Results tagged “pork”

While the average state Senator received $1.3 million of discretionary funds, state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) took home a whopping $5.7 million of the pork barrel grants—making him the emblem of a flawed system in which the bulk of cash for local groups and projects gets doled out by just a few influential lawmakers, according to a new study. more ›

Epic meat-fest Cochon555 is making its way back to New York again, and is somehow managing to completely outdo itself. Last year, each competing chef got a measly 70 to 80 lb. pig to play with, but this year each heritage breed hog will be a full 125 lbs. Returning champion Corwin Kave of Fatty 'Cue will join Mark Ladner of Del Posto, Marco Canora of Hearth, Adam Kaye of Blue Hill New York, Gavin Kaysen of Cafe Boulud and "VIP Butcher" Tom Mylan to compete for the title of "Prince of Porc." more ›

Senator Pedro Espada Jr. defected to the Republicans and brought the state legislature to a standstill in order to get the $2 million in pork that was rightfully his, and this is the thanks he gets: The New Bronx Chamber of Commerce, a "business advocacy group," has decided it would rather not be associated with the esteemed Senator from Bronxchester. more ›

It's believed that State Senator Pedro Espada Jr.'s central motivation for helping Republicans overthrow his fellow Democrats was his party's refusal to let him toss $2 million in pork to some dubious new non-profit groups with zero track record. So there's a certain grotesque poetry in the news that after paralyzing the State government for weeks, Espada was ultimately rewarded with that $2 million in pork-barrel spending, approved during a 3 a.m. session yesterday. Most of that money will be going to the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce, a "business advocacy group" that seems ill-prepared to distribute the largesse, considering its annual budget is usually $200,000. Espada says the money will go toward adult literacy classes, after-school programs, housing advocacy efforts, etc., but the group has never done anything like that before. The Village Voice made a noble attempt to figure out just what the hell the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce does, but all reporter Tom Robbins found was a brochure about their cocktail parties and golf outings. Reviewing Espada's allocation of the money, a Senate finance aide sent out an alarmed email to colleagues worrying, "I sincerely hope this doesn't come back to bite us." more ›

An article in the Times today confirms that the most exciting thing to happen to food—like, ever—are the numerous cook-offs and takedowns oozing these days from the creative wellspring of Brooklyn. These events usually focus on a single ingredient or theme such as bacon, casserole, guacamole, quiche, risotto, curry, hot dogs, pork, chili, apple pie, tofu, cupcakes, ramen, or no-knead bread, for example, and hearken back to State Fair Blue Ribbon contests, where winning the peach pie contest meant you were allowed to keep the family farm. Now, as it was then, the events are a recession/depression thing, often minus some of the food-craft. Welcome to the liberal arts dustbowl. more ›

Swine flu may be preventing Hugh Jackman from promoting X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Mexico City, but the virus won’t stop Sunday’s Pork Off at the Loki Lounge in Brooklyn from happening. Although Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has released a statement stating “you cannot get H1N1 flu from eating pork or pork products,” the pork industry is nonetheless taking a beating. On the restaurant front, Grub Street reports that Zarela Martinez of the Mexican restaurant Zarela has experienced a steep drop in business, and elsewhere, pork belly stock is down. more ›

Pork and bacon, of all things, are decidedly the new engines of charity events: First off, Tom Mylan and Brooklyn Kitchen have decided to auction off 10 upcoming seats at Mylan’s immensely popular pig butchering class to benefit Just Food and the Greenpoint Interfaith Food Team, according to Serious Eats. Secondly, the “Park Slope Pork Off” next month at Loki Lounge will garner the winner $100 and bragging rights; moreover, all proceeds benefit survivors of toxic waste in the Philippines. “Fakin’ bacon,” the organizers advise, is also acceptable, however “you best fool us but good.” We hear that Jonathan Proville, winner of last month’s epic Bacon Takedown, is angling for a second victory at next month’s event. More information on the “Pork Off” here. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the New York Times has an excellent piece this week on vegan advocate and author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, and across the pond, BBC correspondent Richard da Costa has spent four days eating, cavorting, and sleeping 24/7 in a sty with pigs. The resulting documentary called My Life as an Animal plays tonight; more information here. more ›

