When they’re not slinging sliders at Little Owl and Market Table, waitress/actress duo Monica West and Valentine Bureau are the ladies behind MVPleez, a viral-video stream full of madcap musical spoofs and foodie-skewering rants with cameos from restaurant industry pals. After making Harold Dieterle blush in a chat about ramps as aphrodisiacs, they’re back this week with “Tax Refund Time,” a TLC-esque number about the joys of blowing a $640 kickback on everything from Swedish sweets at Sockerbit to Jonathan Waxman’s roast chicken. Check out the full video below.

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There’s better stuff than pretzel rods, Martha!

What with Citi Field just across the way serving up Shack Burgers and ‘cue from Blue Smoke, plus its prime location next to one of our favorite culinary pilgrimage spots, we’ve always found it particularly disappointing that the National Tennis Center was so lacking in choice eats. We’re not asking for veal hearts on a stick, but would a cumin lamb noodle kiosk kill them?

Accordingly, we weren’t expecting much from a media preview we attended yesterday at Aces in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The plan was to try highlights from the new food program for U.S. Open 2011 that will be on offer at the tennis center’s food court and six restaurants, and to our surprise and delight, we’re pleased to report that there are some tasty improvements this year!

Iron Chef Morimoto’s back for the second time with a new menu of serviceable sushi rolls at Aces ($12 to $20); while the Chef mugged for a Japanese TV crew near the bar, we sampled poached lobster tail from a solid plateau de mer ($59 at Aces), as well as a bright seared scallops dish served over corn puree ($29 at Mojito). The tapas-style bites at the Wine Bar also look to be a good bet; we tried a nice basic tomato flatbread and an interesting cocktail made with watermelon puree and Raki ($12). We heard positive things about the lobster macaroni and cheese on offer at the Champions Steakhouse ($16), but it was unfortunately the one dish that ran out before we could get to it. Probably a good sign!

Other fun facts: Thirty-five percent of produce this year is local, coming from places like Red Jacket Orchards and Long Island’s Latham Farms; steaks are from Creekstone, and burgers are a special short-rib blend from Pat LaFrieda. There’s also champagne at the Open for the first time, thanks to a new sponsorship deal with Moët & Chandon, who will be rolling out something called Moët Ice Imperial, which is evidently designed to be served over ice. While we certainly found it refreshing, we’re not sure if it’s $22 refreshing, even though it does come with a commemorative take-home cup. Then again, we’re not sure we’d want houseguests to know we once drank champagne that was designed to be served over ice.

Related: The Complete Guide to U.S. Open 2011

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Filed Under: u.s. open 2011, la frieda meats, moet ice imperial, morimoto, tennis

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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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Landmarc’s Marc Murphy has been quite outspoken about his opposition to the city’s proposed mandatory paid sick leave for restaurant workers (and other industries), so when we ran into him at last night’s CCAP Benefit at Pier 60, we asked if he’d had any backlash.

“Yeah, I’ve had some criticism. (I’m almost calling it the Hangover/“I’m Sick” Leave Day.) But I’m not just standing up for myself. As the vice-president of the New York chapter of the Restaurant Association, I’m speaking for, I think, all the restaurants in New York City. We’re all struggling right now. If they keep coming at us looking for another dollar, it’s just not going to work.” Murphy is so passionate about the issue that he followed up today with an e-mail outlining his primary arguments. We’re reprinting it here because it’s the most coherent argument so far that a restaurateur has presented against the bill.

1-This bill is being sold as a sick leave bill and as a moral issue, ie.workers should have the right to take off from work when sick and get paid. This is a three card monty scheme. It is NOT limited to employees being sick no matter what is says in that employees can take 1 or 2 days off at a time and it will be illegal to require any documentation to support the illness claim. So in other words, this is a paid personal time time off bill, having nothing to do with employee illness.

2-The business community uniformly supports the right of all workers to stay home if they are sick without any fear of employer retribution. If the current laws are not strong enough to guarantee this, lets work together on that. But PAID time off is another matter. If this really is the moral issue that the advocates claim it is, then this new government mandated social policy should be paid for like all others such as unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, disability … not with a 100% employer funded requirement, but with all parties paying its fair share … government, workers and employers. When an employee gets hurt and cannot work, the employer doesn’t pay his salary, a government insurance program does, one in which everyone contributes to. This should be the same. And if the government doesn’t have the money in this economy, clearly neither does the business community.

3-Unlike all other pieces of legislation that designates a city agency to enforce the law, this bill is somewhat unique in that it provides for a private cause of action for disgruntled employees to bring private lawsuits under the law claiming they were wronged. This will cause an explosion in lawsuits against employers, including class actions. That means huge legal fees just to fight them. This law, if passed, should be enforced just like any other law is enforced, by the government agency responsible for it, period.

