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Ships / Food Travel / Cunard / Queen Mary 2 / Boats / Todd English / → All Tags

Why is Chef Todd English in the Queen Mary 2's Captain's Chair?

What's he saying? 'All ahead flambe!' or possibly 'Release the gravy boats!'

Get down from there, chef Todd English! While onboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2 yesterday, English took first position on the bridge and determinedly surveyed New York harbor. Luckily, it was only for a second, as the QM2 was safely tied up at dock at Brooklyn's Cruise Terminal, taking on new passengers for a transatlantic crossing to Southampton and Hamburg, where she'd drop off some long-stranded European travelers affected by the volcano ash and unwilling to deal with the airlines any longer.

Cunard invited us onboard for a quick tour of the behemoth boat, which is longer than the Chrysler building is tall and more packed with passengers than a whole line of A380 superjumbo airplanes. Needless to say, we were impressed, and the heady combination of the world's only at-sea planetarium, lemongrass-infused champagne and Todd English's bedroom eyes made us want to stowaway in a closet onboard and never return to dry land.

Food porn for sure, after the jump

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Celeb Travel / Restaurant Travel / Eva Longoria Parker / Airport Restaurants / Todd English / → All Tags

Eva Longoria Parker Wants To Play Airport Restaurant Mogul

Oh, celebrities and their silly plans for world domination! Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria Parker is preparing for opening of the second location of her Hollywood restaurant Beso, this one in Vegas, but she's already looking to expand... to airports?!

Beso Vegas isn't supposed to open until New Year's Eve, but Parker told People that she's also looking into branching out to airports with Besitos, a limited-menu version of the flagship. First stop, naturally, is LAX, an airport that recently announced it was revamping its concession offerings.

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Upscale Airport Restaurants / BOS / Todd English / Restaurants / → All Tags

Todd English's Bonfire Sets Logan Ablaze

No one's going to fault Boston's Logan International Airport for being too flashy; the whole place exudes a comfortable shabbiness akin to an aunt's living room. Chef Todd English must have flown through there one too many times when he decided to put a steakhouse there, but is it more prime rib or Salisbury steak?

Located through security in terminal B near the American Airlines gates, Bonfire is the namesake of English's well regarded Back Bay restaurant attached to the Park Plaza Hotel. English started his career with Olives in nearby Charlestown and is Eva Longoria's partner in Beso, her Mexican-American restaurant in Los Angeles.

Beyond the audacity of putting a steakhouse in what's normally the plastic-knife zone, Bonfire's reviews are definitely mixed, with one Yelper asking: "Why would you purchase a large space at the airport and then fill it with such terrible food, Todd?" Still, Bonfire was successful enough that English opened another location at New York's JFK Airport in Terminal 7 (the United terminal) last fall.

Have you eaten at either of these fancy flight fooderies? We'd love to know your review.

Related Stories:
· Todd English Makes Us a Gild Hall Hotel Meal for $8 [HC]
· Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"'s Oscar Victory Tour Guide [Jaunted]
· 2008: New NYC Restaurant: The Libertine (an English creation) [Jaunted]

[Photo: Boston.com]

New New York Restaurants / Restaurants / Todd English / → All Tags

New NYC Restaurant: The Libertine

Of all the NYC neighborhoods we might grab a meal in, the financial district is probably the least likely. Aside from the whole crowded, loud and snotty thing, there's mostly just bland lunch counters and way overpriced expense account joints. When we've been stuck there before, we can hardly find a suitable spot for dinner.

That may have changed with the opening of The Libertine, a new dining room in the Gild Hall hotel from celeb chef Todd English. The book-lined, wood-paneled restaurant looks like the study in Clue, and the creative menu is just as comforting.

For brunch there's the "NY Bene," an unlikely but totally necessary combo of poached eggs and pastrami sandwich. Lunch brings the "Adult PB&J": almond butter and Cabernet jelly on whole grain bread, with a banana milk shake shot. There's also a raw bar, and dinner goes a little more traditional, with steak tartare and rack of lamb.

Related Stories:
· Gild Hall Hotel [Official Site]
· New New York Restaurants coverage [Jaunted]
· Gild Hall coverage [HC]

[Photo: The Libertine]