New York City

How pissed would you be if you went to the fucking Billboards Music Awards Show and some guy named Miguel decapitated you and your friend?

Initially I had hoped to cover the Manhattan Cocktail Classic's kickoff gala at the New York Public Library by imbibing every single cocktail the event had to offer. "Oh no, you cannot do that," our editor told us as he sipped an oversized, frigid-looking gin martini. "There are more than 150 cocktails. You will die." What if I just took a sip of each one? "Mmmp," he said, the liquor engulfing his upper lip. "Die." [ more › ]

Certain cooks slavishly copy ­conventional wisdom during the course of their careers, while others go out of their way, perhaps too slavishly, to try to redefine it. Then there are those chefs, like Andrew Carmellini, who manage to negotiate the endlessly changing fashions of their day in an effortless, perfectly timed way. Carmellini was Daniel Boulud’s chief lieutenant during the last days of haute cuisine, and when that blew up, he opened the excellent upmarket Italian restaurant A Voce. When New Yorkers began clamoring for simpler, more comforting food during the recession, he turned out meatball sliders and rustic bowls of pasta at his popular Tribeca establishment Locanda Verde. Shortly after that, as the great locavore tsunami hit town, he and his partners Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom opened the Dutch in Soho, where it’s possible to dine on platters of chicken-fried quail without having to make the slog out to Williamsburg or Bushwick. So it’s no surprise that Carmellini’s latest venture—a big, spangled, category-killing brasserie called Lafayette—is almost perfectly timed to catch the wave of French-food nostalgia that has been building, these last several months, all over city. Like other trendy, recently opened brasseries (Le Philosophe, Calliope, Montmartre), this one offers plates of fresh oysters, newfangled versions of duck au poivre, and twirls of skinny golden frites in soft paper cones. Unlike the others, there’s also a Balthazar-like boulangerie up front, where you can purchase fresh-baked croissants and pointy baguettes and ogle trays of overpriced pastries displayed under glass. The tall, airy room on Lafayette Street features Continental-style picture windows and spacious coffee-colored banquets, and it’s easily the prettiest, most workable space that Carmellini and his team have occupied since they began hatching restaurant ideas over a decade ago. In my experience, the food at ­Carmellini’s­ restaurants gets better with age, but at Lafayette my tasters and I found several decent things to eat right off the bat. The former Craft chef Damon Wise has been recruited to run the kitchen, and he and his cooks produce slabs of grainy, wine-­colored country pâté studded with pistachios ($16), and a cool, properly smooth foie gras terrine garnished with sweetened rhubarb. The small-plate toast dishes popularized by Jean-Georges at ABC Kitchen are called tartines here, and you can get them piled with spoonfuls of opulent duck-liver mousse ($8) or Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese, decked with tomatoes and slivers of fresh radish. My classic beef tartare ($18) was a much better deal than the mealy Hawaiian prawns ($19 with sauce verte), but if you’re in the mood for serious feed, begin your dinner with the lardon-rich salad frisée, which is served on a plate the size of a small hubcap. “I think they’ve captured that real French-brasserie feeling,” said an actual Parisian at my table, as she ate the generously portioned, Côte d’Azur-quality seafood salad ($19) and soft slices of boudin noir, which the kitchen plates, tastefully, with a scattering of green garden peas. She was very complimentary about the pastas, too, which include flower-shaped “Fleur de Soleil” noodles ($18), made in-house and dressed with specks of pancetta and more garden peas; tangles of Provençal-style squid-ink fettuccine bombed with shellfish and bits of smoky chorizo; and chewy shell-shaped coquilles macaroni smothered in veal ragout. Various exotic pasta specials also tend to pop up on the menu throughout the week (if they have the lobster ravioli, order it), although the dish we all liked best in the Les Pâtes section was the perfectly al dente risotto, folded with mushrooms, fresh asparagus, and a creamy Parmesan sauce. The entrées are the most prosaic part of the menu at Lafayette, although if you’ve fattened up on the pastas, y

