We Missed You, New York

We're back; 8,500 miles, 26 hours, and four airports later. As we get back to reality and tally up the things we missed out on, the list seems surreal: presidential election, Hurricane Sandy, Halloween, nor'easter, gas rationing, Lucky Peach Issue #5, and, of course, a slew of activity in the restaurant world. We're psyched to play catchup. Stay tuned.

We'd also like to thank all the readers for tuning in to Asia Feed while we were away. We had fun sharing our experiences eating our way through Manila and Saigon. Our cameras are still full of undocumented documented meals we had overseas, so we'll continue to update Asia Feed from the homefront. You'll be able to see those posts here as they go up. Thanks again, readers.

From Kung Fu Fighting to Downtown Dining, Hopefully

In lieu of a review this week, Pete Wells penned "Why Downtown Needs Diners Now," in which he embraces the culinary landscape in downtown Manhattan. He writes, "While other neighborhoods suffered more, downtown needs support now, too." Aside from physical damage brought by Hurricane Sandy Monday, October 29th, the ensuing power outage forced restaurants to throw out perishable inventory. "This is a big hit for businesses that get by on small margins," Wells notes, "and for workers who are often paid by the hour. A few places may not survive. All will struggle."

Wells describes the southern end of Manhattan as "the place where chefs come to think big thoughts, still, even with Brooklyn rising." It is there where you'll find "thinkers," "highly-distinctive voices," a "virtuosic manipulator of flavor and texture" in Paul Liebrandt of Corton, David Bouley, whose "mind won't stop whirring," and Annita Lo, a protege of Bouley's, who is guided at her restaurant Annisa by her "uncannily perceptive palate."

There is a unique charm and culinary talent enduring in restaurants south of 23rd Street. "Right now, these restaurants, the people who own them and, even more, the people who work for them, need us. And we need them. Downtown’s restaurants show us who we are." All told, the article lists 29 restaurants that exemplify the downtown experience. Perhaps now more than ever, any restaurant would be grateful to accomodate guests, but we thought we'd lay out those mentioned in the article for a quick reference on where you might go to do your part:

Jean-Georges Wants in on the Megamarket Movement

Jean-Georges Vongerichten told the Post yesterday about his plans to open a market in the basement of ABC Carpet & Home on Broadway. The 8,500 square-foot space was home to the Conran Shop before it closed in July. Vongerichten notes the "success of Eataly" in the Post article and goes on to say, “It’s just an idea now. But food is a part of life. People are foodies and love to shop for food. We will keep it very local and very American."

The pending market will sell local, artisanal products and be the third to open from Vongerichten in the ABC Carpet & Home building. ABC Kitchen came first when it opened to rave reviews in 2010. The second, ABC Cocina, is yet to open, but will do so early next year in the Pipa space on East 19th Street. The same ingredient-driven approach to cooking that defines ABC Kitchen will inspire the Spanish-influenced small plates that will make up ABC Cocina's menu.

Come Together, Right Now, Over Meat

[allison joyce/getty images]The New York City restaurant community is coming together over the recent havoc wrought by Hurricane Sandy. #DineoutNYC was launched on Halloween and aims to get local restaurants affected by the storm back on their feet by encouraging people to go out to eat. The #DineoutNYC Facebook page reads, "#DineoutNYC is a movement to motivate people to dine out in restaurants throughout NYC in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. This movement helps restaurant operators and their employees get back to work and helps diners learn about where to dine out in New York City. Getting involved is easy. Using #dineoutNYC allows diners to be part of a movement to support restaurants throughout the boroughs."

Dine Out Williamsburg gives participating restaurants and bars the chance to donate a percentage of their sales to the Red Cross. Their website notes that, "As members of the Williamsburg community, most of us came out unscathed by last week’s Hurricane Sandy.  If anything, businesses saw a boom from this disaster, and many of us would like to pay it forward." Dine Out Williamsburg takes place this Thursday, November 8th. Some of the participants so far include: Diner, Marlow & Sons, Reynard, Gwynnett St, Mason Premiere, Nitehawk Cinemas, Parish Hall, and the Brooklyn Star.

Eat the Week; Oct 29th - Nov 2nd

Asia Feed: Our eating in Manila continued with lunch at Max's | We get a taste of Szechuan food in Manila at Sze-Chuan House | A tour of Manila's Salcedo Community Market | We land in Saigon | Noodles from a place that's only open for an hour a day | A leisurely lunch in Saigon | A look at some back alley pho

New York: Adam Platt pays a visit to Italian newcomer Angolo Soho | A list of some restaurants able to open after Hurricane Sandy revishes the city | Pete Wells gives Talde a star | Some insight into Lucky Peach Issue #5 | Donde Dinner? - 73 Mulberry Street

Donde Dinner? - 73 Mulberry Street

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

346 East 21st Street = Grill 21

Grill 21 offers a modern take on traditional Filipino cuisine. Since we've been eating our way through Manila over the last week, we thought we'd offer a place where you could experience some of the same flavors. This week's restaurant follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion in that price, quality, and accessibility have all been taken into account. You won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails, and you don't have to worry about a dress code. Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:

73 Mulberry Street (btwn Canal and Bayard)

Issue #5 is Around the Corner

In our humble opinion, Lucky Peach is the most exciting piece of media, print or otherwise, covering all things culinary. The brainchild of David Chang, Chris Ying, and Peter Meehan, Lucky Peach is doing for the world of food writing the same thing Chang did for New York when he opened Noodle Bar in '04.

Issue #5 is the Chinatown Issue. Momofuku's blog invites readers to "explore what happens when chinese food leaves the motherland," and on Tuesday, November 13th, you can "read up on chinese-korean noodles, the san gabriel valley, opium dens, crab rangoons and magical white balls." The fifth go 'round also features a few words from Anthony Bourdain and recipes from Mission Chinese Food chef Danny Bowien.

Catch Chang tonight on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Park Slope's Talde Gets a Star

[kara zuaro] Dale Talde, David Massoni, and John Bush are neighborhood guys. At the root of their partnership and business model is a shared desire to provide good food and a casual dining experience. Dale Talde recently became a partner at Thistle Hill Tavern, Massoni and Bush's first restaurant in Park Slope, where he is now in charge of the menu there. Talde, the trio's most ambitious restaurant, was less than a year old when the team opened Pork Slope, an American Honky Tonk serving chef Talde's take on bar food. As for the restaurant, Talde's immediate success when it opened in January has given the Park Slope eatery serious culinary momentum, the likes of which has brought in Pete Wells, who filed a one-star review on the restaurant today.

"About a month into its run," Wells writes, "the dining room ticked along briskly, and the cooking, which could be called pan-Asian if that didn’t sound so alarming, was smart and skillful." That was before Talde was in charge of three menus, hard work to say the very least. The best way to deal with that is to be at three places at once, but science hasn't made that possible yet. In his review, Wells mentions how whenever Talde was in the kitchen, "The food was back to its old, confident self."

The review seems to suggest that had Talde been in the kitchen on each of the three visits Wells made before he could file his review, an unwritten (written?) Times requirement, he may have stamped it with a second star. Talde, no stranger to competition, is ready to do what it takes to right the wrongs. He had this to say about the review via Twitter: