“There’s a lot of really bad food television on right now,” Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi said at last night’s “Food on the Tube: How TV Shapes the Way We Think About Food” panel at the 92nd Street Y. (She, of course, declined to identify any “bad” shows by name, but she likely wasn’t talking about her Nightline bit last night.) “Some of the guest judges who I deeply respect, and love, and often have lobbied for months and months and months to get on the show because I think it’s important to have that sort of culinary gravitas, end up being incredibly boring,” she admitted. Nope, she wouldn’t name them, either.

Joining the dominant Lakshmi on the panel were New York Times Magazine’s food scribe Amanda Hesser, Chicago chef Charlie Trotter, Kathleen Collins, author of Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Cooking Shows, and moderator Alexandra Leaf, a cookbook author and culinary historian. Highlights of their conversation are below.

The Role of Food Shows
Amanda Hesser: “I don’t know why with food and not with other topics this comes up again and again and again. You know, television is a form of entertainment, so I don’t know why we set ourselves up when watching a [food] show to be anything but entertained. I think if you learn something that’s another inclination to watch the show, great, but television is made to entertain.”

“Michael Pollan is a wonderful journalist and writer, but I was just thinking that his [Times Magazine] piece on food television had a fundamental misunderstanding on the relationship between people cooking and food television. Nobody who watches football expects … to exercise more.”

Padma Lakshmi: “I kind of see my job as being your man on the street, or the viewer’s palate on TV. In that way, I guess, my job is a lot closer to Amanda’s [Hesser], which is almost like being a food writer. You can’t taste what I taste at home, and I feel like it’s my job to be as descriptive as possible.”

Favorite Food Shows
Charlie Trotter: “In the earlier stages, [Iron Chef] was more of a cartoon type of show.”

Lakshmi: “I liked it when it was more of a Bruce Lee special.”

Trotter: “And now, they’re allowed to use things like Buddha’s hand. And you’re like, ‘Well, what the heck is a Buddha’s hand?’ It’s not unlike watching CSI where you’re learning about crime fighting.”

Top Chef’s Younger Audience
Lakshmi: “Lately, I’ve been to a lot of Bar Mitzvahs on the Upper East Side, and I never realized what a tween following Top Chef had. It’s such a nice surprise to me. It’s wonderful for all these 12- and 13-year-olds to come up to me and say, ‘We have quickfire competitions in my house and our mom gives us five ingredients and times us.’”

Trotter: “Maybe it’s because the girls want to be you and the boys want to date you.”

Lakshmi: “If it means that they’re eating well, I don’t care.”

What Food Shows Teach Us
Kathleen Collins: “There are so many different things that you can have access to when watching these different shows, one of them being a different world, but there’s also lifestyle and personae. The person that comes to my mind right now is Nigella Lawson. I am very much a big fan of Nigella; I love her shows. You know, you’re looking at her real kitchen, and the way she eats, and you’re just thinking, ‘I want to be her.’”

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Filed Under: food tv, amanda hesser, charlie trotter, padma lakshmi

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Alice Waters ventured into Brooklyn last night to promote her latest tome, In the Green Kitchen, at Boerum Hill’s BookCourt. The book is the byproduct of a “Slow Food Nation” event Waters hosted in the Bay Area two years ago and features 50 recipes from chefs like Thomas Keller and David Chang. Waters answered questions from Pig Perfect author Peter Kaminsky, and the crowd of about 100 included Atlanta chef and James Beard semifinalist Scott Peacock. Read on to hear Waters’s thoughts on a well-equipped kitchen, this spring’s produce, and Wal-Mart’s initiative to sell organic food.

Why kitchen equipment isn’t necessary for cooking:
“You don’t really need anything. All you need is fire and a sharp knife, and not even a sharp knife. I was just recently trying to cook a dinner in February in Berlin. And we were doing it in the hotel room. It was in an apartment, but like a hotel room, with a toy stove. And we were doing a dinner for 75 people. And we cut all the parsley with a butter knife. Of course, we probably destroyed the stove.”

What she likes at the Greenmarket:
“This last week [at Chez Panisse] we started doing plum-blossom ice cream, which is just amazing with the blossoms, mixed with cream. I’m taking my ideas from what they have in the market. And, if they only have eggs and parsnips, then that’s what I’m making.“

How to make locally sourced food available to everyone:
“Go to the schools and feed children for free. That’s what my own stimulus plan would be, since we’re throwing around $500 billion these days. It would satisfy Obama’s agenda since money would be going to green jobs and it would teach children to be environmentalists. They would be counting beans instead of buttons … heritage beans.”

