Fort Greene: The menu for Locanda Vini e Olii’s Winter Wine Dinner has been finalized, with a few seats remaining for $125 per person. The event will be held on Thursday, January 19, at 7 p.m. [Grub Street]
Long Island City: A new Petey’s Burgerwill soon open its doors in Long Island City. According to reports, the joint will be undergoing construction for the next couple of weeks. [Fork in the Road/VV]
Lower East Side: New menu items at Freemans are the perfect remedy to cold-weather woes, with such additions as the Hunter’s Stew, Potted Pork, and Sautéed Venison cutlets. Less meaty options include an Oven Roasted Arctic Char, Steamed PEI Mussels, and Olive Oil Poached Tuna. [Grub Street]

Nolita: Today Fonda Nolita launches its Cerveza Tempranera happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m., with $4 beers and $2 tacos. Plus, one completely new menu addition: guacamole. [Facebook]
Park Slope: Woodland will open this Sunday on the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Sixth Avenue. Formerly to have been called “Prime 6,” the bar-to-be will now be serving farm-to-table specialty dishes like venison and bison burgers. [Grub Street]
South Brooklyn: Slice checks out the “thin and crispy” pies at newly opened Brooklyn Buschenschank, a German-style eatery from the owners of South Brooklyn Pizza. [Slice/Serious Eats]
Upper West Side: A man who’s been running a business sharpening knives out of a cart in the Upper West Side area for over 60 years is reportedly still making his rounds. [West Side Rag]

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, buschenschank, fonda nolita, freemans, locanda vini e olii, petey’s burger, the wayland, woodland

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Busy boy.

Angelo Sosa, who is still “very much involved” at Social Eatz (says a staffer), will open Anejo Tequileria y Restaurante, a Mexican restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen, this Tuesday. Diner’s Journal says that Mezcal will be flowing, and each dish, served as small plates, is designed with a cocktail in mind. [Diner's Journal/NYT]

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Filed Under: openings, anejo tequileria y restaurante, angelo sosa

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They’re lucky to have him.

We wonder what U.K.-native Anna Wintour will think about this one: English restaurateur Will Ricker has joined forces with Miss Lily’s Serge Becker for a new Mexican restaurant in London’s Soho called La Bodega Negra. The conjoined taqueria and café will open in February. Becker can rest assured that the never-ending Miss Lily’s popularity will prevail while he’s gone. [CatererSearch]

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Filed Under: transatlantic, serge becker

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Your future home-away-from-home.

Downtown will get another cozy spot for an any-time-of-day hang when Jack’s Wife Freda opens later this week. Husband and wife owners Dean and Maya Jankelowitz both worked for Keith McNally for years (they met at Balthazar, aw), and for their first venture they’re aiming for a casual, cozy “New York City café,” Dean tells us. Food prices are reasonable, and the menu ranges from eggs with toast soldiers or green shakshuka in the morning, to piri-piri-spiced giblets and Freda’s Matzo Ball Soup (Freda and Jack were Dean’s grandparents). The small space has banquettes lining the wall and a long communal table in the center, and everything for the build-out was sourced right downtown. There’s coffee in the morning, and beer and wine, including Champagne served in coupe glasses. Look for a Friday or Saturday breakfast and lunch debut, with dinner service to follow soon after.

Jack’s Wife Freda, 224 Lafayette St., nr. Spring St.

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Filed Under: openings, jack’s wife freda, nolita

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We thought tweezers were tricky.

The Times has a piece on how to smuggle sharp tools onto planes if your profession requires such dangerous objects. One chef, Rey Benavidez, who travels between San Francisco and New York four to six times a month, says sneaking his knife kit into his carry-on bag is a hit or miss situation — but wearing his whites and being extra-friendly help. [NYT]

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Filed Under: careful,

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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 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: For Vegivores.

ABC Kitchen (Menu)
212-475-5829
Two for eight? No
Best available: 10:30 p.m.

Applewood (Menu)
718-788-1810
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:15 p.m.

Barbuto (Menu)
212-924-9700
Two for eight? No
Best available: 5:30 p.m.

Blue Hill (Menu)
212-539-1776
Two for eight? Yes

Blossom (Menu)
212-627-1144
Two for eight? Yes

Dirt Candy (Menu)
212-228-7732
Two for eight? No
Best available: 9:45 p.m.

The Fat Radish (Menu)
212-300-4053
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Kajitsu (Menu)
212-228-4873
Two for eight? No
Best available: Fully booked

Pure Food & Wine (Menu)
212-477-1010
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Rouge Tomate (Menu)
646-237-8977
Two for eight? No
Best available: 8:15 p.m.

Filed Under: two for eight,

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That hair has seen everything.

