Flight to India : Flight news and information

For lack of a better term – I am a “foodie.” I mean, who isn’t nowadays.  Thanks to the success of Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen , and the like, every Mac-N-Cheese eating, sugar cookie burning schmuck is ranting and raving about the stylistic approach to sous-vide cooking, idolizing celeb chefs like rock stars, and detailing the complexities of pork belly and bone marrow.  (With that said, if you are yet to taste either the belly or marrow, you have my sympathy.) However, a great restaurant does more than just serve up good food, delivering a certain level of shock-and-awe, mesmerizing the guest and making them come back for more.  Hmmm, sounds a lot like what a great hotel is supposed to do, right?  For that reason, hotel restaurants are no longer a by-product of the hotel itself, but instead, a leading demand generator and a hotel marketers dream. I didn’t realize the marketing power of a great hotel restaurant until I spent time working at a Relais and Chateaux resort and restaurant in the British Virgin Islands

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Hotel Amenities: Wi-Fi, Plush Linens, Minibar, and ROCK STAR CHEF?

Pythouse Kitchen Garden is the venue for A Taste of Honey –  Soul, Jazz and Funk Night –  this coming Friday, 18th December, from 7.30 til Late. Throw away those cold, wet miserable winter blues by getting on down there! Telephone: 01747 870444  or   www.pythouse-farm.co.uk Pythouse Kitchen Garden wants you to remember to give the kids some fun and yourself a break at their Wednesdays’ Lunch Club from 11.00am. There is story telling, music and craft sessions, so put Wednesdays in your diary for this coming holiday! Please click on any image to zoom in!

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A Taste of Honey

This is The Gatekeepers, in which Eater roams the city meeting the fine ladies and gentlemen that stand between you and some of your favorite impossible-to-get tables. [ Krieger , 12/10/09] Building off of the success of the original Flatiron location, Chef Seamus Mullen and his team opened Boqueria Soho just over a year ago. Especially when compared to the tiny original spot, the Soho digs are bigger, flashier and she has a shiny open kitchen with a chefs counter to boot.

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The Gatekeepers: Boqueria Soho’s General Manager Joel Steiger

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat… I really can’t tell you how much I love the holidays. Why I love it is easier to explain: twinkle lights and fir trees, dressing up for parties and, of course, food. The list could go on and on, but for the purposes of this article, let’s stick with food

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The Localist: Holiday Dining in Portland Neighborhoods

Missing the regular dose of Top Chef recapper Max Silvestri now that the show has ended ? He’s over on the AV Club today praising bars with free pizza: “The pizzas may be small, and toppings are extra, but nothing sops up the ill effects of a pint of beer like 800 calories worth of pizza …it’s such a healthy way to drink!” [AV Club]

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An Ode to Pizza Bars: Missing the regular dose of Top…

While Bloomberg’s restaurant critic Ryan Sutton does name the top ten newcomers of the year in his end of ’09 summation , most of his piece focuses on what a dire time it was for the industry, how disappointed he was in new restaurants, in the untimely shutterings. ” This was the year of the mediocre opening and the high-profile closing

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Retrospectives: Sutton: The 2009 Restaurant Scene Totally Sucked

Nearly three years after they closed, Bisuteki Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar has opened back up on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Formerly located within the old Radisson Hotel (and one floor below the now-closed Greek restaurant Dionysos), Bisuteki recently opened in the same–albeit renovated–location within what is now a Courtyard by Marriott. The menu at Bisuteki has new items as well as old favorites, with sushi, hibachi dinners, and noodle dishes making up most of the menu, along with a variety of appetizers

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Bisuteki Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar Is Open Once Again in Cambridge

A new Asian restaurant is going to be opening a bit later this month in Allston, moving into a spot where an offbeat clothing, fashion, and art store used to be. Blue Asia Cafe may be opening as early as next week on Brighton Avenue just east of the Harvard Avenue intersection, taking over the space that was formerly home to L.A.B., which closed recently after being in business since early 2007. It appears that Blue Asia Cafe will feature steamed vegetable sandwiches as well as Asian coffee, and looks to be a casual, cash-only lunch and dinner spot with both takeout and dine-in options

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Blue Asia Cafe Opening in Allston

More from the awesome world of VIP hosts and hostesses at nightclubs, as the Observer learns that these party concierges can usually get a $1,500 to $2,000 per week retainer and a percentage of whatever their clients spend over a certain threshold, with some earning several thousand dollars per night. But the work doesn’t stop when the music ends; a VIP host will also accompany a client for dinners, shopping, vacations and doctor appointments. OK, the last one is made up

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Nightlife: All You Need Or Want To Know About VIP Hosts

The world’s largest fast food chain will soon be offering free Wi-Fi Internet access. According to the Wall Street Journal and several other sources, McDonald’s is going to get rid of the present fee it had been charging diners for Internet access in most of its locations across the United States and will start offering free Internet access beginning in the middle of January. AT&T, Inc., is partnering with McDonald’s to help bring the free Wi-Fi to the hamburger chain.

