Dumbo/Fulton Ferry: Pete’s Downtown, which has been serving classic Italian dishes since the eighties, closed at the end of December. The landlord is reportedly seeking a high-end restaurant to take over the lease. [DUMBO NYC]
Flatiron: Junoon introduces Thali, a new lunch special that includes a selection of dishes served in small bowls on a round tray ($25 per person, $21 for the vegetarian option). The main course changes daily, but daal makni, mint raita, and homemade naan are always included. [Grub Street]
Lower East Side: Recently opened coffee bar Grit N Glory will offer free weekly coffee tastings starting this Friday, January 6 at 6:30 p.m. Guests can sample Stumptown Coffee brews, paired with SCRATCHbread pastries like buttercream brownies and shortbread shorties. [Grub Street]

Rumors circulated last month that EMM Group reps were vying for the space at 199 Bowery, and today an online petition, and plans to go before the community board on Monday, January 9, confirm it. The petition lays out their plans: The 20,000-square-foot space will house a bakery, a lounge, and a Latin/Asian restaurant. [Eater NY]
Midtown East: Midtown Lunch reports a recent expansion of Gregory’s Coffee at 12 East 46th Street, with a full bakery that serves fresh pastries. [Midtown Lunch]
Midtown West: Tasting Table Tuesdays at DB Bistro Moderne will begin on January 24 at 7:30 p.m. The evening will be hosted by sommelier Alexander LaPratt, who will pair a four-course menu with Burgundy wines. Future dinners (February 24, March 20) will explore the wine and cuisine of the Rhone and Loire Valleys. Tickets are $150 per person, and can be purchased here. [Grub Street]
Soho: After some delays, Francis Derby’s King will at last debut with dinner service tonight. [Grub Street]
Union Square: Aldea will kick off weekly Sunday dinners on January 15, from 5 to 9 p.m. There will be two tasting-menu options: a five-course menu ($65 per person, $90 with wine pairings) and an eight-course menu ($95, $140 with wine). [Grub Street]
Upper West Side: Join A Voce’s wine director on Friday, January 13, at 5 p.m. for a seminar about Piedmont wines, where you’ll also get to enjoy appetizers from the restaurant and wine tastings ($65 per person; tickets can be purchased here). [Official site]
Italian restaurant Vai reopened recently with a new look (that includes a full-service bar) and new weekly dinner and tasting menus. [Grub Street]

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, a voce, aldea, closings, emm group, gregory’s coffee, grit n glory, junoon, pete’s downtown

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Chang.

“[C]ulinary schools your fucking out! stop sending kids to resorts & hotels where they will learn nothing…its poisoning our talent pool.” —David Chang, who finished up the program at the French Culinary Institute in 2001, is tired of the way culinary schools are sending their students out into the world. [David Chang/Twitter]

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Filed Under: rants, david chang, momofuku, twitter

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Better look this one up in the mycology book …

This will make people think twice before blindly eating foraged foods: A Sydney restaurant is closed after two customers died because their meal contained deadly mushrooms. The Sydney Morning Herald says chef Liu Jun accidentally used death cap mushrooms in a private New Year’s Eve meal he put together for some customers, who in turn died of liver failure pretty much instantly. (Think that’s more or less painful than death by cat stew?) Authorities think Liu picked the mushrooms himself, and mistook them for a variety of mushroom that wouldn’t make his customers’ livers stop working. One friend of the chef summed up the mistake thusly: “Liu Jun, being a chef, he’s super into fresh food, and that’s part of the problem here … You really just don’t expect that you make one mistake while eating something like that and be dead, and dead within 48 hours in the most horrible way.” No, you certainly don’t expect that. [Sydney Morning Herald, Earlier]

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Filed Under: whoopsies, foraging gone wrong, mushrooms

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Coffee nerds may want to consider decamping to Williamsburg — what with Aussie café and roastery Toby’s Estate Coffee opening Monday, just around the corner from Blue Bottle. Founder Toby Smith opened his first coffee bar in Sydney fifteen years ago, and the Brooklyn shop marks his first U.S. foray. The large airy space has a retail area selling brewing equipment, a cupping room for public and in-house education, and even a wholesale business in back. The city’s first pressure-controlling Strada machine by La Mazorca churns out the espresso, and there’s also a “pour-over bar” for those who prefer that. If you don’t know what the difference is, Smith says not to worry, “We want to make anyone who maybe doesn’t drink a lot of coffee feel comfortable about approaching the bar.” To that end, coffee flights — a tasting of three beans — are one option, and the 25-kilo roaster sits out in the open, “so people can watch.”

