Posts for May 29, 2012

How a Power Spot Muscled A Bigger Patio (And a Smaller Street)

Gibson's, home of the legendary Steaksfish.Photo: Zol87 via Flickr

From the Department of How Things Really Work here at Grub Street Chicago, we've got a story from the Sun-Times that demonstrates how a well-connected place gets what it wants from the city— and from you, the public. Rush Street power-dining steak joint Gibson's had a sidewalk cafe which ate up most of the sidewalk and made getting past all those Type A's choking down red meat difficult, especially for moms with strollers and people like that. Gibson's solution— create more sidewalk, by extending it six feet into the public-owned street for Gibson's benefit. The alderman encouraged it. The city's Department of Transportation said no. Gibson's hired zoning lawyer Jack George, whose partner is named Michael Daley, who has a brother named Richie. Suddenly it was a great idea! And it happened before the neighbors could do anything about it! And you'll never guess what restaurant's owner held a fundraiser for Mayor Emanuel, and has donated nearly $44,000 to his local alderman! [Sun-Times]

Gordo Goes Down: Ramsay Injured During Celebrity Soccer Match

Who would ever want to hurt this guy?

During a celebrity soccer match in Manchester yesterday, Gordon Ramsay was taken out of the game on a stretcher after being tackled in the second half and injuring his back. The game, a fundraiser for UNICEF, was probably just intended to be a good spot of fun, with such non-serious soccer lovers as Woody Harrelson and Mike Myers playing in the match at Manchester United's stadium. (Will Ferrell also sustained an injury on the pitch.) Despite this, The New York Post reports that Ramsay, once a player for Glasgow's Rangers, was "flattened" by Britain's former fĂștbol striker, Teddy Sheringham, who later said he "never set out to hurt the rammer," but didn't exactly offer his condolences either.

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T.G.I. Friday’s Denies Lifting Song From LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy.

Last week, we told you about the minor controversy surrounding a new T.G.I. Friday's ad: Its background music sounds similar to LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House." We reached out to Friday's, and Trey Hall, the company's chief marketing officer, got back to us: "Friday’s has always and continues to respect the rights of all artists. The music in question is original content that was created for the Friday’s brand; and therefore we do not believe it infringes on any artist copyright." [Earlier]

Curtis Duffy Joins Other Chefs Without Restaurants at Elements in NJ

Curtis Duffy.

It's hardly news when a chef pops up in another kitchen, but when you attract a whole group of chefs whose food you normally can't eat right now, and a gorgeous blog post comes out of it... that's worth a link. The restaurant was Elements in Princeton, New Jersey; chef Scott Anderson invited four chefs who don't have restaurants right now to participate in a dinner, including Curtis Duffy, formerly of Avenues and currently building Grace (as we've been documenting beginning here), Alex Talbot of the blog Ideas in Food (coming soon for a stint at EL Ideas, as we mentioned here), and John and Karen Shields, of the recently-closed Town House in Chilhowie, Virginia. And the blog which documented the dinner in (a few) thoughtful words and (many) evocative pictures is called Docsconz; see the post here.

But Romney Doesn’t Even Drink

"What happens is, the Republicans run up the tab, and then we're sitting there and they've left the restaurant ... And then they point and [say], 'Why did you order all those steaks and martinis?'" —Barack Obama, criticizing the GOP's spending habits, at a campaign stop in Iowa. [AP via US News & World Report, Related]

Modernist Cuisine at Home Coming in October

'Modernist' goes mass.Photo: courtesy of Modernist Cuisine

Modernist Cuisine is, by all accounts, a critical and commercial success (or, at least, as commercially successful as a 50-pound, $600 cookbook about incredibly complex cooking methods can be — Fifty Shades of Grey it ain't). And now the team behind the book reveals what their follow-up will be: an at-home companion called, thoughtfully, Modernist Cuisine at Home.

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What's Andrew Brochu Doing at Graham Elliot? The Answer, In Slideshow and Interview Form

Just a couple of weeks ago we interviewed Graham Elliot (the man) about Andrew Brochu stepping into Elliot's shoes as the first executive chef at Graham Elliot (the restaurant). Now it's Brochu's turn at the mic; we talk with him about his journey from Alinea cook to the much-loved but sadly short-lived "elegant country food" restaurant Kith & Kin, which led to an interlude doing his own thing with Phillip Foss at EL Ideas before he got a phone call inviting him to walk into one of the highest-profile kitchens in town and take it over in his own way. Then see some of his (very flowery) new spring menu for yourself in the slideshow by our man Huge Galdones. Click the image to go straight to the pretty pictures, or click "read more" to go to the interview.

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Super-Rich 28-Year-Old Eats Fast Food

Where did Facebook founder and official billionaire Mark Zuckerberg eat while on his honeymoon in Rome? McDonald's, apparently. Maybe he just knew he wouldn't get a chance to try Italy's NYCrispy once he got back to the States. [NYP]

15 Restaurants Chosen to Pop-Up at This Year's Taste of Chicago

If you tried to think of the most random list of Chicago restaurants you could come up with, we doubt you could do better than the 15 spots chosen to participate in this year's Taste of Chicago as single-day pop-ups. The idea is to attract restaurants which don't want to crank out millions of items over the whole five-day festival but would do a single day, and the restaurants chosen (with the help of Check, Please!) are certainly an interesting bunch well representing the diversity of the city. It's just, when you look at three of them side by side each day, they seem almost surreally incongruous as head to head choices— hmm, Arun's upscale Thai food or Austrian pastries? Gelato, raw food or fried chicken? A Navy Pier insiders' upscale concession or a kitchen helping train the homeless? (And then there's the odd thing that two south side Caribbean-Latin American spots turn up on the same day.) Hey, but whatever it takes to save us from more deep-fried cheesecake and butter-drenched corn on the cob on a stick, not to mention, a chance to check out Arun's at way below its customary prices. The list of restaurants and dates is below. [The Stew]

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Media Takeovers: Anthony Bourdain Launching New CNN Show Next Year

News man.Photo: Sean Mathis/WireImage

For all the fires that Anthony Bourdain has irons in at the moment — his Travel Channel shows (which Eater confirms will soon end), a killer publishing deal with Ecco — we didn't expect this: According to CNN, Bourdain will launch a weekend news show on the network in 2013.

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Black Dog Gelato Finally Opens; Ramova Grill Finally Closes; Next El Bulli Finito

Ramova Grill, 1929-2012.

Black Dog Gelato's second location in the former Bleeding Heart Bakery Roscoe Village location opened this weekend; according to a staffer at the original Ukrainian Village location, business was slow on the first day or two, but we expect that to change as the moms visiting toddler-friendly Fellger Park nearby figure out that Goat Cheese Caramel Cashew gelato and its ilk is just steps away.

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