Another East Village Ramen Spot | Bike Cafe Sells Pastries, Harleys

	March 2, 2009
Openings Keith McNally’s and Ken Friedman’s New Ones Are Christened Yes, we’ve pretty much shown you the full monty where Minetta Tavern is concerned (see our interior slideshow here), but here’s a detail we have yet to see, and indeed it's currently visible (ever so enticingly) only through the plastic sheeting that’s still up — the windows have now been stenciled! Yay! And while we’re reveling in slow reveals, Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield’s restaurant in the ACE Hotel will open in June (the original plan was February) — it’ll be called the Breslin (after its building) and will serve “pan-European cuisine with an emphasis on meat dishes.” (Indeed, Bloomfield had earlier promised “rib roasts, racks of veal, lots of... Read More » Two For Eight Tables Available at Abboccato, Alto, Convivio, Del Posto, and Insieme It's 4 p.m., and that means it's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: High Italian. Read More » Openings New Biker Café Sells Pastries, Harleys Motorcycles and croissants were made for each other — just ask the Beaujolais Biker Brigade! Now, four local enthusiasts have opened the New York City Motorcycle Federation, a shop that appeals to riders and non-riders alike by selling modified gear as well as Illy espresso drinks and Ceci-Cela croissants. “I don’t want to look like a Teenage Ninja Turtle when I ride,” partner Leila Barratt-Denyer told us of the gear. “I want to look like James Dean.” Further to that, The Wild One, Mad Max, and other biking movies play on a projection screen over the café’s one communal table — accompanied by Pink Floyd, the Doors, and other classic... Read More » Trimmings Also, a Word With MarieBelle About Those Rose Petals ... While we’re on the subject of twee tea parlors, we have to have a word with MarieBelle. Love your mocha, but that practice you have of sprinkling fake rose petals (like they’re fairy dust) over sealed boxes of bonbons when you put them in the bag? It’s gotta stop. Yes, we love rose-petal doughnuts, and we’re reassured to see that someone can afford to burn through so many fake flowers (even if they probs came from a Greenpoint 99-cent store), but not even Franck, the wedding planner in Father of the Bride, could have dreamed up something this precious. Just stop it right now! Read More » Menus What to Eat at Trigo Kitchen Trigo's takeout annex, Trigo Kitchen, soft-opened last week, and the menu's finally set. The pit stop is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. so there's coffee and muffins in addition to house-baked flatbreads with toppings like spiced lamb or Caprese salad. See the full menu after the jump. Read More » Top Chef Top Chef Casting Director Tells All At the Top Chef tryouts yesterday at Craftsteak, more than 100 hopefuls turned out to pack their knives and go to the next season. The fifth season of the show was the highest rated ever and cheftestants are now getting book deals and maybe even TV shows in addition to all that Gladware. Molly Finkelstein spoke to casting producer Hunter Braun on bikini chefs, caribou, and repeat auditions. Read More » New Eats Birdbath Introduces Pizza; Get Eggstreme at Maoz Last week, Birdbath bakery began using pretzel-croissant dough to make handheld pizzas ($5 to $7) with house-made tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella from Joe’s Dairy. And Serious Eats finds a reverse lunch-specialist-does-breakfast move at Maoz falafel. The Eggstreme is “a re-imagined shakshuka: tangy stewed tomatoes, peppers and onions atop two fried eggs, stuffed into a still-warm pita.” Read More » Ramen Wars Souen Gives the East Village Another (Organic! Vegan!) Ramen Shop Pending a final inspection today, macrobiotic mini-chain Souen will open its latest outpost tomorrow, a 26-seater, with a design similar to Jewel Bako’s (same architect) that will focus on all-natural, organic ramen. The menu will be small — in addition to several appetizers including seitan dumplings and yuba (tofu skin), there will be a variety of soups prepared by one Chef Yoda, whose parents owned ramen shops back in Japan. You’ll be able to chose your type of noodle (wheat or rice), broth (organic chicken or vegan/vegetarian), and base (kale; dried seaweed; seitan; or wok-fried and shredded burdock, carrots, and lotus roots in soy sauce). If you love the porky... Read More » Pizza Pizza Dom DeMarco Named to Pizza Hall of Fame Di Fara’s owner and pie godfather, Dom DeMarco, will be inducted into the Pizza Hall of Fame tomorrow. He will be introduced by a representative of the next generation of Brooklyn pizza chefs, Nino Coniglio, who recently opened Pizzeria Del Corso in Marine Park. Trade publication PMQ Pizza Magazine calls DeMarco “the Cal Ripken of the pizza business.” Our question: whether the dismissive DeMarco will hang the plaque in his store, or just leave it at the ceremony, accidentally on purpose. Read More » Marketing Gimmicks Naked Cowboy Is Latest to Be Burger Battered Notorious food-phobe Naked Cowboy, obviously aware of how much press the burger beating couple got, is milking (milkshaking?) a supposed food fight with his girlfriend for publicity. Sigh. Cue the release. Read More » Mediavore Siberia Bar Doc Looking for a Film Festival; Recession Hits Food Mags • Filmmaker Jack Bryan is shopping a documentary about late, lamented dive Siberia Bar to film festivals. [NYP] Related: Siberia Documentary Premieres, Westmoreland Still Searching • Upscale food magazines are going budget by writing about home cooking instead of haute cuisine. [NYT] • A British tabloid alleges that Gordon Ramsay is lying about having once been signed with Scottish soccer team the Glasgow Rangers. [NYP] • Serenbe, a planned community outside of Atlanta, is largely dedicated to sustainable food. [NYT] • Even the world's best restaurants aren't immune to food-poisoning scares: The Fat Duck in England has temporarily closed following reports of customers being sickened by their meals. [Telegraph UK via Diner's Journal/NYT] Operating As ... Falafel Shop Still Can’t Make Up Its Friggin’ Mind Remember the East Village falafel joint, formerly Chickpea, that ticked everyone off by holding a contest to determine its name? It operated anonymously for a while, then was briefly known as Kosher Village, and then decided to go with Tahini. Now it seems to have changed its name yet again (to Edna’s Falafel Shop), but it hasn’t bothered changing the Tahini signage. Guys — it’s been a year! Get it together. In the Magazine Best of New York: Food In the magazine this week, we bring you the Best of New York. In terms of food, that means our editors have ferreted out the finest bites, ingredients, and sweets the city has to offer. Some, like pasta, soup, and pie, are familiar categories. Others, such as porchetta, cutting-edge Chinese, and octopus, are the reasons we live to eat here. Be sure to consult this handy chart to get bargains on pizza, burgers, and sandwiches, and save the money to eat at our critics’ favorite new restaurants. TV Land Celebrity Apprentice Imagines the Inevitable: Cupcake Trucks To tide you over between Top Chef and the March 11 premiere of Chopping Block, there was last night’s Celebrity Apprentice: The male and female teams competed in a cupcake-truck competition, and Andrew Dice Clay did not dig his cupcake lessons at the Institute of Culinary Education: “I’m from Brooklyn. I can’t have my friends from Brooklyn looking at me with this stupid hat … It’s like a rule: Don’t look like a jerk-off.” Later, he told Dennis Rodman: “All right, you want me to admit it? I don’t wanna make cupcakes! I hate making cupcakes!” It was up to the owners of Crumbs to determine whose cupcakes were better, and the men’s were “disgusting.” Winner: women. Fired: Diceman.