Live Blogging Top Chef Masters, Week 8
Got any plans tonight? Why bother slaving over a hot stove? Order take out and join our commenter live blog of Top Chef Masters instead! Look. Now you have plans.
Live Blogging Top Chef Masters, Week 1
Are you a live-blogging master? I'll bet you are! Why not showcase that mastery by joining our live-blog of Top Chef Masters? The new season starts tonight, and we're live-blogging it in the comments section of this post.
• The critics: Sam Sifton of the Times surveys the new Oceana and isn't overwhelmed, giving it two stars; the Post's Steve Cuozzo is pretty pleased with A Voce and hands it three stars out of four; Time Out's Jay Cheshes bestows three out of five stars on Travertine; and Gael Greene heads to Jeffrey Chodorow's Tanuki…
In Which We Send Tap-Dancing Chef Rocco DiSpirito to Therapy
Rocco DiSpirito used to be a critically-acclaimed chef, but then he did that show the Restaurant and then Top Chef and The Biggest Loser and finally Dancing With the Stars. Now nobody respects him!
Does New York Have A Problem?
Yesterday New York magazine laid off Gael Greene, a food critic there for the past 40 years. Apparently the recession is hurting New York like everyone else—not as drastically as everyone else, of course, but enough to have to pare down their fat roster of restaurant reviewers. So is this just a longtime employee…
New Contract for Ailes, Pink Slip for Gael Greene
♦ Roger Ailes (left) has renewed his contract with News Corp., which will keep him by Rupert Murdoch's side for at least five more years (and keep him running the show at Fox News for at least one more presidential election). [NYT]
♦ New York has fired longtime restaurant critic Gael Greene. [Feedbag]
♦ The Runway…
Four Stars for Corton, Momofuku Bakery Debuts
♦ New York's Adam Platt hands out four stars to Drew Nieporent's Corton this week, praising chef Paul Liebrandt's cuisine as "technically complex without being exhibitionist." [NYM]
♦ David Chang's Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar opened on Saturday. Grub Street has rounded up the public reception. [GS]
♦ A handful of…
A Chef for Table 8, New York's Cheapest Dinner Dates
♦ Former Country chef Willis Loughhead has signed on as executive chef of Table 8 inside the Cooper Square Hotel. The restaurant is expected to open in January. [The Feedbag, Eater]
♦ The 10 best places to go on a cheap dinner date in NYC. [NYO]
♦ To celebrate ten years in business, Café Boulud is debuting a new…
Prices at Per Se, Reviews of Five Leaves
♦ Complain about the economy all you want but Thomas Keller has no plans to lower prices at Per Se. [GS]
♦ The early reviews are mixed for Five Leaves, the Williamsburg restaurant that Heath Ledger was planning to open before his death. [Eater]
♦ Django, the Mediterranean restaurant on 46th and Lex, is closing this…
Colicchio Expands, Black Pearl Closes
♦ Tom Colicchio is opening two more 'wichcraft locations in Midtown. [GS]
♦ Despite an appearance on Kitchen Nightmares last week, Black Pearl on West 26th Street has closed its doors. [Eater]
♦ An update on the UWS branch of Shake Shack, which remains under construction. [Eater]
♦ Not only is Daniel Boulud not…
Oceana, Scarpetta, Convivio, Matsugen
The Debut of R&L
Even Chodorow's PR People Don't Eat At Kobe Club
Last night at Daisy May's BBQ (in our humble opinion, some of the best in the city), we spotted a large and gregarious party in the back room. Upon closer inspection it turned out to include none other than Krazy Karine Bakhoum who reps the constantly embattled Jeffrey Chodorow. Bakhoum was there with Pascal Riffaud,…
