Kreme and topped with strawberry icing and a festive mix of pink, white, and red heart-shaped sprinkles; and the Chocolate Heart Donut, a new chocolate-frosted heart-shaped donut with vanilla buttercreme filling, topped with chocolate chips. [Grub Street]
Flatiron: Beginning Thursday, Barbounia will now host a Happy Hour for Lovers every day from 3-7 p.m., featuring three specials just in time for Valentine’s Day. The Oyster Lager is served with two oysters and a bottle of lager beer ($6); Drunk Oysters is served one oyster in a shot glass topped with cocktail sauce, vodka, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice ($3); and Oysters in Love is served with two oysters and a glass of Champagne ($7). [Grub Street]
Little Italy: Ellabess will host an Eat, Drink & Bloody Mary contest on Saturday, February 4 from 2-5 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person and include snacks and Bloody Mary tastings. [Grub Street]

Park Slope: 67Burger is now serving wine and beer, and to do you one better, they’ve also added beer milkshakes to their menu. [Grub Street]
SoHo: Georgetown Cupcake brings yet another artisan cupcake to the mix, and will celebrate its grand opening with a Champagne and cupcake reception Thursday, February 9. [Grub Street]
Tribeca: Maslow 6 wine store will host a free wine tasting of a dozen sparkling varieties from all over the world. Ten percent of proceeds for purchases at the event will go to Jumpstart, which works in preschool classrooms in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. RSVP here. [Grub Street]
Upper East Side: Christos Christou and Gregori Politis bring home-style Greek cuisine to the Upper East Side with their restaurant Yefsi Estiatorio, located at 1481 York Ave, New York, NY 10075. It is open for dinner seven days a week from 5-11 p.m., with brunch and lunch service expected soon. [Grub Street]

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, 67 burger, barbounia, dunkin donuts, ellabess, georgetown cupcake, maslow 6, openings, yefsi estiatorio

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“WTF, NYT?”

This is so dumb: The Times sent two dishes — fried chicken from Paula Deen’s restaurant in Savannah, and sausage with polenta from Frankie’s 570 — to a lab to see which of the two was less healthy. Surprise! The fried chicken was less healthy in basically every possible way. So now you know: Some completely random dish from a restaurant in Manhattan is “healthier” than the fried-chicken dish at Paula Deen’s restaurant. We bet the salad at Frankie’s is probably healthier, too! Couldn’t the paper at least have compared Paula’s dish to something like Momofuku’s fried chicken? [NYT]

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Filed Under: beating a dead horse, diabetes, paula deen

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The chef of “comfort food for millionaires”

He’s been preparing for this review since October, and working as hard as possible to avoid any sense of uptown snobbery, yet John DeLucie’s The Crown still only got one star and was called out on all its chi-chi-chi stuffiness in Pete Wells’s review. That said, there were a lot of positive observations too … millions of them! [NYT]

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Filed Under: fancy, john delucie, reviews

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In my mind, Prima is the ultimate neighborhood spot. Cool without being too cool for school. Casual, friendly service…

Prima

58 E 1st St, New York

(646) 559-4823

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Work it.

We told you the Meatball Shop guys were everywhere, and now Shop co-owner Michael Chernow is taking a page from the David Chang playbook and modeling. (We hadn’t realized free suits was one potential perk of owning a single-serving restaurant.) In fact, he’s on the cover of a new J.Crew catalogue, and he’s on J.Crew’s website, talking up his love of suits, vintage boots, and meat grinders. In fact, he’s not the only restaurateur that J.Crew recruited for this campaign. Tea & Sympathy owner Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett is featured, too.

The tufted pocket square is key.Photo: J. Crew

Related: The Meatball Shop Guys Hit Chelsea Lately Last Night

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Filed Under: best dressed, michael chernow, the meatball shop

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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: Comfort Food

Bar Americain (Menu)
212-265-9700
Two for eight? Yes

Blue Smoke (Menu)
212-447-7733
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:45 p.m.