If the world is charitable enough, not only could we lose Hugh Acheson’s hughnibrow unibrow, but also Mario Batali’s strawberry blond ponytail. Batals has partnered with Food & Wine and nine of the country’s top chefs, like Jose Andres and Emeril Lagasse, for Chefs Make Change (CMC), a fund-raising campaign that launches today. If CMC can raise $500,000 for the Mario Batali Foundation by February 7, Molto says he will cut off his long, ginger locks. This leaves us with mixed feelings. Yay for charity, but Batali with a crew cut just feels too freaky. [HuffPo]

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Filed Under: snip snip, batali, charity

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How can you resist?

Last spring Grub brought you news of our lunch at the Food and Finance High School (does tilapia-raising in the basement ring a bell?), as well as the fund-raiser they were holding at the Food Network. Well, if you missed that, there’s another chance to help out the school — which prepares its largely low-income student body for culinary careers — and another chance to try the kids’ cooking. Crowd-funding platform Lucky Ant is featuring the school on its site until January 23, and between now and then the students hope to raise $17,500 to finance a one-night pop-up restaurant they’ll put on in May. There’s a benefit for every level of pledging, from a copy of the students’ cookbook if you donate five bucks, on up to two seats at the pop-up if you can spare $500. And really, would you rather spend it here? [Lucky Ant, Earlier]

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Filed Under: good causes, lucky ant, the food and finance high school

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The galette des rois from Dominque Ansel Bakery.

We’re now well into January, which means one thing: White sales! Golden Globes! Breaking resolutions! Okay, it means many things, but the most important of these is king cake season! King cake celebrates the Epiphany, the day the Three Kings visited Baby Jesus, and the season lasts until Mardi Gras. Everyone knows the New Orleans version is covered with purple and green frosting, but a traditional French galette des rois consists of layers of puff pastry with an almond filling and a small, potentially tooth-chipping favor hidden inside. Whoever wins it gets to be king or queen for a day. And suddenly, some of New York City’s best bakeries are king cake crazy, so we wanted to know: Which NYC galette takes the crown? To find out, we enlisted an expert panel (our co-workers) and put them through a highly scientific taste test. Each of our eighteen testers ranked the galettes out of 5, giving each cake a possible total of 90 points to be won. There were a lot of disparate opinions, but it was surprisingly easy to pick a clear winner. Check out our slideshow to see who is the king of kings.

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Filed Under: taste test, balthazar, dominique ansel, epicerie boulud, financier, francois payard, kings cake, slideshow, user’s guide

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Way back in July, Grub Street spoke with Top Chef’s Dale Talde about the Asian-American restaurant he was planning for Park Slope, and now, at last, Talde is set to open on Sunday. As promised, there’s fried chicken — a Korean version that riffs Mediterranean with yogurt-kimchee, grapes, and mint. The toque’s aim to draw from multiple Asian cultures and from Brooklyn is evident in dishes like pretzel pork-and-chive dumplings and the abundant use of market veggies, including kale. It’s a pretty all-over-the-place lineup, in fact — just the sort of thing to spice up sedate Park Slope. See the menu below and taste it for yourself come Sunday.

Opening Menu [PDF]

Talde, 369 Seventh Ave., at 11th St., Park Slope; 347-916-0031

Earlier: What to Expect From Talde, Dale Talde’s Upcoming ‘Asian-American’ Restaurant

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Filed Under: coming up, asian, dale talde, openings, park slope, talde

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Joesph Stalin: not a CB3 member.

Last year, B.A.D. Burger owner Keith Masco called Community Board 3 “communist” after a liquor-license application for an Avenue A seafood market and restaurant was rebuffed by the board. (The concept has since been shelved.) Last night, Masco was back in front of CB3, seeking a wine and beer license for his seven-week-old East Village location (an offshoot of the Williamsburg original). Needless to say, the board members remembered his earlier comment.

During the hearing, three residents referred to his communist comment (one guy even addressed the committee with a hearty “Hello, comrades”). Masco refused to accept the committee’s proposed stipulations, such as stopping liquor service at midnight, eventually telling the members to “go ahead and deny” the app. The committee did just that, and Masco decided to take his app directly to the State Liquor Authority.

We caught up with him after the meeting and asked about the earlier comments. “They’re not communists,” he told us. “They’re fascists — and you can quote me on that.”

Read more posts by Mary Reinholz

Filed Under: foot in mouth, b.a.d. burger, cb3, community boards, east village, keith masco

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Coney Island, a wild card.

Coney Island has had an on-and-off relationship with gambling since the mid-nineteenth century, and now Marty Markowitz is trying again. He’s proposing some snazzy, restaurant-clad casinos on Coney Island if Governor Cuomo actually legalizes table gaming in the state. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Filed Under: casinos, coney island

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