AlwaysPartying: Tap & Tapas 2010

Arthur Bovino — April 20, 2010

Clockwise from top: Chilled Seafood Sausage from Alto, participating chefs pose with beneficiaries of Groove with Me’s free dance classes, and the scene at Studio 450.

The relocation of Groove with Me’s Tap & Tapas Spring benefit event from the Westside Loft (where it was last year), to Studio 450 meant a great cause and good food, in a space with river views, fantastic light, and more room to dance for the event’s beneficiaries— the kids.

This was the sixth annual tasting benefit for Groove With Me, Abigail Rosin’s nonprofit youth development organization that enlists volunteer dance teachers to give free classes to inner city girls. Donations, combined with last night’s auction meant Groove With Me was able to raise between $90,000 and $100,000, about a quarter of their annual budget.

While renowned tapper, Savion Glover, was unable to attend at the last moment, the event didn’t suffer for celebrity. Chef Tom Colicchio, Today co-host, Hoda Kotb, and The Times’ publisher Arthur Sulzberger, mingled among other notable New Yorkers, along with some of New York’s hot chefs.

All told, there were 11 food stations, including Colicchio & Sons, The Harrison, Scarpetta, and more. Among the best tastes were a Mussel Soup from Aldea, and a Warm Duck and Snap Pea Salad from Perilla. And, of course, Michael Laiskonis’ impeccable desserts. A hot ingredient, Black Beluga Lentils, made another appearance, with Alto’s Chilled Seafood Sausage.

More Photographs at Tap & Tapas 2010 >>

Always Hungry: The Restaurant List

Jeff Zalaznick — January 05, 2010

Dishes from The Always Hungry Restaurant List.

If I had to choose, what restaurants would I take with me into 2010? Off the top of my head, what places do I know that I will choose to return to in the coming year? These are the questions that I asked myself as I thought about this year’s restaurant list. As I made the list, I have made sure that it not only reflects what restaurants to go to, but that it also lets you know exactly what to eat when you get there. As always, our goal is to arm readers with the information that they will need in order to have the best eating experiences possible. This list is a guide to a slice of the Always Hungry life. It is a roundup that will help you unleash your inner fat kid to the fullest in the New Year. If you have not tasted all of the dishes mentioned below, then you have a lot of work to do, but if you start now, you have a whole year to make it happen. So, without further ado, I present The Always Hungry Restaurant List: A Strategic Guide To New York Eating. Keep this close in 2010, and it will ensure that you Never Eat An Insignificant Meal Again.

Click Here For The Always Hungry Restaurant List >>

Best of 2009: A Few Dishes

December 22, 2009

A few of AlwaysHungry’s favorite dishes of 2009.

There is no question that a lot of eating has gone down this year. Rookies have introduced new favorites and standbys have reminded us that oldies can still be goodies. To celebrate the conclusion of the ninth year of the aughts, we’ve compiled a little photo tour of a few of our favorite dishes and organized them into nine of our favorite food groups.

Click Here for a few of AlwaysHungry's Favorite Dishes of 2009 >>

SEARCH: Good Food, Late at Night

July 22, 2009

You can use Always HungryNY.com’s Very Advanced Search Engine to search for new restaurants or to learn more information about places that are already your favorites, but you can also use it to discover restaurants that are open when you need them to be.

If you’re looking for late-night good food in New York City, select “Until 1am” from the By Meal drop-down menu and select “A and Above” from the By Rating menu, and the Very Advanced Search Engine will generate a list of recommended restaurants for late night grubbing.

Whether you’re looking for food in the Village or a place in Murray Hill, it’s just another way that AlwaysHungryNY.com ensures that you will never eat another insignificant late-night meal again.

Featured Dish: Via Quadronno’s Lasagna Bolognese

The Gluttoness — July 16, 2009

The atmosphere in Via Quadronno (restaurant page) is warm and inviting: people stand at the coffee/pastry bar sipping espresso while crusty paninis and crostinis topped with bottarga, cheeses, truffles and tuna emerge from this tiny kitchen on the Upper East Side. Of the Pasta Fatta in Casa, Via Quadronno’s Lasagna Bolognese, listed as a “classic meat lasagna, originally from Bologna,” is a standout. It’s a homestyle rendition of a rustic Italian staple, a no-frills homage with the classic flavor you’d expect from the kitchen of an Italian grandmother who for years has been blindly cooking a family recipe passed down through generations. The effect is simple but charming: it’s served steaming hot, bubbling in its own ceramic dish, and the first bite offers a wave of satisfaction.

Typically, Lasagne alla Bolognese features Parmigiano Reggiano, Bolognese sauce and nutmeg flavored Béchamel sauce. Homemade sheets of pasta}thought-for-food/tag/Pasta/ are a little too thin— they don’t offer much texture on their own— but the close-stacking of these delicate layers creates a nuanced thickness. Via Quadronno’s tomato-based Bolognese is thin but rich with flavor derived from a trio of meats: beef, pork and veal. There’s no fancy béchamel here though, rather, basic mozzarella cheese is strewn throughout and the top is coated with Parmesan. The cheese browns in the oven and the burnt edges make for the most spectacular bites.