On Wal-Mart selling organic food:
“I refuse to be an elitist. It’s real food, but it is in that fast-food packaging. It’s good because it is supporting people who care for the land, but are they paying them the right price? Although [the farmers] are so desperate they probably take whatever they can get for it. We should value food more than clothes, or whatever we’re spending our money on.”

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Filed Under: cookbooks, alice waters, book court, in the green kitchen

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David Chang, out and about earlier this week.

David Chang, Mario Batali, and Peter Meehan drew a crowd of well over 100 people to the Strand last night to promote Chang’s debut cookbook, Momofuku, co-written by Meehan. They were joined unexpectedly by Rachael Ray, who popped up during the Q&A session. As Batali talked of smuggling foreign ingredients and foodstuffs through customs in his golf bag, Rachael Ray got the mike and explained her strategy: She puts other quasi-illegal items in her suitcase to draw the agent’s attention away from the food. Chang was once tempted to smuggle in fresh sancho berries from Kyoto, but said he backed down because “there were bugs.” Ray reminisced with Batali about their long-ago Iron Chef appearance, gushed about her respect for the two chefs, and then made a quick exit. Read the highlights below to learn how Batali and Chang make hires and what Mr. Molto plans for Del Posto.

What chefs are looking for when hiring their kitchen staff:
Batali: “I can tell in 30 seconds, sometimes, on whether they’re going to make it. You can tell by someone in the passion, in the intensity, and yet in the kindness in their eyes on whether they’re going to make it or not. Because quite frankly, you can teach a chimp how to make pork buns, but you can’t teach a chimp to love it and want it.”

Chang: “I have a terrible temper.”

Batali: “Oh, do you?”

Chang: “I hate saying it, but when people come in, in 30 seconds I can tell, not if they are going to work or not, but I ask them, ‘Do you want to be a statistic?’”

Batali: “And?”

Chang: “Most of them are like, ‘You’re crazy.’ They’re scared.”

On Del Posto’s comeback:
Chang: Mark Ladner is an amazing, amazing chef, and most of New York probably doesn’t even know who he is, but the guy can throw down.

Batali: And we’re really focusing right now on making sure people understand that. Some of our stars were taken away this year and given to Chang. We don’t want them back from him, but we want them back from someone who doesn’t deserve them.

Which ingredients stump the chefs:
Chang: “Pulled foie gras. It’s a total disaster. I’m dead set on creating foie gras like taffy.”

Batali: “Mine is weird old animals. Someone gave me a bear shoulder awhile back … it’s still simmering.”

Chang on Batali:
Chang: “Mario is so many different things. And I’m not trying to blow smoke up his ass. He really tries to help out everyone. And you can’t say that about everyone in New York.”

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Filed Under: chef love fest, david chang, foodievent, mario batali, peter meehan, rachael ray

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Adding to his jam-packed publicity plan , as part of this weekend’s New York City Wine & Food Festival, Frank Bruni answered questions from Ben Leventhal in front of a packed Tisch Center at the New School last night. We reproduced our favorite bits below, including how to pick a restaurant when you’re not a critic and whether Brooklyn will ever brag about a four-star restaurant.

On whether we’ll see a four-star restaurant in Brooklyn. “We’re a long way away from a four-star restaurant [in Brooklyn] because I don’t think they have the market. A four-star restaurant has to have destination, special occasion, and business entertainment. There’s a bunch of things that it needs to be used for to survive that level of investment, and I don’t think you’re going to see business people taking clients across the water.”

The one thing every restaurant should be attentive to. “I’m shocked to this day by how many restaurants, where you’ll call the restaurant and they’ll put you on hold for so long, or they’ll have someone man the phone that has such a rude, awkward tone. I don’t know why you would do that to your customers and I don’t know why you would do that to yourselves.”

On his successor Sam Sifton’s lack of anonymity. “In 2009, you show me someone who is a proven good writer with a really successful career who doesn’t have a long trail of pictures up. I don’t think it exists anymore. I would hate to see The Times, or any news organization, choose someone so purely based on anonymity and not on that person. I think Sam will take all the steps I did in terms of fake names, fake phone numbers, to make sure they don’t know he’s on his way.”

