And Fedora goes to … Gabriel Stulman. Manhattan’s Community Board 2 approved the liquor license transfer application to the Joseph Leonard owner last night. Stulman told the board that he will “restore Fedora to what it looked like in the thirties and forties” by turning it into “a casual supper club” that stays open until 4 a.m. Fedora’s son, Charlie, a dentist whose office is on the second floor of the building at 239 West 4th Street, said out of all the people his family met with in negotiating the restaurant’s future, Stulman was “the only one that was interested in keeping it the way it is.”

Despite a significant showing of support (he came and left with an entourage of Joseph Leonard regulars from the neighborhood), the committee felt that 4 a.m. was too late a closing time for the mostly residential block of West 4th Street. It moved Stulman’s application forward, with an agreement from Stulman to close at 2 a.m. nightly. The new Fedora likely won’t open till October or November, Stulman told Grub Street. Here’s what else happened:

• The committee opposed a proposed bistro-brasserie in the old Village Paper space at 18 Greenwich Avenue. As previously mentioned, Carlos Suarez has plans there (he wants to put a rooftop garden on the building that would provide produce for the restaurant) but neighbors complained that the area was already saturated with bars and eateries.

• Nearly 150 neighbors signed a petition blocking a proposal by Alexander Duff and Holly Roberts to open a Segafredo European-style sidewalk café at 348 Bowery, which (as previously mentioned) is now a tire store and garage. The board rejected the plan for having too much outdoor space.

• AB Green Gansevoort LLC, which currently holds the liquor license for the so-called Boom Boom Room, asked for a new license to cover a private club that will serve a full dinner menu to members and their guests. The committee passed the request.

• Paolo Secondo should thank the U.S. Postal Service. The board could not vote on his application for an alteration to I Tre Merli on West Broadway because it was delayed in the mail. During his presentation, Secondo admitted he hosted “a few parties which upset the neighbors.” At least three of the neighbors turned out last night, with one claiming that Secondo “just doesn’t think the rules apply to him.” When one resident told the crowd that I Tre Merli’s parties are a regular occurrence (”I have called the cops every Saturday,” she said, to complain of patrons “throwing chairs” out onto the street until 4 a.m.), another neighbor cut her off. “That’s bullshit!” he yelled. Another Secondo supporter, who manages the Martin Lawrence Gallery next door, gave a very different description: “I close the place most nights. It’s rarely open past midnight.” The committee delayed its vote.

• Two managers from MercBar hoping to open a “neighborhood-friendly restaurant serving seasonal American tapas” at 264 Bowery faced strong opposition from local residents. The space formerly existed as Kos and was a Mexican restaurant before that. The new venture doesn’t yet have a name, but the two managers called themselves LLC Bowery Row. The partners said they planned to serve food from 5 p.m. on and rejected a suggestion to target the lunch crowd for the kitchen-supply-store employees in the area. The two couldn’t quite convince the committee that they were opening anything more than a bar, and their plan was unanimously denied.

• Plans for the old Señor Swanky’s place on Bleecker include transforming it into a “a countryside restaurant that you’d find in England or Ireland,” said owner John Keogh. His partner, Tim Ryan, owns four restaurants in Key West. The board told the owners to consult neighbors and return in a month with a more detailed plan.

• Vol de Nuit, the Belgian beer and mussels joint, can make renovations as long as the owner agrees to close every night at midnight, the board decreed.

• The board denied a proposal for a burger restaurant at 615 Hudson Street. The partners claimed a chef from wd~50 would consult on the menu.

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: community bored, community board 2 liquor licenses

• 0 Comments

A new restaurant-deal newsletter is entering the fray, promising discounts of at least 50 percent at local eateries. InBundles offers daily deals (or “bundles,” as the site calls them), like $12 worth of sandwiches for $6 at Xie Xie and $50 gift certificates for $25 at the Orchard. The bundles change regularly and are only available for 24 to 72 hours. They’re also only valid if the minimum number of buyers purchase the deal; otherwise, nobody gets charged. While you’re subscribing to the site, here are some other ones you may want to check in with regularly.

Restaurant.com
The Site: Sells $10 vouchers that allow you to get $25 credit at restaurants.
The Partners: Delmonico’s, 40/40, Ivo and Lulu, Cercle Rouge, 5 Ninth
Recent Deal: $25 gift certificate to 10 Downing Food & Wine for $10.

