A Look Around Runner & Stone

Chris Pizzulli and Peter Endriss opened Runner & Stone last week on Third Avenue in Gowanus. Peter Endriss, former Head Baker at Per Se, is responsible for everything coming out of the upstairs bakery. Apple turnover, cheese danish, brioche, and cannele are some of the pastries that accompany an array of croissants at R&S when the doors open at 7am, and buckwheat pear, hard cider spelt, bolzano rye, and mixed flour miche are some of the breads on offer. Chris Pizzulli is the former Chef de Cuisine at Park Slope's Blue Ribbon. His menu (currently 13 items) is made in the downstairs kitchen and none of it costs more than $19.

About 30 bottles make up the wine list and, with the exception of one Champagne, everything falls below $70. House-made cocktails are $10 each and have an Italian lean (Runner & Stone Negroni and the Base Stone Spritz with prosecco, Aperol, and limoncello).

The restaurant takes its name from the two stones used to grind grain in a traditional mill: the runner stone and base stone. On the back of the menu, guests are informed, "Runner & Stone's interior was designed by Latent Productions and focuses on the synergy of prime materials coming together to be much more than their individual parts, mirroring the philosophy behind everything we make in the bakery and kitchen." Runner & Stone opened Wednesday and Thursday for breakfast only, with dinner commencing on Friday, the 21st. We got to sneek in for a few pictures before it did.

Click to read more ...

Go On with Your Bad Self, Mr. Bowien

The end of the year is a time when food critics weigh in on all that happened in the restaurant industry over the last twelve months. In place of a review this week, New York Times critic Pete Wells wrote "12 Restaurant Triumphs of 2012." "At the end of my first year in the restaurant critic’s chair," he writes, "the New York dining landscape still looks like a wonderland to me." The list of 12 restaurants is arranged as a countdown, described as "a cardiogram, with each spike in the chart denoting a restaurant that made my heart race this year." Among the excitement-inducing restaurants are Gwynnett St (12), Calliope (11), Blanca (10), Pok Pok Ny (7), Atera (4), and The Nomad (3).

Landing the number 1 spot is Danny Bowien's Lower East Side smash Mission Chinese Food. "For its bravado, its inventiveness, its low prices, its attempt to ease the suffering of those waiting at the door by tapping a small keg of free beer, and its promise to give some of its earnings on each entree to a food bank, Mission Chinese was the most exciting restaurant of the year."

The free beer while you wait, the donation of .75 cents from the sale of every entree to the Food Bank for NYC, and the low price point at Mission Chinese (with the exception of the cumin lamb breast [$16] and the veal breast a la orange [$24], nothing on the menu exceeds $13), are part of the formula at a restaurant that has quickly established itself as an exciting venue for those seeking a delicious, affordable, vibrant, unique take on Sichuan cuisine in a room unlike no other in the city. "No other restaurant I reviewed this year," Wells explains, "left me feeling as exhilarated each time I got up from the table."

Eat the Week; Dec 17th - 21st

Pork Slope hosts a Hurricane Sandy Benefit | An ex-employee of Soldera is arrested and charged for vandalism | Pete Wells awards one star to L'Apicio | Pictures from the Sandy Benefit at Pork Slope | The Manhattan Bien Cuit outpost opens on Christopher Street | Smorgasburg favorite Mighty Quinn's opens their storefront on Second Avenue | Ivan Orkin looks to open his ramen shop on Clinton Street | Donde Dinner? - 17 Mott Street

Merry Christmas!

Donde Dinner? - 17 Mott Street

Donde Dinner? wants to make your next dining experience an adventure. So, every Friday, we pick a restaurant and post its address for you. The catch is, that's all the information you get. No name, no type of cuisine, and no Googling. Last week's address sent you to:

106 Lexington Ave = Singapura

This week's restaurant follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion. Price, quality, and accessibility have all taken into account. You won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails and you never have to worry about a dress code. Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:

17 Mott Street (btwn Mosco and Chatham)

Ivan Orkin Eyes 25 Clinton Street for Ramen Spot

On the other side of that Taurus, and behind the tree, is the storefront of 25 Clinton Street. It's the former address of Ed's Lobster Bar Annex and the possible future home of Ivan Orkin's first stateside ramen spot. Orkin, a Long Island native, moved to Japan with his wife in 2003. He opened Ivan Ramen in Tokyo in 2007 and, in 2010, Ivan Ramen Plus. At both ramen counters, Orkin strays from tradition and serves his own take on the dish. Homemade noodles (some whole-grain) and adding the protein to his ramen hot are among the signatures Orkin brought to Tokyo. His efforts won high praise from a top ramen blogger in the city and both Ramen and Plus have remain packed ever since.

Orkin recently moved back to the states and started giving New Yorkers a sneak peak, showing up here and there to serve his ramen. Should Ivan Ramen (Japanese food) open at 25 Clinton Street, it'll be a block north of wd-50 (other worldly) and Pig & Khao (Filipino), and two blocks north of Yunnan Kitchen (Chinese), turning the stretch of Clinton Street between East Houston and Delancey into a legit version of Epcot Center's World Showcase, minus the frozen food and humidity.

The decision to open at 25 Clinton is pending a meeting with the Community Board next month in which Orkin will hopefully attain a liquor license. If he does, it's all things go and the 60-seat space will open in the spring. [DinersJournal]

Mighty Quinn's is Open

Mighty Quinn's opened yesterday in the former Vandaag space at 103 Second Avenue. It's the fifth restaurant of 11 to open from our Taste of Tastes to Come.

The barbecue here is the work of Texas native Hugh Mangum, who started serving his Texalina Barbecue at Smorgasburg. His is a hybrid of sorts, inspired by the barbecue traditions of both Texas and the Carolinas. Mighty Quinn's offers a traditional menu of brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage, ribs, wings, and chicken. From the restaurant's website, "We cook our barbeque the old school way, with plenty of wood and time, adding just the right amount of salt and spice to let that lovely marriage of process and product evolve into something transcendent."

The website also explains, "Mighty Quinn’s is the first authentic barbeque experience in a fast casual setting." Part of the setting is provided by tables built from century-old wood planks salvaged from the recent Puck Building renovation. The Puck Building was built in the late 1800s and is one of the city's oldest landmarks.

There's no bourbon at this barbecue spot, but a total of 16 beers are available on tap and in bottle. Mighty Quinn's is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and late (2am) Thursday - Saturday.

Mighty Quinn's | 103 Second Avenue (6th Street) | 212-677-3733 | www

Sunday - Wednesday 11am - midnight, Thursday - Saturday 11am - 2am

Bien Cuit Manhattan is Open

Baker Zachary Golper and his wife and business partner, Kate Wheatcroft, introduced the city to Bien Cuit in July 2011, when the store opened on Smith Street in Brooklyn. The bakery quickly became a neighborhood favorite and Golper's time starting his work days at 1am working under candlelight began to pay off. The success called for expansion. The West Village location of Bien Cuit opened yesterday and it puts the bakery on a list that includes Frankie's and Mile End as Brooklyn restaurants to open second locations across the river.

The Manhattan outpost shares a similar aesthetic to the one in Brooklyn; wood floors, rustic room, inviting space. Potpies are unique to the Christopher Street menu and they're offered with chicken, turnip & potato, or artichoke, olive & potato. Seasonal, holiday items include Bûche de Noël with chocolate, bourbon, black cherry & hazelnut praline, a classic gallete de rois, and pane de cioccolato; naturally fermented traditional Italian Christmas bread with honey and chocolate.

Bien Cuit Manhattan | 35 Christopher Street | 646-590-3341 | www

Monday - Saturday 7am - 9pm, Sunday 8am - 9pm

Bien Cuit Brooklyn | 120 Smith Street | 718-852-0200 | www

Monday - Saturday 7am - 8pm, Sunday 8am - 8pm

Pork Slope's Hurricane Sandy Benefit

Dale Talde, Dave Missoni, and John Bush hosted a fundraiser at Pork Slope last night to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy. Wyatt Cenac and Eugene Mirman were amongst those tending bar, ?uestlove showed up around midnight and DJ'd a set of 80s jams and funky Xmas tunes, and two lucky attendees won tickets to the February 5th Nets vs. Lakers game at Barclays Center.

Click to read more ...