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The life of an editor is not so bad. We travel, we eat, we experience all sorts of things and, most of all, we talk and we write. “You would not believe the meal I had at so and so restaurant.” “I found this young chef cooking at X restaurant and the kid is for real!” “You want to talk about a stupid menu item, then check out the so and so at Z restaurant.” Yes, we’re a bunch of gossips, but we do it all for you! Most of the good stuff that we see we share with you. On the other hand, we won’t waste your time with most of the bad stuff, unless we think there may be a lesson learned (can you say, Sanson Sez?).
So here are some of our favorite and not-so-favorite things that we experienced in the last several months or so. There is no method to the madness; we’re just throwing out things that made us stand up and take notice. Who knows, maybe there’s something in here that you can use for your place. So, without further ado, we present to you the 2015 Editors’ Choice Awards.
The name of a new restaurant is vital for drawing in customers. It should be interesting, guests should be able to remember it and, most importantly, a name should make your restaurant stand out from the crowd. The folks at Major Food Group in New York City covered all their bases when they named one of their newest restaurants Dirty French. There’s no missing it as two exterior eight-foot-high pink neon signs remove all doubt. Or do they? We imagine more than a few passersby thought there was a peep show inside. But the guys behind the concept—Rich Torrisi, Mario Carbone and Jeff Zalaznick—have garnered a huge following after opening some of Manhattan’s best restaurants [see our list of the Top 25 Coolest Multi-Concept Companies in last September’s issue]. Dirty French, with its funky French menu, has been packed since it opened, and there isn’t a lap dance in sight.
What’s up restaurant people with your love of the name Rusty? Go ahead and name your red-headed kid Rusty, if you must, but why connect your restaurant name with something that suggests your operation has been weakened or impaired by neglect? Associating rust with food just seems wrong, but restaurants with rusty in their name exist from coast to coast. Here are a handful: the Rusty Pelican, Rusty Lady, Rusty Bellies, Rusty Nail, Rusty Scupper, Rusty Bucket, Rusty Spoon (really?) and perhaps the silliest, The Rusty Onion. “I’d like a cheeseburger with tomato, pickles and a rusty onion, please!” Eww!
Photo: Sira Anamwong/Thinkstock
Some restaurant names don’t hit the mark, but they have a memorable tagline. Sometimes it’s that tagline that gets people to remember a concept and, if done well, defines the concept. In San Diego, the folks behind Hash House A Go Go came up with a fantastic name. Who wouldn’t remember the name Hash House A Go Go? But they also put an exclamation mark on it by including this tagline—Twisted Farm Food. Booya! That’s a one-two punch. Founder, creator and executive Chef Andy Beardslee said his mission (along with partner Johnny Rivera) is “to keep the fun in food while pulling from the experiences of farm-fresh agriculture, livestock and old recipes with a twist.” They are doing exactly that with a menu full of fantastic comfort-food favorites that are made with top-notch ingredients elevated to the next level. The only hitch: You’d better be a farmer to work off the calorie load of their no-holds-barred grub.
Another concept that was a contender for best restaurant name is Eggslut, a Los Angeles chef-driven concept created in 2011 by Alvin Cailan. But we’re not giving Eggslut an Editors’ Choice Award for its ballsy name, we’re doing it because, well, we’re egg sluts. We love eggs and just about everything on the menu here involves eggs, which are served from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week. We know just about every Tom, Dick and Harry is throwing an egg on a burger, but Cailan and crew are top-gun chefs with a lot of imagination. Consider a house signature, The Slut, which consists of a coddled egg on top of a smooth potato puree. It’s poached in a jar and served with a demi baquette. If eating this is wrong, then we don’t want to be right.
