Intel 12/30: Mark Ladner Departs Del Posto, Mission Vietnamese & iPad Plates
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Noah Fecks / Da Silvano
Mark Ladner to Depart Del Posto for Upscale Pasta Startup
Mark Ladner, the longtime executive chef of Del Posto, the decadent, four-starred Italian restaurant from Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, will leave his post at the end of January. Ladner, who has helmed the kitchen since it opened in 2005, will take on a new role with Pasta Flyer, an upscale fast food startup. The first location is currently under construction in Greenwich Village, though Ladner aims to turn the concept into a chain. Following Ladner’s departure, Del Posto’s new executive chef will be Melissa Rodriguez, who was previously Ladner’s chef de cuisine. Rodriguez will become the first woman to lead the kitchen of a New York City restaurant with a four-star rating from The New York Times, the publication noted.
Danny Bowien Is Planning to Open ‘Mission Vietnamese’ in Pies ‘n’ Thighs’ Old LES Space
It appears that Danny Bowien and the Mission Chinese team are planning to branch out into Vietnamese cuisine in 2017, according to the docket for local Community Board 3, which includes an application for Mission Vietnamese (MVNYC LLC) at 43 Canal Street, which was once home to Pies ‘n’ Thighs’ Lower East Side location. According to Bowery Boogie, the application has already run into some roadblocks, as “the item was withdrawn from contention within minutes of its publication.”
Thank Seinfeld for The Popularity of a Jewish Deli in Hong Kong
Even with the loss of Carnegie Deli at the end of 2016, New York will still be the city of Jewish delis — but it’s not the only one. Morty’s, a deli that opened in April, serves “classic and specialty deli sandwiches made with premium cuts of meat that have been smoked in-house, fresh in-house baked bread daily, [and] house-pickled veggies.” But Morty’s is located in Hong Kong, not New York City, and the concept of a deli is so new that Morty’s website includes an explanation of the question, “What is a delicatessen?” And already, Morty’s, which is located in an office tower with lots of lawyers and businessmen, is quite popular with the locals. One Chinese businessman told The New York Times that although he hadn’t been to New York before, he was a frequent visitor to Morty’s. On the day of his interview, he ordered a Reuben, which he had “seen on Seinfeld and thought it looked good.”
Beloved Celebrity Hotspot Da Silvano Has Closed
Da Silvano — the Greenwich Village restaurant whose rustic Tuscan cuisine attracted big names like Tom Hanks, Anna Wintour, Madonna, Robert De Niro, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z — closed last week after 41 years in service. Owner Silvano Marchetto, who opened the restaurant in 1975, cited the impossible task of keeping up with his $42,500 monthly rent as the reason for the closure. “I couldn’t handle it anymore,” he told The New York Times. Marchetto, who recently turned 70, said that although he had received many offers to start new restaurant projects, he wasn’t interested, and now planned to “go sit in the sun, maybe Florida.”
SoHo Pizzeria Will Give Out Free Pies to Anyone Dressed as Princess Leia
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Champion Pizza in SoHo is giving out free pizza through Friday to any customer who shows up dressed as Princess Leia, the iconic role played by Carrie Fisher, who died on December 27. Patrons who show up dressed as any Star Wars character will get a slice, but anyone who pays homage to Fisher as Princess Leia will get an entire pie to themselves. Hakki Akdeniz, the owner of Champion Pizza and a Turkish immigrant, told the New York Daily News that he’s such a huge fan of Star Wars, he learned to speak English by watching the original trilogy.
— Richie Nakano✨??? (@linecook) December 27, 2016
Quince, a San Francisco restaurant that recently earned its third Michelin star, has added an unusual element to its prix fixe menu: an iPad. In a move that SFist called “peak San Francisco,” the iPad is the actual plate for a dish called “A Dog In Search of Gold.” A tipster apparently sent a photo of the dish and a description (“white truffle croquettes on iPads playing videos of water dogs on the truffle hunt”) to another local chef, Richie Nakano, who shared the news on Twitter. It’s hard to know what the restaurant is trying to accomplish here, but let’s hope those iPads are health code-approved.
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