How did Wolfgang Puck find himself with a restaurant empire? Possibly by forced coercion, he tells Nation's Restaurant News. "These Japanese people gave me basically no choice but to open [another Spago] in Tokyo…I said I wasn’t interested, and they said, ‘Then we’ll open it without you.’ So I went into business with them." [NRN]
Cake Man Raven
The Brooklyn Paper reports that thieves took a TV from Cake Man Raven, who has baked for the likes of 50 Cent, Isaac Hayes, and Spike Lee. Strange to steal a TV from a bakery, but nowhere near as weird as the guy who, according to WLTX, went into a Taco Bell in Haverstraw, New York, and demanded some money at gunpoint, only to then walk into the manager’s office and ask for a job application. When the manager told him to leave, he actually did (sans cash).
A couple of nose-thumbing “influential”-type lists are out today, and as expected, Takedown visionary Matt Timms and Stumptown founder Duane Sorenson have made the Chow 13. It's Chow.com’s somewhat lowbrow-leaning list of individuals who inspired “the most exciting developments to take place in food over the past year.” Don’t believe the list leans lowbrow? Well, the authors of This Is Why You’re Fat made it, as did “haute-trash food” innovator Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar. There are also nods for the obligatory “hot butcher” (San Francisco’s Ryan Farr in an upset over Brooklyn’s Tom Mylan) and “badass urban farmer” (Oakland’s Novella Carpenter).
Hall at The Gorbals premiere
After many false starts, rumors, and breath-holding, Ilan Hall's The Gorbals will reopen this Saturday, November 7th. A restaurant rep informs us that Hall "is green-lighted to open now," but will take a few days to retrain his staff and shop at the farmer's market. The Top Chef: Season Two winner must have built an abundance of patience, opening the Downtown L.A. restaurant in mid-August after discussing the project for over a year, only to have it shuttered within weeks by the County Health Department over issues with the broiler system's installation and maintenance. Hall stayed busy with appearances at food events like AWFF and through occasional stunts like his pig roast at Downtown's art walk. Starting Saturday, he'll get the chance to do something he probably hasn't done in a while, cook in a kitchen.
The top of 10 Rittenhouse
The KleInsider is reporting that both Boston-based bachelor chef Todd English and the owners of the New York's Serafina chain are both in talks to install a restaurant the ground floor of 10 Rittenhouse the luxury building off of Rittenhouse Square. No one's signed anything yet (and the Inky previously floated Daniel Stern as a possible tenant), so this is all a bit how-your-inside-baseball-sausage-gets-made for most of the gen pop. Besides, we're still smarting over how the perfectly good Lombardi's pizzeria (and adorable Rindelaub's Bakery!) were torn down to build 10 Rittenhouse. The Illadelph confirms the restaurant's entrance will be at 18th and Sansom Streets and wonders if Starr might also be in the running.
Serafina Coming to Philly? [Insider]
A waiter at Newport, Rhode Island's Clarke Cook House claims he was canned for asking actor Kevin Spacey to refrain from smoking inside of the restaurant. After asking him to put out his cigarette twice, the waiter joked with Spacey, "You're not allowed to smoke in here unless you're on fire," and the actor, on fire in a different way, allegedly responded, "I need you to get the fuck away from my table." The waiter was fired a few days later and is now pleading his case via Radar, but at least he didn't tweet about it.
Smokin' Mad Waiter Says 'Kevin Spacey Got Me Fired' [RadarOnline]
In what is perhaps the British equivalent of cracking Colonel Sanders' fried chicken recipe, the secret ingredients of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, unknown for 170 years, are secret no more. An accountant for Lea and Perrins found a folio with recipe notes, dating from the 1800s, in a trash receptacle outside of the company. While mystery ingredients like fish and soy sauce are mentioned, the method of preparation is not. We're also pretty sure that high-fructose corn syrup, which is used in the American version of the sauce, is not in that original recipe book either.
Original Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce recipe found in skip [Daily Mail]
Grub Street reader Jeff Morton wrote in last week wondering if we knew anything about a show called Masterchef. "I checked out a couple of snippets of the show on YouTube over the weekend. It looks interesting and the cooking seems to be on a higher scale than some of the American shows. Also, those chefs can make some fabulous desserts. They don't have a Top Chef attitude towards them." We hadn't heard of the show, till we read Eat Me Daily today and learned that Gordon Ramsay is awakening from his Kitchen Nightmares and will instead contribute to Masterchef, a British show Fox is importing to America. The format is similar to American Idol, in that amateurs are competing to become a "master," explains Eat Me Daily. If the preview from the Australian version is any indication (watch it below), expect kitchen acrobatics.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among the eight states affected by a massive recall of ground beef and beef patties. The meat, sourced from Fairbank Farms in New York state and sold under different labels at local Acmes, Trader Joe's and Giant, among others, may be the source of an E. coli contamination which has sickened dozens and killed two people in New Hampshire and New York. Fairbank Farms, which has issued the voluntary recall of 545,699 pounds of the meat, has a list of the possibly affected products, which the company says were produced between September 14 through September 16, 2009 and will have EST 492 inside the USDA mark of inspection. Click through for more information on which package labels are affected and don't forget to check your freezers.
• TastyKake production at the Navy Yard has commenced with custard and fruit pies, Krimpets and others to come by next summer. [PBJ]
• Houston Press critic Robb Walsh is dropping his anonymity because "I was hired as a newspaper restaurant critic and feature writer. Today I am, first and foremost, a blogger. It's a little ludicrous to try and maintain your anonymity while you are photographing your plate." [Houston Press via Eat Me Daily]
• Manischewitz has revived its old "Man-O-Manischewitz!" slogan, this time to sell kosher foods instead of wine. [NYT]
• Lots of people bring leftover Halloween candy into their offices. [City Room/NYT]
“Amazing food”
Without exaggeration novi makes some of the best pizza Philly or anywhere I know has to offer. Prices are right and atmosphere is spot on. Great place to take a date.
“Awesome”
The hanger steak and snapper are awesome. Oh and the pork fries are great! That's right I said pork fries. Yum.
“Good eats in the Far NE”
The food is good as are the prices. The atmosphere inside is a bit ... lacking, but if that doesn't bother you and you just want a decent meal for the dollar, then OVP is your place.
