Jaunted

What Recession? / Meatpacking District / Burgers / Julian Schnabel / Restaurants / Steakhouses / Food Travel / → All Tags

The Old Homestead Hawking $41 Burger

This week, Jaunted is celebrating the recession by looking at the boom-era ridiculousness that is Manhattan's Meatpacking District. One eatery that is almost certain to make it through the current downtown is the venerable Old Homestead Steakhouse. This place has been there for 140 years, so it knows a thing or two about changes in the neighborhood.

The restaurant can be spotted by the iconic cow sculpture that hangs outside its entrance, but it's better known for a more new-school MePa development: the $41 hamburger.

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What Recession? / Restaurants / Food Travel / Jean-Georges Vongerichten / Meatpacking District / → All Tags

Keeping the Spice Alive in MePa

If we had to pick one neighborhood that we're OK with getting decimated by the great recession, it would have to be Manhattan's Meatpacking District, the former slaughterhouse site turned overpriced, overdressed, overhyped Sex in the City-inspired adult playground. Despite the quaint cobblestone streets and picturesque riverfront setting, the new "MePa" always felt more like a movie set than a real-life neighborhood.

But we walked around the Meatpacking District on a recent weekend evening and it appeared to be very much alive and well, with ultra-fashionable crowds still lined up and shivering in skimpy outfits outside every other restaurant and club. The epicenter of this scene is probably Spice Market—chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's massive eatery/hotspot.

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Brunch / Breakfast / Restaurants / Food Travel / Drugs / What Recession / Meatpacking District / New York / → All Tags

French Toast, Champagne, and Rosé-filled Flamingo Bongs: Brunch Gets Naughty in Manhattan

I'm a huge fan of breakfast, but for some reason, brunch has never done it for me. It just seems like such a wishy-washy compromise between breakfast and lunch, where neither an omelet or a salad seems quite right, and the brief euphoria of the Bellini that's included in the prix fixe soon gives way to a sense of exhaustion that lasts the rest of the day. But maybe I'm just not doing it right. The New York Times has a pretty wild story today about the rise of brunch as an intense daytime party for New York's beautiful people. In other words, my problem isn't drinking that one Bellini, it's not drinking five more.

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Late-Night-Eats-In-Manhattan / Meatpacking District / → All Tags

Late Night Eats In Manhattan: Florent

Owner and legend Florent Morellet smiles and shakes his head when people refer to Florent, his unpretentious diner in the once unpretentious Meatpacking District on the west side of Manhattan, as an "institution." Aren't those places reserved for the insane? According to the restaurant's website:

When he originally opened in this decidedly unfashionable spot, it was to give New Yorkers a reliable, round-the-clock eating establishment away from the hype and glitz of the "scene." Things change, but Florent's beliefs haven't. Good food. Good people. And, as we're French, some good, strong opinions to keep it all bubbling.

And deliver opinions he does. Euthanasia: good; overpopulation: bad. The menu is served 24/7, and options range from burgers to duck mousse.

Related Stories:
· Late Night Eats in Manhattan [Jaunted]
· Late Night Eats in LA [Jaunted]
· Restaurant Florent [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr]

Dirty Bingo / To Do in New York / Restaurants / Frank Bruni / Meatpacking District / → All Tags

Tonight: Dirty Bingo in the Meatpacking District

Back when America's Most Wanted Restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni sat down at Paradou, one of the few nearly-indigenous (i.e. opened before the Hotel Gansevoort) Meatpacking district eateries, he mentioned Provençal food, bare-bones décor, and impressive Kobe-style beef tartare, but he left out the fact that this place queues up a monthly game of dirty bingo.

According to the restaurants website:

This is definitely not your Grandmas bingo. This is definitely not the bingo they play on cruise ships or poolside at family resorts. This is DIRTY BINGO!!!
The rules are the same as regular Bingo. The prizes are definitely of a more adult nature. And we learned from the last DIRTY BINGO that we have a randy bunch on our hands, so the gifts will be of a more, shall we say, directly applicable nature. These prizes will definitely keep you hot and bothered on those chilly early spring nights.

Join us on TUESDAY, MARCH 27TH, at 8PM as our fabulous Canadienne, Genvieve, calls the numbers. Prizes provided by Kiki De Montparnasse
Price: $2 per card per game.

Champagne cocktails, fabulous Canadienne women, Bruni-approved French food and the opportunity to win a crystal-bejeweled vibrator or some other Kiki gift. Um, did we mention this is taking place tonight?

If you go, photos please.

[Photo: thatgirlsab]

Related Stories:
· Dirty Bingo [TheDateVine]
· Paradou NYC reviews [NYTimes]