Groupon.com
The Site: Offers deals of 50 to 90 percent off at restaurants and other attractions at cities nationwide.
The Partners: Acqua Peck Slip, East Side Poultry, Terri, Shorty’s, Dessert Club ChikaLicious
Recent Deal: $40 worth of food and drinks at Acqua at Peck Slip for $20.

Tasting Table NY Specials
The Site: Clues subscribers into deals at city restaurants and bars, available by mentioning Tasting Table.
The Partners: Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Choptank, Louis 649, Aquavit
Recent Deal: Complimentary 64-ounce growler of craft beer with a minimum order of a half-dozen crabs at Choptank.

8coupons.com
The Site: Offers printable coupons for deals at neighborhood restaurants, bars, salons, and stores.
The Partners: Milk & Cookies, Bean & Bean, Hello Pasta, Led Zeppole, Senor Swanky’s Speakeasy
Recent Deal: Half-price appetizer with the purchase of any entrée at Senor Swanky’s Speakeasy.

BlackboardEats.com
The Site: After being offered a deal, customers have 24 hours to log onto the site to obtain a “passcode” that can be used at the restaurant within 30 days in exchange for a discounted meal.
The Partners: Shorty’s .32, Park Avenue Summer, Rye, Almond, Robataya.
Recent Deal: 30 percent off dinner at Shorty’s .32.

DealOn.com
The Site: Offers daily restaurant, spa, and event deals that drop in price as more people join in.
The Partners: Chocolate.com, Taj Tribeca, Melt Gelata and Crepe Café, Nebraska Steakhouse
Recent Deal: $20 Chocolate.com gift certificate for $8.

Have praise or complaints about any of the above, or other favorites? Leave them in the comments.

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: discounts, 8coupons, blackboard eats, coupons, deal on, deals, freebies, groupon, inbundles, tasting table

• 0 Comments

Hosting Top Chef: Just Desserts “was almost like competitive eating,” Gail Simmons told us earlier in the week. “As the host, you eat double. You eat everything from the Quickfire and everything from the elimination.” Simmons — who hosted a book party for the paperback release of Frank Bruni’s Born Round at Dumbo’s Powerhouse Arena on Wednesday — sought advice from the pro, Padma Lakshmi. “Padma always was like, ‘Just pace yourself, Gail. I know you eat a lot, but this is [different].’” But not even Padma knows how to deal with umpteen servings of sweets. “All sugar, all butter,” lamented Simmons. “At least Padma gets a meal out of it. I just got dessert. All I craved was a cheeseburger, the whole time.”

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: top chef just desserts, gail simmons, padma lakshmi, top chef

• 0 Comments

Susan Sarandon and Jonathan Bricklin.

The rumors about Susan Sarandon and fellow SPiN owner Jonathan Bricklin seemed like the stuff of a reality show. Though co-owner Will Horowitz says they’re incorrect (“they’re just [business] partners”), the Ping-Pong nightclub is getting a reality show of its own. Narrated by Sarandon and tentatively called The Magnus Effect, the show began filming last week with BBC America as the production company. The material will include two different narratives: one that follows the top junior players who compete at SPiN on a regular basis (including 15-year-old Michael Landers, the reigning U.S. men’s singles champion), and another that tracks Horowitz and his staff at Ducks Eatery as they send out dishes from a basement kitchen without any ventilation.

Horowitz, the chef at Ducks, uses a TurboChef (“essentially a $14,000 microwave”) to create offerings as varied as Korean Tacos (made with short rib braised in apple cider, dates, and soy sauce, with white miso, soybean aïoli, and housemade oyster kimchee), and bánh mì inspired by his travels throughout Southeast Asia (Horowitz grew up making the rounds on the professional junior Ping-Pong circuit before going to culinary school). There’s also traditional bar food like sliders and popcorn (the foie gras and burgundy-truffle version is $20), along with alcoholic ice pops.

SPiN has locations in Los Angeles (previewed in the next season of Entourage), Minnesota, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, and Moscow in the works, and a Ducks Eatery will be attached to each of them. Add to that, Horowitz tells us he has plans to open a place of his own — Ducks Mess Hall — on the Lower East Side, where bar food will take a back seat to “serious and authentic Pho and other more obscure pungent Southeast Asian soups.”

