Restaurants

Hella Vegan Eats is back at Dear Mom for dinner on Sunday, May 26! Be there or be hungry and sad and alone (aka THE WORST). Dear Mom is at 2700 16th St., right on the corner of Harrison Street in the Mission. The Hella Vegan Eats ladies will be there from 5 to 11 p.m. on Sunday, as should you! More info at Hella Vegan Eats’ Facebook.

[Photo] SmorgasBar starts serving super sippables, sweets, salads, and such from SmorgasBurg at the South Street Seaport sometime soon. Actually, it already started—the latest Brooklyn Flea offshoot launched at 11 a.m. this morning, taking over the stretch of Front Street between Beekman and Fulton streets with 11 food vendors, a handful of Brooklyn Flea crafts vendors, and two full bars at either end of the block. The vendors are going to change every two weeks, but the first go-round features Asia Dog, Fonda, Pizza Moto, and a whole bunch of others. It's open seven days a week starting at 11 a.m., and going till 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and till 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. SmorgasBar will be in the Seaport through October. · All Coverage of SmorgasBurg [~ENY~]

Nothing marks the start of summer better than Memorial Day weekend. While many Angelenos unwisely clog freeways to get out of town, the clever stay for the delights of a slightly less-populated...

Welcome to One Year In, a feature in which Eater sits down for a chat with the chefs and owners of restaurants celebrating their one year anniversary. [Elise Rosenberg, Tamer Hamawi, and Emelie Kihlstrom by Krieger] Last year, Brooklyn restaurateurs Tamer Hamawi, Elise Rosenberg, and Emelie Kihlstrom opened Gran Electrica, a casual Mexican restaurant, and Governor, a chef-driven New American restaurant. Gran Electrica is still going strong, but sadly, the team had to say goodbye to Governor after Hurricane Sandy. Eater recently chatted with Elise, Tamer, and Emelie about how Gran Electrica has grown over the last year, and how their restaurant group has changed since the storm. What was your original idea for this restaurant? Tamer Hamawi: Well first of all, we had a great experience with Colonie and really discovered that there was a big market in this neighborhood that was relatively untapped. So after the success of Colonie, some of our investors were very eager to do another project. With [chef] Brad [McDonald] and Elise living in Dumbo, they confirmed that there was kind of a serious need for more places in the neighborhood. They were pleading with us to do a thing in Dumbo. There seemed to be a kind of general...lament of the loss of Hecho en Dumbo, and we thought that there was an extra reason to do a Mexican joint in Dumbo and give them back something that they missed. Elise Rosenberg: We were also excited to take a greenmarket Mexican concept and make it really seasonal. We really wanted to take that Colonie philosophy with Mexican and combine it. Tamer: Yeah, and so a couple of our investors at Colonie were really spear-heading this. They had a huge passion for food and wine and a huge passion, in particular, for Mexican things — they were most definitely pushing for a Mexican spot as well. A few years back, I had also personally been thinking about doing a Mexican restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, which is where I'm from. Although Melbourne is the food and wine capital of Australia, they never really had any quality Mexican. Their idea of Mexican was one step above Taco Bell. Elise: And it was actually called Taco Bill. Tamer: It was called Taco Bill. So, I sort of had this vision of building a Mexican restaurant empire in Australia, and I actually went back to do it. I wrote a plan, and was all sort of ready to take it on and moved from New York, and I really couldn't stand being back in Australia. I lived a few months there, and then came back to New York. So, I already had a business plan in hand, and I was ready to roll out this project. So with all of those things combined, it was kind of an obvious choice. Did you always plan to open Governor and Gran Electrica at the same time? Emelie Kihlstrom: Yes, by accident. It was Governor when we partnered up with Brad, almost two years ago. He had already started the Governor project. So we thought the timing would be completely perfect. Elise: Little did we know that Governor was going to take a year and a half and Gran Electrica was going to take two months. Tamer: Governor was already in motion when we took Brad on way back in May of 2011, and so we were already kind of rolling with that and the idea to do a Mexican spot kind of came in the middle there. And we thought Governor would be open well into the time that Gran Electrica was ready to start up. Elise: With Governor, we had to build from the ground up, whereas here, it was a functioning restaurant when we took it over. It had a kitchen in place, and the bar was here. All we really had to do was a cosmetic makeover, and we re-did the kitchen and we just made it pretty. [Krieger, 03/27/11] What was this restaurant before you took it over? Tamer: It's been five different restaurants. Most recently it was called Pub 1, and it was very much a pub-like atmosphere. We actually pulled down 23 TV sets. Emelie: Yeah, one in every single corner. Plus, this is one of the oldest

