Foodstuff: The Offal Truth

As you all know, it's dead Scottish poet Robert Burns' birthday. Williamsburg pub Iona is offering free whiskey! Even better... free haggis! Okay maybe that's not better, but there is also free Scottish music, though not of the Belle & Sebastian or Jesus & Mary Chain variety. Maybe that's not better either. There is whiskey, though. Also... poetry! The fun begins at 8pm, all from the good folks at L Magazine (click here for details).

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Chef of the moment David Chang compares the growing Momofuku empire to Pavement albums in a candid entry on Eater today, talking specifically about Ssam's shaky start: "a fast food concept that we didn’t know how to operate and no one knew how to eat at. We called it Ssam Bar, which was another brilliant move – giving the restaurant a name plenty of people didn’t know how to pronounce.... Ssam Bar isn’t the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain sophomore effort I’d hoped for, but we will get it there." I don't care for Saam's asian burritos (your only daytime option), but the latenight menu, including a totally-worth-it $13 banh mi, is fabulous. And when they're not playing the Dead or Zepplin, sometimes you will hear Pavement in there. What will be Chang's Wowee Zowee?

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We're down to two Top Chef contestants: Wolverine and Ted Allen. Word is the latter (real name: Ilan Hall) has quit his job at Molto's tapas joint Casa Mono. Is that a spoiler? Not necessarily. Even if he comes in at #2, the attached celebrity quotient may be too high for it's very open kitchen. I'm rooting for Marcel... just no more foam, ok? If Ferrán Adrià has given them up, so should you.

Comments

[kathryn]

Ha, when I took that banh mi photograph, they were actually playing Pavement. Someone was working through the P's in their iPod, I think because we also heard Pat Benatar and the Pixies that night!

[Krista]

I still haven't made it over to the Ssam Bar. I know it's got to be good with all that pork, but I tend to shy away from over publicized places.

I also can't help but believe that Ilan will be the next Top Chef, which makes me sad. I do love how on mainstream TV, this has become a jab, "it'll take more than paprika to make me cry." Ooh...burn. No, seriously, that made me laugh out laugh. I'm all for Wolverine, obnoxious or not. I'm afraid he'll end up crying in the corner with his foams, though.