• Uncertainty is adrift on the liveliness of Lotus of Siam. Not much activity has been fluttering around the Thai institution since Vegas duo Bill and Saipin Chutima’s left their New York location behind, although an official closing has not been announced. [Eater NY] • If you’re not going to the Great GoogaMooga this weekend, how about a tasting-table-style music brunch? Gerald Hammil of Other Music specializes in rare, underground, experimental music and will curate live D.J. programs this Sunday [...]

Sticky and fearless. Former rocker-drummer and world-acclaimed pastry chef at Del Posto, Brooks Headley had some mind-bending fun at the New York Culinary Experience when he made a savory dessert featuring … grilled eggplant. Watch the bad-ass master do his thing, and get ready to crave some chocolate-studded aubergine. Read more posts by Evan Kleinman and Sarah Frank Filed Under: nyce, brooks headley, del posto

Words are weapons, Rayner. “You start your Sunday morning reading a terrible review of somebody’s restaurant and as long as you’re not the chef’s mother, you’re probably going to feel slightly better for the rest of the day,” —Identity-theft victim Jay Rayner on the subject of being a restaurant critic, 50 years after the New York Times published its first restaurant review. [CNN] Read more posts by Alyssa Shelasky Filed Under: quote of the day, critics, jay rayner

Bono celebrated his daughter’s graduation. Sofia Vergara continued to live la vida single this week, dancing on chairs at a Gloria Gaynor fête with sixteen girlfriends. This and more in our weekly roundup of celebrity dining. Ai Fiori: Julian Schnabel was there once, and Reba McEntire returned twice, all in the same week. [Grub Street] Asellina: Ashley Greene and a gaggle of “giggling girlfriends” stayed for two-and-a-half hours for a chow-down on ravioli, tiramisu, and some wine. [People] Beauty & [...]

He makes it look easy. Watch the executive chef of North End Grill, Top Chef Masters winner, and Danny Meyer’s lucky charm excite his many fans and prepare the popular British-inspired dish done his way over at the New York Culinary Experience. Read more posts by Evan Kleinman and Jake Moore Filed Under: nyce, floyd cardoz

He says hi to Josh Capon. Serious Eats goes on a Soho eating binge with Andrew Carmellini, where they start at Dominique Ansel and end at Milady’s, with a lot of food and scoop in between. Over at Melvin’s Juice Bar, Carmellini says he was was iffy about the au courant juice obsession, “until John Cusack was staying at The Greenwich Hotel where he brought his juicer and started juicing for me. He made this pear-kale juice and it was [...]

It’s almost ready. It’s almost here: FloFab has it that San Francisco cult fave Mission Chinese Food will open Tuesday at 154 Orchard Street on the LES. Like spring’s other big Asian import, Pok Pok Ny, Mission won’t take reservations for tables — only for the twelve seats at the bar. As it does in San Fran, the restaurant will donate 75 cents from each dish to charity; here it’s the Food Bank of New York City (see S.F.’s menu [...]

It’s Lake blue. Owners of Brooklyn Public House in Fort Greene had an impromptu opening last night for their new venture in Williamsburg. Located at 51 Kent on the corner of North 11th, the Lakes fills a big, dry gap in this mostly vacant stretch of pavement along the East River. The bar will be open Thursday through Sunday for the time being, with plans for a full opening in the coming weeks. About half of the 24 taps are [...]

Yesterday we offered a pair of passes for this weekend’s ExtraMooga to the commenter with the most debaucherous concertgoing experience. Some of you let us down (Hanson?!) and many of you did a lot of puking (keep it together, Grub readers). While getting hit in the face by a guitar during a Peelander-Z show impressed us, as did hiding out in a bathroom stall for hours to see Gunther, ultimately, kid_a’s tale of accidentally consuming not one but three LSD-laced [...]

When you can’t go home again. Peter Khoury files a yearning piece in the Times about his quest to find a new roost in the year since Elaine’s shuttered. “Like dozens of other people, I am part of the Elaine’s diaspora,” he writes. Trying out other restaurants and bars has been “a sort of speed dating.” And he’s been getting around, dropping into Donahue’s, Campagnola, Nicola’s, Sardi’s, “a hideaway bar in Midtown that shuns publicity and has a great Côtes [...]