Where he has been eating since having to pick up his own tab. “My first cycle of credit cards since I gave up the job hasn’t arrived yet, so I’m still adjusting, but recently, I’ve been to Peasant a couple times, I’ve been to Vinegar Hill House a couple times, and I was at Bar Boulud the other night. It was interesting, when I was going to Bar Boulud, I was thinking about being a critic you make these assumptions of how we choose restaurants. I like Bar Boulud, and I was happy to go there, but I chose it that night because I was literally looking at a map and looking where everyone was coming from, and trying to find something relative between all of those places, and that would also have a lot of parking, because my father was driving that night. And I remember thinking, those are the sorts of conditions that make a restaurant choice that reviews usually never have anything to do with.

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Filed Under: frank bruni, new york wine and food festival

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There’s some good news and some bad news for fans of Lassi, one of the better options in the West Village for Indian fare. The bad news is that Lassi will have to give up its tiny, five-seater digs on Greenwich Avenue after August 27. Owner Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez tells us that her lease is up, since her landlord is a “schmuck.” But the good news is that Carlucci-Rodriguez says she’s looking around for a new location. “So it’s sad for some but not sad for us,” she tells us. Specifics on where and when are still TBD, but we’ll keep you posted when we hear more.

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Filed Under: closings, heather carlucci-rodriguez, indian, lassi, west village

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The Mott has posted fliers around Nolita urging neighbors to get in contact with management before the restaurant’s liquor-license hearing at next month’s Community Board 2 meeting. Smart move. But why is a nearby wine store recommending you pick up a bottle for the restaurant’s BYOB policy? Liquor law prevents restaurants from offering BYOB while they wait for a license, and violating wouldn’t be the best way to endear yourself to the neighbors. Actually, when we called the Mott to ascertain whether we could bring our own, we were told we could not. Better let the wine store know.

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Filed Under: byob, community board 2, community boards, liquor licenses, nolita, the mott

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The former resident.

A rumor that Marc Jacobs was moving into the old Cafe Doré space on Smith Street has proven to be incorrect. Instead, first-time restaurateur Benoit Rousan will open a yet-to-be-named French restaurant there at the end of August or in early September. Rousan says to expect “French countryside cuisine with an upscale twist,” and, so that the décor is also upscale, he has hired the Brooklyn-based design firm Hecho, who have done the interiors for The Box, Spitzer’s Corner, Delicatessen, and New York’s “Best Neighborhood Hangout” pick, Building on Bond. If this is the first you’re hearing of Cafe Doré’s closure, take heart: The Feed brings news of another Caribbean opening. Crudo will have a 75-seat back garden, a chef with a Ferran Adrià pedigree, and cocktails from Junior Merino.

Crudo, 235 W. 35th St, nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-695-9001

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Filed Under: benoit rousan, building on bond, cafe dore, french, hecho, marc jacobs, openings, spitzer’s corner, the box

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Soon, Abraço won’t be the only coffee bar roasting in Greenpoint. After opening up a third location, in Park Slope, this past spring, Café Grumpy will begin to roast their own blend of drip coffee out of their Greenpoint spot starting in mid-August, owner Caroline Bell tells us. In addition to the new brew, they’ll keep their rotating lineup of Verve, Ritual, and Intelligentsia.

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Filed Under: abraco, cafe grumpy, coffee wars, roasting

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Comix promoted last night’s “Service Not Included” show as an evening of restaurant-industry-related jokes and gaffes. While most performers strayed from the theme, using their time to try out other material, Sara Barron was on hand to plug People Are Unappealing. Even though we already know the story (and have I.D.-ed the players), Barron’s villainous “chef with greasy hair and orange clogs” was known last night as “Lario Catali” and the Twat Waffle became “Ichael Ipe.” Barron retold (in a much more incriminating fashion) a story about Ipe’s bathroom habits — and then countered the singer’s denial of the Post item, on Sirius radio, last month. Is the story true? “Yes, it fucking is,” she said. And the book is available for sale in the lobby.

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Filed Under: back of the house, comedy, comix, sarah

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As the Times reported last week, Jim Chu, Johnny Santiago, and Kevin Felker are taking over the old Tasting Room spot on Elizabeth Street. We ran into a employee over the weekend and learned that the New American bistro will be named Josephine’s. If all goes to plan, it should be serving a “killer brunch” by early May. The previous tenant set the bar pretty high as far as brunch goes, but let’s hope Josephine’s is a worthy successor, since the waits at nearby Café Habana and Café Colonial can be pretty much unbearable.