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McDonald’s Will Be Offering Free Wireless Internet Starting in January 2010

Starting everyone’s morning off with a few mind boggling reveals , Glen Collins drops this bomb in the Times today : Next year Shake Shack will open locations in Kuwait, the Upper East Side, and Midtown Manhattan . And those projects are of course in addition to Danny Meyer’s bid for a space on the Boston Common, the new Nolita space , and the new Shack in Miami .

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Shack Attack: Shake Shack to Hit Kuwait, Theater District, Upper East Side!

MIDWOOD — Serious Eats learns that Dom DeMarco, he of the famed DiFara pizzeria, will be featured on a new TLC show called Craving Comfort . [SE] MIDTOWN — When the world learned that Hideki Matsui had been traded, Midtowners’ thoughts went to Go! Go! Curry , the notorious Matsui obsessives who give away free toppings whenever the baseball player hits a home run. Midtown Lunch went to the source , learning management is “very disappointed,” but will root for him regardless.

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EaterWire: Go! Go! Reacts to Matsui Trade; Dom DeMarco on TLC

Provocateur, Mike Satsky and Brian Gefter’s new club in the Gansevoort Hotel, is set to open later this week. The owners tell Grub Street that club is broken into two parts (cafe with a retractable roof and a club), will serve $22 drinks designed by a skin guru that will replenish your outer beauty , and that the the iCrave design is “specifically created to cater to woman’s every desire”. All in all, it’s exactly what everyone is looking for in a nightclub.

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Provocateur Soft Opens This Week: Provocateur, Mike Satsky and Brian Gefter’s…

This morning, the nominations for the 67th Golden Globe Awards were ceremoniously announced , and blog to book to movie project Julie & Julia came away with two nominations: Best Picture (Comedy or Musical) and Best Actress for the one and only Meryl Streep. Good luck beating, It’s Complicated , J&J [Eater National]

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Best Picture?: This morning, the nominations for the…

Want to know where you’re most likely to find a restaurant that isn’t infested with rats and mice? The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has unveiled maps that track mice, rat and cockroach infestations across the boroughs. They’re not for the technologically challenged, so Brick Underground has a nice summary of neighborhoods to avoid—mainly East Harlem, Chinatown and the LES

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Infestations, Mapped: Want to know where you’re most…

While we investigate some sketchy results in yesterday’s heat of the 2nd Annual Hottest Chef in New York competition, the vote must go on! Up now, the second and second to last heat of Round Two, in which Sorella’s Emma Hearst battles Park Avenue Winter’s Craig Koketsu and Seamus Mullen of Boqueria and Next Iron Chef fame. May the hottest chef win. Our polls require javascript — if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your javascript-enabled web browser

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Sexytime!: Hottest Chef Round 2: Hearst, Koketsu, Mullen

Fans of Julia Child may be interested to know that Comcast has brought a number of “The French Chef” episodes to their On Demand Service. Through a partnership With WGBH, the cable company will be offering more than 20 episodes of this public television series for free through January 4, 2010

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Comcast Offering "The French Chef" Episodes for Free Through January 4, 2010

Westville, the longtime West Village staple that has in recent years expanded to the East Village and Chelsea (still plywooded), is making yet another footprint, and a curious one at that. PR sends word that the restaurant is now serving its menu inside…Pete Wentz’s “dive bar” Angels & Kings

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Funny Mashups: ‘Dive’ Bar Angels & Kings Now Serving Westville’s Menu

The Cuozz files a column on Tavern on the Green this week , pointing out that there may not be a restaurant in the old space, no matter what the name. Dean Poll, the operator chosen to replace the LeRoy family, and the city have still not signed a lease for the space , and they won’t until Poll and the restaurant’s union come to a settlement.

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TOTG Woes: The Cuozz files a column on…

One of the most common dilemmas faced by restaurant owners is the double-edged sword of cultivating kitchen talent, only to have great chefs jump ship for other endeavors (see Jonathan Benno ). Here’s how His Highness Thomas Keller tackles that very problem in his signature zen way : ” Whether they stay with us or not is irrelevant . If they go out into the industry with some of the training we’ve given them, the training we feel is invaluable, we’re elevating the standards of the entire industry .

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The Keller Way: One of the most common dilemmas…