Check out Gobbl Late Night. Click to view larger size.

Written and drawn by Michelle Sung.

Photo Courtesy of [Left] Loreley Restaurant and Biergarten, [Right] NYTimes

The end of summer is rapidly approaching but there are still some adventures to be had! Gobbl suggests buying a one day metro card and traveling the boroughs for some of the best that the so-called “Empire State” has to offer.

Breakfast - Egg

The lines may be long, but the wait is worth it, say fans of the Williamsburg staple Egg. It’s easy to forget an hour long wait for a table once you take a bite of their amazing french toast. Wash that down with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, and make sure you try the biscuits and gravy, a dish that’s often difficult to find in New York. A breakfast at Egg is the perfect way to wake up on a sleepy Saturday morning, and prepare for a day of gastro-traveling.

Egg 135 N. 5th Street, Brooklyn

Lunch - De Mole

The search for good Mexican in New York is an arduous and neverending one. But if you’re willing to travel to a relatively deserted area of Woodside, Queens, De Mole will be more than satisfying. The food here is authentic, but the service and ambience is much better than most others (even the restaurants in Mexico!). The moderately-priced burritos, enchiladas, and tamales are delicious. Best of all: you don’t need a passport and plane to get here quickly, just a Metrocard and the 7 train. Take note that this restaurant doesn’t have a full liquor license–make sure to bring a bottle of tequila so your server can make you a margarita.

De Mole 4502 48th Avenue, Queens

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It’s past midnight, you’re hungry, tired, and maybe you’ve had a little bit too much to drink in a New York neighborhood far from home.  What are you to do?

Gobbl is proud to announce the launch of Gobbl Late Night, a new website for mobile devices that provides New Yorkers with a listing of over 200 restaurants in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Gobbl Late Night organizes restaurants by neighborhood for easy access and provides accurate, up-to-date information on closing times, locations, and types of cuisine.

To check out Gobbl Late Night, point your Internet-enabled mobile phone to http://late.gobbl.com (or test it on your browser).

Also, view our snazzy press release announcing the official arrival of Gobbl Late Night.

We made a splash at Gobbl last week when we revealed our list of New York’s top fifty restaurants based on an ultra secret formula. Though we made every effort to leave out our own biases in the creation of the most objective list possible, the Gobbl Top 50 sparked a hearty debate among NYC food enthusiasts. Some suggested that the Top 50 was skewed in a particular direction or composed of exclusively overpriced, celebrity-chef locales while still others were excited to see that their favorite digs were ranked so high. Fellow diners, you are in for a definite treat as we reveal to you today a few of the criteria that we considered in the crafting of our all-too secret Gobbl Top 50 formula.

The criteria for the Gobbl Top 50 drew from the experiences of nearly 700 New York diners, as we employed not only the point of view of critics but the general public as well.

• We gave the public’s opinion a healthy 70% of the weight in the formula, while the reviews of notable food critics (among them Frank Bruni and Adam Platt) received 30% of the formula’s weight.

• Drawing from an extensive list of community-based review sites, we valued the sites with quality reviews far more than the ones populated mostly by rants and raves.

• We threw all of the data we accumulated into our high-tech number cruncher, and out came a polished version of the Gobbl Top 50, a computer-generated ranking based on all of the information that we had accumulated.

Let this gastronomic debate live on and tell us what you think! Is an objective top list even possible? Or is the ranking system at its core subjective?

In an Iron Chef-esque battle hosted by House Foods and the Gohan Society yesterday, four celebrity chefs competed for a $5000 prize and the favor of three expert judges (Michael Romano of Union Square Café; Peter Berley, a noted health food chef; and Andrea Strong of the Strong Buzz food blog). Each chef created two-course meals consisting of an entrée and a dessert and utilized tofu as the main ingredient. The star chefs were Erik Battes—Chef de Cuisine of Perry St., Wylie Dufresne—Executive Chef and Owner of wd-50, Edward Higgins—Chef de Cuisine of Insieme, and Akinobu Suzuki—Executive Chef of Sakagura.

First up was…

Erik Battes

A chef who grew up in the kitchens of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Erik Battes applied his love for French and Asian cuisines to both his entrée and dessert. The entrée consisted of crispy tofu with sweet corn, lemongrass, and cilantro and used high tech devices and acids to achieve unique textures. The host of the event and WOR Food Talk host, Mike Colameco, noted that the use of acids in the competition reflect the trademark aspects of Perry St. For the dessert, Battes created a refreshing basil tofu ice cream with market strawberries. Battes commented that the ice cream was “a long trial and error process [starting off] with a 4:1 tofu and ice cream ratio and [ending up] with a 2:1 ratio”.

The winner and photos of the other 6 creations after the jump.