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Filed Under: brunch, josephine’s, nolita, Openings, tasting room

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Last night’s CB2 meeting was one of the smoothest we’ve experienced — maybe it was the holiday spirit? Top Chef alum Sam Talbot wasn’t present to rep his spot at 7 Ninth Avenue, but his attorney told us the menu would pay tribute to Talbot’s hometown of Charleston. We imagine something similar to Duane Park. The two-story venue’s name and opening date are TBD. Vote: For.

Vote: For
Chuck Perley, from the defunct French Mediterranean spot Le Pescadou, is coming back with a sequel, Le Pescadue, at 90 Thompson Street. It’ll serve reasonably priced Quebec-style French seafood until midnight. Opening date: April.

God Save the King, a club that’s going into the Gansevoort, won the Community Board’s favor, provided it has no D.J. box in the outside garden and no set dance floor (cabaret licenses are being pursued). A mother of twins said, “I am going to do anything I can to prevent my kids living across the street from a disco,” but the board acknowledged that millions had been invested in the venue and felt it was preferable to the club it’ll replace — the current “Oh no” of the neighborhood, Garden of Ono.

The Crosby Street Hotel, at 79 Crosby Street, will include a restaurant, bar, garden, and screening room. Supposedly, the restaurant won’t be a destination spot, but rather will offer hotel guests a menu similar to that of the London location (yes, there will be tea time).

At 133 Seventh Avenue, Mary Conway plans to open a new place similar to her other businesses, Fiddlesticks and Galway Hooker.

Vote: Against
The owner of La Pera was denied a recommendation last night for a spot on 54 Thompson Street. The deal-breaker was the 60-person outside seating area. The owner, Burak Karaçam, agreed to put big umbrellas over the outside tables, but the board was still nervous about noise.

New restaurateur Phillip Avalos is planning, along with a Blue Ribbon Sushi manager, a Japanese small-plates venture at 170 Elizabeth Street. Community activist Janet Freeman, who lives across the street, complained that the potential owner had “nice drawings, but they do not conform to the space.” Another resident was concerned that such a restaurant would drive out a self-employed piano teacher such as himself. The board voted to deny based on the neighborhood opposition, its proposed closing time of 2 a.m., and its location near a house of worship.

No Vote
A Lusardi brother of the famed Lusardi’s got turned away for a new spot at 312 Bowery for not having the proper floor plans. He can return in January.

Until next year…

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Filed Under: blue ribbon sushi, Burak Karaçam, Community Boards, duane park, fiddlesticks, galway hooker, gansevoort hotel, garden of ono, god save the queen, la pera, le pescadou, lusardi’s, Mary Conway, sam talbot

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At last night’s meeting of Community Board 3’s licensing committee, residents who’ve been in the East Village since the sixties unexpectedly came out in favor of Le Souk’s liquor-license application, saying the influx of bars and restaurants have corrected the area’s drug-infested past. One of them testified, “I remember in ’94 when taxis wouldn’t take me home.” Another said, “I would rather have throw-up on my door than someone breaking into my door.” But other longtime residents insisted that Le Souk and China 1 are the biggest problems in the area. The board, meanwhile, was concerned that there have been no less than 44 police complaints filed against Le Souk this year, including incidents of theft, larceny, and even assault. After 30 minutes of discussion, it decided not to vote for or against based on the fact that the license is being disputed in court. In the meantime, Le Souk is still serving.

Other highlights:

Tom Birchard told us he was pleasantly surprised to be granted a recommendation for a liquor license for Veselka Bowery, which he said won’t open until next fall. Said one member: “If I had a dollar for every time my wife ordered banana pancakes from Veselka, I’d be a rich man.”

The owners of Son Cubano and Flor de Sol are seeking a license for a Mexican restaurant also in the Avalon. The size of the project (3 stories, 3,000 square feet, 225-person capacity, 40-foot bar) rattled members into recommending a denial.

The owners of Café el Portal and Xicala were recommended for a liquor license for Casa Mezcal, a Mexican cultural-learning center at 86 Orchard Street. Come May, you can learn the art of printmaking, watch silent films, listen to live performances, and sip some serious mescal.

Lastly, look out in the coming weeks for a new Atibes Bistro at 112 Suffolk Street. Chef David Shemesh, also of Paradou Market, is opening up another post of the Southern-French-Mediterranean eatery.

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Filed Under: antibes bistro, cafe el portal, casa mezcal, cb3, Community Boards, east village, flor de sol, mexican, nolita, son cubano, the avalon, veselka bowery, xicala

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