Her Name Was Carmen Opens in Soho With Latin American Seafood

Soho is now home to a two-floor Latin American restaurant called Her Name Was Carmen, with seafood, music, and a design inspired by the modernism from the ’50s and ’60s in Latin America. Thatcher Shultz (the Garret) and Andres Diaz (Felix, Tropicana parties) own the spot at 527 Broome St., and Diaz, who is of Colombian heritage, wants it to be “an elevated Latin American concept.” To do so, they’ve brought on chef Ben Hammou, formerly of Le Bernardin and Flora Bar, to helm savory and chef Victoria Louise to run pastry. Though both of them are of Peruvian heritage, they will be cooking up seafood with inspiration from all of Latin America.

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Fast Food Prices Rise to Better Reflect True Costs

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“Dollar cheeseburgers and discount nuggets are getting Americans in the door at their favorite fast-food joints, but the savings end there.

Even as the recent fast-food discount wars rage on, with Burger King advertising 10 chicken nuggets for $1 and Pizza Hut offering $5 pies, fast-food items that don’t make it onto value menus are actually climbing in price. Median fast-food hamburger prices have jumped 54 percent over the last decade to about $6.95, according to menu researcher Datassential. Chicken sandwiches are up 27 percent. Both surpass overall U.S. price inflation during that same time.”

“McDonald’s Corp., the world’s biggest restaurant chain, recently started touting a $6 meal including a burger, fries, a drink and a pie, but it’s also offering plenty of items at the other end of the price scale. Its honey-barbecue glazed chicken tenders are more than $6 without any drinks or sides, and the new Bacon Smokehouse Quarter Pounder meal runs nearly $9 in Chicago.”

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New Jewish-style deli coming to Lexington from Versailles restaurant owners

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“Another well-known Versailles restaurant is opening a Lexington outpost: Addie’s at the Woodford Inn is opening Stein’s by Addie’s in early December. Addie’s is a bed and breakfast and restaurant, with a live music venue. Addie’s also has food truck.

Stein’s will be a New York-style deli, according to owner Linda Parker. The name is a shortened version of her maiden name, Edelstein. Her father was Jewish, she said, but she isn’t.

However, she wanted to open a Jewish-style deli that will serve corned beef, salami and Reuben sandwiches, chicken salad, soups and other items.”

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Oxalis Is a Neo-Bistro With Fine Dining Credentials

“(…) Over the course of a couple years, Oxalis popped up over 30 times around New York. Dinners sold out, and Russell’s precise, ambitious cooking clearly hit the right note with dishes like sasso chicken with rainbow chard and a caramelized mousse whey. To see another middle-tier but ambitious restaurant open is an exciting thing, too, when it can feel like almost everything opening these days is either a hyperexpensive, high-end tasting-menu spot or a fast-casual venture tailored for replication. “New York is a great city for a few different things, there’s a ton of high-end and a ton of low-end. It’s hard because what defines the middle?” Russell asks.”

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Taiwanese Fried Chicken and Bubble Tea Head to the Flatiron District

This new eat-in, take-out spot is a Taiwanese doubleheader. Kung Fu Tea, a Taiwanese-style bubble tea company that started in 2010 in Flushing, Queens, and now has 200 outlets in 30 states, has joined forces with TKK Fried Chicken, a chain founded in 1974 in Taiwan. The Taiwanese recipe called “original” on the menu is crisp and moderately spiced. There is also a milder version and, for the American market, a crisper, more forcefully seasoned one. How is this fried chicken different from the Korean variety found all over New York? “Taiwanese fried chicken is first marinated for 24 hours to add flavor,” said Steven Luw, the general operating manager. “Then it gets a flour breading and is fried once. Korean fried chicken is usually dipped in batter and fried twice.” The company, which will count this location as its first American restaurant in addition to the 68 branches it has in Taiwan and Shanghai, is also offering items that are not on the menu in Asia, including curly fries, a fried chicken sandwich, chunky coleslaw, Wisconsin-style cheese curds, biscuits and seared shishito peppers. The bubble tea partnership provides many colorful teas with optional toppings like red beans and crushed Oreos, served at varying sweetness, iced to hot.”

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Designing a Chain Restaurant for 40 Million Travelers

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“The estimated 40,000,000 people that pass through Washington D.C’s Union Station annually were a major consideration throughout the 6-month development of one of its newest bars and restaurants. Legal Sea Bar (part of the 37-Restaurant Legal Sea Foods chain) opened this past July on the West side of the station’s mezzanine level, was designed with high traffic in mind.

And so the casual bar/restaurant combo is “primarily designed for people trying to catch a train.” Small details take travelers’ needs into account: there are designated areas to put suitcases aside where visitors are still able to keep an eye on them, sufficient space between tables to store luggage, and ample hooks underneath the bar for easier purse and backpack storage.”

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NYC Holiday Pop-Ups Bars Opening This Season

Frozen Peppermint Slide at Industry Kitchen

Industry Kitchen

The South Street Seaport restaurant will channel a winter chalet and features special dishes like a “gingernut pizza,” made with ginger crust, eggnog frosting, spicy pecans, candy canes, and sprinkles. Drinks include a large format frozen cocktail made with Baileys, candy canes, peppermint bark, and pretzel rods. The spiked hot chocolate has Nutella. Now open at 70 South St.

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The best Venezuelan restaurants in New York City

Arepas Cafe

Located at 3307 36th Ave. in Astoria, it is the highest rated Venezuelan restaurant in New York City, boasting four stars out of 817 reviews on Yelp. Yelpers recommend the empanadas, the patacon con camarones and the plantains, as well as the sangria.

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McDonald’s Is Selling Cheesy Bacon Fries In Certain States

“McDonald’s traditional hot and crispy fries are getting jazzed up with two classic add-ons: Smoked bacon bits, and a gooey drizzle of real cheddar cheese sauce. It’s not quite the gravy-and-cheese-curd-topped poutine of our Canadian neighbors, but if you like your fries with a little something extra, this is your side dish.”

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A French Celebrity Chef Finds a Spot in a Lexus-Owned Space

“The aromas you might pick up in this building, owned by Lexus, the car company, may not be that new-car smell but rather curry, roasting meat, smoked vegetables, caramel and freshly ground coffee. Food is the main purpose of this installation, which features a ground-floor cafe, a full-service restaurant and bar upstairs, and not a car in sight. It’s the third such venture for the brand, after others in Tokyo and Dubai. Union Square Hospitality Group is behind the cafe and restaurant, but the food is being devised by Gregory Marchand, a French celebrity chef who owns the Frenchie restaurants in Paris and London. He will be on hand from time to time for the next four to six months; after that, another chef-in-residence will be imported. “We want chefs who are new to New York and up-and-coming,” said Kirk Edmondson, the manager. The long-term executive chef is Nickolas Martinez, who worked with Joël Robuchon and at Foragers City Table. Kaz Fujimura is responsible for pastries, and Andrea Morris is in charge of drinks and wine. A circular bar and lounge is on one side of the second floor. The dining room, done mostly in black and white with a spacious open kitchen, seats 50. Mr. Marchand’s menu includes some of his signature dishes like baby leeks with Parmesan sabayon and smoked egg yolk, halibut grenobloise, and a toffee and banana dessert called banoffee.”

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