Eastwood's Israeli Scotch egg. It’s unlikely that modern Israeli cooking will ever bump New Nordic or Asian Hipster from their positions atop the list of Zeitgeist-y New York cuisines. But recently, a new wave of Israeli food has made inroads, beginning, as these things often do, with oversubscribed pop-ups: The Kubbeh Project occupied Zucker Bakery for three weeks in March, celebrating Iraqi-Jewish dumpling soups, and then Michael Solomonov, the foie-gras-kebab-grilling chef of Philadelphia’s Zahav, had to add a second seating (at 1 a.m.!) for his Momofuku Ssäm Bar binge. In further hipster-foodie news, two Israeli-expat stands landed at the Brooklyn Flea (Plantí’s artful hummus plates, NYShuk’s hand-rolled couscous). This year has also seen the arrival of Tel Aviv baker Uri Scheft, whose eclectic output at Union Square’s Breads Bakery (18 E. 16th St., nr. Union Sq. W.; 212-633-2253) ranges from everything-seeded challah to chocolate-coated alfajores, the Argentine cookie that’s like the cupcake of Israel, and the debut of basil-tinged “crazy baba” at Zizi Limona (129 Havemeyer St., nr. S. 1st St., Williamsburg; 347-763-1463), a free-spirited Brooklyn restaurant where chef Nir Mesika stocks his larder with not only date honey and za’atar but curry power and fish sauce. This sort of no-boundaries fusion is to be expected from a melting-pot nation like Israel, whose citizens hail from every corner of the globe—not unlike New York, which provides fertile ground for even more crossover cooking. And so we have the tomatillo-sauced “green shakshuka” at Jack’s Wife Freda (224 Lafayette St., nr. Spring St.; 212-510-8550); Taboonette’s (30 E. 13th St., nr. University Pl.; 212-510-7881) pita pockets subversively stuffed with pulled pork; and corn empanadas at Balaboosta (214 Mulberry St., nr. Spring St.; 212-966-7366), whose chef-owner Einat Admony promises her next modern Israeli restaurant, Bar Bolonat (611 Hudson St., at 12th St.; no phone yet), will be even more irreverent. There may be no better symbol of the new wave, though, than the Israeli Scotch egg at the Lower East Side bar Eastwood (200 Clinton St., at E. Broadway; 917-284-4514), where partner Sivan Harlap conceived of the snack as a clever hybrid of her Israeli heritage and her husband’s Scottish one. Coated in falafel, not sausage, and served with tahini, it’s immigrant food at its culture-bridging best. *This article originally appeared in the May 27, 2013 issue of New York Magazine. Read more posts by Robin Raisfeld and Rob PatroniteFiled Under: trendlet, balaboosta, bar bolonat, breads bakery, brooklyn flea, eastwood, jacks wife freda, taboonette, zizi limona

For a follow-up to their Italian-farmhouse-style Rucola, partners Henry Rich and Julian Brizzi plan to open a Ligurian-inspired restaurant early next month on the premises of the 3rd Ward workspace and education center in East Williamsburg. This will mean that members no longer have to leave the compound for sustenance between classes on bike mechanics and cheese-making, and also that locals can drop by for pour-over Stumptown coffee and breakfast pastries, chilled fava-and-mint soup, and ramps with smoked-almond pesto (pictured). Fitzcarraldo takes its design cues from the Werner Herzog film (scene: a crumbling opera house in an overgrown jungle outpost), and although an exact opening date has yet to be determined, the venue will make its official debut on June 1 at the center’s anniversary barbecue. For this open-to-the-public event, chef Vinny Campos will be roasting lamb in a caja china, grilling Brooklyn Cured sausages, and spiking shaved ice with Fernet and Coke. 195 Morgan Ave., nr. Stagg St., East Williamsburg; 718-233-2566 *This article originally appeared in the May 27, 2013 issue of New York Magazine. Read more posts by Robin Raisfeld and Rob PatroniteFiled Under: openings, fitzcarraldo, henry rich, julian brizzi, slideshow

This Week's Top Stories: Eater Inside: Costata · The Great GoogaMooga 2013 · Critic Robert Sietsema Axed From the Village Voice · The Gatekeepers: Balthazar's Arnaud Jean-Baptiste · Eater Inside: River Styx · Untouchables: Anita Lo's Foie Gras Soup Dumplings at Annisa · Updating the Cocktail Heatmap · People Go Nuts for Dominique Ansel's Cronuts · New York's 11 Top Free Agent Chefs, 2013 · Eater Inside: The Fourth · Restaurants That Are Still Closed Because of Sandy · Chef Shuffles: Jason Hall Leaves John DeLucie's Crown Group

