July 9, 2019 by Leave a Comment
NYC Officials Are Looking Into Grubhub’s Reviled Restaurant Fees
June 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
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New York City government officials are now diving into the Grubhub debacle, in which several restaurants have accused the food delivery app of slyly charging fees for customer phone calls that never resulted in actual delivery orders.
City Council’s Committee on Small Business will hold an oversight hearing to investigate those fees, as well as others charged by similar apps like like DoorDash and Uber Eats — an act that could eventually lead to more government regulation.
The hearing will go down on June 27, giving local restaurateurs a chance to voice their concerns. City officials will specifically focus on how these fees and other policies are affecting NYC restaurants, especially small mom and pop shops, the Post reports.
“If we see there is abuse, or if there is a manipulation here, then it could certainly be referred to the legal authorities,” Bronx Councilman Mark Gjonaj tells the Post. The hearing’s findings could eventually lead to the involvement of the Public Advocate, the city Comptroller, or the state Attorney General, he says.
Read more here.
The Culinary Institute of America Is Starting a Scholarship in Anthony Bourdain’s Name
June 26, 2019 by Leave a Comment
“The Culinary Institute of America announced it will start a scholarship in the late Anthony Bourdain’s name. It will go to one or two students a year, helping pay — fittingly — for their studies abroad. The late author and television personality graduated from the school in 1978, and worked in restaurants for decades after, a life he documented in Kitchen Confidential.
As the New York Times reports, the C.I.A. was approached about doing the scholarship by Eric Ripert, Bourdain’s close friend. He came up with the scholarship — “I thought it should be a celebration of Anthony Bourdain,” he tells the Times — after discussing ways to honor Bourdain with José Andrés, another friend of Bourdain’s, and Bourdain’s estate. After discussing the idea with the institute’s president, Dr. L. Timothy Ryan, they created the Anthony Bourdain Legacy Scholarship. How much money the scholarship will provide has not yet been determined, as the fundraising has only just begun. Ryan tells the paper of record that he hopes there will be enough money for the scholarship to be an endowment fund.”
Read more here.
Bed-Stuy Gains a Mediterranean Wine Bar Serving Lesser-Seen Wines in NYC
June 25, 2019 by Leave a Comment
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“An ambitious wine bar is now open in Bed-Stuy with a list that covers Mediterranean territory lesser explored by New York City’s wine programs.
Five Italian friends opened Speakvino at 1063 Bedford Ave., between Greene and Lexington avenues, focusing on wines from Bosnia, Macedonia, Croatia, Morocco, Albania, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. There are more ubiquitous offerings too, like wines from Italy, France, and Spain.
As for food, the cuisine skews Italian with touches of Spanish and other Mediterranean cuisines. Most of the menu is comprised of preserved foods served in jars, like anchovies ($9), baby artichokes ($8), and mixed Italian mushrooms ($8). There are some small plates, too, including burrata ($14), a little gem salad with avocado and Castelvetrano olives ($11), and octopus served with gigante beans, peperoncino, and celery leaves ($13). On the more substantial side, there is a simple potato gnocchi with sage, cheese, and butter ($12), as well as a thinly sliced pan-roasted strip loin with yuzu koshu and lime ($18).”
Read more here.
How He Got 200,000 People To Buy Ugly Fruits and Vegetables
June 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment
“Four years later, Simon cofounded Imperfect Produce, a subscription-based home-delivery service for discounted “ugly” fruits and vegetables that are perfectly good on the inside, but otherwise rejected from the food supply chain for their looks.
“About 70 billion pounds of food is wasted annually in the United States. It’s from homes, cafeterias, farms, restaurants, grocery store and stadiums. Almost all of it is good food,” said Simon. “We wanted to think bigger about how to fight this food waste and create a more sustainable food system that was scalable.”
Simon partnered with his friend Ben Chesler, who shared his passion for social good, and the two homed in on farms as the starting point of their food recovery and delivery service. Up to 20% of the fruits and vegetables grown on farms in America is discarded because the produce doesn’t meet grocery stores’ aesthetic standards, said Simon.
“It’s often for discoloration, scarring on the surface caused by the fruit rubbing against a tree limb or an atypical shape,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the size. We see a glut of small avocados that go to waste because consumers tend to prefer larger avocados for guacamole.”
Read more here.