Here’s one more restaurant that was a contender for best restaurant name and also best hangover chow. But we had to put One Eared Stag and its Chef’s Breakfast in another category entirely. An increasing number of restaurants appear to be creating dishes specifically for Adam Richman and his eating challenges on the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food. The Chef’s Breakfast, served at the Atlanta restaurant, includes four portions of whatever the kitchen dreams up for breakfast that morning. It’s served on a silver platter and comes with a can of Schlitz malt liquor. A recent platter consisted of a coddled egg sprinkled with salmon roe; pancakes slathered with duck liver butter and topped with fried chicken; a sunny- side egg atop a slice of seared pork belly and homemade kimchee and last, but not least, a hanger steak with greens. Something like this could end up being a bad joke, but the food at the Stag is terrific and, at $22, the platter is an amazing value. Spend an extra buck and pick up some Tums. You may need them.
More than a few vegetarian friends have told us that the one meat item they still dream about is bacon. Bacon has become America’s food version of crack. Foodies say the bacon craze is so yesterday, and we understand where they’re coming from. But if you’ve ever tried a doughnut with bacon on it, you know it’s irresistible. Enter Slater’s 50/50, a multi-unit burger joint headquartered in San Diego. Its burgers are made with half ground beef and half ground bacon. But its B’B’B’ Bacon Burger is the one that looks you in the eye and says, “Oh, you think you like bacon? Let’s see!” The burger (either a third, two-thirds or a full pound) sits on a bacon pretzel bun, which is made with rendered bacon fat and baked with pieces of bacon inside. The beef/bacon patties are layered with bacon cheddar cheese and topped with strips of bacon. A sunny-side egg sits atop that and is finally capped with the bun, which has been slathered with “bacon-island” dressing. This is a burger that challenges the adage: Too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing.
We often find ourselves out late at night and we can usually get something at most casual restaurants that is the perfect ending to a night of debauchery. But then there are places like Abigaile in Hermosa Beach, CA, which has a menu that must have been created by Cheech and Chong. Maybe it’s the place itself, which once served as an artists’ co-op and a rehearsal space for the punk band Black Flag. Whatever the case, you’ll blow a fuse trying to decide whether to order the fried green sausage-stuffed olives, the lamb belly poutine, the duck confit French dip, the chipotle pork meatballs or, our go-to favorite, P.I.G. Pop Tarts, which consist of smoked pork confit, bacon and Gruyere wrapped in golden pastry. You dip that baby into tomato jam. If we’re going to hell, we want to eat this on the way there.
Have you noticed in recent years how snack items have become an important part of many menus? In many cases, snacks are offered to fill the gap between lunch and dinner. But at Oak at Fourteenth in Boulder, CO, chef Steve Redzikowski bakes 12 pretzels in the wood-burning oven and they shame any other pretzel you’ve ever had. And the best part is that they’re free when he makes them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights after 10:45 p.m. Scoring one of those golden pretzels is like winning an Oscar, but keep the acceptance speeches to yourself.
We confess to loving a cocktail or three every once in a while (Wednesdays are nice, Thursdays even better, Fridays or Saturdays—stay out of our way). But there are consequences to every action, and a hangover is the price you pay when a fine sip becomes a drowning. Thank god for hangover chow, and thank god for restaurant folks who can throw you a life preserver faster than any doctor. Trying to single out just one hangover dish is nearly impossible. So, instead, here’s a menu item that recently saved us from ourselves: Bourbon-Braised Beef Short Rib at SoBou in New Orleans. Of course the folks in Nawlins know a thing or two about hangovers. Hey, they’re the ones who thought of serving alcohol with brunch. We can’t say if the hair-of-the-dog philosophy is valid or not, but this short rib dish—braised in bourbon and served with creamy goat cheese, stone-ground grits, a sunny-side-up egg and brandied cherry hollandaise—made us forget how stupid last night actually was.
Here’s one reason why we limp to places that serve great hangover chow: The Vegan Sacrifice. Dane Nakamura, the bar director for Bryan Voltaggio’s collection of restaurants, came up with this drink specifically for Range restaurant in Washington, DC. His Vegan Sacrifice is made with scotch, ginger, cayenne and meat ice. What? Meat ice, Nakamura explains, combines San Marzano tomato water with trimmings from the kitchen (cured meats, raw beef, unused vegetables) and seasonings (Old Bay, bay leaves and a classic mirepoix of carrots, onions and celery). The mixture is made into a stock that is cooled, clarified and combined with egg whites and a splash of pigs’ blood. It’s then frozen to make meat ice. On the surface, this mixed drink seems to be all kinds of wrong, which is why we ordered it in the first place. It’s also why our vegan significant others gave us the boot.