The big $131 billion NY State budget may have finally passed, but its contents are still... unclear. The Post (naturally) offers criticism from the Republican minority: Senator Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) says, "They haven't broken down where all the stimulus money is going. How do you vote on a budget that's not broken down and has only whole numbers? We asked for a breakdown and they told us [Friday] a list was forthcoming." more ›

Last night at the Hiro Ballroom was Cochon 555, a sort-of sisterhood of the traveling pork event that supplies five chefs in each visited city with a 70 to 80 pound heritage breed pig; chefs are told to do whatever they’d like, and the results are judged. Wine, beer, cheese, and pig themed (or flavored, really) candy are also served. Last night’s Cochon 555 pitted the following pitmasters against each other: Mark Ladner of Del Posto, Corwin Kaye of Fatty Crab, Juan Jose Cuevas of EightyOne, Bobby Hellen of Resto, and Michael Clampffer of Mosefund Farm. Lardo and headcheese were in abundance, followed by terrine like things and boudin blanc. The air smelled like bacon. more ›

This week Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni re-reviews Momofuku Ssam Bar, part of chef David Chang's New York empire, which you'll recall includes the impossible-to-get-into Momofuku Ko. There's a new chef at Ssam since Bruni awarded the place two stars in '07, and now he bumps it up to a lofty triple. The opening paragraph sums up his case: "If you’ve had just about all of the fawning over David Chang that you can take, think about how those of us dishing out the praise feel. We’d love to move on to a more original object of adoration and would be happy to pronounce him overrated or just plain over...But he won’t let us." more ›

28 year-old chef Ignacio Mattos started work at 6 am today to get the coals hot enough to roast a pig in the middle of Bond Street this afternoon. The annual Sagra del Maiale event at Il Buco is a celebration of the autumnal equinox and at its center is a whole roasted heritage breed pig. From 1-6 pm, $20 gets you a plate of cross-Ossabaw meat and sides like panzanella with greenmarket vegetables, sausage made from Flying Pig Farms pork, and apple fritters doused with saba. From 6pm to midnight, the festival moves indoors and the menu expands to include charcuterie plates and pasta with walnut pesto. Beer and wine are extra, but look for apple wine from local Wölffer Estates. We asked Uruguayan-born chef Mattos about his mentor Francis Mallman, being a vegetarian, and what it might be like to go live amongst the pigs on Ossabaw Island. more ›

Today’s wake for a beloved New York institution is being held in honor of Mei Lai Wah Coffee House in Chinatown. It seems the Times’s Eric Asimov, who usually writes about wine, doesn’t subsist on vino alone; he needs his coffee and steamed pork buns as well. And ever since Mei Lai Wah closed last week after a long, losing struggle with the Health Department, Asimov has been in mourning:

Mei Lai Wah was indeed singular because of its unusual character. It was grungy, but it had personality. I can think of other bakeries and tea houses in Chinatown, but they all seem bright, barren and sterile by comparison. Perhaps sterility is what the Health Department is after... I don’t know exactly what the issue was, and I’m not sure I want to look under the surface. I just know that I never had a bad or disappointing meal there and will miss the reassurance offered by its existence.

These grits are spicy, boldly flavored, creamy, meaty from the pork stock, and just an all-around success. The idea of making it with kimchi broth was inspired by Aki and Alex of Ideas in Food, who cooked barley in kimchi broth for another tasty-looking dish. more ›

Chanukah may not be the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar, but we don't think eating pork products is allowed. Still, NancyKay Shapiro found that Balducci's is touting the deliciousness of various hams for the Festival of Lights. She writes that the gesture seems to be from the "the Monumental Cluelessness, Well-Meaning Division." If you're celebrating Chanukah, what are you eating? We're planning on eating pounds of greasy latkes with equal amounts of... more ›

It's the not the first time the government has wasted lots of money and it won't be the last, but the Daily News special investigation into former Governor Pataki's never-built Museum of Women is great proof of how bureaucracy sucks. Originally conceived to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca, the museum would have been at the south end of Battery Park City. Various grants were directed to the commission (chaired... more ›