The place offers food, too, and it’s clear that though Smith might be new to New York, he’s gotten in with some good people, evidenced by the Salvatore Brooklyn ricotta that appears on one toast. Aussies aren’t forgotten, either: Toby’s offers a flat white, “similar to a wet cappuccino,” says Smith, “just in case some of our Aussie mates turn up looking for it.” And there’s one thing on the food menu only an Australian could love: Vegemite on toast. Look for the spot to bow Monday.

Coffee Menu [PDF]
Opening Food Menu [PDF]

Toby’s Estate Coffee, 125 N. 6th St., nr. Berry St.; 347-457-6160

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Filed Under: coffee buzz, coffee wire, openings, slideshow, toby’s estate coffee, williamsburg

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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: French Accent.

Adour Alain Ducasse (Menu)
212-710-2277
Two for eight? Closed for vacation until Wednesday, January 11

Boulud Sud (Menu)
212-595-1313
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:30 p.m.

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

Buvette (Menu)
212-644-0202
Two for eight? Yes

Daniel (Menu)
212-288-0033
Two for eight? No
Best available: Fully booked

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon (Menu)
212-829-3844
Two for eight? Yes

La Silhouette (Menu)
212-581-2400
Two for eight? Yes

Le Bernardin (Menu)
212-554-1515
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10:15 p.m.

Lyon Bouchon Moderne (Menu)
212-242-5966
Two for eight? Yes

Recette (Menu)
212-414-3000
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9 p.m.

Filed Under: two for eight,

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It’s the best meat in the world.

As if to demonstrate the fine line between exclaiming “you’re fired” and “you’re fried,” Donald Trump has decided to lend his name to the forthcoming reboot of the colossal (and kosher) food court Milk Street Cafe, which closed in December after months of contending with police barricades related to Occupy Wall Street. The new 23,000-square-foot venue, reports the Tribeca Trib, will be called Trump Street Bar & Grill. (After all, he owns the building.) The new plans, which were presented to Community Board 1 last night, include a move to retain the majority of the Milk Street Cafe’s old staff and to install an actual bar that will be open from noon to 10 p.m. starting weekdays. [Tribeca Trib]

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Filed Under: milk street cafe, trump street bar & grill, you’re fried

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Toxic cat stew and a naked Top Chef contestant weren’t the only things weirding us out this week. For the latest and greatest in random food news, check out the James Weird Awards, straight ahead.

• Police in St. Petersburg uncovered a 385-pound stash of caviar stored in the refrigerated room reserved for cadavers in a hospital morgue. Besides being hidden with dead bodies, over half the caviar is likely the illegal product of endangered sturgeon fish. (The other half is salmon caviar. Still gross, but legal). [HuffPo]

• Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A man fell asleep at the wheel of his truck in the drive-through lane at a McDonald’s in Chicago on New Year’s Day, keys in the ignition, engine running. His heavy foot on the brake pedal was the only thing keeping the truck from speeding off. When questioned by police, the clearly intoxicated man said he “just wanted another McDonald’s sandwich.” [Chicago Tribune]

• Every Christmas for 35 years, a man in Ohio received a pecan pie from a mystery donor. In 2011, the 87-year-old just got a note: “It has been a great ride. Still not telling you who I am yet, but my wings are shorter now and I am a little too fat to fly anymore. But I still love you!!” Not enough to just give the poor man his pie, apparently. [Columbus Dispatch]

• An elementary school student in Tennessee must eat his lunch at the cafeteria’s “silent table” after waving around a slice of pizza that was allegedly shaped like a gun. [HuffPo]

• A thief in Brooklyn broke into an apartment belonging to an elderly woman, then proceeded to use the place as his personal man-cave over the holidays while the owner was away. He made eggs, drank two bottles of wine, hooked up an XBox to the woman’s television, and napped in her bed. On his way out, he left the XBox and a bag of weed behind, presumably as a hostess gift. [NYP]

Filed Under: the james weird awards,

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It’s not booze, it’s wine!

