Thoughts on Julie & Julia

So, I finally checked out Julie & Julia. Here are some thoughts:

-- If Julie Powell wanted to pay respect to Julia Child, would she really leave a stick of partially melted butter under her portrait at The Smithsonian?

-- OMG Amy Adams' haircut! It goes a long way to tip the annoying/cute scales in her favor. 

-- Meryl Streep can do no wrong. With this movie and Mamma Mia, she's probably your mom's favorite actress right now.

-- I didn't like the actor who played Julie Powell's husband, especially whenever he dipped his fingers in something, shoved it into his mouth and went 'OH mug gawd, you mrade thiss?!"

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--Frank Bruni is the dinner guest in the cream colored jacket at the end of the film? WTF? I've seen that photo in press for the movie a million times and never made the connection. HE WAS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT. 

-- Look out people! We've seen the Manic Pixie Dream Girl many times before, but we've never seen her with a spatula -- and it worked. I bet you five bucks that in Zooey Deschanel's next film her character will be obsessed with cooking/baking/eating/food blogs/The Joy of Cooking, etc. 

--Who's doing the dishes in the Powell household?  I didn't see a dishwasher in their perfectly cluttered apartment...

-- It's nice to see Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep rekindling their great on-screen chemistry. Also, his inclusion set up a nice thematic link to Big Night, a far better food film than this one.

-- The brown haired actress that played Julia Child's co-author -- did she bone up on her French accent by watching old Pepe Le Pieu cartoons? 

-- I loved seeing Long Island City portrayed as the great unchartered wilderness of New York.  You know, the 7 train runs there, right? 

-- It was fun to see the back of Ed Levine's head in the scene at Dean and Deluca, but isn't Ed more of a Fairway/Zabar's kind of guy?  

Let's Get This Party Started: Hennessy Colada at Dallas BBQ

Do you like the smooth, rich taste of Hennessy brand cognac, but wish that it was mixed with ice and milk, zapped in a blender, finished off with fresh whipped cream and served in a margarita glass the size of a small trash can?

Then head down to Dallas BBQ for their new Hennessey Colada. It makes for a refreshing, potent aside to a plate of jumbo fried chicken wings, and provides the perfect antidote to those awkward first-date jitters. You're a class act, and your lady-friend will know it the minute you order one of these bad boys. Get your swirl on![bxA]

Cool Looking Cakes from Pictures of Cakes

Jessica Reed is a brooklyn based blooger, who's site Pictures of Cakes covers all things cake-world related. One of my favorite things about her site are the pictures of the cakes she bakes herself -- Jess has a knack for making historically themed and aesthetically challenging cakes. A few of my favorite pics of her work, after the jump:[bxA]

Check it out. 

Democracy Through Pork Buns

A lot of people have said a lot of things about David Chang, but I don't think he's ever been given credit for being New York's most democratic restauranteur.   His food is always reasonably priced, inventive and satisfying, his dining rooms are designed to accommodate solo diners as well as larger parties, and his one restaurant that takes reservations has an online system specifically designed to prevent any favoritism or special treatment. 

And if there is one dish that exemplifies his democratic sensibility, it is his pork bun.

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A single order gets you two soft homemade chinese-style buns filled with juicy seared pork belly, slivers of pickled cucumber and tangy hoison sauce.  For nine dollars, it's a perfectly substantial meal, and in a city obsessed with pork sandwiches, this is surely the most savory and palate-pleasing.The pork bun is available at three of his four restaurants, including the counter-service-only Momofuku Milk Bar, where it is prepared to order and served exactly as it is at the other two.  As Chang's empire continues to expand and his menus become more ambitious, it's great that he keeps this on the menu at the Milk Bar for those times when one can't afford to sit down for a proper meal at Ssam or The Noodle Bar.

Mixing Cocktails: You're Doing it Wrong

Today, The New York Times takes a look at the new ways bartenders are making drinks, and it's some pretty crazy stuff. Basically, hand cut ice the size of Rubix cubes are all the rage (they have less surface area than a bunch of smaller cubes, duh), and there's a guy in Japan who has developed a superior martini shake method over the past 40 years so complicated and scientific only a few others have been able to master it.  