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: tv land, banh mi, bbc america, ducks eatery, jonathan bricklin, kimchi tacos, korean tacos, spin, the magnus effect, will horowitz

• 0 Comments

Vegan coconut macaroons.

Former Babycakes baker Camillo Sabella is the pastry chef for a new line of vegan desserts sold at the Butterfield Market and François Chocolate bar. Cupcakes, cookies, scones, muffins, and brownies are all a part of the Vegan Divas line, launched last month by François manager Fernanda Capobianco (a longtime vegan) and Joelle Obsatz, whose family owns the Butterfield. The baked goods, which are mostly organic and free of dairy and refined sugars, are also available at D’Latte in Greenport, Long Island. See below for a full product list.

Cupcakes

Gold Leaf dusted Chocolate Cupcake $3.95 each/$15 – 4 pieces

Red Velvet Cupcake (made with all-natural vegetable coloring) topped with a tofu cream cheese frosting $3.95 each/$15 – 4 pieces

Lemon-Coconut Cupcake topped with a cashew butter frosting $3.95

Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies (4 pack) $6.95

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies spiced with chili powder which helps accelerate your metabolism $6.95

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (4 pack) $6.95

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (4 pack) $6.95

Coconut Macaroons (made with arrowroot, no flour added) (4 pack) $6.95

Breakfast Items

Apple Walnut Scones

Peanut Butter and Jelly Scone

Blueberry Lemon Muffin $2.25 each/$12 – 4 pieces

Raspberry Lemon Muffin $2.25 each/$12 – 4 pieces

Other Items

Raspberry Coconut Roll $4.49

Chocolate Brownie $4.49

Rich Chocolate Mousse (made with raw cocoa beans) $4.49

Spa Detox Trail Mix made with flax seeds (high in Omega 3’s), Brazilian nuts, and dried fruit, $11.95

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: sweet news, desserts, launches, vegan divas, vegans

• 0 Comments

“The characters are really interesting this year,” Gail Simmons told us last night about the new season of Top Chef. “They’re just a really interesting, smart group of talented young cooks. Really cool strong women, which is great to see.” The judge, whom we spoke with at the Chefs’ Tribute to James Beard, a Citymeals-on-Wheels benefit at Rockefeller Center, was more forthcoming about her dining experiences in our nation’s capital than she was with details about the cheftestants. Between takes, she squeezed in as many meals as she could, eating “really well” at such hot spots as Cork, CityZen, Sou’Wester, Palena, Komi (“which was just beautiful”), and Jose Andres’s restaurants Oyamel, Jaleo, and Zaytinya, where former Top Chef contestant Mike Isabella is executive chef.

We spotted former Top Chef Masters contestant Jonathan Waxman minding a crispy soft-shell-crab dish with shaved spring vegetable, lemon vinaigrette, and crab aïoli and asked him about the Obi-Wan moniker he picked up from his peers last season. “Well listen, it’s a little embarrassing, but I’ll take it,” said the chef. “I didn’t know anything about it. No one said it in front of me. And all of a sudden, somebody called me Obi-Wan, just whispered it, and I said, ‘Who are you talking to?’ It’s very touching, actually.”

Waxman was less sentimental when we raised the possibility of Gael Greene judging him unfairly on Top Chef Masters, since he was playing for the charity she founded. “I think that she has more integrity than anybody that I know, No. 1; No. 2 is that she’s always a critic,” Waxman countered. “When she puts her critic’s hat on, she’s a critic and she doesn’t care whether you slept with her the night before. It’s not going to affect her one iota.”

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: top chef, gael greene, gail simmons, jonathan waxman, top chef masters

• 0 Comments

Rachael Ray writes all her recipes out in longhand because she took drivers’ ed and not typing, she revealed to Julie Powell, Nora Ephron, and Kim Severson at a Friday evening TimesTalk. “I was lousy at drivers’ ed,” Ray told the predominantly middle-aged, female audience at the TimesCenter. “I didn’t get my license until I was 25.”

Ephron wondered what happened to home economics. “When I was growing up, all schools had home ec.,” she recalled. “Seriously, when did everyone decide? Was it the only thing feminism really did?” Severson agreed: “Partially that, and partially standardized testing.”

Ray is on her own political mission this week: She’s lobbying Congress to expand the Child Nutrition Act, a law first passed in 1966 that provides for low-cost school lunches for students in high-poverty areas. Ray wants Congress to commit to another $1 billion in funding over the next five years. “This is like Rachael Ray for Congress right here,” Severson said. See below for the best of the audience Q&A.

