10013 Travel Guide
Tags: Recession Restaurants / Recession-Restaurants-Map / Restaurants / Food Travel / → All Tags
L'Ecole
L'Ecole--the restaurant at the French Culinary Institute in Soho--isn't exactly an eatery for those of us hardest-hit by the recession. But for foodies accustomed to the high-end lifestyle who can't quite afford the Nobus and Peter Lugers of the world anymore, this one's got the right price tag.
Because it's a culinary school, you'll be eating grub cooked up by students rather than big-name chefs, but honestly, unless you're a serious gastrophile, it'll be hard to tell the difference.
For moderate prices ($28 at lunch, $42 at dinner), you can get a prix fixe, three-to-five course meal full of high-end French staples like country pate with foie gras and truffles; braised short ribs with sweet potato puree and celery root foam; and pistachio-chocolate crème brulee.
Don't go crazy with the wine list or that price tag will sneak over the $100 mark, but otherwise L'Ecole makes for a relatively inexpensive way to pretend like we're all rich again.
Related Stories:
· L'Ecole [Official Site]
· Recession Restaurants coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: roboppy]
Tags: New New York Restaurants / Restaurants / → All Tags
Corton
Holy hype alert! It's been a while since a non-Momofuku restaurant has had every critic in Manhattan simultaneously foaming at the mouth, but it looks like Corton has done the trick.
The new Tribeca restaurant represents an enticing team-up between Drew Nierporent, the owner behind such hotspots as Tribeca Grill and Nobu, and 32-year-old British wunderkind Paul Liebrandt, a chef who New York magazine calls:
A tempestuous diva of the old school who has a reputation for conjuring up impractical, brilliantly abstruse recipes, then bolting (or being fired) from the kitchen shortly thereafter.
You'd better get your meals in before Liebrandt bolts from this one, because the critics are just about calling it the second coming of Per Se. New York, in fact, gives it a rare four stars. The Observer concurs, calling Liebrandt's dishes:
Extraordinary, putting him in a realm with the city’s greatest chefs.
And Time Out New York gave the spot it's first ever six-star review. Holy hyperbole alert?
The best part is the not-nearly-Per Se prices. For $76, diners can choose a three-course prix fixe, choosing anything from Liebrandt's inventive menu of what he calls modern French fare, with offerings like red kuri squash soup with tempura of crab tail, and veal sweetbreads in chestnut crisp and juniper oil. Not exactly recession restaurant pricing, but with this kind of buzz, we’re sniffing a deal.
Related Stories:
· Corton [Official Site]
· Corton on Hudson [NYM]
· Mais Où Est Montrachet? [NYO]
· Corton [TONY]
· Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar [Jaunted]
[Photo: Corton]
Tags: Sneakers / Shopping / Shoes / Fashion / Fashion Travel / → All Tags
The Sneaker-Restaurant Trend Marches On
Two is a trend when it's this random. What's up with faux-restaurant sneaker shops? First, Philly starts selling sneakers from an undercover Chinese joint, and now New York's latest sneaker shop is disguised as a soul food counter.
At SoleFood NYC, you can check out rare Nikes or bring in your own sneaks to be customized by local graffiti artists. The sneakers are stored in deli-style display cases, and you can try them on while hanging out at diner-style booths.
SoleFood NYC does one-up the Philly joint: On Sundays, they even operate as a bit of a real restaurant, too. You can take your new kicks home along with a takeout container full of collard greens, candied yams, and other soul food goodies.
Related Stories:
· SoleFood NYC [Official Site]
· Secret Sneaker Shopping: The New Speakeasy [Jaunted]
· Sneakers coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Jonathan Sloan]
Tags: New New York Restaurants / Restaurants / → All Tags
New NYC Restaurant: Archipelago
Usually we're wary of anything billed as a "fusion" restaurant, as the culinary world played out the trend some time ago. (Was there ever really a need for British-Malaysian cuisine or Chinese-Italian?)
But once in a while a chef comes along and offers up a fusion-y menu so different that gets us excited again. In this case, the chef is Hisanobu Osaka, formerly of Morimoto, and his menu, at new SoHo eatery Archipelago, puts French-prepared spins on traditional Japanese dishes.
Everything is backwards at Archipelago, where the appetizer menu is full of playful faux-dessert dishes like a "panacotta" made from lobster, curry and uni, and a scallop-Japanese eggplant "flan." Then the appetizers are reconceived as dessert: Goat cheese gnocchi is served with truffle honey and gorgonzola dulce, while the vanilla ice cream is topped with green tea sabayon and sweet black beans.
