Mullen and Coffee and Churros, Oh My

Seamus Mullen's West Village hit Tertulia launched breakfast this morning.  From now on, Tertulia will be open from 7am to noon everyday, serving coffee and pastries.  To promote the new hours, employees are taking to the streets this week on fancy bikes (one of which is in the above picture) and give out free coffee and churros.  Beats catching up with the Redbull car.

In other Chef Mullen news, The Standard Plaza will close for the season after service next Sunday, the 30th.  The Plaza is an extension of Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel on Washington Street in the Meat Packing District.  Earlier this year, Balazs invited Mullen to create a Spanish-inspired menu for the alfresco restaurant, which started service at the beginning of July this year.  The space will morph into a lounge for the remaining weeks of fall, and if the last two years are any indication, we'll see another 3,000 square foot ice skating rink come November.

Seamus Mullen Heads to the MePa

Flo Fab reports today that Seamus Mullen will be in the kitchen at The Standard Plaza when it opens this Friday at The Standard Hotel.  The Plaza is open through September 30th and gives New Yorkers another alfresco option with its outdoor seating.

The menu features dishes like heirloom tomatoes with smoked burrata, watermelon and crisp quinoa ($16) and grilled sweet shrimp with chorizo, zucchini and myer lemon ($15).  These "media raciones" are smaller plates meant to be shared and a wood-fired grill will be the cooking element for many of them.  Hotel owner André Balazs’s farm upstate will provide some of the produce.

Seamus Mullen isn't trying to reinvent the wheel at The Standard Plaza, he's just making "food that's part of the enjoyment of eating outdoors."

Update on Friday, July 6, 2012 at 10:38AM by Craig Cavallo

Here's a look at some of the grub being offered at the Standard Plaza.

Tertulia: The Weekend Warrior

Last Friday, May 11th, marked the start of Tertulia's late night bar service.  The bar will now be open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.  The restaurant has also opened their outdoor space and welcomes guests for lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner.

Chef Seamus Mullen spent the afternoon last Friday at 92Y, talking about his new cookbook, Hero Food.  The book is a candid look at Chef Mullen's life living with rheumatoid arthritis, which he was diagnosed with five years ago.  The book focuses on 18 ingredients that he calls "hero foods" that help maintain a healthier lifestyle.

"Seamus's "heroes" are real food, elemental things like good meat, good birds, eggs, greens, grains, and berries. He cares about how his vegetables are grown, how his fruit is treated, and about the freshness and sustainability of the fish he uses. His hope is that you will eventually forget about why these recipes are good for you, and that you'll make them just because they taste good."

In other Seamus Mullen news, Tertulia is now part of the Extra Mooga ticket for this weekends Googa Mooga event.