The first stalks of rhubarb, in finely freckled shades of salmon pink and celery green and sticking out like glow sticks at a Phish concert, have made their way onto the folding tables at Greenmarket’s Samascott Orchards stand. No need to tell you that they’re delicious tempered with sugar and baked into a pie or crumble. But for some, the essence of the fruit (no, wait—make that vegetable) lies in its unadulterated, razor-sharp tartness. This supremely sour greens-and-rhubarb recipe from Daniel Boulud’s cookbook Braise, recently reissued in paperback, is a perfect example. Daniel Boulud’s Mixed Greens With Rhubarb, Leeks, and Dill 1 pound rhubarb 2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil 1 pounds leeks, white and green parts, washed and diced (about 4 cups) 2 pounds mixed greens (collard greens, kale, Swiss chard, mustard greens, beet leaves), trimmed 5 tbs. dried dill weed 1 tbs. coarse sea salt or kosher salt, plus additional to taste 1 tsp. Aleppo pepper (at Kalustyan’s) Freshly ground black pepper to taste Preheat oven to 275. (1) Trim the rhubarb, and (2) slice the stalks into 1/2-inch-thick pieces. Reserve. In a medium cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the leeks and cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the greens, cover, and cook just until they are slightly wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. (3) Add the rhubarb, dill, salt, Aleppo pepper, and black pepper, and continue to cook until the rhubarb is slightly softened, 12 to 15 minutes. Pour in 1 cup of water, and bring to a simmer. Cover, and transfer to the oven. Braise until greens have broken down and the liquid has reduced, about 1 1/2 hours. Adjust seasoning if necessary, and serve with yogurt. Serves 4 to 6. Adapted from Braise, by Daniel Boulud and Melissa Clark (Ecco; $19.99). *This article originally appeared in the May 27, 2013 issue of New York Magazine. Read more posts by Robin Raisfeld and Rob PatroniteFiled Under: in season, braise, daniel boulud, recipes, rhubarb

**** CHERRY GROVE GOSSIP **** Bianca Del Rio With Josh Hart, Susan Levine And Sable Scities The Staff Of Dune Point Another great year for DJ Susan Levine and another birthday to celebrate for New York's top spinner. This year Miss Levine not only hosted the grand opening of Cherry's On The Bay in Fire Island, she celebrated her birthday bash with a wild night of shows and top songs. This club was packed and the crowd was wild. Sable Scities aka Timothy Byars and Bianca Del Rio hosted from the stage and went after audience members with a vengeance. The staff of Dune Point Fire Island also joined the fun, by jumping onstage and singing Happy Birthday in Czech. Since nothing ever stuns Queen Susan Levine, except when I make a bad pot of coffee, she was thrilled by Petra Brehl and her mother Sona Pavlasova Ceska's staff of Czech beauties singing the famed song in their native language. What could be better on a beautiful night in Cherry Grove? Spotted in the audience was the oldest intern on The Elvis Duran Show, Johny Pool. Johny has fans worldwide. Tourists come from all over the globe to taste Johny's famous drinks, this guy is a legend. Logan Hardcore was spotted working the crowd and our favorite Cherry Lane Cafe bartender Josh Hart, was in full swing presenting Miss Levine with her birthday cake. The dance floor was packed and once again Miss Levine really brought out the top hits on a wild Fire Island night. Get ready America, Queen Levine is really on the top of her game this year and no one gets the crowd moving like her! Photos By: James Edstrom

Long-boiled pork-bone broth so rich it could fell an ox. Excited staffers shouting something at you in a foreign language when you walk in. Loud, frantic noodle slurping. Ah, yes, it must be another authentic tonkotsu-style ramen shop. This one, however, the first New York branch of a Tokyo-based mini-chain, is already a bit of a sensation in Los Angeles, where there are three locations. It arrives in the West Village early next month with a letter of recommendation in the form of a rave review from Pulitzer Prize-winning L.A. food writer Jonathan Gold. Among food geeks, that is something like the equivalent of three Michelin stars, but even better. There are 56 seats, plus nine more at the counter. So go ahead and start brainstorming an Ippudo-style line-waiting strategy. 24 Greenwich Ave., nr. 10th St.; 646-329-6856 *This article originally appeared in the May 27, 2013 issue of New York Magazine. Read more posts by Robin Raisfeld and Rob PatroniteFiled Under: openings, jinya ramen bar, ramen

The Daily News is trying to get aboard the Exaggerated Trend Piece train (owned and operated by the New York Times) with a scoffing story on tepees, apparently the latest eye-rolling fixture in "hipster" households. [ more › ]