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Photo Credit: Robyn Lee

Here at Gobbl we know that fine dining and elegance often run hand-in-hand.  Indeed, some of the city’s finest restaurants, in their attempt to offer their customers the most complete dining experience, also have some of the world’s most elaborate restrooms.  We’ve hit the streets to round up a quick look at some of New York’s most elegant, interesting, and down-right wacky restrooms.

wd~50

With a tricky and elaborately decorated entrance, the coed restroom here has stall doors that are essentially hidden in the wall; there are no handles, you simply must push on the door itself. The doors aren’t reflected in a mirror above the sink–instead, there is a large, beautiful mosaic of sea creatures. Not only is the bathroom here beautiful and fun, it’s also superbly clean. 

wd~50 50 Clinton Street (between Stanton and Rivington Streets)

peep

Despite mediocre reviews of the food itself, peep is nevertheless always packed. Perhaps it’s for the gimmick. The burning neon ‘peep’ sign outside the restaurant certainly attracts attention. More famously, the restrooms have two-way mirrors, such that outside of the stall they appear to be nothing but a reflecting glass. But take step inside, and you’ll have a window on the restaurant. Creepy? Perhaps. An interesting touch on a Thai restaurant? Definitely.

peep 177 Prince Street (between Sullivan and Thompson Streets)

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In a recent NY Times op-ed piece, an economist declared that an exclusive relationship will deliver the greatest returns. The economist’s reasoning holds up at Recette, a private dining destination on the Upper East Side. The wait staff has eyes for you only so service is quick, attentive, and personal. The mood and atmosphere is set to your tastes, and the talented executive chef, Jesse Schenker, and the pastry chef, Christina Lee, cook up a Michelin-quality storm, even working to tailor the tasting menus (of 5, 7, or 10 courses) to your specific desires. This past week, Gobbl was fortunate enough to interview Recette’s executive chef, Jesse Schenker, about its beginnings, growing pains, and inspirations.

 

Photo Credit: Recette

Gobbl: Who’s the founder of Recette? And how did you three all find each other?
Jesse: There’s the three of us. I’m the chef. Brian is the maitre d’, and Christina is the pastry chef. We founded it together maybe 2-3 months ago and it opened officially on June 1st. It’s actually funny how it happened. I moved to Spanish Harlem to take a job with Gordon Ramsay at the London Hotel. Brian owns Savoy Bakery in the area, and I would stop by for coffee. We both got to chatting and had this idea of starting Recette. Brian introduced me to his friend Christina who was working at Per Se at the time. We all quit our jobs to pursue this full time.

Gobbl: They were such prestigious jobs. What made you quit and devote all your energies to Recette?
Jesse: I love doing what I do. It’s cool to make people happy and to see their faces. I love being able to create things and I’ve always wanted my own thing. I definitely learned so much from Chef Ramsay and my other mentors but Recette has been such a great experience. It’s like my child, and it’s exciting to see it changing and experience the growing pains and the learning curves. It’s what I always wanted and it’s been going great so far.

Gobbl: What’s the inspiration behind these tasting menus?

Jesse: I’m classically French trained but I also spent time in Italy and Spain. I loved my experiences there, and I try to incorporate that Mediterranean element into my cooking. Also with New York being seasonal, the menu changes with the seasons and varies with what’s available at the fresh markets. In the summers, I’ll use the fresh heirloom tomatoes that I can’t get in the winter. During the winters, I’ll rely more on root vegetables (things like parsnip and roasted garlic).

Gobbl: Can you walk us through the inspiration for one of your plates?

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Photo Credit: Adam Kuban

Correction Appended

Here at Gobbl we like our music (and food) a lot, and we know that for many diners a savory meal may be elevated to new heights when accompanied by one’s favorite song. Music has the ability to affect one’s state of mind and craft an experience accordingly.

Music, its volume, and its placement in a restaurant environment are central to the overall dining experience. Whether its Vivaldi, Bjork, or absolute silence, there is still no real consensus of what music should be pumped through the hi-fi’s of New York restaurants. Yet, many diners forget the real impact that music selection has on their enjoyment of great food, or even think of it as something completely out of their control, but whomever’s iPod is hooked up to the speakers and how loud they choose to crank the volume can really make or break an outing!

The reality that music can define a diner’s experience is no more apparent than today, as increasingly more NY restaurateurs and chefs have made it a point to flaunt their musical tastes alongside their gastronomical ones, a certain orange-clogged fellow being the most vocal defender of such practice. Restaurateurs the likes of Mario Batali suggest that the choice of fast pop music, as opposed to slower and more sophisticated music of which wider audiences are familiar, contributes to the fast-paced atmosphere that he seeks to set in his establishments Babbo, Otto, and Lupa. (more…)