Blind item! Which tweedy French chef’s rare stateside appearance made former New York Times restaurant critic Mimi “The whole Brooklyn thing must be greatly exaggerated” Sheraton to schlep out to Boerum Hill for lunch on Tuesday? Just kidding. The Transom never withholds. Read More
THE TWO MEN The New York Times anointed the “darlings of the New York culinary set” and the “future of Italian food in America,” Mario Carbone, 32 and Rich Torrisi, 31—along with their business partner, Jeff Zalaznick, 29—do not flatter easily. Read More
I’ve never had an eating disorder. I did, however, have an eating problem, the way that Ted Striker from Airplane said he had a drinking problem before splashing himself with a beverage. I didn’t consume food: I just shoved it toward my mouth, usually while in the middle of doing other activities (reading, working, taking a bath). Read More
Oh, what a vicious circle this is: Occupy Wall Street comes to picket the banker fat cats in New York, the NYPD forces streets to close and erect metal barricades near the entrances of certain streets and subways to prevent random marches of the protesters, leading to even more unemployment in the area as the local Milk Street Cafe is forced to lay off a quarter of its workstaff because the police structures prevent people from entering the establishment. Consider this a case of a snake not eating its own tail, but firing it. Read More
Ever since Sam Sifton was announcing to be ending his short-lived tenure as the dining critic at the New York Times, as was the case when he got the gig after Frank Bruni’s retirement from the post, speculation’s run wild as to who’s going to get the top spot. But rumors of one suspect are running particularly wild. Read More
A week ago, The Observer took a look at Miss Lily’s, a Jamaican jerk joint on Houston Street that’s unleashed the anger of Anna Wintour. She lives next door, and she was worried it would become an all-night hotspot. And it sort of has. Too bad all the fashion models love the place! Read More
If you go to 5 Baltschug Street in Moscow, Russia, you’ll see a 17th Century building with Maybachs and Bentleys lying idly nearby, all waiting for the men they drive around to return from a certain smoke-filled lounge. It’s a place where the rich men of that city can enjoy cocktails and bottles, all while Read More
Last Sunday, The Observer was at Milk Studios, in the Meatpacking District, to see a presentation by The Lake & Stars, a Brooklyn-based lingerie line. The models stood with unflinching faces, wearing nothing but nightgowns and skimpy underwear, as a man served rum-spiked horchata from a wooden wagon. Editors chatted up other editors about the Read More
Everyone had so much fun at The Dutch this summer! We can hardly remember what sun is like, what with the never-ending rain, but during that warmer season the city flocked to Andrew Carmellini’s new SoHo restaurant for plentiful seafood and cocktails, not to mention the wistful old-turned-new ambiance. Sam Sifton called it the Read More
Savvy restaurateur Taavo Somer has avoided the “hipster” appellation since the opening of Freemans, that taxidermy fantasia on the Lower East Side. The aggressive grizzly man pose of the alleyway eatery aside, Freemans is still a nice place to have a bite. We like to go when our father or brothers are in town — why pass up a perfectly good dumb joke?
Now Mr. Somer has made the logical progression and chased the Freemans Sporting Club scruff across the L to Williamsburg, where he will open his first Brooklyn-based place, Isa, next week. And then he could be done. Read More