What keeps you in New York? I just got back from Portland, Oregon, and it had a great food scene. Would you ever trade New York for Portland?
Ray: New York is really unique. It’s so close to so many different things — Vermont, upstate New York. I live near Union Square …
Ephron: I would move down there before I would move to Portland.

Are there any foods that you can’t handle preparing?
Ephron, Ray, and Severson: Cake!
Ray: I’m a little Annie Hall: I won’t kill the lobster.

If you could only keep one cookbook, what would it be?
Ray: I couldn’t do that. I’d rather be shot.
Ephron: I still use the original Craig Claiborne New York Times cookbook.
Severson: The Joy of Cooking, and Jacques Pepin and Julia Child’s cookbook.

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: foodievents, kim severson, nora ephron, rachael ray

• 0 Comments

As the BP oil spill cripples the seafood trade along the Gulf Coast, we were curious about how it’s affecting restaurants’ food supplies here in New York. Who better to ask than the chefs making the rounds at last night’s James Beard Foundation Awards? Jean-Georges Vongerichten is no longer serving shrimp at any of his restaurants because of risks associated with Louisiana seafood. “We have no more fresh shrimp,” he explained. “I don’t want to serve frozen shrimp, so I’m going to take it off the menu for a little while.” Don’t expect to see shrimp on any Vongerichten menu for the next three or four months. You won’t feel the absence so much at ABC Kitchen: “We serve mostly vegetables there,” said Vongerichten. “Maybe that’s the way to go.”

Michael White, whose seafood temple Marea won Best New Restaurant last night, said that the spill is particularly troubling for restaurants. “First and foremost, it will raise the cost of products quite significantly,” he said. “At Marea we bring in a lot of seafood from Europe, and so it [won’t have] a direct [effect] … but it’s alarming because of the fact that it just goes to show that we really always have to stay on top of offshore drilling because it really does pose a threat to wildlife and seafood.”

Daniel Boulud, meanwhile, whose flagship Daniel took home the prize for Outstanding Restaurant, sees things differently. “I spoke to all my friends in Louisiana, and they told me that Louisiana is not at all affected by the oil spill,” he said. “It’s more about Alabama and other states. I think I’m okay, but I just want to make sure that Louisiana is okay, too. I think the media is spilling a little bigger than the oil spill itself.”

Waiting for the Oil Spill to Reach the Dinner Table [Diner's Journal/NYT]

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: natural disasters, daniel boulud, jean georges vongerichten, michael white, seafood

• 0 Comments

The art was edible at the Brooklyn Museum last night. For one night only, instead of being forbidden from touching the artwork, museum visitors were encouraged not only to touch, but also to eat it. The museum hired food artist Jennifer Rubell (no stranger to this sort of thing) to create Icons, a one-night-only show that required audience participation. Rubell told us, “In every other part of the museum, the main mandate is not to physically interact with what’s there, and I found this kind of loophole where during museum events, there is a possibility of interacting with what’s there.” The highlights included four Marcel Duchamp–inspired Champagne fountains, eight “drinking paintings” in homage to Jackson Pollack, and suspended cheese heads surrounded by heat guns, causing them to drip onto crackers below. “This is ‘head cheese,’” co-chair Mario Batali informed us. “That’s Jennifer Rubell’s face made in cheese.”

Vito Acconi’s Seedbed provided inspiration for another part of the edible exhibit. Seedbed “is a kind of self-portrait where he was masturbating under the ramp and vocalizing his fantasies about the people who walked on top of the ramp,” says Rubell. “So in the place where I think that he was masturbating there are these carrots growing up, so it’s basically like telling a joke about his piece.” The night culminated with the smashing of a twenty-foot-tall piñata in the shape of Andy Warhol’s head. Packaged foods like Hostess Sno Balls poured out, and dessert was served.

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: foodievents, brooklyn museum, icons, jennifer rubell, mario batali

• 0 Comments

Eric Ripert and Roger Waters, a duo waiting to happen.

Keith McNally is favored to be named Outstanding Restaurateur at the Beard Awards, at least if you trust New York’s culinary elite. McNally “has created restaurants that you want to go to, that you crave to go once a week,” said Eric Ripert at last night’s “An Evening of Practical Magic,” a City Harvest benefit at Cipriani 42. “And I think it’s pretty genius to do that. He has taken some concepts which were, when you think about Balthazar or Pastis, for instance, which were very, very French, and made it much better than the French.”