Are your neighbors constantly complaining that the liquor store you own is the blight of your rapidly gentrifying neighborhood? That was the problem facing Berihu Mesfin, whose Harlem neighbors said his store was a garish mess, ruining their happy little block. So he started calling the place a “wine shop” and got a new sign and now everyone’s happy, even though it’s apparently exactly the same store. [City Room/NYT]

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Filed Under: careful wording, harlem

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The folk behind Fette Sau have a meaty gold-mine on their spice-rubbed and smoky hands. The Fette Sau barbecue…

Fette Sau

354 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn

(718) 963-3404

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Swim away! Quick!

As if there were any leftover doubts, some news today makes it abundantly clear just how screwed bluefin tuna is as a species.

First up: The National Marine Fisheries Service has upped the daily catch limit for Atlantic bluefin tuna, as well as expanded its fishing season; the Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit against the government to protest the new rules.

And yet! Bluefin season in Japan just opened with the sale of a 593 pounder caught off its northern coast. Closing price? $736,000, which is roughly the cost of dinner for two at Masa.

Lawsuit Filed to Protect U.S. Bluefin Tuna from Overfishing[Center for Biological Diversity]
Swank sushi: Tuna fetches record $736K in Tokyo [AP]

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Filed Under: end of the line, bluefin tuna, food politics, overfishing, tuna

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DiMattina, otherwise known as Frankie D.

While one cooking-show contestant is flashing his junk, one reality-TV hopeful is in more serious trouble: The Times today brings us the tale of Frank DiMattina, “alleged Genovese crime associate” and former “owner of one of Staten Island’s most popular catering halls.” Also on DiMattina’s CV: video pitches for the reality catering show concept he hoped to star in, Banquet Boyz.

DiMattina is currently on trial in Brooklyn, accused of intimidating Walter Bowers, a rival caterer, over a bid to handle the school-lunch program at a Staten Island Catholic School. The Times relays what allegedly happened after Bowers won the bid:

“Let’s take a walk,” Mr. Bowers said Mr. DiMattina told him. He said that Mr. DiMattina and his associate led him down an alley and that Mr. DiMattina showed him a gun in his waistband. “You need to get out of this bid,” he said Mr. DiMattina told him.

But the best part of this story has to be DiMattina’s sizzle reel for the reality show Banquet Boyz (which you can see below). Honestly, we’d watch at least one episode of a show like that. It couldn’t be any worse than Famous Food was, right?

From Dreams of Reality-Show Stardom to Accusations of Tough-Guy Extortion [NYT]
Related: Is Famous Food Bad Enough to Finally Kill Off Restaurant Reality Shows?

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Filed Under: ready for his close-up, banquet boyz, frank dimattina

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Second Harlem Renaissance aside, 5 & Diamond just can’t seem to keep a chef. You’ll recall that the volatile Ryan Skeen first headed up the stove here; following his departure in June 2010, the restaurant has seen David Santos and David Martinez cycle though, and now Darryl Burnette, formerly of BG at Bergdorf Goodman, is in the kitchen (though we’re told Martinez is still involved with the restaurant). Burnette describes his new menu as “more contemporary American,” with new dishes like arancini, prosciutto-wrapped fries, and seafood fettuccine setting the tone. The toque has already been at the restaurant for a few months — let’s hope his tenure proves longer than that of his predecessors.

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Filed Under: chef shuffles, 5 & diamond, darryl burnette

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