4-As to the specifics of the bill, if we were to look for changes around the edges, then:

a) the number of days off (9 for most employers) should be reduced to the national average for number of days people take off from work due to illness … which is 4.

b) Any paid time off that employers currently provide … whether it be called vacation, holidays, personal or sick … should be credited to this law’s requirements.

c) individuals that work for a combination of wages and tips (waiters, etc) should not be covered by this law, just as they were excluded in the Washington, DC law, as it makes no sense. These workers will likely make up the lost shift, so they do not need to be paid for that shift … it will not be lost. Same for part time workers.

Of course, Murphy has also spoken out about DOH letter grades. He’ll lead a group of restaurateurs protesting that initiative when the DOH announces its plans Tuesday, March 16. “It’s a game of gotcha,” he told us of the letter grades. “If we just lie down and take this, we’re all going to be closed.”

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Filed Under: health concerns, department of health, landmarc, letter grading system, mandatory sick days, marc murphy, paid sick leave

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Landmarc’s Marc Murphy has been quite outspoken about his opposition to the city’s proposed mandatory paid sick leave for restaurant workers (and other industries), so when we ran into him at last night’s CCAP Benefit at Pier 60, we asked if he’d had any backlash.

“Yeah, I’ve had some criticism. (I’m almost calling it the Hangover/“I’m Sick” Leave Day.) But I’m not just standing up for myself. As the vice-president of the New York chapter of the Restaurant Association, I’m speaking for, I think, all the restaurants in New York City. We’re all struggling right now. If they keep coming at us looking for another dollar, it’s just not going to work.” Murphy is so passionate about the issue that he followed up today with an e-mail outlining his primary arguments. We’re reprinting it here because it’s the most coherent argument so far that a restaurateur has presented against the bill.

1-This bill is being sold as a sick leave bill and as a moral issue, ie.workers should have the right to take off from work when sick and get paid. This is a three card monty scheme. It is NOT limited to employees being sick no matter what is says in that employees can take 1 or 2 days off at a time and it will be illegal to require any documentation to support the illness claim. So in other words, this is a paid personal time time off bill, having nothing to do with employee illness.

2-The business community uniformly supports the right of all workers to stay home if they are sick without any fear of employer retribution. If the current laws are not strong enough to guarantee this, lets work together on that. But PAID time off is another matter. If this really is the moral issue that the advocates claim it is, then this new government mandated social policy should be paid for like all others such as unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, disability … not with a 100% employer funded requirement, but with all parties paying its fair share … government, workers and employers. When an employee gets hurt and cannot work, the employer doesn’t pay his salary, a government insurance program does, one in which everyone contributes to. This should be the same. And if the government doesn’t have the money in this economy, clearly neither does the business community.

3-Unlike all other pieces of legislation that designates a city agency to enforce the law, this bill is somewhat unique in that it provides for a private cause of action for disgruntled employees to bring private lawsuits under the law claiming they were wronged. This will cause an explosion in lawsuits against employers, including class actions. That means huge legal fees just to fight them. This law, if passed, should be enforced just like any other law is enforced, by the government agency responsible for it, period.

4-As to the specifics of the bill, if we were to look for changes around the edges, then:

a) the number of days off (9 for most employers) should be reduced to the national average for number of days people take off from work due to illness … which is 4.

b) Any paid time off that employers currently provide … whether it be called vacation, holidays, personal or sick … should be credited to this law’s requirements.

c) individuals that work for a combination of wages and tips (waiters, etc) should not be covered by this law, just as they were excluded in the Washington, DC law, as it makes no sense. These workers will likely make up the lost shift, so they do not need to be paid for that shift … it will not be lost. Same for part time workers.

Of course, Murphy has also spoken out about DOH letter grades. He’ll lead a group of restaurateurs protesting that initiative when the DOH announces its plans Tuesday, March 16. “It’s a game of gotcha,” he told us of the letter grades. “If we just lie down and take this, we’re all going to be closed.”

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Filed Under: health concerns, department of health, landmarc, letter grading system, mandatory sick days, marc murphy, paid sick leave

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We found Marcus Samuelsson dressed in a three-piece suit at Pier 60 last night, where he was honored by CCAP (Careers for Culinary Arts Program) at their 20th anniversary benefit. While he wouldn’t reveal the exact location of his new Harlem project, Red Rooster, he did give us a few clues about the menu. “We’ll have the fried chicken and the collard greens and Southern meets Northern–style dishes, but we’ll also have some that represent the Italian-American and Jewish-American communities who have been there forever, too.” All that, plus music and brunch! Samuelsson hopes to get in on the festive after-church scene typical of spots like Sylvia’s or the shuttered M&G Diner (“I loved going in there on Sunday mornings,” he said of the latter), and he’ll also have a basement space for live bands.

