Prince Street Cafe
After a five-year run as the executive chef at One If By Land, Two if by Sea, chef Gary Volkov is gearing up to launch his own eatery, Prince Street Cafe. Veering off from the upscale dining scene, Volkov and partner, Konstyantyn Prokoshyn (Cafe Boulud), open the doors to this casual eatery Tuesday, September 4th. The airy, 60-seat space will host a front of the house, all-day cafe, furbished with two-toned green booths that line exposed brick walls. Here, he’ll be serving fresh-baked chocolate croissants, citrus french toast and an array of fritattas. Through September 11th, the special house blend coffee stands at a mere 26 cents. Ah, the good old days when coins could actually buy something other than a gumball. Gary will also be integrating the haute concept of an amuse bouche into this laid back spot...
Read MoreQ & A With Anita Lo
It’s been seven years, and chef Anita Lo is still proud to call the West Village restaurant Annisa, her own. Lo has reigned as head chef, co-owner, and creative mind for the better part of a decade, while serving as consulting chef and partner for the successful (and soon to be nationally expanding) dumpling house, Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. She also found time to promote a calcium-filled diet, assuming a full-fledged milk mustache in the Got Milk? campaign. At Annisa, Arabic for “women” (co-owned by Lo and Jennifer Scism), signature dishes include grilled Australian lamb tenderloin with Szechuan peppercorn, white soybeans and garlic chives, as well as the smoked Berkshire pork loin with millet, swiss chard and gruyere. Status: Single/Married/Divorced Single (gay) What did you want to be when you grew up? A concert pianist. What was your first job...
Read MoreHell’s Kitchen On the Rise – Lime Jungle
Robert and Enrico Malto, brothers who run a smattering of neighborhood joints scattered about the city (Il Bastardo, Puttanesca and Zucchero e Pomodoro), are set to introduce a taste of Mexican to Hell’s Kitchen. Lime Jungle, the newest addition to the fold, will be serving fresh fish tacos, homemade corn tamales and a sizable selection of empanadas. For the carb-averse, this mexican grill also offers a “lean quesadilla” and “low carb taco” alternative. While there’s no table service at this take-out place, there will be table seating for thirty-two as well as fourteen at the counter. Feel free to linger over frozen sangria, margaritas (mango, peach, strawberry and pomegranate), or Mexican beers. Chef Alba Bastidias, who co-owns both Mama’s Empanadas and Papa’s Empanadas (with her husband Alberto Bastidias), will herald the kitchen at this joint. In short, don’t skip...
Read MoreQ & A With Marc Murphy
Restaurateur and chef Marc Murphy and his wife, Pamela Schein Murphy, blazed a trail to Tribeca when the two introduced Landmarc to the neighborhood. Murphy’s modern interpretation of an Italian-inflected French bistro was well-received not only by the locals, but also by the NYC’s dining public at large. Though he’s trained in some of the most upscale of kitchens, including La Fourchette & Le Cirque, he’s managed to integrate his penchant for the casual with his haute techniques at both Landmarc and West Village seafood shack, Ditch Plains. Having created a highly successful patent that changed the face of neighborhood dining, Murphy launched Landmarc at the Time Warner Center earlier this year. A hard formula to beat, Landmarc’s laid back atmosphere and unusually affordable wine list seem a welcome change for a posh urban mall, brimming with the cream...
Read MoreCrave’s Traditional Shrimp Ceviche
Chef Todd Mitgang’s first week out of the gate at Crave Ceviche Bar promptly yielded a dish of the week: a very good sign indeed. His inventive twists on the traditional result in champagne-soaked arctic char and “black and blue” veal cured in sherry vinegar and crushed olives. The menu at this beachy midtowner winningly deceives with an appetizer labeled “traditional shrimp ceviche.” Though anchored in a straightforward marinade of lime juice, jalapeno and cilantro, succulent shrimp are tossed with terrifically charred nibbles of corn, tangy hearts of palm, and tomatoes. But what really sets this dish apart is the salty crunch it receives from a whimsical sprinkling of ancho chile-spiced popcorn. Address: 946 Second Ave., nr. 50th Street Phone: 212.355.6565 Until we eat again, Restaurant Girl **Don’t forget to subscribe for Restaurant Girl’s Weekly...
Read MoreQ & A With Will Goldfarb
Somewhat of a pioneer in the pastry movement, Will Goldfarb launched the radically successful dessert bar Room 4 Dessert. There he charmed diners with such vanguard creations as litchi sorbet with tea air and choco bubbles. Though Room 4 Dessert has recently shut its doors (due to creative differences amongst partners), Goldfarb shows no signs of slowing down. His newest venture, Picnick, will bestow a “green” kiosk on Battery Park, bearing haute sandwiches and pannacotta in paper cups (opens Labor Day weekend). A student of Le Cordon Bleu and Ferran Adria’s at Spain’s three-starred El Bulli, Goldfarb has emerged an ingenious “mad scientist,” fascinated with chemically altered states of cooking. Status: Single/Married/Divorced Happily married. How did you meet your wife? She interviewed me to see if I would be a good roommate for a shared apartment on Bleecker Street. ...
Read MoreBLT Market Revealed…At Last!