For all of our countless shenanigans, we have frequently found ourselves flying solo. That can certainly sting, but it’s particularly hard to handle on Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, The Cocktail Club in Charleston, SC, knows how to save the day. On Valentine’s Day it held a Jilted Lover’s Party. How perfect is that for all those who find themselves alone, whether it’s deserved or not? This had all the potential to become a big Losers’ Party, but the Cocktail Club, a cocktail lounge above The Macintosh restaurant, created a celebration of how badly and hilariously things can wrong in a relationship. They held a contest to determine who had the worse breakup story of the night and the winner was awarded $250. The money may never get sweet Jane back in your life, but did you see how Amy was looking you over at the party?
Long before our hearts were cruelly broken, we enjoyed the simple life of kids who thought there was nothing better than a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Iron Chef Jose Garces also shares our fond memories and set out to recreate the milk and cereal experience at Volver, a ticketed dinner-only Philadelphia restaurant that offers a 6- or 12-course menu. His adult, sleight-of-hand version involves creating rice flakes out of mushrooms and adding them to chicken oysters, bacon, thyme marshmallows and a quail egg. It’s topped with asparagus milk poured from a glass vessel made to look like a school milk carton. He found that gem at MOMA in Manhattan. There’s little resemblance to the treat our pal Tony the Tiger loves so much, yet Volver’s version is simply greeeeaaaat!
More than 10 years ago we could see a twinkle in the eye of Jose Garces that suggested the kid would be a star. It’s why we named him a 2004 RH Rising Star, and now, a decade later, he’s a mogul. We recently sensed that same energy in Mei Lin and named her One to Watch in 2015. On February 11th, Lin, who grew up working at her family’s Chinese restaurant in Detroit, won Bravo TV’s coveted Top Chef title and the show’s $125,000 prize. We first spotted her as a sous chef at Volt in Frederick, MD. As it turned out, during the finale of Top Chef, she defeated Gregory Gourdet, the chef de cuisine of Departure restaurant in Portland, OR. We profiled Gourdet in our 14 to Watch in 2014 feature. Tom Colicchio, the head judge on Top Chef, called Lin and Gourdet the future of cooking in this country. We wholeheartedly agree.
Every time we’ve been at a Barton G. restaurant, we expect to see Johnny Depp and Tim Burton sitting at a nearby table. The man behind the restaurants, Barton G. Weiss, is a celebrity event designer-turned restaurant/hotel operator. He’s a theatrical, over-the-top madman who dares you not to have fun in his wonderland restaurants. His newest, Barton G. LA, couldn’t be a better fit in the land that created Hollywood. During a recent visit, we ordered Lobster Pop Tarts and they were delivered to the table in a retro toaster. When we ordered the Samurai Tuna, it came to the table with a samurai sword. His Let Them Eat Cake dessert is presented on a mannequin head of Marie Antoinette wearing a two-foot-high cotton candy wig. Servers, by the way, wear silver leather aprons designed by Weiss. Everyone should visit this place at least once, but don’t go there to break up with your significant other. Or at least wait until servers remove the sword.
It’s not easy staying relevant when you’ve been at it as long as Barton G. It’s not easy breaking through the stampede of young chefs trying to make it big with their first restaurant, either. But that’s exactly what 27-year-old Jonah Miller (pictured) and his partner, Nate Adler, have done with their Basque restaurant, Huertas, in Manhattan’s East Village. The duo are veterans of Danny Meyer’s hospitality group. Miller cooked at Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke and Maialino, while Adler, only 25, was the beverage director at both units of Blue Smoke. During college, Miller traveled throughout Spain and fell in love with its cuisine. He headed back to Spain after his stint at Maialino. His love for the cuisine shows. The critics have raved about Huertas, including the New York Times, which gave it a two-star review. For his work there, Miller has been nominated as a semifinalist for a 2015 James Beard Rising Star Award and Forbes and Zagat have put him on their lists of 30 under 30 to watch. We’ll watch for sure, but more importantly we’ll eat at Huertas.