Via Quadronno’s worth-it garlic bread is ideal for using as a scarpetta to mop up the remaining sauce. This is a dish definitely worth leaving clean.

HungryChefs: Chefs Dream Big

The Gluttoness — July 16, 2009

Monday night’s Chefs for Scher event brought celebrated chefs, Hollywood stars and food enthusiasts to The Bowery Hotel to honor the late restaurateur, Steve Scher. Considering his background we thought it best to direct questions towards the business side of the restaurant world.

Aside from our usual query, “What are you AlwaysHungry for?” (Matt Dillon craves Peasant, and Patsy’s in Harlem), we were curious to discover chefs’ latest and greatest aspirations. We also wanted to find out their proudest moments, but we probably should have specified culinary-related answers— though it is sweet to see how much love chefs have for their children.

John Fraser (Dovetail)
AlwaysHungry for: Dirty question. Scott Conant’s Pomodoro (right)
Next Aspiration: To get eight hours of sleep tonight.
Proudest Moment: Receiving three stars from the New York Times

John DeLucie (The Waverly Inn)
AlwaysHungry for: Pizza
Next Aspiration: Feature films
Proudest Moment: The release of my book.

Continue Reading >>

AlwaysPartying: Chefs for Scher

The Gluttoness — July 14, 2009

Japanese Saba in the Raw with Cucumber, Radish, Citrus Soy & Nori Powder

On Monday night, many of New York City’s most admired chefs gathered at The Bowery Hotel for Chefs for Scher, an event (view site) to honor the memory of Steven Scher, a founder of Main Street Restaurant Partners and an inspiring food industry professional. The warm summer night set the tone for a beautiful celebration, both of the culinary world and of a man who was passionately devoted to its proliferation. There was a silent auction with prizes like a coveted table at Rao’s, which benefited the Steven Scher Memorial Scholarship for Aspiring Restaurateurs.

The event was attended by Hollywood stars like Matt Dillon and Lauren Graham, and some of the city’s most admired culinary figures. Rocco DiSpirito served his Scallop and Uni Dish (right) in homage— it was a creation that inspired Scher to hire him as the chef of the now-shuttered Union Pacific. No wonder it so impressed Scher— the tiny bite was fantastically refreshing, an intriguing juxtaposition of silky scallop and creamy urchin dressed with tangy mustard oil.

There were other delightful crudos. Franklin Becker gave insight into his upcoming project, Abe & Arthur’s, with a beautiful Japanese Saba with Radish, Cucumber and Citrus Soy Nori Powder (top).

Left, Scarpetta’s Raw Yellowtail. Bobby Flay’s Smoked Shrimp. Right, John Fraser’s Shrimp Confit

Scott Conant of Scarpetta served Raw Yellowtail with Olio di Zenzero & Flaked Sea Salt, a possible sneak peek of the casual, downtown Italian eatery he’s hoping to open with a focus on small plates and raw fish. Always the showman, Bobby Flay plated Smoked Shrimp with Coconut-Key Lime Sauce inside halved coconut shells. His corner of the room was the most popular, with guests vying for pictures with the Food Network star. But the best shrimp dish was compliments of Dovetail’s John Fraser, who offered a Shrimp Confit with Macerated Cherries, Basil and Yogurt. The small, sophisticated bite further demonstrated why Dovetail has become the Upper West Side’s smash hit. The shrimp benefited from the trio of accompaniments— especially the lingering tartness of the ruby red cherries.

AlwaysInformed: Scott Conant @ JBH Tonight

September 05, 2008

Scarpetta may be a tough reservation, and deservedly so with its A+ approval, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Scott Conant’s sophisticated Italian cuisine without the hassle. So instead of dining during Happy Hour, just get a table without a wait: secure tickets to tonight’s dinner at the James Beard House, which will honor Scott Conant as one of New York’s greatest chefs. The evening will feature Scarpetta’s signature dishes such as Creamy Polenta with Truffled Mushroom Fricassee and Braised Boneless Veal Shank with Saffron–Parmigiano Orzo, Bone Marrow, and Gremolata. And while Conant is known to canvass his own dining room from time to time, this private James Beard event will ensure that you get up-close and personal with one of the hottest chefs around—and I mean that in more ways that one.

What’s in a Name?: Scarpetta

The Gluttoness — August 25, 2008

Just as parents set out to find the perfect name for their newborn, chefs and restaurant owners alike are always searching for the perfect title for their restaurants. Some people go for the obvious, like a relative’s name or a favorite ingredient, but often times there is more to a moniker than meets the eye.

Scarpetta’s logo is a gritty looking swipe and it might seem somewhat out of place until you understand the name’s clever origin. The Italian term fare la scarpetta describes the act of mopping up one’s plate with a piece of bread. And that’s exactly what Chef Scott Conant hopes you’ll do with the lingering sauces at his new Italian eatery. Stemming from the word scarpetta, which translates into “little shoe,” the correlation derives from how one deforms their bread to resemble a little shoe in order to scoop up more of the sauce. Hence the logo, their own “Nike swoosh,” is an homage to the restaurant’s name, and an artistic rendering of an almost empty plate after the final saucy swipe.