New York Restaurants

Allison Robicelli is organizing an effort to raise money for those affected by the tornado in Oklahoma yesterday. Mile End Deli, Thirty Acres, and Liddabit Sweets are among those already on board, with a goal of raising $15,000. The money will go to Team Rubicon, a disaster relief organization that also came to the aid of New Yorkers after Hurricane Sandy. The Robicelli's is urging people to donate to them rather than to the Red Cross, which they say "was MIA after Sandy." [EaterWire]

Jersey-based dairy Valley Shepherd Creamery is taking over the former Almondine space in Park Slope, for a new location of its Melt Kraft grilled cheese shop. A first Melt Kraft location opened in Philly in January and seems to be a big hit. Almondine's Ninth Street space closed after Hurricane Sandy destroyed the bakery in Dumbo. [GS]

Coney Island institution Nathan's Famous is back in action. The original Surf Avenue location of the hot dog emporium has been shuttered since Hurricane Sandy caused severe damage to the space. But last night, the company posted a photo of the open restaurant on Facebook with the note "Isn't it a beautiful sight?" Another note on Facebook explains that the restaurant reopened its doors at 7 p.m. last night. When asked about the storm, director of operations Bruce Miller recently told NY1: "When I drove up I was flabbergasted by the extent of the damage, the whole restaurant was completely flooded out." The layout of the dining room is slightly different now, and the Nathan's team added a new clam bar which serves oysters — a first for the restaurant. The space caught on fire earlier this month, but the blaze did not cause any significant delays. The other Nathan's location directly on the boardwalk reopened at the end of March. In Eater's latest survey of the restaurants that remain closed because of Sandy, many restaurateurs said they planned to reopen by Memorial Day. Hopefully there will be more reopening announcements by the end of the week. · Nathan's Famous [Facebook] · Storm Damaged Nathan's Ready For Summer Crowds [NY1] · All Coverage of Nathan's Famous [~ENY~]

A collection of links from the reporters and editors of the Dining section.

The Upper West Side's boozy Australian restaurant The Sunburnt Calf has closed and been sold to new owners. This follows the shutter of Bondi Road last year and the constantly-impending shutter of sister restaurant The Sunburnt Cow, which has hit the market but remains open (with limited hours). [Twitter via West Side Rag]

Nick Jones, the proprietor of members-only club Soho House, had a rough time at last night's Community Board 3 SLA Licensing Committee meeting. Jones and his lawyer explained that the proposed location of Soho House at 139 Ludlow Street would be an asset to the community, and that they have a track record for being good neighbors. In their pitch, Jones and his lawyer also noted that they would be happy to close the rooftop outdoor space at midnight and dedicate the basement space to "community use." Although many people spoke in favor of supporting their liquor license application, the ultimate decision from the Community Board was to deny the license. But it was a nail biter: six members supported the decision do deny, four members voted against the decision, and one member abstained. Many of the people that spoke against Soho House at last night's cramped, sweaty CB 3 meeting argued that the block that the building sits on is simply over-saturated with liquor licenses, and that any additional club — even an upscale one — would contribute to ongoing quality of life issues. Supporters of Soho House — of which there were many, including one Michael Chernow — argued that having an establishment like this on Ludlow Street would be a good thing for the neighbors. A lot of people that spoke in favor mentioned that members use the club for business meetings, and that it would bring foot traffic to the area during the day. The conversation about Soho House lasted for over two hours, but ultimately, the team got shut down. The full board will vote on this issue at the end of the month. As several people noted at last night's meeting, the State Liquor Authority up in Albany will probably give Soho House the liquor license no matter what, because the owners are making a huge investment in the area, and money talks. One CB member remarked: "To think that Albany is going to turn this down is naive...They own the building...and it's an eight million dollar investment." In other liquor license news, the Community Board 3 voted to deny The Living Room team's application at 173 East Second Street. The owners of the singer-songwriter club want to move it to an old laundromat space a few blocks north once their lease is up, but the CB 3 made a motion to deny because of a zoning restriction in the area. · All Coverage of Soho House [~ENY~] · All Coverage of The Living Room [~ENY~]