One of Tokyo’s Oldest Soba Shops Will Open in Flatiron This Summer
June 5, 2019 by Leave a Comment
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“One of Tokyo’s oldest and most venerable soba shops is heading to New York City this summer.Centuries-old Japanese buckwheat noodle restaurant Sarashina Horii — helmed by ninth-generation soba maker and owner Yoshinori Horii — will open at 45 East 20th St., near Park Avenue South in Flatiron this July. The menu will include more than a dozen noodle dishes, both hot and cold, as well as appetizers and other entrees.
Sarashina Horii is known specifically for its white noodles made using only the core of buckwheat seeds. The restaurant dates back to 1789, and its soba was once deemed fit to serve the Japanese Imperial Household. The restaurant also made an appearance in the late Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations show in Tokyo, where the food media icon calls the noodles “perfectly chewy.””
Read more here.
Chicago’s Sputnik Coffee Boldly Grows in Ways No Roaster Has Grown Before
June 3, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Since lifting off its launchpad roastery in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago in 2017, startup Sputnik Coffee Roasters has rapidly carved out a niche for itself with a concise product line and personable service.
In response to rocketing demand, Sputnik has now tripled its capacity with a new 15-kilo, IMF roaster and upgraded its packaging from hand-stamped craft bags to printed bags.
Starting with smaller and lower-priced retail bags of its one core blend, Sputnik’s growth also depends on the sales work of co-founder Vova Kagan. And with the recent shift from hand-stamped craft bags to printed bags, the company also adjusted its labeling to provide info in multiple different languages, reaching directly out to more people in the communities it serves.
Read more here.
Innovative Filipino Dishes Come to the Lower East Side
May 29, 2019 by Leave a Comment
“The flavors of the Philippines are interpreted inventively in the hands of Jappy Afzelius, a Filipino executive chef who worked at high-end kitchens in France, Italy and New York. Starters, called pica pica, include pinsit fritos or pork dumplings, fried vegetable spring rolls called lumpia, and kale laing sautéed with shrimp paste and replacing taro leaves with kale. Mr. Afzelius adds Filipino ingredients to a Caesar salad; uses French-cut chicken breasts in his chicken adobo with turmeric soy sauce; includes salmon in sinigang, a typical tamarind soup; and serves traditional Filipino milkfish belly called bangus, fried with chayote and quinoa. His halo-halo dessert uses coconut sorbet in place of shaved ice. Not only does the menu expand your Filipino vocabulary, but you may also note that the name of the restaurant is a play on the Spanish word chisme, or gossip. The intimate room has a tropical feel, a copper bar and a chef’s table with eight seats facing the open kitchen. Philippe Segura, the beverage director, selected the wines and sakes. The owners, Stephen Young and Reggie Aguinaldo, have Filipino roots.”
See more opening here.
McDonald’s Spent $50 Million on TV Advertising in April
May 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
“McDonald’s easily led all companies in TV ad spend last month for the second time in 2019, spending $50 million to promote its new any size $1 soft drink limited time offer, and mix and match 2 for $5 deal to customers.
The Illinois-based chain last topped the list in February when it introduced bacon as a new topping on its signature burgers. McDonald’s was pressed by analysts last week on its first quarter earnings call about when it would also delve into the growing plant-based food trend, which rival Burger King has tapped into with Impossible Foods. CEO Steve Easterbrook said McDonald’s is currently weighing additional complexities of launching its own product, while also assessing the sustainability of the consumer trend.
“Our menu teams are clearly paying close attention to it,” said Easterbrook. “They are discussing this amongst each other and with some of the options that are out there. So maybe more to come, but nothing much to say about it in the moment.”
Read more here.
May 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment
“As NYC’s only culinary high school, Food and Finance High School provides a unique educational opportunity to students and families in the community.
Students learn the true reward of hard work, dependability and time management from a staff of acclaimed chefs, educators and business leaders that oversee their curriculum, field trips and internships. Food and Finance works to understand its students’ barriers of success and develops additional programs to support their needs and dreams.
Preparation for higher-learning and the workforce is key to the ongoing success of our students. NYC comes together at Food and Finance High School to provide a rigorous and rewarding Regents Diploma and culinary curriculum for our students. We’re more than a school, we are a community that supports our students as they tackle new challenges and reach new heights. We work to inspire and to empower our students.
The Food Education Fund is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit that exclusively supports Food and Finance High School through job training and internships, our visiting chef program, and college and career readiness programming.”
See more here.
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