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

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We found Marcus Samuelsson dressed in a three-piece suit at Pier 60 last night, where he was honored by CCAP (Careers for Culinary Arts Program) at their 20th anniversary benefit. While he wouldn’t reveal the exact location of his new Harlem project, Red Rooster, he did give us a few clues about the menu. “We’ll have the fried chicken and the collard greens and Southern meets Northern–style dishes, but we’ll also have some that represent the Italian-American and Jewish-American communities who have been there forever, too.” All that, plus music and brunch! Samuelsson hopes to get in on the festive after-church scene typical of spots like Sylvia’s or the shuttered M&G Diner (“I loved going in there on Sunday mornings,” he said of the latter), and he’ll also have a basement space for live bands.

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

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Clockwise from top left: Drew Nieporent, Marcus Samuelsson, Michael White, Floyd Cardoz.

Tickets to last night’s grand tasting at Pier 60 were steep (starting at $500!), but proceeds benefited Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), a nonprofit that provides high school students with training and job placement in the restaurant industry. The event honored restaurateur Drew Nieporent, but the real stars of the show were the C-CAP students, who assisted chefs from the likes of Blue Hill, Corton, and Morimoto. In the spirit of youthful experimentation, we asked some of the top chefs what they were cooking up at home as kids.

Waldy Maldouf, Executive Chef, Beacon
“My first merit badge in Boy Scouts was in cooking. I had a Lebanese and Sicilian grandmother, so I cooked some kibbe and certain lamb stews. In later years we started cooking things like psilocybin mushrooms, in meat sauce. Do you know those? They’re mushrooms that you trip on. We put ’em in the sauce. And hash brownies, too.”

Tom Colicchio, Executive Chef, Craft
“The first dish I made at home for my family was when I was 13 years old. I took a recipe from a magazine, stuffed zucchini with shrimp and eggplant. Only I didn’t read through the recipe very carefully so I didn’t realize it was just an appetizer. My mom had to get up and actually make dinner.”

Craig Koketsu, Executive Chef, Park Avenue Winter
“In high school I was known for being the guy who would cook meals for everybody. That’s when Boboli pizza was really big. I had this one pizza I called ‘The Purist.’ It was fresh-sliced tomatoes, lots of garlic, olive oil, and feta cheese and spinach. The fresh spinach sort of wilted, and all my friends loved it.”

Michael Lomonaco, Executive Chef, Porter House New York
“I’ve been a fan of Julia Child since I was 9 years old, so by the time I was in high school I was experimenting out of her cookbooks, making duck a l’orange, onion soup gratinee. I was also taking high-school French at the time so I needed something to go with it.

Floyd Cardoz, Executive Chef, Tabla
“When I was 16 I was making soufflé omelettes, and I was grilling chicken for my friends, and I was making the fish I caught, in the area, like king mackerel, sardines, mullet. I’d clean it and grill it, that was it.”

Drew Nieporent, Owner, Myriad Restaurant Group
“My mother was an actress, and the worst cook in the history of food, so that’s why I got into the food business. When I was a kid I would come home from school, turn on the TV and watch The Galloping Gourmet and then pour brandy on hamburgers and literally watch the flames consume the kitchen.”

Michael White, Executive Chef, Convivio
“On weekends in the winter when I was 10 or 11 I made goulash with my dad, and rye bread. In the summertime, it was corn, corn, and corn.”

Marcus Samuelsson, Executive Chef, Aquavit, Riingo
“When I was very young I made gingersnaps with my grandmother, but by the time I was 17, I would make things like a really nice lemon-seared mackerel with buttermilk mashed potatoes.”

John Fraser, Executive Chef, Dovetail
“I was all about macaroni and cheese. It comes in a box, and I was good at following directions.”

Marc Murphy, Executive Chef, Landmarc
“I lived in Italy for a long time and then I went to boarding school in New Hampshire. There were times I was jonesing for a good bowl of carbonara. In my dorm we had a little hot plate, so I whipped myself up carbonara. All my fellow dorm people were like, ‘What the hell?’”

Nancy Olsen, Pastry Chef, Gramercy Tavern
“When I was 12 or 13 I started two boxes of macaroni and cheese on fire — not an auspicious start to my culinary career.”

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Filed Under: c-cap, drew nieporent, foodievents, tom colicchio

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