Taking names, starting today. The immensely popular Southern chef and heirloom-bean revivalist Sean Brock announced that the Nashville outpost of his Charleston restaurant Husk will open for its first dinner service on Thursday evening. The restaurant, which was announced last October, will begin taking reservations today. Also, pokeweed fritters with Benton's ham and lard butter are on the menu. [Husk Nashville, Earlier, Related] Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: lard butter, husk, husk nashville, mccrady's, sean brock

[wd~50 by Krieger] · Here's the Cover for Lucky Peach 7: The Travel Issue [~EN~] · GrubHub and Seamless Plan Merger [Chicago Tribune] · Frank Prisinzano Talks on Wine Pairings and Oddball Varietals [FitR] · Tribeca Organic Natural Foods Store Bell Bates is Closing [TC] · Bono and Woody Harrelson Party at Professor Thom's [NYP] · Seamless Made Fun of My Cat and Now It's Merging W/GrubHub [Gawker] · A Hamburger Today on the Burger at Fritzl's Lunch Box [SENY] · The Parts Unknown Libya Episode: Just the One-Liners [~EN~]

You know what we have a lot of in New York City? Spanish restaurants. However, most of them cater to the Sex And The City, sangria sipping, happy hour crowd looking for small plates with a side of Hepatitis A (we warned you about Alta, by the way). When was the time you went to a Spanish restaurant for a serious meal? It’s probably been a minute. That’s because big time Spanish restaurants don’t tend to do so well around these parts. People seem very content chowing down on paella and mediocre salt cod fritters. A well known chef from Spain has come to New York with the intention of changing this. Will he succeed? Probably not. Manzanilla is the Big Apple debut of acclaimed Spanish chef, Dani García. García is famous for being one of the first to bring liquid nitrogen into the kitchen and runs a number of stellar restaurants en España including Calima, his multi Michelin starred signature establishment of modern techniques in Andalucía. Being that we’re not massive molecular gastronomy fans, we were skeptical going into this meal. But the menu doesn’t get too adventurous, it adds bells and whistles to Spanish brasserie classics instead of doing weird sh*t just for the sake of showing off, so that’s good for those of us who actually want to eat food and not science experiments. We enjoyed a couple of dishes at Manzanilla, others not so much. It’s definitely possible to have a solid meal here if you order correctly, focusing on the starters and appetizers rather than the entrees. That’s where we found most of the good stuff. García’s flair for the unexpected impressed, yet his failure to execute the simple stuff flopped. Manzanilla is big on space and low in character. Despite the chef’s background, nothing about this restaurant made you feel like you were dining anywhere near the Mediterranean Sea. With its big open kitchen and fancy dishware, Manzanilla feels just like any other typical restaurant that probably hired a “creative agency” to design and caters to those with crisp blazers and deep pockets. Only this time, many have Spanish accents. We wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to dine here, but you can certainly do a lot worse. That being said, if you’re planning a huge dinner, this is your spot. Tables in the main dining room can seat 12-20 if necessary and there’s a massive private lair downstairs for private parties. It’s also worth checking out when in need of a last minute reservation at a “hot new restaurant”; given the amount of space and the lukewarm response this place has gotten from critics, there will be plenty to be had. Photo Credit: Daniel Krieger Food Rundown Tomato TartareA fancy way of saying Pan Con Tomate, which is always a nice way to start off a Spanish meal. Oxtail BriocheWe loved these bad ass steamed brioche buns, filled with pulled oxtail, mushroom, kale and topped with some kind of spicy sauce. We could have eaten these all night long. While the listing seems a bit par for the course, there was something different about them. Definitely order these guys. CroquettesOne of the most impressive dishes on the menu and one that’s a must order. Squid ink and cuttlefish croquettes, which contain a frozen mixture of cuttlefish stew made with milk and mussel juice underneath the fried exterior. Once bitten, an explosion of delicious, wide ranging flavor enters your mouth. It’s quite the party. Pulpo A La GallegaIf you don’t like the taste of smoke, move on. If you do, indulge. While this octopus listing sounds run of the mill, it’s anything but. García’s version of Galician octopus is fun and exciting. Small pieces of blackened octopus sit atop plump potato gnocchi which he uses a blowtourch on. The kicker though, is the dish rolls to the table covered by a dome, and once removed, a cloud of cherrywood smoke escapes, leaving its smokey mark all over this dish.