We ain't talking fuzzy navels here. 

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The Scoop from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

I figured the odds of The Brooklyn Ice Cream factory being good were slim to none. Despite its promising old-timey store front, the BICF is located smack in the middle of a grizzly, barren block in North Greenpoint, a stone's throw away from where Newton Creek splits Brooklyn from Queens. One unbearable August afternoon, I stopped in for a scoop -- and guess what? It turns out this place is totally great! [bxA]

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory serves only eight classic flavors, all of which are made in house. My guess is that they must do a lot of business at local restaurants, as their shop was only a small part of a larger facility and there was a lot of loading and unloading of tubs of ice cream out of the front door while I was there.

I sampled the Peaches and Cream. This is a textbook version of the dessert -- smooth, supremely creamy, and studded with flecks of real peaches. Because they only make and serve a few flavors, I have a feeling everything is probably pretty good, and from the set up behind the bar, it looks like they're equipped to make some next-level sundaes.

I plan on going back before the end of the summer to sample the rest of the goods. If you find yourself ambling across the Pulaski bridge on a hot summer day, or if your Newton Creek fishing trip turns out to be a bust, I highly recommend cooling off with some ice cream in the cozy front room of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

Food and Dining from Blackmark

Leah Hayes (aka Blackmark) is an amazing Brooklyn-based illustrator and musician. You may recognize her work -- it's been featured everywhere -- but the sketches and illustrations she features daily on her blog are really something. Here are some of my favorite food and dining related sketches:

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Check it out.

Applemania Hits the Bowery: Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria Coming in December

Grubstreet reports that James Beard Award winning, SF pizza-and-pig wunderkind Nate Appleman will be making his New York debut at restaurant king Keith McNally's (previously unnamed) Bowery pizza emporium, Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria.

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Any previous intel about this project indicated that this would be a casual whole pie and slice joint catering to the downtown night life crowd.  Appleman's involvement instantly makes this more of a formal dining concept, and my guess is McNally will create a typically magical dining room and make this a downtown hotspot to rival Daniel Boulud's DBGB, which is directly across the street.  

Slated for a December opening, Pulino will cap off The Year of the High Profile Pizzeria, with Keste, Co. and Veloce already leading the pack.  It's hard to imagine this meeting of East Coast and West Coast minds being anything but a huge success.  With any luck, Christmas might come a few weeks early this year. 

Book Review: Frank Bruni's Born Round

Born Round is as much a book about food as it is about Frank. The man loves food -- fancy food, trashy food, homemade food, take-out -- you name it, he likes it. And as a reader, you want to eat most of it.  So while the book features relatively little about his tenure as the most feared man in New York dining, Bruni's memoir is a fascinating read. [bxA]

Frank Bruni attacks life.  From a young age, he was a champion (almost Olympic qualifying) swimmer, a gifted student who rode through college on a full scholarship, and as an adult, a crack journalist who shot through a series of increasingly prestigious assignments and positions. Although the through-line for his story may be the personal ups and downs of his career in journalism, he always brings it back to what he ate along the way. 

Frank Bruni's relationship with food is complicated, but one that I think a lot of people will identify with.  Growing up in a middle class suburb in Connecticut, he had a belief instilled in him from his first generation Italian American family that an abundance of food meant prosperity, and that well cooked meals were a sign of love.  Bruni describes the epic Italian feasts and holiday gatherings from his youth with an exhilaration reminiscent of the best scenes in Goodfellas. Some of the most compelling passages of the book detail with awe the culinary traditions that his immigrant grandparents celebrated long before was even born. 

Like many people, Bruni also derived tremendous fulfillment from the act of eating too much, and a lot of his progression through life is seen through the lens of his body image issues. Over the years his diets and the relapses from them included Atkins, periods of purging, fasting, using Mexican speed and Ex-lax to keep the pounds off.  In the hands of a different writer these passages might seem maudlin, but Bruni gives the impression of being in control of his habits and you don't feel sorry for him, so much as admire his perseverance and honesty. 