Universal Studios announced an expansion at its Universal Orlando Resort in Florida with a full-on Springfield replica. That means aside from rides, it will feature actual restaurants and foods straight from The Simpsons, including Krusty Burger, Duff Brewery, Moe's Tavern, Luigi's Pizza, and a Kwik-E-Mart. [Eater National]

These days, it seems like there’s a new burger joint firing up a grill in the Bay Area every month. While there’s three restaurants I consider my personal favorites — Chop Bar‘s at the top of my list, followed by Trueburger and Victory Burger — I recently checked out some of the latest arrivals to see if there were any promising new additions to the East Bay burger scene. Moxy Beer Garden 3136 Sacramento Street, Berkeley, CA [map] Phone: 510.547.6699 Facebook: Moxy Hours: Kitchen: 11:30am – 9:30pm; Bar: 11:30am – 11:30pm; Closed Mondays Open since late April, Berkeley’s Moxy Beer Garden has transformed the old Casa Vino wine bar into a spacious venue with plenty of seating for groups in their covered outdoor patio or near the main bar. They offer a wide selection of beers on tap from Drake’s, Black Diamond, Thirsty Bear, 21st Amendment and several other local breweries. All of their beef is sourced from Pacific Pastures Farm in Hydesville, CA, and bears the requisite imprimatur of quality meat: free-range, 100% grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free. Burgers are cooked medium rare unless you ask otherwise (and it’s a nice touch when this is the default method of preparation.) “The Burger” ($9) comes with butter lettuce, ketchup, pickles and red onion on a soft bun with your choice of cheese — I opted for Tillamook cheddar — and it was excellent. Free from any extraneous garnishes and toppings, it was just a simple, juicy burger. A small order of house-cut garlic fries ($3.50) is plenty for two people and comes with a side of chipotle aioli; these were perfectly crispy and garlicky. Their Moroccan lamb burger ($10) with pickled red onion & feta mustard aioli was a wonderful combination of savory flavors (and the server assured us the lamb came from sustainable source as well, although I don’t recall seeing it listed on the menu.) With great service, an appealing menu and equipped with their own private parking lot, I predict this will be a popular spot when summertime rolls around. The Bureau 510 5800 Hollis Street #150, Emeryville, CA [map] Phone: 510.595.1000 Facebook: TheBureau510 Hours: Mon – Fri 11am–2:30pm; 4:30pm–10:00pm; Sat 11am–10pm; Sun 11am–3pm From the same owner of the sleek Summer Summer Thai restaurant located right across Hollis Street in Emeryville, The Bureau 510 began serving its Niman Ranch beef burgers last December. With the menu designed by chef Edward Higgins of Quattro at the Four Seasons, its eclectic dishes reflect a fusion of classic Americana and Asian flavors. There’s the Louisiana-inspired catfish fillet, “The Bayou,” ($9) with creole remoulade; the “Chips n’ Salsa,” ($9.50) with jalapeño, tortilla chips, roasted tomato salsa, cilantro, butter lettuce and nacho cheese on Acme sesame bun; and the “Tempura” ($9.50), a fried rock shrimp patty seasoned with wasabi mayo, seaweed slaw and a ‘bun’ crafted out of pressed fried rice — just to name a few of their offerings. Their creamy Caesar salad ($7) is topped with marinated anchovies and tossed with a liberal helping of homemade croutons (I’m taking an educated guess here and believe they were made with toasted bits of Acme’s herb slab). The “Nostalgia” burger ($7.50) is a throwback to the basic burgers of drive-in diner days. Dressed with fresh butter lettuce, tomato, grilled onion and American cheese on an Acme bun, the Nostalgia burgers arrived with a side of housemade dill pickles and a piquant apple-poppy coleslaw. Overall the burgers were good, although there was more a bit more bun than burger; it took me a few bites before I reached the meat itself. For another $2 you can add a crispy bucket of fries to your order; it’s a generous helping that can easily accomodate 2-3 people and comes with a side of Sriracha mayonnaise. Or you can spri

--> Welcome back to Eater's Cocktail University, where cocktail wizard Dave Arnold — he of the cutting edge New York bar Booker and Dax — presents a series of cocktail recipes and techniques. He's already demoed his elegant version of a Corsair and a Thai Basil Daiquiri. Today, with the help of a Japanese shave ice machine, he makes the ultimate summer drink: the Booker & Dax Margarita. · All Cocktail University on Eater [-E-]