This post originally took place on August 18 of last year, which was when I started writing it. But I didn't finish it until now. For no good reason. This does not end well, but that's ok! Photos of submerged kite taken by Melissa. Me: Melissa...MELISSA [points out to the Hudson River], THE KITE THE KITE1 Melissa: [turns to kite] AHHHH NO Me: OH MY GOD NO GET IT UP CANYOUGETITUP2 Melissa: AHGGHFJKDSJF OH NO Me and Melissa: AHHHARRGGHHH NOOOOOO3 Diana: [on the phone with me] ...Are you alright? Me: OH MY GOD OH NO NO NO Diana: [still on the phone with me] So...I'll head over soon... Melissa: I'M SO SORRY I JUST LOOKED AWAY FOR A SECOND Me: AHHH UHH UUGH BLUUUHHGGHRHR Some annotations to clear things up: 1) Response to seeing my kite flying dangerously low to the Hudson River. 2) Response to seeing my kite flying dangerously lower to the Hudson River. 3) Response to seeing my kite gracefully touching the water's surface, then getting swallowed by the water. You think flying a kite is all whimsical and fun, until your kite lands into a massive, swiftly moving body of water, and then it makes you realize, "So this is the pure horror a mother feels when she turns away from her only toddler for just a second, then turns back to see her toddler has disappeared. ...Maybe not into a river. That would be much worse. But yeah. It's just like that." The site of the kite drowning: Pier I off of West 70th Street. I had made Melissa in charge of keeping my kite aloft while I called Diana to coordinate meeting up on the pier. Elsewhere on the pier, Diana had already given her brand new kite a go, but after something like 30 seconds of exhilarating kite flying action it too experienced death-by-river. "Come over and join us; we've got a kite you can fly!" I assured Diana, turning right to give a nod of acknowledgement to Melissa—at which point I noticed the kite not majestically flying as much as lifelessly falling toward the river's surface, over a hundred feet away. And then the frantic yelling commenced. Refer to the dialogue above. But the kite wasn't dead yet. The string was taut; the kite was still attached to it. "We can reel it in!" Melissa suggested ever so optimistically. I like that about her—her beaming optimism in the face of probable doom. "It'll probably break," I deadpanned. Melissa helped me reel in the kite, gently pulling as I wrapped the string around the spool. The string held on despite the immense force of the water. Impressive. Maybe Melissa was on to something with that optimism of hers. We managed to pull the kite all the way back to the pier. Looking over the pier's barrier, we could see the kite "flying" just under the surface of the water, intact and full of potential to ride the skies once more. "I bet this is where it's going to break," I said. I'll admit that I felt a smidge of a smidge of hope, but I didn't want to show it. "No, no, this will work! We just have to pull it up slowly." "I don't know..." Pulled slowly, we did. We pulled and pulled; the kite felt heavier with each tug. In my mind, the kite willingly accepted the grasp of death. The cold, wet grasp. [snap] Oh f— The frantic yelling of watching the kite fall was replaced by dejected quietness. I couldn't remember the last time I felt less thrilled by something not related to a close brush with death (which is evidence of how extremely conflict-free my life is—I know). Melissa's kite was uncooperative. :( It took me a while to realize I overreacted in every way (aside from the initial bout of semi-intelligible yelling; that's just human instinct). Melissa surely felt worse than I did. Not only did her homemade kite not fly—the kite she had been excited to fly for weeks—but she also unintentionally sunk my kite, which I merely bought online and didn't have much of an attachment to. I'm ashamed that I almost let a kite—a fairly inexpensive one I owned for about four days,