New York Restaurants

We’re not breaking news here, but just in case you still weren’t aware, the LES is f*cking done. Max Fish moving out was the proverbial nail in the coffin. Motor City, St. Jerome’s, Dark Room, and Welcome To The Johnson’s will likely all follow suit very soon, which is a sad state of affairs. We used to get hammered there in our 20′s, and restaurants like Tiny Fork moving in only kicks salt into the wound. Look, we’re all for an oyster and lobster roll joint with excellent beers on tap. In fact, places like that tend to be our favorite kind of dining establishments. But, it’s also important to take your surroundings into account. Tiny Fork legitimately feels like it was air lifted straight off a fancy block in Nantucket – Vineyard Vines, popped collars, and sweaters around the neck in tow. That sounds kind of awesome now that we think about it, but it unfortunately feels brutally out of place on the Lower East Side, regardless of how gentrified the neighborhood has become. The crowd here is hysterical. Did they open a country club inside The Ludlow we didn’t get a terrible press release about? If Tiny Fork were awesome, this whiny tangent about the Lower East Side probably wouldn’t have been nessecary. After all, good food has a way of making everything OK. Unfortunately, that’s not the case here. The $25 lobster roll? Not good. Oysters? Questionable. And if you’re going to name yourself after a tiny shellfish forks, at least have the wherewithal to explain what oysters you’re serving. Don’t just plop a dozen in front of a customer without pointing out where they come from and why they’re awesome. We’re not saying you can’t have an oyster bar on the LES. It’s definitely possible to execute this type of place appropriately for downtown NYC. Just look at Upstate Beer & Oyster Bar. We love that spot because they know what they’re doing and they’re passionate about the product. Tiny Fork just misses the mark. Photo Credit: Urban Daddy Food Rundown OystersThey have a nice selection of oysters, but as we complained about above, the overall execution wasn’t great. We like to know what we’re eating when it comes to oysters, and just dropping off a dozen assorted oysters sans explanation is bush league. As is serving oysters that suck, which more than one of these did. Oyster SlidersWay. Too. Much. Bun. That is all. Lobster RollAs we declared above, this wasn’t our favorite roll. It was no where near the complete debacle of Claw, but it just wasn’t our favorite. It looks huge in the photo, but, for $25, it was actually not as big as we had hoped. The lobster salad had nice chunks of lobster in it, but for some reason it didn’t have much flavor at all. The lobster needs to steal the show and for whatever reason, it didn’t. Hand Cut FriesGreasy, soggy and pretty gross.

MIDTOWN EAST — Salvation Taco debuts its custom-brewed "Devil's Plaything" citrus IPA tonight at the rooftop bar. The beer is a collaboration between Sam Anderson and Bill Brooks, the beer managers at Salvation Taco and The Breslin, and Greenport Harbor Brewing Co., and is made with chilies, oranges, limes and dried Haitian bitter orange segments. [EaterWire] NOLITA — Tomorrow, May 23, Mike Breach, the guy who makes crazy latte art portraits will be at The Little Fox Cafe from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Stop by and you can get your portrait done in your afternoon coffee. [EaterWire] GOVERNOR'S ISLAND — Little Eva's, the seasonal outpost of Kevin's Red Hook is re-opening for the summer on Governor's Island this weekend. They've moved their location to the end of Colonels' Row in the Historic District of the island, and will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for all of the Memorial Day long weekend. [EaterWire] FOOD TV — The James Beard Award-winning PBS series The Mind of a Chef just announced its second season, which features both Sean Brock and April Bloomfield. The 16 episodes will be split between the two chefs, with the second half dedicated to Bloomfield as she travels "from the Pacific Northwest to Birmingham, England, tracing culinary tradition, instinct and obsession – from cops to curries to clams." [EN] [Krieger]

The NYC Food Truck Association is a nominee for the 12th annual Helping Hands Award from the City. This year's nominees recognize groups that helped during Hurricane Sandy, with the mobile food vendors' group nominated for having helped coordinate fundraising and relief efforts for its members. [Serious Eats, CBS]