Laurent Tourondel has successfully done steak (BLT Steak), seafood (BLT Fish) and like everyone else, a burger joint (BLT Burger). Now, he’s jumping on the market bandwagon with BLT Market. A seasonal affair, BLT Market will embrace locally-sourced produce with a menu that rotates monthly. Come fall, chef Tourondel will dabble in dishes like an arugula and dandelion salad, pan-seared striped bass with cranberry bean caponata and fennel confit, and Amish chicken Provencal. A glimpse of the interior reveals creamy walls lined with vibrant paintings of tomatoes (an obvious nod to the market component) and bare bulb light fixtures which hang over reclaimed wood tables and chairs. Though this appears a more casual endeavor for Tourondel, we can’t forget it’s housed in Central Park South’s Ritz Carlton. Opening its doors August 16th, BLT Market will serve dinner on a...
Read MoreFirst Look – Spitzer's Corner Menu!
Yesterday, we got a glimpse of Spitzer’s Corner as it unfolds on the Lower East Side. Today, we unveil the New American gastropub menu. Without further ado… Spitzer’s Corner Menu Bar Snacks Homemade Spiced Potato Chips Pork Fat Popcorn Marinated Olives Pot of Pickles Roasted Almonds Oyster Bar East and West Coast Oysters, mignonette / red cocktail sauce Small Plates Rocket Arugula Salad, grapefruit, avocado & shaved parmesan Beer-Battered Oysters, mustard cabbage slaw, herb remoulade Charcuterie Plate w/ a selection of cured meats and artisanal cheese Fried Zucchini Blossoms, ricotta, truffle oil Bacon wrapped Chicken Liver Skewers Grilled Cuttlefish, preserved lemon, ink sauce Grilled Lamb Ribs, harissa glaze Large Plates Steamed Mussels, Italian sausage, peppers, tomatoes PBLT—Crispy Pork Belly, lettuce, tomato on Challah House Burger on a brioche bun, Tillamook...
Read MoreInside Spitzer’s Corner!
Okay, so it doesn’t look like Spitzer’s Corner is opening this week, but we did manage to sneak in and take a peek at the goods. Right this way, ladies and gentlemen… this Lower East Sider’s outfitted with reclaimed pickle barrel wood walls, long wood tables, metal chairs and two zinc bars (one per dining room). The Shamlian brothers’ communal eatery will no doubt be a laid back social affair. But wait there’s more… Floor-to-ceiling retractable glass windows will open up to the street, where they’ll be outdoor seating for twenty, a grand total of 120 seats at this New American gastropub. To refresh your memory, Will & Rob Shamlian bid adieu to Sam Talbot awhile back, recruiting chef Michael Cooperman (Le Bernadin) to take over kitchen duties. Oh, we got a glimpse of the menu too: There’s a...
Read MoreQ & A With Craig Koketsu
As the executive chef at NYC’s first seasonal restaurant, Park Avenue Summer, Craig Koketsu’s menu will morph at the whim of the seasons (as will the space itself). Craig Koketsu has become quite adaptable to change: afterall, he oversaw Manhattan Ocean Club’s kitchen as it transformed into the chic Quality Meats. Craig didn’t travel a traditional path to the kitchen, instead spending his early years in UC Berkeley’s library. From there, he skipped culinary school and went straight to numerous California kitchens then to NYC to work under the tutelage of luminary Christian Delouvrier at Lespinasse. This summer’s menu, which will soon fall (as well as the space itself) into autumn, purveys soy-battered soft shell crabs, grilled langoustines and fluke dabbed with plum & cilantro paste. Status: Single/Married/Divorced Married to my incredibly beautiful and talented wife, Juliana Cho. What...
Read MoreBrunch Anyone?
Little Giant – Framed in floor-to-ceiling windows, this LES spot does justice to southern cooking. There are so many aces on this menu, it’s hard to choose: biscuits & gravy, a mean grilled cheese with pickles or grits. Your best bet – the trucker’s breakfast – where you can maximize the spread: scrambled eggs, sausage, hand-sliced bacon, mushrooms, gravy and molasses baked beans. Address: 85 Orchard St., at Broome Phone: 212.226.5047 202 at Nicole Farhi – A cafe smack dab in the middle of a store has never been my idea of the perfect setting, but when the food’s this good, you just suck it up. It doesn’t feel like much of a sacrifice after you’ve sampled the warm goat cheese salad with crispy prosciutto or the lamb burger with chickpea fries. Oh, and once you’ve ordered, you can...
Read MoreCentro Vinoteca's Devilish Dish
The newest Italian to descend on the “boot-saturated” West Village reveals a determined kitchen with ingenious little twists on food that manages not to take itself seriously. With Felidia, Savoy and numerous stints as Batali’s sidekick on Iron Chef America, Centro Vinoteca is Anne Burrell’s solo show. While it’s still too early in the game to jump to any conclusions, I’m compelled to bask in the sheer delight of their truffled deviled eggs. Now twice bitten, these nibbles proved themselves to be no fluke. Let’s break them down, shall we? Behold, these hardboiled whites; deceptively simple groundwork for wickedly creamy puffs of black truffle-specked yolks, doused with truffle oil & sprinkled with fresh chives. Here’s the clincher: they’re a mere $4. I’ll never see a deviled egg quite the same way again. Address: 74 Seventh Ave., at Barrow St.Phone:...
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