birthday dinner at blue hill
stone barns
The premise of Storage Wars revolves around the fact that the United States has many thousands of square miles of storage space, enough to house every man, woman, and child in the country seven times over, according to the opening credits sequence. These storage units make their money by renting out their space to people who have things they need secured, of course, but the single biggest way they lose money is from people defaulting on their rent. If someone doesn't pay rent on a storage unit for more than three months, then everything inside that unit becomes the property of the storage company. The items are auctioned off but not piece by piece. Instead, the company hires an auctioneer to sell whole UNITS, and various pawn shop owners, consignment specialists, and other scavengers descend on the auctions to hope they'll find treasure packed in the back of these units. But they're not allowed to step inside the units during inspection, nor are they allowed to open up sealed boxes. The buyers are only allowed to buy the unit based on what they think they can see standing outside of it.
ifc is scooping up many of the oft short lived cultish comedies for rebroadcast. recently aired included flying circus, freaks and geeks, undeclared and arrested development. now adding mr. show, the ben stiller show and larry sanders.
pdx portland
Jason Neroni's not the only New York City name looking to make it big in Portland: Eater confirmed today that New York transplant Sarah Pliner (formerly head chef at the West Village's Socialista Downstairs and veteran of Ducasse and Aquavit) will open up Aviary, a small-plates style spot, on NE Alberta sometime early next year. "Coming from New York, we wanted to be part of a neighborhood," Pliner says. "Alberta is such a vibrant, happening place."
Pliner (who spent about 10 years in Portland during the '90s — cooking at the Heathman and Giorgio's), is pairing with fellow schooled-in-NYers Jasper Shen (Aquavit, Jean-Georges) and Kat Whitehead for the project, and their eclectic mix of influences shows up in the menu. "We've all worked in a million kinds of restaurants," Pliner says, "and we want to take the best of things we've done." A sneak peek at a working menu reveals three sections: Small plates (featuring roast goose salad and oxtail croquettes); a vegetarian "seasonal" menu (think tempura pumpkin and cauliflower veloute); and large plates (like crispy pig ear with coconut rice, and brioche-crusted halibut with uni). NY strip streak is the priciest item, at $16.
Build-out is in progress; projected opening date: January.
OUCH
MICHAEL WHITE cooks pasta and people go crazy. This has been the case since he was the chef at Fiamma Osteria on Spring Street in the early years of the century, and it remains the case at Osteria Morini, a casual new restaurant on Lafayette Street.
look familiar
Thai One On 11/30 Three People
Kin Shop....6 dishes, some nice flavors but some things undercooked and some blandness overall, would deff not go back
Lotus of Siam.....12 dishes, all great, bright distinctive flavors, real Thai soul, fantastic and would love to go back tonight
finally a place for me to express my
independents.
I'm posting Grandmaw Peacock's Chicken and Rice recipe here because I keep losing my copy and I LOVE this recipe. No chopping, one pot, foolproof (which is a big one for me) and it's better the next day.
Got it from Saveur long time ago, my copy is worn. Some different rices make it nice as well.
One more reason not to move to Portland
After two trips to Oregon failed to turn up the supposedly "locally common" bird, I finally saw my first Varied Thrush.
On my lunch hour.
In Manhattan.