Sad news from Williamsburg, as a tipster is reporting that the Levee, the bar famous for its cheap drinks and old timey bar snacks has closed. Apparently owners Howard Hunt and Susan Surdacki let their liquor license expire last month and stopped operating as of this week without telling anyone why. They had run the Levee since 2005, in the same location that once housed the infamous narcotics friendly bar Kokie's in the late 90s and earlier part of the new century. Eater has called the bar looking for comment but no one answered. Maybe Williamsburg is only good for mega dance clubs now or something. · Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~]

Now entitled to the works. Charles Ramsey was sitting on his front porch eating a Big Mac one Monday evening earlier this month when he came to the aid of Amanda Berry, her daughter, and two other women. They were later revealed to be the kidnapping victims of local bus driver Ariel Castro. After a recording of his matter-of-fact 911 call and a YouTube clip went viral, Ramsey became something of a folk hero and even had a Big Mac–esque cheeseburger named after him at the restaurant where he works as a pot-washer. He's traveling right now, but when Ramsey returns to Cleveland he'll likely be having some more meals after he's presented with a "Chuck Card," a one-of-a-kind, wallet-size I.D. that entitles him to free hamburgers for life from any of the fourteen restaurants owned by various people (one is even in Pennsylvania). "He stopped his meal midway through to help those women," says one restaurateur. "We're now making sure he has other opportunities to go out and fully enjoy his burger." Let's hope he doesn't go vegetarian. [Plain Dealer, Earlier] Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: chuck card, ariel castro, charles ramsey, cleveland, hamburgers, news

The Great GoogaMooga — what happened there? In two years there have been two festivals, both marred by notable difficulties. Is it really possible that no one planning the outdoor event checked the forecast for Sunday and wondered what the consequences of a modest rain shower might be? Were there successes achieved as well as disappointments? To gain a little perspective, Eater reached out to two-year festival veteran Carla Rzeszewski, the Wine Director of The Breslin, The John Dory Oyster Bar, and The Spotted Pig. What did she think of her GoogaMooga experience? How did you get involved with the GoogaMooga last year? Actually it was Paul Grieco who contacted me first. Paul emailed me and he said, "Hey, there is this festival going on and Peter Eastlake and I want you to be a part of it. You can do whatever you want." I hadn't heard about it and I had no idea what it was. I was like, "What kind of festival? Who is the audience? What is the scale of this thing?" They responded back and they said, "This has never been done. It is going to be the music of Bonnaroo, but bending it more towards the foodie culture in New York." Although, I think it would be applicable to other cities, and I have heard they might be looking at doing it in Chicago, which would be dope as hell. But anyway, they said, "You can do anything you want, we just want you to be a part of it." And I said, "Awesome, I want to do sherry." And they were like, "Yeah that would be great." So Paul was kind of the person who wrangled the wine people last year, and this year it was Tanner Walle, also of Hearth and Terroir. And I had known both of them from working with them before. How did it go in the planning stages last year? We got to sit down in a round table discussion and just sort of break down what the plan was for the wine tent. They were gracious enough to give me a booth and say, "Hey, do what you want." So I chose six sherries, and I did all Fino and Manzanilla. And then I flipped out literally the day before GoogaMooga last year. I was like, "Carla, what have you chosen to do? What are you doing pouring dry sherry at a music festival? No one is going to come and buy this, and you are responsible." So I was like, "I know what will convince people about these wines: they need to have food alongside them." Then I very last minute contacted Peter, and I said, "Peter, I need olives and I need almonds, can we do this?" And he said, "Carla, if you think it is going to work, yes." And it did work. So you felt the GoogaMooga staff were supportive of what you wanted to do? For sure. Amazingly supportive. Peter was like, "I don't know if this is going to be allowed in terms of the rules, because this is the wine tent, not the food tent, but you know what, fuck it. If you think it is important, let's just do it. We'll make it happen." He was awesome from the get-go, and totally open to feedback. Him and Jonathan Mayers. I've sat down with them both and the question has been, "How can we make this fantastic? How can we make this better than before?" They are not at all stuck in an idea of how it needs to be, and they are encouraging of new ideas. Peter called me this year, and he said, "Hey, do you want to be on one of these trading cards?" And I was like, "Yeah, let's do it!" So I go in to have my photo taken, and I was blown away by the level of invention and fun imagination in their office. The way that ideas were being tossed around, there was a childlike freedom that you rarely find. What do you think about some of the problems that have come up in the two years that the event has been held? It is a shame what happened the first year with the cell phone towers going down and the food shortages. And this year with the rain. There have been obstacles, but there are adjustments that can be made. I think that what was faulty last year was addressed this year, and unfortunately some other stuff also came up. Did t

