A Full Belly

Links To Go

A Little Restaurant Makes It Big -- NPR Morning Edition on Brooklyn's Grocery and Zagat's. (original post on the brouhaha.)

A rumor that Jay McInerney is next in line for the position of restaurant critic at the New York Times is creating its own mini brouhaha in foodie circles. See: Gothamist, Vittles Vamp, The Kicker's parody.

Bloggers eat out:
Rachelleb on Pop's Pierogi and Indian Bread Co.
Vittles Vamp on La Bottega.
Gotham Gal on The Strip House and Mix.

Life of a professional food taster, via Amy's Robot. "These people are trained, just like you train athletes," said Fred Caporaso, who arranges tasting panels for companies as director of Chapman University's Sensory Evaluation Laboratory (search) in Orange, Calif. "You want someone with aptitude, whose tongue works a little bit better than average."

Links To Go

Gourmet's What's Next 2004. Their list includes black rice, serrano ham, celery (???), steamed buns, "stack of stars" (Time Warner's food court), slow food, raw food. . .

Still thinking Japanese this week. . .

Via Chanpon.org, Eric Gower's Breakaway Japanese Kitchen, an unorthodox and accessible approach to Japanese home-cooking.
Listen to his interview on NPR's KQED. And, be sure to spend some time perusing his excellent website, Eric's Kitchen. I particularly enjoyed these two essays, Why I Like Chopsticks, Even for Ice Cream and On Salt and Pepper.

Nathan's Famous opens in Japan.

Links To Go

Low Culture on I Like Killing Flies, a documentary film about West Village eatery, Shopsin's, which is now part of The 2004 Sundance Film Festival's Documentary Competition.

"Erez Itzhaki and Eric Salomon, the owners of an imminent restaurant located in the East Village of New York City, are running a contest for the public to name their establishment. The winning submission will be awarded a cash prize of $2,500. To enter go to www.name-our-restaurant.com."

Alain Ducasse to open two new luxury inns this spring, one in Tuscany and one in the Landes region of southwestern France.

Starting the New Year

What you might have missed. . .

William Grimes' has left the building. Restaurants will be reviewed by Marian Burros until his successor is named later this winter. Skip the article, but don't miss the interactive feature.

The Village Voice's Annual Manual (Best of New York) includes picks for best food markets and Sietsema's bookmark worthy 25 Places Where Two Can Eat for $25.

NYMetro's Where to Eat 2004. Organized by cuisine, neighborhoods (Chinatown and LES only), and "deal" ("Spinoffs", "Chef Comebacks", and "Hot Spots").

Lockharte Steele's 2003 Lower East Side Food and Drink Awards.

SauteWednesday's Best of Food on the Web for 2003 is an excellent guide.

The Food Museum has launched a blog! Their mission: "The FOOD Museum examines what we eat and how we eat it, where it came from, how it has evolved, what its impact is on the world, and what its future may be. It researches, collects, preserves, exhibits and explains the history and social significance of the world's foods. The museum brings artifacts and programs to where people gather, both in person and on-line."

The science of tiny bubbles (via BV).

Links To Go

NYTimes' play-by-play of the shooting at Rao's.

NY Daily News review of the year in restaurants -- "Italian all over," no velvet rope openings, the Atkins Diet Affect, and little plates.

A few of the NYC restaurants open on Christmas day.

According to many, the world's best dumplings can be found at Taipei's Din Tai Fung. Renee documents her visit to Din Tai Fung's Singapore location, complete with photos. . . Maybe it's time to make a trip to L.A.

It's tuna season! All about the different maguro cuts.

How to make your own (flavored) marshmallows.

Links to Go

NPR segment on the 40th anniversary of the Easy-Bake Oven.

For $19.99, you can revisit your childhood with the latest Easy-Bake Oven that looks more like a microwave than oven.

Take your Easy-Bake Oven to the next level with The Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet by David Hoffman.

Also on NPR, a chat with Jeffrey Steingarten.

Sliceny.com is a weblog about New York-style pizza. I love this post on Grimaldi's appearance on Law & Order. Here's their review of recently opened Pinch: Pizza by the Inch.

According to the December issue of Business 2.0 magazine, the best lunch cart in NYC is Hallo Berlin (registration required).
"The self-proclaimed "wurst pushcart in New York" serves up juicy knockwurst ($3), bratwurst ($3.50), and weisswurst ($3.50). Regulars choose what proprietor Rolf Babiel calls his Dictator Special ($5 to $6): two sausages (of Babiel's choice) smothered in steak sauce, fried potatoes, onions, and red cabbage. Babiel got a letter from Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley's office inviting him to relocate, but the East German transplant refused to leave Manhattan. "I am used to da love und da hate," he says. At 54th Street and Fifth Avenue."

Hollyeats.com's recent visit to Hallo Berlin.

Links to Go

VittlesVamp's holiday week triple play: Via Emilia, 50 Carmine, Itzocan Cafe.

List of chocolate sources in New York and online.

For a different kind of chocolate experience, you might want to check out Azure Day Spa's "Chocolate Fix": "Our Chocolate scrub uses warm chocolate essential oil mixed with medium grain sea salt for the most luxurious body exfoliation you will ever experience. Next you will continue your chocolate journey with a warm chocolate mud wrap. Lay back and relax while warm chocolate essential oil meets warm soothing/nourishing moore mud. Moor mud is known for its natural occurrence of hundreds of healing minerals that will leave you feeling completely rejuvenated."

Archive of Julian Barnes on cookbooks (via TMN).

I.C.E.'s December class calendar.

The week in links

I've made it through the worst of this very busy week. Look for this week's review roundup later this afternoon. Until then, enjoy the week in links!

Turkey and Gravy Soda. No, thank you!

Turkeyhelp.com -- including "50 Foolproof Recipes" and "Top Ten Turkey Disasters." This may come in handy next week.

SauteWednesday's Thanksgiving resource.

The 2 extremes of Jason Kottke -- on the latest installment of foodie and how to cook tator tot hotdish.

Grimes steps down (chowhound thread).

The Foodie's Food Court -- Time Warner Columbus Circle Towers' Restaurant Collection.

Below 14th Review: Public (w/bonus Neighborhood Notebook).

MUG's Hot List.

Daily Candy on newly opened Hearth, 403 East 12th Street, at First Avenue. DC describes the First Avenue location as "gritty." Why does everyone hate 1st Ave?

The Food Section: Julie on Julia. Julie of The Julie/Julia Project has a book deal and an article in the December issue of Bon Appetit.

Links To Go

For the brave of heart only, Velveeta Fudge.

New Yorker's favorite desserts.

Since frying a turkey is out of the question this year, perhaps we'll order a turducken (a boneless chicken filled with dressing and then stuffed into a boneless duck, and then the whole thing goes into a into a semi-boneless turkey and stuff it with Cajun sausage).

MUG has compiled a list of restaurants open on Thanksgiving.

New York restaurant recipes.

To read: A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances

Links To Go

Nathan's Famous now offering a new cheeseburger with complimentary bib: "In a bid to add some more sizzle to its menu, the Westbury-based fast-food chain this week began selling the Big Sloppy, a quarter-pound burger topped with all the usual fixings — cheddar cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles — and a couple of crisp onion rings."

Snacking on strawberries may help astronauts to perform better on long space missions.

Citysearch roundup of restaurant and bar fireplaces. Handy!

How Peter Luger buys its beef.

Related: Mr. Cutlets' website and his book, Meat Me in Manhattan: A Carnivore's Guide to New York.