jeff29992001

the thread is located here for reference.

the guy didn't provide any details except to say he was "planning on opening"... no name, no other info. .... i took it with a grain of salt.

a post from another forum on french bakeries in nyc. an excerpt : "cafe sabarsky is austrian and with pastries such as Guglhupf and Apfelstrudel on the pastry menu, the quality is not going to compare to a top french pastry. their austrian pastries lack presentation and the balance of flavors and textures you'll get in french pastries." at the end of the post he discloses taht he will be opening a french bakery in the fall with some french baker who "won the world competition for a creative cake design a few years ago." whatever, is he full of it regarding cafe sabarsky?

if it's expensive salt, why would someone use it in pasta water, why not regular ole table salt??

Restaurateur Is Accused of Conspiring to Kill Fiance http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/nyregion/26slay.html Pragnesh Desai, owner of Bukhara Grill I and Bukhara Grill II has been accused of hiring a friend to arrange the murder of his fiance. He is indicted for conspiracy to commit murder for hire, and murder for hire. He was recently acquitted of murder charges in India for insufficient evidence, but the Indian gov't is appealing, and should the appeals stand, Desai will be extradited to the US to face justice. The US prosecutor noted Desai had purchased two $500,000 insurance policies a few days before his fiance's death.

a correction onyour original post... the main lawn/grass museum has always been open to the publicc. opening hours mid morning, closing hours around 6-7pm i think. As for the concession stand, I find it huge and ugly (despite making available above-par food), and upsets the general balance and aesthetic of the park. but hey, danny meyer being the chair of this (private-public) park, he can do whatever he wants. as for the prices.. they were $5.00 last year, but now it's $6.00 this year?? i guess you have to pay to sample the best, and of course, the charity.

bread: sullivan street bakery, (italian style, but the crumb occasionally is a little too hard with large holes) amy's bread (more American style, crumb slightly spongy) you can watch the entire baking operation happen at the chelsea market location le pain quotidien (chain stores with bakery in long island city) one of the best baguettes, plus other good breads. silver bell bakery (lithuanian light rye) they sel their excellent bread at polish meat markets others: Royal crown bakery is far out in brooklyn tom cat pastries: papa beard japanese cream puffs, you can watch the entire operation in the store. ess a bagel on 22nd st, you can watch them ladle out the bagels from a huge vat of boiling water, then baked, and then sold.

they arrested a suspect, he is a current employee, a porter, and also an ex-con. He was working at Pop as part of a prison work release program. unfortunately, the guy killed the manager in an early morning robbery attempt. police say he had a previous history of robbery, burglary and violence, and became the prime suspect when his alibi didn't check out. video: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/video/wab...204_arrest.html article: http://www.nynewsday.com/nyc-pop,0,3615037...ge-headlines

video (WABC) http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/video/wab...104_murder.html

manager of Pop on 4th ave---affiliated with Pop Burger in chelsea--was murdered in an suspected robbery this morning. http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/...epage-headlines

most cacao beans destined for America end up in warehouses in major cities like philadelphia, San Francisco, and esp. New York City. NYC is where the Board of Trade evaluates and sets the prices on cacao beans. but why is that with so many importers based here in NYC, nobody sells them retail???? is there any place (in the city) that sells beans to the public in small quantities? does anybody have a list of importers that are based in NYC, as they are hard to locate using google? note: not interested in non-NYC sources.

here's the scoop on "The Restaurant 2"... Rocco gets sued, and is hauled to court. the restaurant is dismantled in favor of a Jamba Juice Bar.

Takashimaya wasn't a very good place to sell chocolates in the first place, the basement was always warm, and the chocolates would be sitting at room temperature. I did one time (last year) notice a tiny box of miniature chocolates sitting on the counter in a handmade paper box. It didn't say where it was from, but looking through the cellophane wrapper, i noticed some blooming on the chocolate. same goes for saks, I visited the candy section on the 8th fl at one point before christmas, and man was it hot up there, so hot that whenI reached over to touch a chocolate novelty, the chocolate simply bent in half. bergdoff and macy's dept stores also sell chocolate, and they, esp. macy's take better care of whatever they have in stock, even if it has to sit for weeks on the shelf.

photos of hesser and bittman on the web, or just read their books. does the nytimes consider plastic surgery a health benefit?

There was an opening day party there last night for celebs and "vips" with the chefs that will be cooking there handing out generous free samples; ordinary schmoes like you and me weren't invited. Instead today, the place was just "opened" with not much fanfare. The place, featuring lots of glass and marble feels spacious and elegant, but also very ordinary and mall-like. The pluses are that there are toilets on each floor. the minuses are that there's no place to rest your feet in the entire damn place, and the front doors are a bit heavy to open--not very friendly to the disabled, or if you are carrying lots of bags. Nearly all the shops at the new mall are upscale, and name brand, consisting mostly of men's business clothing, and fashion, jewelry, and cosmetics. There's also a large gleaming wiliams-sonoma, a borden's bookstore, and a two story j.crew. The starbucks is located across the street, and the godiva is on the ground floor.. As for food, there are only 6 upscale restaurants, two bars, a dean and deluca mini cafe, and the whole foods market food court. None of the places are yet open except for the stone rose (afterwork yuppie type bar) and whole foods. There's also no affordable lunch place (under $10) except for whole foods. The most expensive restaurant may be Masa, at $400+ a person where you can get a kaiseki meal omakase from Masa Takayama (his other restaurant, Ginza Sushiko in beverly hills, is cheaper at $300/person dinner). Per Se with its blue doors is opening in a few weeks. the cheapest upscale option might be Bouchon Bakery (also thomas kelly). The whole foods market at columbus circle looks like a normal whole foods market with about the same amount of shelf space, and fresh and expensive produce as the one at 24th st. the only difference was they integrated a mini flower shop, a whole body drug store, a wine store, and expanded the shellfish dept a little. They also expanded the food court, and it now takes up about 30% of the entire store. the food court has several sections featuring (thick dough) pizza by the pound (~$6.49+/lb), house baked goods, salads ($6.99/lb), deli, cold cuts, cheese, christopher norman chocolates, black hound pastries, cheese, coffee and tea. There's also a Genji Sushi Express with about 9 ppl working behind the counter. The toilets are located inside the wine shop. the elevator is located between the wine shop, and the whole body drug section. the minuses are the long, snaking lines to the 30+ cash registers. Besides somebody outside handing out coupons for $10 off a $30+ purchase, there were some free food samples on opening day, mainly hann's organic chicken sausages, bell and evan's organic chicken, olive oil, and some slivers of shellfish boiled up for sampling. the sausage ppl were notable because they were busy cooking up hundreds of dollars worth of sausages for the hungry crowds (normal price $5.49/4 piece package, but there was a buy one get one free sale.)