Jon Hochstat

When I am putting together each posting, I usually look for what’s opening soon, what’s new, what is there to do. Every now and again I read something that is the polar opposite, a well-known and well-loved restaurant closing. This week, Grub Street posted a story about the possible closing of Café Colonial on the corner of Houston & Elizabeth Streets here in NYC.

It is worth reading the whole article to get an understanding from an owner’s perspective of how the economy is affecting small businesses, especially restaurants. Here is one excerpt from the Grub Street story that really hit home with me (Gilian is Luciane Gilan, the owner):

When Gilan spoke to Grub Street just now, she sounded like she had all but given up: “Our city is giving us more laws and regulations,” she stammered. “Everything’s harder. People are more mean. It’s just not fun anymore.” Gilan believes her rent tripled thanks in part to new neighbor Keith McNally, and she may just retire when her lease expires May 31. [Grub Street]

This closing reminded me of when the 9th Street Market suddenly closed in May of 2008 after 14 years in business. At the time, someone asked the owner why he closed after 14 years and his response was “he just got tired , did it quietly (not a rent raise situation?), doesn’t know what’s coming next.” (as per the Eater article from May 27, 2008)

Even in a bad economy, if we are not going to our favorite small, local places every now and again, don’t be surprised if one day you decide to go and it’s closed. One of my first mentors in the restaurant business asked me once what the most expensive thing was in a restaurant. The correct answer was, an empty chair. READ ON for a list of this week’s openings…

By now one can assume that everybody knows about Twitter as a great resource for instant information. Some of it useful, some of it TMI. I have learned in the last two years that if you follow people that provide you with the information that YOU want, Twitter is a great resource. On my Twitter feed, I follow a lot people in various areas: food, music, travel, news et al.

I thought I’d share some recent tweets that piqued my foodie interest. Whether it was an event, restaurant, chef, mixologist or market that I may not have heard about.

The first batch comes from the @NewYorkology/nyc-food-drink-sweets Twitter List, which contains my feed among others…

MichelinGuideNY enjoyed the new spring menu at Kajitsu from start to finish… understated excellence

thefeednyc Cheap eats: Taste your way through the World Financial Center for less http://bit.ly/a20jgH

nytimesdining Japanese Master of the ‘Hard Shake’ Comes to Town http://nyti.ms/afYqHl

jacquestorres Check out my Bean to Bar tutorial on seriouseats!! http://tinyurl.com/yz6k38r

READ ON for more tweets of interest to foodies…

If you live in New York City, there are some cool new food spots you may – or may not – have heard about that opened within the last few months that are fun, cool and well within anyone’s budget.

[Photo by Robyn Lee from Serious Eats review of Sigmund on 11.5.09]

First up is Sigmund Pretzel Shop located at 29 Avenue B in the East Village. Sigmund has been open since early November last year and has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show and written up by Serious Eats, The NY Times, Blackbook, and The Village Voice amongst other publications. According to the Village Voice article…

The shop is the brainchild of Russian-born pastry chef Lina Kulchinsky who learned classic Viennese pastry under Alex Grunert when they were both at Bouley (he’s now at Blue Hill). Kulchinsky says she always had a fascination with German and Austrian confections and breads. Instead of baking traditional Bavarian pretzels, Kulchinsky explains that she’s making pretzels that are in the German style but also “very New York.” That’s because an old-school Bavarian baker would probably balk at flavoring pretzels with ingredients like gruyere and smoked paprika, caramel and pecans, or cheddar and jalapeno, as Kulchinsky does.

As I work in the East Village, I made a trip over there last Tuesday and can say Believe the Hype! Our office has tried the sandwiches: Roast turkey with gouda and apple, Ham with greens and gruyere (both served hot and heated IN AN OVEN, not a microwave) as well as the Smoked salmon with dill cream cheese. For $7 , they are filling and a great value. The pretzels are also great just noshing and dipping into any of their sauces (whipped butter, wholegrain mustard, honey mustard, beet-horseradish mayo, herb goat cheese, cream cheese and nutella). The best thing they sell though is their Chocolate chip cookie which now has risen to easily become one of my favorite NYC cookies.

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday 4 the Foodies…

It’s been a while since I did a round up of food events taking place in New York City so I thought I’d take a break from the travel postings and let our New York readers know what is going on and worth checking out.