On the road to becoming restaurant critic for the Times, Bruni writes about the good and the bad with humor, clarity and a lightness of touch that is completely charming.  While it's a treat to hear about his feuds with Jefferey Chodorow and other gossip from his stint as The New York Times restaurant critic, his tales from the epicenter of candidate George W. Bush's press entourage, and his days as an unlikely film critic for the Detroit Free Press are equally compelling.  It's true that some parts do drag a bit, like the details of the his fitness regime for the Times, which close the book. But more than anything, reading Born Round feels like catching up with an old friend over a sumptuous dinner and discovering the remarkable life you never knew they lived.  

As a side note: 

Because of his larger-than-life status and anonymity, Bruni has been the source of much playful teasing from many a food blog and journalist (myself included). I now present the best pieces of trivia from Born Round:

-- Bruni is a cheesteak man.  

-- Bruni loves Tori Amos. 

-- He once watched Sandra Bullock undress in her trailer on the set of While You Were Sleeping while listening to Des're's "You Gotta Be." 

-- He was inspired by Flashdance to get a bicycle.

-- He calls former New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes, "Biff." 

-- As an intern at Newsweek he once started the rumor that Mary Tyler Moore had died--the story was eventually picked up by the New York Post. 

-- He saw action in an armored vehicle during the outbreak of the Gulf War. 

-- For a time, Bruni frequently ate Tyson ready made chicken breasts while driving in his car, leaving the discarded bones in the passenger side seat for months on end. 

-- In his acknowledgments, he thanks incumbent food critic Sam Sifton. 

Thanks for the memories, Frank. See you in the funny papers.

Bruni Goes Out With The Redhead

Tomorrow Frank Bruni will end his tenure as The New York Times food critic with a review of East Village soul food hotspot The Redhead.   Although the Redhead might seem like an odd review to go out on given that it is basically a small one year old bar-cum-restaurant with sensational, moderately priced southern food, I think that Bruni has very specific designs for this review.  [bxA] Despite its meager trapping, The Redhead is helmed by former chefs from Eleven Madison Park, which Bruni crowned the sixth four star restaurant in New York last week.  More importantly though, the success story of this scrappy upstart is one that I think Bruni will take to heart to express how very much the New York dining world has changed in the five years since he began as food critic for the Times.  Bruni was the critic during a transitional period of food journalism, a time when food bloggers started to not only post reviews of restaurants faster than traditional media outlets, but with more photos and looser, casual style.  Bruni met and embraced this change head on by not only taking to the blogs himself, but by being the warm, entertaining critic whose style and taste spoke to the Manhattan elite as well as those with slimmer pocketbooks and shorter attention spans.   Five years ago, the Jeffery Chodorows of the world were opening up pretentious coliseum-sized mega restaurants to the delight of many diners.  Now a days, some of the most sought after tables in New York are tiny downtown spots with young, ambitious chefs severing inventive, satisfying, locally sourced food.   The Redhead fits this description to a tee. Bruni was also one of the first people to file in on the Redhead back in December with a round up of affordable dinners for two, and strangely enough, Bruni's replacement, Sam Sifton was spotted eating there last week.  Could we expect the Siftonator to make an appearance in the review?

I had an opportunity to dine at The Redhead back in January -- for my birthday-- and while the food was excellent, the restaurant is dark, cramped, and very noisy. I think we can expect a very positive one star from Bruni as his swan song to the Dining Section of The Times. 

Update: The Redhead gets the one.  It's an optimistic review, with much props paid to Meg Grace and Co.'s pull-yourself-up-by-the-boot-straps attitude and satisfying soul food. Congrats to Team Redhead.  Bruni has left the building! 

Restaurants in Mad Men Season 2: Lutèce

Of all the great restaurant scenes in Mad Men, perhaps none expresses the elegance and sophistication of Manhattan dining in the 1960s than the show's re-creation of famed East 50th street Alsatian eatery Lutèce. [bxA]

 Shortly after opening in 1961, Lutèce became a dining room for the rich and powerful. While French food had always been popular in the New York fine dining world before Lutèce, chef-owner Andre Soltner's unique mix of old world elegance and hearty Alsatian food proved irresistible to those who could afford it.  Soltner's insistence on using only the freshest locally sourced ingredients was also years ahead of its time. The dining room at Lutèce was beloved not only for its graceful, highly European accents, but also for its small number of tables (eighteen, four of which were in the garden), and emphasis on comfortability -- its homeyness. The New York Times describes Soltner as "arguably America's first superstar chef" and Julia Child famously called Lutèce the best restaurant in the United States. The most popular items on the menu included Alsatian Tart, sauteed foie gras with dark chocolate sauce and orange marmalade, and the Gallete Nancy, baked daily by co-owner Andre Surmain's wife of the same name. 