Char No. 4
718-643-2106
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:45 p.m.

David Burke Kitchen (Menu)
212-201-9119
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:30 p.m.

The Dutch (Menu)
212-677-6200
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10:15 p.m.

Goat Town (Menu)
212-687-3471
Two for eight? Yes

Lowcountry (Menu)
212-255-2330
Two for eight? Yes

Hundred Acres (Menu)
212-475-7500
Two for eight? Yes

Peels (Menu)
646-602-7015
Two for eight? Yes

Red Rooster (Menu)
212-792-9001
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10 p.m.

Filed Under: two tor eight

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So classy.

Oeno-geeks and those who simply want to learn more about vino, listen up: Two of the city’s finest A-monikered restaurants, A Voce and Aureole, have announced special wine-focused programs. At both locations of A Voce, one week each month will be dedicated to nightly guest sommeliers — generally vintners or ambassadors from particular brands — who mingle with and advise guests, pouring selections not usually available by the glass (see February’s Valentine’s week lineup here). And Aureole will host a seminar one Monday each month in conjunction with wine-education group American Sommelier, covering topics like impressive yet affordable picks, or funky wines (full schedule here). The two-hour classes cost $150, and dinner is charged separately — hey, we never said this sort of geekery was cheap.

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Filed Under: foodievents, a voce, aureole, oeno-file

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Take me out to The Juice Press.

Yankee Mark Teixeira is the latest addict of The Juice Press, Marcus Antebi’s now slightly budget-friendlier smash hit. “Page Six” says that the athlete wants one close to home in Connecticut, so he’s, you know, funding it. Home-run for the WASPS! [Page Six/NYP]

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Filed Under: juicing, baseball, the juice press

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JG: ready to slurp.

Even the great French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten remembers the first time he had soup dumplings, those fatty, porky, mouth-size morsels with steaming-hot broth inside. It was during a trip to China in 1982, JG (as friends call him) recounts, and back then he was only able to secure a one-day visa to taste Shanghai’s delights. But it still made a lasting impression: “In Shanghai, they fold and cook, fold and cook,” he explains. “The pork is room temperature — they never put it in the fridge; it wouldn’t get an A in New York.” So, in honor of Chinese New Year, we were wondering who had the best nouveau soup dumpling in New York, and we threw in one of the classics, Joe’s Shanghai, for the sake of comparison. We asked the chef to rate each spot’s dumplings on a scale of one to five, taking into account dumpling skin, filling, and overall appeal. Check out our slideshow to see who topped JG’s list.

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Filed Under: food tour, chinatown brasserie, food tours, jean georges, jean-georges vongerichten, joe’s shanghai, liberty view, philippe, redfarm, slideshow

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Everybody loves Max.

Avenue B’s beloved Max has been equally embraced in Tribeca, and now the owners are hoping Brooklyn will share the Maxly love too. Eater has the news that they’ve signed a lease on South 2nd Street and Driggs in Williamsburg, and that the homemade pastas and parmigianas should be available this spring. We can’t imagine it won’t be a delizioso addition to the area, which also hosts St. Anselm and Fette Sau. Sign us up! [Eater]

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Filed Under: openings, max

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La Colombe has three excellent locations in New York—Tribeca, Soho and Noho, to be exact—it’s just that, two of the…

La Colombe Torrefaction

319 Church Street, New York

(212) 343-1515

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On the other hand, Crif Dog also delivers.

Maybe this is the reason there’s so much baby-making in Park Slope — a sex-toy store has implemented a delivery service “easy as Domino’s” for customers who can’t be bothered to leave the bedroom. Babeland will bring you whatever your heart (so to speak) desires, for a $30 fee. “This is New York City. You can get anything delivered,” Pamela Doan, a spokesperson told the Brooklyn Paper. And we thought that Burger King experiment was exciting. Make sure to, ahem, tip well. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Filed Under: convenience, delivery

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