Another Frenchman concurred. “For the restaurateur it was Keith McNally and another. I vote for Keith, but Stephen Starr is very good,” said Francois Payard. “[McNally] really reaches a mass. And even people who want to go to fancy normally, they can go to his place and he really understands how to cater to people in New York.”

Ripert agreed to handicap the Outstanding Chef category for us, too. “Let me see this list,” he said. “I love Jose Andres. I love Tom [Colicchio]. They’re all friends of mine! Suzanne [Goin] may deserve it too. And Gary [Danko]. This gentleman [Charles Phan], I don’t know. Tom and Jose are, I think, the ones. One of them.”

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: awards, beard awards, eric ripert, francois payard, james beard awards, keith mcnally

• 0 Comments

Financial District: Sample more than 20 premium vodkas in a blind taste test tonight from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Cipriani Wall Street. Tickets ($40) are available from the Fifty Best. [Feed/TONY]
Gowanus: Edible Manhattan hosts its second Good Spirits event at the Bell House on April 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. Expect drinks from places like Tuthilltown Spirits and Warwick Valley Vineyard and Distillery paired with food from the Vanderbilt and Fette Sau, among others. Tickets are $40. [Grub Street]
Gramercy: Wildwood Barbeque is celebrating National Waffle Day today with a special of fried chicken and waffles with a side of giblet gravy. For those inclined toward sweets, a classic waffle comes with fresh berries, chocolate chips, or granola. [Grub Street]

Lower East Side: Teany, closed since last June due to a fire, will reopen next week at 90 Rivington Street. [Bowery Boogie]
Midtown West: The ‘21′ Club hosts its inaugural recreational cooking class with Chef John Greeley on Friday, April 16. The menu consists of heirloom-tomato gazpacho, ahi-tuna tartare, grilled porterhouse steak, and baked lemon tart. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets, which include all materials, lunch, wine, tax, and gratuity, are $225 per person. For reservations, call 212-582-7200. [Grub Street]
Park Slope: Mission Dolores, a new bar from the guys behind Bar Great Harry, will be opening in the old Cattyshack space in the next couple of weeks. Expect to see 20 craft brews on tap and a large outdoor patio. [Zagat Buzz via Brownstoner]
Tribeca: The Taste of Tribeca is happening May 15 at Duane and Greenwich Street. The culinary event, which benefits neighborhood schools PS150 and PS234, will feature offerings from restaurants like Bouley, Landmarc, and the Odeon. Tickets are now selling for $35, but the price goes up to $40 after May 1. [Tribeca Citizen]

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, 21 club, bar great harry, bier international, bouley, bowery boogie, brooklyn eagle, brooklyn heights, brownstoner, cattyshack, cipriani wall street, crumbs bake shop, curbed ny, financial district, harlem bespoke, landmarc, lower east side, mcbrooklyn, midtown west, mission dolores, park slope, south harlem, taste of tribeca, teany, the odeon, tribeca, tribeca citizen, vodka, wildwood barbeque, zagat buzz

• 0 Comments

Fort Greene: The neighborhood looks into what, if anything, could have saved the now-shuttered Green Apple Café. [Fort Greene Local/NYT]

Greenpoint: Chef Ross Hutchison is now selling his bacon marmalade, and it’s available for pickup in Greenpoint. [Greenpointers]

Greenwich Village: 120 West 3rd Street, formerly occupied by Tonnie Mini’s, will soon be turned into Gofra Bite, a Belgian-waffle shop. [Fork in the Road/VV]

Park Slope: Benchmark, a steakhouse offering five different cuts of locally sourced beef, is now open for dinner. Brunch service is in the works. [Gothamist via FIPS]

Tribeca: Benvenuto appears to be nearing its opening at the corner of Greenwich and Franklin. It is taking over the space formerly occupied by Greenwich Steak & Burger. [Tribeca Citizen]

Read more posts by Sam Dangremond

Filed Under: neighborhood watch, bacon marmalade, benchmark, benvenuto, ev grieve, gofra bite, greenpoint, greenpointers, greenwich village, midtown, nolita, park slope, ramen totto, ross hutchison, tonnie mini’s, tribeca, tribeca citizen, williamsburg, yakitori totto

• 0 Comments