Pictured above: The real life Lutèce Dining Room, in its 90's twilight.

The Mad Men episode "The Benefactor" ends with a scene in Lutèce -- a business dinner between the Drapers, the Barrets and Utz potato chip moguls the Shillings. The restaurant is also referenced in the first episode of the season when Roger Sterling says that he is taking his wife Mona to Lutèce for Valentine's Day. It is easy to imagine that Lutèce would have been popular in the winter 0f 1962 when these episodes take place -- it received favorable reviews in both the The New York Times in March and The New Yorker in June of 1961. While the television re-creation of the dining room in "The Benefactor" looks as heavily researched and detailed as anything else in the show, Mathew Weiner & Co. seem to bring Lutèce back to life for more than just the sake of historically accurate set dressing.  The dinner at Lutèce is used to show the dichotomy between the perceived glamour of both Don's life and the celebrity life of the Barrets, and the ugliness of the business and affairs they keep with each other.

While waiting for the Barrets to arrive, the Drapers and the Shillings remark at the choice of restaurant, and its presumed expense (as was a custom at Lutèce, there were different menus for the hosts and for the guests, the host's menu being the only menu with prices). When the Barrets arrive, Jimmy is loud and snarky, remarking that they should order "while this place is still French."  A scene outside the bathroom between Don and Bobby Barret is one of Mad Men's most infamous. It shows Don's desires for sexual deviation and successful business merged into one ugly whole.  Although the Drapers are dining with celebrities at one of the most sought after tables in New York, the meal itself is crass, the interactions are ugly, and no one is enjoying themselves. It's hard to think of a better atmosphere to highlight these messy, complicated relationships than in the warm, lilting haze of one of Manhattan's most cherished dining rooms.

For more reading on Lutèce, check out The New York Times' piece on its closing on Valentines Day 2004. 

Porchetta: Has This Place Gone Downhill or Something?

I had been waiting to try Sarah Jenkins's East 7th St. pork sandwich spot, Porchetta, for a while now. Several attempts made in the past were thwarted by long lines, and not enough time to wait in them. But, after stopping by on a curiously slow Saturday afternoon, I got to sample two of their signature menu items. [bxA]

The porchetta sandwich features the restaurant's namesake meat--a pork loin slathered in italian herbs, rolled and slow roasted.  While the flavor from the pork is fine--reminiscent of a very good homemade pork chop--the meat is dry as a bone.  I was really expecting a big, wet, sloppy pork sandwich.  The nicely crusty ciabatta bread's fluffy innards are just begging for some rich, fatty juices to absorb. There's a nice anise kick to the seasoning that's spread on the meat before it's roasted, but the pork cracklings that are scattered on top are flavorless, and biting into them is like crunching down on hard little shards of plastic. When homemade pork shoulder turns out right, the skin is pliant, and hugs some delicious fat.  Not the case here.  For nine dollars I was also expecting a lot more meat. 

The potatoes with burnt ends look great, and are also just okay.  As far as pan fried potatoes go, these are on the oily side, and not crispy enough. The herbs on top don't do anything, and the burnt ends from the meat are dry, brittle and ruddy tasting. 

I know people love this place, and there are a few things that I didn't try that are supposed to be great--notably the beans and the okra salad.  While I feel that many of my problems with the signature pork sandwich could be resolved with a heavy ladle of gravy or drippings--and a nixing of those ridiculous cracklings--I can't help but wonder if Team Porchetta have just gotten a bit lazy now that the buzz has died down.  In a town as pig crazy as New York, there are certain standards to uphold with your roast pork sandwich, you know? 

