Robuchon Coming to San Francisco?

Michelin Announces 2010 New York City Restaurant Ratings

Michelin announced its 2010 list of the best restaurants in New York City in an email press release this morning. The official guide will go on sale tomorrow.

Below are the listings, organized by the number of stars ("N" denotes new stars): 

Eat Like Harry Potter

Did you know that a Harry Potter theme park is coming to Orlando, Florida?

The website for the park (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter) offers a glimpse of the future attractions, which will include recreations of the Hog’s Head and Three Broomsticks pubs from the Harry Potter books. There's not much more information to glean (except for the rendering of Three Broomsticks pictured here), but Nation's Restaurant News reports the menus will feature traditional British fare and drinks, and, yes, butterbeer will be served (pumpkin juice, too).

The theme park is set to open in spring 2010.

Chef Nate Appleman on San Francisco Restaurantgoers

"In San Francisco the audience is easy. You put tripe in a bowl and tell them it’s from a humanely raised cow and they’re going to eat it . . . New York is totally different."

Fall Restaurant Preview

The New York Times previews New York City's fall restaurant lineup.

Union Square Cafe Loses a Star

Outgoing New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni had downgraded Union Square Cafe from three stars to two.

Vile Eats

From the McGriddle to the Volcano Taco, the "most vile looking fast food menu items of all time.

Banh Mi Bliss Continues

A Robert Sietsema gem of an article: "The best sandwich at An Choi, though, isn't the regulation banh mi, but actually an invented variation called "banh mi thit heo quay" ($8), featuring roasted pork belly that alternates layers of garnet meat and crisp fat. Never has a banh mi been so thoroughly lubricated."

Restaurant Menus, Dollar Signs, and Spending

A new study by the Center for Hospitality Research at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration reveals that the way in which prices are displayed on restaurant menus has an impact on the amount of spending by diners.

Working with St. Andrew's Café at the Culinary Institute of America, the Cornell research team tested responses to menus with three different price formats: dollars and cents numerical format with a dollar sign ($00.00), a numerical format without a dollar sign (00.), and scripted prices (zero dollars).

gas·tro-lounge

gas·tro-lounge (noun): A nightclub for eating and drinking. No bar, maybe some moving lights, but no dance floor.

According to Jada Yuan, writing in New York magazine, nightlife impresario Noah Tepperberg says he is launching a gastro-lounge, a new genre of nightlife destination combining elements of a gastropub, lounge, and "ultralounge":