Related Stories:
· Archipelago [OpenTable]
· New New York Restaurant coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Archipelago]
Tags: Shopping / Sex / → All Tags
Sex Travel: Toys in Babeland
Want to spice up your sex life without landing in a seedy porn shop or a swinger's club? You can do it with class (literally!) at Babeland, a women-owned sex shop chain with two locations in New York.
When we headed to the Soho store for their first workshop of the year called the "Big O." We admit that we were a little, uh, gun shy. (Remember that Sex In The City episode where the girls attended a sex class only to witness a live demonstration of how to pleasure a man?) How the heck was Babeland going to teach a group of strangers how to have better orgasms? Would they make us share our sexual issues in front of an audience or--oh God, no!--ask for volunteers to illustrate techniques?
Tags: Shopping / → All Tags
Muji Comes To Manhattan
While we've had our sights set on Brooklyn and that borough's shopping, the first American outpost of Japanese retailer Muji has opened in Manhattan. Known for its cheap-but-chic aesthetic, Muji's sort of like a trendy Target, with the hip clientele to match.
The new SoHo store opened at noon today and it's been going gangbusters since the doors swung open. The first 500 customers tomorrow and Sunday will also score a free "My Bag" reusable shopping tote, which not only proves you're up on the trends but can also score you discounts in the future.
Though this is the first Muji store in the States, you can get some of the company's stuff at the MoMA Design Stores scattered around Manhattan. Might be a good idea to try those this weekend if outrageous crowds aren't your thing.
Related Stories:
· Muji USA [Official Site]
· Everyone's At Muji [Racked]
· Shopping in Brooklyn coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Racked]
Tags: New New York Restaurants / Candy Shops / → All Tags
New NYC (Candy) Restaurant: Papabubble
New York always gets the good firsts, and the latest is Papabubble, Europe's cult-favorite homespun candy store, which has just opened its first U.S. location in Nolita. Papabubble will draw you in with the scent of simmering sugar, the main ingredient in their addictive hard candies. The name stems from the happy bubbles that pop up in their molten candy while it's still being molded.
Inside, think science lab-slash-subway with the decor, including white tiled walls and metal counters with beakers containing sweet mixes. Brightly colored lollipops and suckers are for sale and, if you're lucky, you can catch the show too. Boiling sugar water is mixed with natural oils over a metal counter and then pulled, cooled and cut by hand to create the treats. Buy a bag and see how fast your first lasts--we're guessing it won't be long.
Related Stories:
· Papabubble [Official Site]
· Cult Candy Shop Papabubble Introduces Itself to Little Italy [NY Mag]
· New NYC Restaurants coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: downbythehipster]
Tags: New York City / Restaurants / Food / Sushi / → All Tags
Tokyo Bay NYC
Anyone out there visit or order from a particular neighborhood restaurant so much that it starts to get embarrassing? You know: you can't stay away, but you wince every time they say "welcome back" or complete your order for you? Yeah, we used to have that sort of relationship with a sushi spot called Tokyo Bay before we moved, so we're happy to see it got a nod from Ben Leventhal (of Eater fame) on Gridskipper's recent sushi poll.
Tokyo Bay is located at 183 Duane Street, firmly in Tribeca, but more Financial District in spirit. The atmosphere is relaxed and unpretentious, which is why we used to love shuffling over there in our sweats so much. Leventhal says it's a favorite among Nobu staffers, and he recommends the Omakase menu. Personally, we could go for some of their tuna sashimi right about now. Bonus: Tokyo Bay is open for lunch as well as dinner, which is relatively rare when it comes to reputable sushi restaurants in NYC.
[Photo: tirinstar]
Related Stories:
· Best Sushi in NYC by the Best Palates of Our Generation [Gridskipper]
Tags: Restaurants / Manhattan / → All Tags
Graydon Carter + Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is something of a culinary genius--not to mention in possession of one of the weirdest names ever--so it was a bit surprising when Vanity Fair smeared his New York City restaurant 66 in a nasty review a couple of years back.
Turns out that VF editor-in-chief Graydon Carter was simply pissy about being seated at a bad table, and then sent a writer later for the hack job. Jossip reports that Graydon actually hearts JGV now, and is a fan of Jean-George's other restaurants Perry Street and Spice Market. Well, isn't that a relief! We were losing sleep at night, consumed by the thought that a megalomanicial magazine editor wasn't getting to eat as well as he should over a little tiff. Bygones, eh, boys?
Related Stories
· Graydon Carter and Jean-Georges Vongerichten [Jossip]
· 66 Restaurant Reviews [TripAdvisor]