Vicariously Party Like a Teenager Through Keggers of Yore

I watched Say Anything last night with my girlfriend (what? I'd never seen it before -- it's a classic, right?) and one thing we both remarked on was how parties like the "end of senior year party" in the film only seem to exist in movies. You know -- the kind of parties where teenagers crack kegs in large suburban houses till all hours of the night?  The kind of parties where there is a guy dressed up like a pinata, people get thrown into pools, and some poor sap is the designated "key master"? 

Well, thanks to the brilliant, brilliant site Keggers of Yore, I now know that parties like this actually do exist.  Some of my favorites photos from the site are below: [bxA]

This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks.

via seriouseats.

Is One of the Burger of the Month Guys Pretending to Be a Girl to Get His Friend a Date?

Perhaps you've heard of the burger of the month guys. The BOTM guys (I'm not joking, that's the abbreviation) are seven white-collar burger enthusiasts in their 30's who keep a blog that rates hamburgers in New York City. The New York Times did an article and interactive feature about the guys back in May, and The Today Show even did a segment about them back in April.

The BOTM guys (seriously, don't laugh) love big steakhouse burgers cooked medium well with bacon and cheese. While I don't really like the kind of burgers they like, or agree with their top picks, I do enjoy their blog if only because it features some pretty loopy, at times even dada food writing.[bxA]

Take, for example, this snippet from their review of The Peter Luger Burger:

When I took the first bite, it was like a party of flavor exploded.

Or this observation about dining at Morton's Steakhouse:

There is always a cute girl ready to seat you, an older male manager in a suit ready to come by the table to ask how everything is, a knowledgeable waiter ready to serve you and a couple of huge men in white chef hats visible through a window in the wall so you can see them cooking your food - what could be more delightful?

Or their issue with the burger at PJ Clarke's:

The burger does not come with fries, those are sold separately which inevitably begins the debate at the table of whether burgers should always come with fries.

Or this remark about Corner Bistro:

This simply is not the Corner Bistro of ole.

None of these, however, can hold a candle to the batshit craziness of their review of 5 Napkin Burger, which is purportedly written by a female admirer. The blog post is titled "My Date with the BOTM". Let's take a look, shall we?

Being a meat and potatoes gal – and still navigating the NYC restaurant scene (moved here 4 years ago from Florida – the land of chain restaurants), when I saw Jenna Wolfe’s segment on a group of 7 guys who formed a burger of the month club, I was kind of intrigued. After watching the segment I went on to BurgerRankings.com to see who these guys were. Deciding you only live once, I sent an email to the site asking two questions – the first, could girls join the club and the second, was Brett single?

Its true, you only live once. And if you're a meat and potatoes kind of gal, men like the BOTM guys must be scarce as hens teeth in this city. So, did the guys let this girl go with them on a burger outing? Yup. She even got to file in the review:

The Burger Review – I pulled the girl move and ordered the “inside out” burger for the carb conscious, since I had already indulged in the bacon cheddar burger only a week before (even though I could only eat half). I have to say, it was just as good without the bun, cheese and caramelized onions. The “secret sauce” that is on the burger was great and the meat itself (ordered medium) was cooked to perfection. The burger came with fries, and while they were no Mickey D’s – they were enjoyable as well.

Girls hate carbs, duh. Also, if you were reading closely, you know that she compared the fries to McDonald's fries because she's from Florida where all they eat is fast food. But enough about the burger, how did the date go?

The Date Review – I have to say, this was one of the most fun dates I have had in NYC. We all ate together, so I guess it was a “group date” and it was quite amusing to see some of the looks we got when the waiters saw one girl surrounded by 7 guys all eating burgers. Brett is awesome and the rest of the group was so easy to talk to and welcomed me into the sacred club as an honorary member.

Wow. It really is every single woman's dream to be the only girl at a table full of strange men wolfing down high end bacon cheeseburgers. So... we know she had a great time, but what does the future hold for her, you know, romantically?

Overall, it was a great night. I offered BOTM some PR advice on how to grow their site and their fan base, so it will be interesting to see if they take any of it (you know men). As for a date sans the BOTM audience, you’ll just have to check back and find out.