[Photo] New York City is about to start seeing a whole lot more of that fireman red: Florida-based sandwich chain Firehouse Subs is eyeing serious NYC expansion, in the hopes of opening as many as 60 restaurants here in the next 10 years. According to The Real Deal, the company has already identified sites where they want franchisees to open up shop, including 25 in Manhattan. The plan especially targets Downtown Manhattan—including the coming retail mall at the World Trade Center—as well as Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The fast-casual chain was founded by a couple of firefightin' brothers in Jacksonville in 1994 and loves donating to firehouses near its restaurants. The chain has over 600 locations across the country but none up here—yet. · Firehouse Subs Eyes 60-Store Expansion in NYC [The Real Deal]

The loyal customers that are protesting Lure Fishbar's rumored rent hike have started a Tumblr appropriately titled Save Lure Fishbar. From the description: "This is an unofficial Tumblr from people who love Lure Fishbar and don't want it to disappear in Fall 2013 when its rent gets hiked. Lure is a beloved institution in the NYC start-up and new media industry, and we want to make sure it thrives." [Tumblr, Previously]

Brooklyn's popular New Orleansy pop-up Tchoup Shop is heading to Moscow for a one-week residency at a gastropub there. Chef Simon Glenn says the bar's owner came to the pop-up at Heavy Woods and "freaked out over the food," inviting the pop-up to Russia. Moscow also recently got longer-term projects from the Saxon + Parole and Death & Co. teams. [Zagat]

Fish & Game 13 South 3rd Street, Hudson, NY 518-822-5100 fishandgamehudson.com/ Status: Open Last week Zak Pelaccio's newest venture, Fish & Game, opened up the river in Hudson, NY. The restaurant is housed in a 19th century blacksmith shop in the old rural town, and marks a departure for Pelaccio not only from Manhattan, but also from his Fatty Crew empire. The restaurant's interior keeps the rustic look of the blacksmith shop, with plenty of stone walls and bare wood. Particularly of note are two open hearths in the dining room, where the kitchen roasts meat on a spit. Besides the dining room, there is also a lounge outfitted with wingback chair and leather couches, and a private upstairs dining room. The focus here is on locally-grown and -foraged ingredients, more vegetables and "less fatty, less heavy" dishes. Among other things, that means they offer a vegetarian tasting menu alongside their regular tasting menu every night, both of which range from six to seven courses for $65 (which Pelaccio says is about half of what a comparable restaurant in the city would charge). There are also some a la carte items at the bar, and all of the menus change regularly to feature whatever ingredients are of the moment. A recent vegetarian menu included dishes like ramp ragout, carrots in a maple sap glaze, and chocolate cremeaux with black walnuts. There's also a focus on various house-fermented condiments and sauces, from vinegars and fish sauce to kimchi. These have even made their way into the bar program, which includes a variation on the pickleback that chases a shot of bourbon with a shot of house-made Worcestershire sauce. As of now the restaurant is only open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday, from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Previous Coverage: Meanwhile, Upstate, 9/12; EaterWire, 6/12; Expansions, 4/12. Further Reading: New York Observer, Zagat, NY Times and more recently, Village Voice.