Hass Avocado Board reports strong US sales growth

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“The Hass Avocado Board reported that retail avocado sales for the month ending Sept. 9 grew 8.6% compared with year-ago levels. That was more than double the gain of total produce sales, which were up 3.7% for the period compared with year-ago levels, according to a news release.

The board said the Northeast topped the regional rankings in dollar growth rate at 16.2% higher than the same period a year ago. The Northeast was boosted by the three fastest growing markets: Pittsburgh (+42.6%), Albany (+36.2%), and Northern New England (+26.6%). The board said Northeast dollar growth was driven by a significant gain in volume (+42.7%), despite a decline in average selling prices(-18.6%).”

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Designing a Chain Restaurant for 40 Million Travelers

Image result for legal sea bar washington station

“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.

See more here.

Hill Country Food Park Opens in Downtown Brooklyn

“Marc Glosserman, who brought his Texas roots to New York and founded the various Hill Country restaurants, has turned what was his barbecue place in Brooklyn into a spacious food hall with an outdoor vibe. “I want it to be like a gathering of food trucks,” he said. Here, there aren’t trucks, but rough-hewed stalls to provide sustenance from morning (coffee and Du’s Donuts) until night (Van Leeuwen ice cream and cocktails). Fried chicken, including some new sandwiches, will be on offer, along with baby back ribs and other barbecue. And there’s Austino’s, for square pizza Texas-style; Bluebonnets, serving vegetable-forward sandwiches and salads; and Nickie’s Tex-Mex specialties, including tamales, nachos and burgers with salsa. Libations are soft, hard and in-between. On the second floor, a sprawling new version of Hank’s Saloon, a venerable dive bar that is closing in Boerum Hill, will be installed by early next year.

See more restaurant opening here.

Italian Restaurant at Eataly Transforms Rooftop Into Winter Wonderland

Eataly, the Italian food market and restaurant in Flatiron unveils their newest holiday installation: SERRA ALPINA. The rooftop bar and restaurant is doused in holiday cheer for the season, showcasing silver and golden leaves that dangle from the ceiling, creating a magical ambiance. The restaurant makes as good a photo-op as it does a delicious meal. The holiday pop-up opened early November and runs through March.

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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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NYC Food Trucks To Soon Get Letter Grades Like Restaurants

Food Carts, Trucks to Get Letter Grades Just Like NYC Restaurants

“Every cart or truck will be getting (a) newly designed decal, and when the inspector finishes the inspection, an ‘A’ looks just like the restaurant A,” says Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health Corrine Schiff.

Beginning in December, all of the city’s 5,500 mobile food vendors will be graded on their food safety and will receive a corresponding alphabet score. A tracking device will also be attached to every unit so inspectors can keep track of each business.”

Read more here.

The Best Restaurants on the Upper East Side

1. Flora Bar
945 Madison Ave., nr. 75th St.; 646-558-5383

Sure, the location is a little eccentric by local standards (the dining room sits on the semi-bunkered basement level of the Met Breuer museum on Madison Avenue). The decor is a little spare, too (did we mention that it’s in the basement of the Met Breuer?), and local gourmets will complain that the chef, Ignacio Mattos, is an interloper from the wilder, much more unruly culinary regions further downtown (he operates two popular restaurants below 14th Street). But we’d argue that the mingling of high culture and high cuisine at this unlikely three-star establishment creates the kind of alchemy which is unique not just on the Upper East Side, but to the city as a whole. Throw in Mattos’s refreshingly ingenious brand of high-low cooking (where else on the block can you get your crème fraîche and caviar served with house-frizzled potato chips?), the elegantly accessible lunchtime service (yes, there’s a Wagyu burger), the exceptional all-day coffee-and-pastry bar, and one of the better brunch menus in this brunch-crazed part of town, and you have the ideal Upper East Side restaurant for this unfussy, post-gourmet age.

See more restaurants here.

Taiwanese food is finally having a moment in New York City

A sampling of the dishes at 886

“It’s not impossible to find — I get asked about Taiwanese food in New York a lot, by both visitors from home who are in town and those who learned about Taiwanese food thanks to Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Taipei in 2013. I’ve satisfied my cravings in a variety of ways: eating a lot of spicy Sichuan food as a replacement; traveling to Flushing, Queens, for a hearty Taiwanese breakfast of fried crullers and soy milk; and ordering delivery from Taiwan Bear House, which specializes in bento boxes with Taiwanese-style fried chicken or braised pork belly.”

Read more here.