The Red Hook Food Vendors are Alive and Well

el olomega, a salvadoran pupusa truckSince 1974, vendors have been selling the cuisine native to their country from trucks in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood.  The location is adjacent to a handful of ballfields that host games on weekends from early morning until late afternoon. The Red Hook Food Vendors originally provided food and nourishment to their friends and families that played games on the nearby fields.  The origin of the Red Hook food trucks nearly 40 years ago has fueled the fire of interest this city has in Latin American cuisine.  It is an interest that continues to grow and one that is epitamized on the corner of Clinton and Bay Street in Red Hook.

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Donde Dinner?

Donde Dinner? is a weekly column at Digest NY.  Every Friday we'll 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 allowed!  Price, quality, and accessibility are all being taken into concern.  We promise you won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails, and since we're not fancy folk, you never have to worry about a dress code.  Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:

94 Avenue C (btwn 6th and 7th)

Former Chinatown Brasserie Gets Cleaned Out; Signs Go Up

On Wednesday, June 20th, there was a same day announcement that Chinatown Brasserie would be closing at the end of the day.  Workers were inside cleaning out the 380 Lafayette Street address yesterday and a look through the doors revealed a completely gutted space. 

Partners Josh Pickard, John McDonald, and chef Joe Ng said they would look for a smaller space in the same neighborhood to reopen later this year.  A few hours after it was announced CB was closing, Andrew Carmellini, who is a partner with Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom in Locanda Verde and The Dutch, confirmed his group was taking over the space and planning a French restaurant.

There are "Nous somme la cuisine" posters on the windows of the yet to be named Carmellini space:

Testing, Testing, 1, 2...

david chang in momofuku's test kitchen, courtesy of eaterEater published this amazing post of test kitchens from around the world yesterday.  These kitchens are void of seats and the pressures of cooking for guests.  They are haven's where chefs are able to experiment with new ideas and work together with their chefs de cuisine to formulate new menus.  In a sense, they're gastronomic laboratories.

Part of what makes the list so remarkable is the lineup.  Momofuku, The Fat Duck, elBulli, and Noma are all captured in great detail with pictures and insight into the philosophies that drive some of the greatest restaurants in the world.

UWS Fatty Crab Is Scurrying Away; Red Farm to Slide In

Restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld and chef Joe Ng opened Red Farm last summer.  Pete Wells gave it two stars to in March.  In April, Ed Schoenfeld told Paper Magazine he's taking over the laundromat space under Red Farm, providing more space for guests to dine at the wildly popular Chinese joint on 529 Hudson Street.  His plans are for a bar and communal table and will open sometime this fall.

The Off the Menu column in today's Dining & Wine section of the Times reveals Red Farm is undergoing another expansion.  Florence Fabricant reports, "Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng plan a branch of Red Farm, their West Village Chinese restaurant, to open in the fall, replacing Fatty Crab on the Upper West Side, which remains open for the time being."  The space in question is 2170 Broadway, between 76th and 77th Streets.

Remember the Almayass

This weeks review from Pete Wells reveals a family affair in Flatiron.  Almayass opened earlier this year on 21st Street and is operated largely in part by an Armenian family.  "In fact, family values set the tone for the whole experience of eating at Almayass. At times that is refreshing; occasionally, like one’s own family, it can drive you slightly bananas."  "One waiter, for instance, played the overbearing uncle."  "Another reminded us of the kind of shiftless cousin who never stays focused."

The original Almayass opened in Beirut in 1997.  Fast forward a decade and a half and the restaurant is operating in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, New York City, and opening soon in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.  Here in New York, the cooking could use an upgrade, "Meats and seafood at Almayass tended to be overcooked; grilled prawns one night were so tough that I sliced them with effort and swallowed them with regret."

The food and the service weren't worthy of more than one star, but Wells is happy to have an Armenian restaurant to help answer his question, "Where have all the Armenian restaurants gone? A fixture of the city’s dining scene 50 years ago, they had all but vanished by the end of the last century."

First Bite: Governor

Welcome to First Bite, a new feature at DigestNY where we post about some of the city's most anticipated restaurants shortly after they open. We'll take some pics, eat some food, digest, and then report back to you. This go round it's Governor in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. It's the third restaurant from the team behind Gran Electrica nearby on Front Street, and Colonie in Brooklyn Heights. Bradford McDonald is the chef. His time at Per Se and Noma shows in his clean flavors and slick plating.

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Taste Savant Plans to Have Yelp Yelping

There's a new website in the internet ether providing restaurant reviews, dining deals, and reservation options.  Taste Savant claims to be "the opposite of Yelp.  Yelp will give you 1,000 reviews from people you don't know for 10,000 restaurants in New York.  We give you reviews from people who matter for restaurants that are worth your while."

The site's homepage has a "New Critic Reviews Just In" column dedicated to the lastest reviews from reputable publications like the Times, Time Out, and Village Voice.  Each restaurant linked on the site will have photo's, a Google Map locater, hours and contact info, as well as a "Critics" section with reviews and recommendations in the form of "Outstanding Dishes".

Xi'an Famous Foods, Porchetta, and Dos Toros are featured on tastesavant's Top 10 Cheap Eats list.  If you don't have dozens of friends in the industry, tastesavant aims to be the only one you need.