Two New Projects Coming this Fall from Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi

Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi have been kept busy at their neighboring restaurants on Mulberry Street. Torrisi and Parm are templates of Italian-American cuisine. Parm serves classics like chicken parm and baked ziti to those looking for a quick meal at a cheap price point. Dinner at Torrisi provides a look into the layers of talent that have made Carbone and Torrisi, and both of their restaurants, the successes they are. Aside from maintaining two of the most popular Italian restaurants in the city, the guys have also been busy readying to open two new projects on Thompson Street.

At the end of last year, the pair signed a lease in the old Rocco space at 181 Thompson Street. They've since revealed the name of the place and plan to open Carbone sometime in November. The restaurant will be a slightly upscale mid-century Italian-American restaurant where you can expect dishes like linguine with clams, octopus pizzaiola, and whole maraschino duck.

The Lobster Club, opening at 169 Thompson Street, is project number two; a sandwich shop whose menu draws inspiration from the triple-decker Saratoga Club at Parm. TLC is shooting to open before Carbone, possibly in October.

Pok Pok Phat Thai Menu

The demand for "Ike's Wings" proved too much for the small kitchen at 137 Rivington Street. Andy Ricker's Pok Pok Wing closed Sunday to make the transition from wing joint to phat Thai joint. Pok Pok Phat Thai will open in the former Pok Pok Wing space this Friday. Grub Street got their hands on the menu and we posted it here for you. The base ingredients in the noodle dishes read like directions to flavor town: rendered pork fat, tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar, peanuts, dried tofu, dried shrimp, preserved radish, egg, garlic chives, bean sprouts, and chili powder. In case you were wondering, "Sorry, no chicken Phat Thai!"

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Flushing According to Jason Wang

Xi'an Famous Foods and Biang! are run by David Shi and his son Jason Wang.  Biang! is the most recent recipient of the Wells treatment, having earned one star in last week's Times review.  The Xi'an mission is to reintroduce the world to the unique flavors found in the ancient city of Xi'an in the western region of China.  The XFF website invites you to "Forget what you think you know about Chinese food, and join the true experience at Xi'an Famous Foods!"

Despite a busy schedule, Jason joined Max Falkowitz of Serious Eats on a food tour through Flushing.  Max writes, "Their business couldn't be a better immigrant success story, or a better father-son story, or a more inspiring account of the power of good food to break down cultural boundaries and let outsiders in to a foreign cuisine and culture."  The journey covered bubble tea, dumplings, lamb noodles, and talk about the changing landscape of Jason's Chinatown home in Flushing, Queens.

Donde Dinner?

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!  But, before we get to this week's DD, allow us to reveal last week's restaurant.

Last week's address:

23 East 23rd Street (btwn Madison and Park) | 620 8th Ave (btwn 40th and 41st) = Schnippers

This weeks spot follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion.  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:

268 Clinton Street (btwn Verandah Pl and Warren St), Brooklyn

Apparently, Phat Thai's Aren't Just What People Wore in the '70s

Diner's Journal reports Andy Ricker is changing things up at Pok Pok Wing.  The demand for Ricker's wing rendition has proven to be too big for the small Lower East Side space.  Pok Pok Wing will be closing this Sunday for minor renovations and menu adjustments and reopen Friday the 24th as Pok Pok Phat Thai.  Phat Thai, aka pad Thai, is a popular noodle dish Ricker was eventually going to build a space around.  That space will be the former Pok Pok Wing.

He introduced the east coast to his wings when Wing opened back in January.  When Pok Pok NY opened on Columbia Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, the wings showed up on the menu there as well.  Cobble Hill will be the only place to get the wings after Pok Pok Phat Thai opens next week.  Ricker hasn't abandoned the idea of a wing space in Manhattan, it's just a matter of finding a space with a kitchen big enough to accommodate the demand.

As for PPPT, there will be four types of the noodle dish, with the option of rice or glass noodle: pork, prawn, prawns and pork, and vegan.  Everything (vegan dish aside) will be stir-fried in rendered pork fat.

Pork Slope Preview Party

Pork Slope is the highly anticipated bar/restaurant from Dale Talde, David Massoni, and John Bush. The trio got together and opened Talde in Park Slope back in January. The restaurant was one month old when the triumvirate announced they were taking the former Aunt Suzie's space on 5th Ave between Garfield and Carroll a few blocks away. The time has come. Pork Slope is opening this Saturday. Dale Talde and co threw a little shin dig last night to show off their goods and Digest NY got an invite. Now we have some pictures and a hangover we'd like to share.

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A Century of Wit and Wonder

Julia Child was born 100 years ago today.  Her contributions to America's foodscape are plentiful and undeniable.  This video has invaded the internet in honor of America's cook and we thought we'd share it with you here as well, to celebrate the dialogue that lives on between food and family that Julia is largely responsible for starting.  Her truly unique personality warmed hearts and kitchens during her lifetime devotion to cuisine and craft.  Happy Birthday Julia.  Bring on the roasted potatoes...

Biang Biang (You Shot Me Down)

Wells takes his palate to Flushing this week and files on Biang!, an extension of David Shi and Jason Wang's Xi'an Famous Food stalls.  "Biang! is essentially a cleaner, brighter, more modern sit-down version of Mr. Shi’s food stall inside the Golden Shopping Mall."  The restaurant opened in May this year and serves food similar in both flavor and price to its Xi'an brethren.  The word biang comes from a local dialect spoken in Xi'an, China and refers to the sound noodles make when they're whacked on a table as they're being formed.

"Before they arrive in the dining room, the biang biang noodles, a specialty of the house and its namesake, are punished in ways that might have unnerved the Spanish Inquisition. They are repeatedly swung up and down through the air, slapped on a table, ripped right down the center and then dropped in boiling water."

Biang! is the first restaurant in the Xi'an family with table service.  It's a work in progress.  "The servers’ notions of what it means to clear a table may not coincide with your own."  Wells has hesitations about the decor as well, but nothing on the menu is more than $10 and his handful of recommended dishes suggest the trip to Flushing is worth it.