You know men. Anyway, I can't wait to check back and see if things start to sizzle between this girl and that Brett guy. Only one question remains, though - just who is this BOTM girl? The post never mentions her name or really anything about her except that she's single and from Fast Food Florida. Also, at the top of the page, it credits this review to resident BOTM guy Jason. Could it be that this was just written by Jason from the perspective of a fictitious female admirer? Why, pray tell would he do this? Would it be to get women to read the site, and in doing so get a date for that poor sap, Brett?

Well, one thing's for certain: I AM GOING TO GET TO THE BOTM OF THIS.

Four Stars for Eleven Madison Park

Congrats to Danny Meyer, Chef Humm and The Union Square Hospitality Group on Eleven Madison Park's four star review today in The New York Times. This is the first four star review in 23 years for Danny Meyer. Eleven Madison Park is now one of only six restaurants in the city with a four star rating from the Times. Cheers all around. [bxA]

The Pizza at Grandaisy Bakery

For two weeks straight, the pizza from Grandaisy Bakery was my at-work, lunchtime jam. Grandaisy offers a wide variety of fresh baked pizzas, each with a thin, crispy crust. I think that many of the pizza toppings must be inspired by Italian-style vegetable side dishes. Let's take a tour, shall we? (All of the slices below are priced at either $3 or $3.25.) [bxA]


The zucchini slice is probably my favorite. The topping is a mixture of fresh zucchini, onions and gruyere. The combo is supremely savory, but cheesiness never overpowers the flavor of the greens.


The fennel slice is my second favorite. The cutting, slightly onioney taste of fennel is something you either love or you don't. I do. Onions and pecorino make up the rest of the topping.


The potato slice is great, even if it is essentially one starch stacked on top of another. When the potatoes are still moist and not overcooked, the slice tastes like potatoes au gratin. Onions and pecorino are also here in full force, as well as sprigs of fresh rosemary.


The pomodoro slice is a standard crust slathered in a thin layer of fresh tomato sauce -- no more, no less. Light and delicious.

The mushroom slice isn't my thing, but it's also not a total miss. The slice employs a thick layer of earthy cremini mushrooms, that, like fennel, you either love or you don't.

The pizza Bianca is the simplest of the set, and it's also Grandaisy's most famous pizza. The Bianca is cooked in six-foot long sheets and cut to order. Thicker and fluffier than the rest of the pizzas, a little bit of sea salt and rosemary go a long way to compliment the moist, airy dough. You can also detect the use of some good olive oil. A slice of the pizza Bianca is $1.50, and it is the size of a large fashion magazine.

There are still a few slices that I missed on my bakery-pizza odyssey. Grandaisy makes a Bianca with pecorino, a Bianca with fresh olives, and a Bianca studded with fresh artichokes, as well as a cauliflower slice, none of which I tried.

I will let you know when I cross these off my list.

Grandaisy Bakery
73 Sullivan Street

Four Stars for Eleven Madison Park Tomorrow?

Well, this is honestly something of a surprise. Frankie Big Boi Bruni is revisiting Elven Madison Park for his penultimate review. While the choice of EMP is not a surprise -- Bruni has been seen dining there several times in the past few months -- the fact that this is his second to last review, and his second review of a Danny Meyer restaurant in two weeks, does seem a bit strange. [bxA]I honestly thought that Bruni would save EMP for his last review and file in on Marea tomorrow. Now I don't even think we can be certain that he will review Marea next week. I mean, would he really go out with a review of a restaurant that every other critic has already filed a rave for? I think for his last review he might choose something small and under the radar, if for no other reason than it would give him an opportunity to speak to how much the dining world has changed during his tenure with the Times. That being said, I am almost certain that he is going to give Eleven Madison Park four stars tomorrow. Here's why:

• Bruni loves it. He's reviewed EMP twice already, and he might want to give it the fourth star to show how it has progressed since its opening -- a progression which happened exclusively during his tenure with the Times.

• He robbed Danny Meyer of a star last week with his review of Union Square Cafe. Adding a star to EMP would restore the karmic balance between New York's greatest restauranteur and its greatest food critic.

• This would only be the second time in five years that Bruni crowned a restaurant with its fourth star. Masa was the first, but the other members of the Four Star Club -- Le Bernadin, Per Se, Jean Georges and Daniel -- already had their four stars when Bruni passed through; he just confirmed their four star status.

• By adding Eleven Madison Park to this elite list of four star restaurants, Bruni would be anointing one of the more reasonably priced, less established fine dining restaurants in New York. He's a democratic man, with an eye towards value -- EMP is exactly in line with his sensibility where price is concerned. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, to satiate your cravings for any and all things Bruni, here is a new photo of the man that was just released today (he's on the left).

David Chang, Unplugged

David Chang was featured in an ad for Ally (some financial institution) in the July issue of Bon Appetit:

Does this look like a young restaurant mogul whose aneurysm-inducing hyper stress forces his doctors to prescribe immediate, mandated vacations on a semi-regular basis?

Nope. Dude looks cool as a cuke. Also, you’d think with all his success, Chang might stop taking his photos at Sears.[bxA]

Worst Table in New York : Porter House in the Time Warner Center?

Porter House, on the third floor of the Time Warner Center, is a highly regarded, premium steakhouse with floor to ceiling windows overlooking 59th St. and Columbus Circle. Why then do they have a single table outside of the restaurant in a vacant corner of the TWC mall?

Is this for real? Do people actually sit here and eat big steak dinners? Is this the table where they seat patrons that they want to embarrass? If it is not for real, then what is it for -- to show prospective patrons what the table settings look like if they choose to eat there?

[bxA]

Oprah's Favorite Things: NYC Edition

So Oprah and Gail hit NYC over the weekend with some students from O’s South African girls school. Where’d they go to eat? Minetta? Blue Hill? Ko?? Try Planet Hollywood, Dylan’s Candy Store and Serendipity 3.

Look under your chairs! Everyone’s getting the worst food in NYC!!!! (Actually, there is no reason to hate. I would give my eye teeth to go to Planet Hollywood with Oprah.)[bxA]

Wilfie & Nell: A Gastropub?

There are a lot of restaurants calling themselves “English-Style Gastropubs” these days, but I don’t feel like everyone is on the same page when it comes to defining exactly what that is. Sure, a Gastropub is an English-style pub with food. But the question of what kind of food and what kind of pub seems open for wild interpretation. I have a feeling that Wilfie & Nell is more like the establishments that inspired the trend than its glossier, high end counterparts like The Spotted Pig or The Clerkenwell.

Located on an unassuming stretch of West 4^th, the space feels cavernous in the strict sense of the word -- it is dark, it has low ceilings, and its dining room extends into odd nooks and crannies. With its aged brick columns and worn wood work it would be easy to imagine that the space was once a centuries old stable that was converted first to a bar, then a bar with a kitchen.[bxA]

The small bar menu is packed with calorie rich English fare that is well executed and locally sourced. Apologies in advance for the quality of these photos-it was dark in there.

By far the best of what we tried was the grilled corned beef and gruyere sandwich with stone ground mustard. The single layer of thick, meaty corned beef has a tenderness and a faint briney taste that melds nicely with the rich, sweet cheese.

The pigs in a blanket are not the pastry covered cocktail franks frequently served as canapés, but rather deep fried English sausages wrapped in thick cut English bacon. The bacon is extra crispy and tastes like good bacon always tastes, but the sausage in the middle is fatty and under spiced. The sausage also has a firmness and a snap that isn’t entirely pleasurable. Especially when coupled with the bacon, these chubby little stocks of meat represent the kind of pasty, oily food that has given English food a bad wrap for so long.

The pulled pork sliders are good. No punches pulled here. The pork is juicy, and savory in all the right ways. The buns are airy like slider buns, and the excellent stone ground mustard cuts the richness of the meat nicely.

A lot has been said about Wilfie & Nell being an affordable gastropub, and in a certain sense it is -- every item on the menu is under $10. While the three items we shared were filling enough for two people, the portion size is really dipping into small plate/ bar snack territory. While the food is good overall, it does feel like the restaurant, and most of its patrons, consider the food as something of an afterthought. On a Saturday afternoon at around six the place was mostly packed with the young trendsetters working on various stages of a heavy afternoon beer buzz. Wilfie & Nell is certainly a good time, but when the tab is totaled, you can’t help but to feel like you’ve spent a bit too much on that good time.