Charcuterie used to be a fine art that only a few chefs mastered. Now there are at least a few chefs in every town who offer terrific house-made charcuterie. And it’s a trend that is only going to continue to grow. But what a nice surprise we found at Travelle in Chicago’s Langham. Executive chef Tim Graham does what he calls “seacuterie,” which is seafood he plates like charcuterie. We know what you’re thinking: “Anybody can do that.” Maybe, but there’s more than presentation involved. Consider, for example, the Octopus Mosaic, which, like head cheese, is formed into a circle, braised and then topped with olive relish, chives and olive oil. You’ll also find Taramosalata Torchon on his seacuterie plate. Graham takes trout roe and, with a bit of gelatin, shapes it into a torchon. It’s a beautiful presentation that is outstandingly delicious. Think about borrowing this idea for your restaurant.
The success of Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack has been well documented. What started literally as a burger shack has recently become a public company with unlimited potential. Nevertheless, a large chunk of its business comes during lunch. To generate business at night, it came up with a brilliant community-building plan: a club called Shake Track & Field. Once a month, several of its units invite runners to meet at its stores in Manhattan, Philadelphia and Washington DC for a three- to five-mile run. The run ends at a Shake Shack where the runners get a free beverage, including beer and wine. Runners connect with the track and field club through Facebook. As you might expect, a lot of the runners opt to stay on to order food and more beverages at full price. Traditionally slow nights at the restaurants are now often full of hungry social runners.
We love the restaurant business because of the great people it attracts. Not long back, Mason Wartman left his job on Wall Street to open a simple shop called Rosa’s Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia. One day a customer came in and said he would like to pay for a $1 slice of pizza for the next homeless person who walked in. Rosa’s is located on a barren block where many homeless congregate. In response to the customer’s request, Wartman got a sticky note and stuck it to the wall: 1 Slice of Free Pizza. Before long, other customers followed suit and the wall filled up with similar sticky notes. Wartman says he has served more than 8,500 slices to the homeless because of the kindness of customers. A side benefit of this pay-it-forward-program is that crime in the neighborhood has decreased because recipients of the free pizza slices say they don’t have to commit petty crime to get money for food. Needless to say, Rosa’s Fresh Pizza has gotten a ton of national media coverage for the good it does.
Photo: Paul Prescott 72/Thinkstock
Restaurants have gotten considerably more casual in recent years and neither customers nor servers are getting dressed up. We’re okay with that except that in too many restaurants the servers look no different than customers. Just a little bit of extra style can make the difference, as it has at L.A.'s Hinoki & the Bird. Servers here wear Chuck Taylors with colored shoelaces, funky socks, fitted denim shirts and an apron with a slick tied belt. Their outfits are casual, stylish and informative. There’s no mistaking them for customers, which is good because that guy you asked to fetch you a White Negroni is not your waiter.
We’re generally not big dessert eaters, but when we saw the next table eating the Don Huevo at Bodega Negra in New York City, we had to try it. It comes to the table as a large white chocolate sphere, which encases a dark chocolate molten cake, topped with Horchata ice cream. You don’t know what’s hidden inside the sphere until your server pours hot Negra Modelo caramel sauce over the top. The egg collapses under the heat to reveal the cake and ice cream. It’s not really molecular gastronomy and it’s certainly not your average boring dessert. The little chocolate mustache is a bit too cute for words, but the chocolate scorpion on the rim of the bowl is a nice touch. All of it would be cheap theatrics if it didn’t taste so damn good, which it does. Go to YouTube and check out “The Magical Chocolate Egg Dessert.”
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