From Time Out New York:

FRI 19 FRIED CHICKEN NIGHT
Harlem soul-food ace Charles Gabriel brings his act to midtown for this weekly special. Twenty-five bucks buys three pieces of fried chicken, two sides, corn bread and banana pudding. Music from honky-tonk piano player Benjamin Healy sweetens the deal. Aretsky’s Patroon, 160 E 46th St between Lexington and Third Aves (212-883-7373). 5–11pm, $25.

SUN 21 HUNGRY IN AMERICA
Join Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio at a star-studded fund-raiser for the Hungry in America Project, a multimedia campaign (including a forthcoming documentary produced by Colicchio) to raise awareness of the 49 million Americans who must struggle to get food. Rub shoulders with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore as you munch on canapés and small plates from the Colicchio & Sons kitchen. Tickets are available at thefeedfoundation.org; if you shell out a grand, you’ll be invited to an exlusive Colicchio-cooked meal at the restaurant from 6 to 7pm. Colicchio & Sons, 85 Tenth Ave between 15th and 16th Sts (212-400-6699). 7–9pm, $250–$1,000. READ ON for more happenings for foodies in NYC…

On part 1 of this series a couple of weeks ago, I started talking about the day I spent in Pontarlier, France. The reason I went was to tour the distillery of Emile Pernot which was founded in 1890. This posting will be all about my day inside the distillery.

During the course of my Paris trip, I had the chance to meet some amazing people in the spirits industry (there was a bar show in Paris when I was there). One of the people I met while I was there was absintheur Peter Schaf. If you are a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, Peter was the American at the absinthe bar in Paris who turned Tony on to absinthe (from the No Reservations Pilot episode).

Below are my photos, thoughts and recollections from my trip inside the absinthe distillery. Things got hazier as the day went on…

Entrance to the Distillery Les Fils de Emile Pernot, founded in 1890.

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday For the Foodies…

This past May I went to Paris. It was my first time returning to the City of Lights since having lived there all of 1992 when I was part of the opening management team for Disneyland Paris. In the coming weeks, I plan on putting together a few postings about my food experiences from the trip.

The highlight of the Paris trip, though, was the day I took the TGV from the Gare du Nord in Paris to Pontarlier, which is near the Swiss border for a tour of a working absinthe distillery there.

Staring at the departure board in the Gare du Nord, looking for what platform my train was on. It was #17, all the way on the other side of the station

3 1/2 hours later, we were in Pontarlier.

READ ON for more of Jon’s trip to the Epicenter of Absinthe…

Well now that I have shared most of the great food experiences I had in Vancouver in part 1 and part 2 of this series. Part 3 is the wrap up of some other food stuff from the trip. Next foodie city trip is Montreal, hopefully.

Part 3 features more photos & stories from my fun, short trip to Vancouver.

If you are a foodie and you are in Vancouver. The one place you MUST make time for is the Granville Island Public Market. It is part retail, part separate food stores and a real big part open air market. If I lived in Vancouver it would be near this market so I could shop there for everything.

There is also a bread store:

READ ON for more on Jon’s foodie trip to Vancouver…

Hope everyone enjoyed part 1 of my Vancouver trip. The fish & chips and sushi covered in part 1 were a great introduction to Vancouver seafood. Things however we about to take a turn towards Pork Nirvana in a BIG way.

My friend took me to a very small meat store called J,N & Z Deli Smoked Meat located at 1729 Commercial Drive in Vancouver. Quite simply put, this small space is the best meat store I have ever been in anywhere, which includes Biltong stores in Cape Town, South Africa. The Viktualienmarkt in Munich and countless Boucheries in Paris and other parts of France.

I knew this place was gonna be cool when I caught Santa selling hand painted wooden eggs in front while smoking a hand rolled cigarette.

When you step into the store, it is like taking a step back in time. The staff is very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about everything in the store.

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday 4 the Foodies…

A few weeks ago, I took a four-day weekend and went to Vancouver. The trip was part business, part seeing old friends & meeting new ones, part my birthday weekend and a big part…FOOD!

On Friday night, my friend and I went to a very under-rated & under the radar Sushi Restaurant called Lime on Commercial Drive. I was told this place was a great combination of quality and creativity and that their sushi chefs both left another place in Vancouver to work at Lime. We decided to do the Omakase.

Before the Omakase started the chefs gave me a taste of their fresh Albacore tuna. I put it in my mouth and it literally just broke apart.

Next up was the Tuna Tataki, Lightly torched local albacore sashimi with garlic sesame sauce and sliced onions according to the description on their site.

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday 4 the Foodies…