All the latest neighborhood and real estate news from Curbed Miami... Old U.S. Post Office And Courthouse [Via Wikipedia] 1) Downtown: Miami hasn't always been art deco, and glassy modernism. Early on, Downtown Miami had architectural aspirations for a certain Beaux Arts grandness, resulting a crop of splendid office buildings, and at least one opulent movie palace. Do check out the Curbed Miami walking tour of Beaux Arts downtown Miami. 2) North Bay Road: After a saga involving his old flame Cameron Diaz, lost love, a posse of Saudi princes, and market stagnation, A-Rod has finally sold his big, white, bayfront house. The buyers: two boring Palm Beach philanthropists. 3) South Beach: It's pricechopping time for the Versace Mansion. The house, officially called Casa Casuarina, has seen it's price fall from $125 million to $100 million, and now, to $75 mill. But don't feel too bad. It's still a hell of a lot of money. 4) Downtown: After months where the only decent renderings available had been leaked by yours truly, the condo tower being designed by starchitect of starchitects Zaha Hadid has officially released a set of renderings. Compare them to the views we broke to the world months ago. · Curbed Miami [miami.curbed]

1) Greenwich Village: At the corner of Broadway and Bleecker, Corner Shop Café and its below-ground event space The Vault at Pfaff's closed after service last night. Rumor has it it's a simple case of having trouble breaking even at that location. [EaterWire] 2) Upper East Side: Steve Cuozzo gets a photo of Brasserie Julien, on Third Avenue near 81st, which is no more. For what it's worth, the space is now for rent. [Twitter] 3) Midtown East: Second Avenue French restaurant Les Sans Culottes closed recently. According to a sign on the door, the restaurant lost its lease. It opened back in 1976. [EaterWire] 4) East Village: A tipster writes in to say that Iconic Hand Rolls has closed. There's no answer on the phone line, the restaurant's social media presence has been silent since late April, and the space has been cleared out. [EV Grieve] 5) Hell's Kitchen: Vintage, located at Ninth Avenue and West 51st and known for its $12 bottomless mimosa brunches, has closed its doors. The restaurant called it quits at the end of April. [DNAinfo] 6) Nolita: Firefly Bar, near the corner of Spring and Lafayette streets, is dunzo. The bar was a little controversial for neighbors. [Bowery Boogie] 7) Upper East Side: Coffee and candy shop The London Candy Company is also dunzo. Owner Jigs Patel is reopening the shop in Greenwich Village. [DNAinfo] [Photo]

Celestine (12 year old aspiring singer) and Maureen Webb (founder of Project Limelight and co-owner of East of Main Cafe) FOLLOW ME FOODIE: Restaurants with heart By Mijune Pak , Follow Me Foodie – WE Vancouver Published: May 23, 2013 5:00 PM Updated: May 23, 2013 5:31 PM Hungry to help the Downtown Eastside? Sometimes the heart of a restaurant goes beyond its food. Ambiance? Good. Service? Attentive. Value? Affordable. Food? Great. Now where is the line about corporate social responsibility? The restaurant world used to be about bringing good food to the table, but tables are turning and social change is important. It is becoming part of the dining experience and sometimes it’s even the priority. Social responsibility in the context of a restaurant is usually about offering ocean-friendly seafood, sustainable meats, and locally grown produce, but what about helping Vancouver’s DTES? It’s a bit of a stretch away from the kitchen and the traditional concerns of a diner, but important nonetheless. With gentrification a prominent issue on the DTES, many new restaurants and retailers are feeling the heat outside the kitchen. However, not every new restaurant is aiming to be restaurant of the year — sometimes they simply want to give back to the area they opened in. When I go out, food takes priority and I want it to be good, but at restaurants like these it is not always just about the food. It might make more sense to donate your time and money directly to the cause, but we all need to eat, and sometimes “helping” can be as easy as dining out. The following restaurants all have positive “hidden” agendas that go beyond their food, and they’re worthy of exposing.  - Read the full article. Read my full “Restaurants with Heart” article for restaurants contributing to DTES. See more Follow Me Foodie stories from Mijune in the WE Vancouver: FOLLOW ME FOODIE: The “Forget-Me-Nots” of Vancouver’s restaurant scene FOLLOW ME FOODIE: Wild BC spot prawn season begins FOLLOW ME FOODIE: The best thing I ever ate…