Katz's Deli in New York City. From Flickr user tgigreeny's Flickr.

I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.

Previously-- Midnight Sausage: Taipei, Taiwan

Arthur Avenue Deli in The Bronx. From Flickr user esposj's Flickr.

I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.

Previously-- Midnight Sausage: Berlin

I was in NYC the past week to attend some food and cocktail events and to tape some spots about summer time cocktails and spirits for a radio show, during the first heat wave of the summer. For several days the temps were in the mid to high 90's and the whole city was in meltdown. Everyone walked around slightly spaced out and dragging their feet, myself included. For me the weather was a real killer because I live on the coast of Maine and the warmest it had been all year was a day or two in the low 70's, with it so chilly at night I still had the heat on every night since last September. The morning I left for NYC it was 42 degrees out and I started the drive with my heat on high in my car, by noon the AC was cranked instead.

As I walked out of the radio studio on my last day in town it was the hottest yet. 96 degrees in the shade and the humidity was so high that you felt like you could actually feel the water sitting lifelessly in the air. I broke into a full sweat before I had walked ten feet and I started to think about waving down a taxi. My original plans were to walk from the financial district, north up to Chinatown to get some eats and buy some lychee fruit, and then through Soho and into the East Village. Now it didn't seem like a very good idea at all.

New Orleans now offers a soulful culinary phenomenon that's more often seen on the streets of New York City or Los Angeles: taco trucks.

Residents of New Orleans have embraced the mobile taquerias' offerings, including al pastor and pork tacos. Some even go for the more exotic cow's head and tongue varieties, both of which are some of my favorites. Even though the public has warmed up to a type of restaurant little known before an influx of Latinos came to the state seeking reconstruction work, Jefferson Parish officials have recently banned the trucks. The new law gave vendors only 10 days to set up restrooms and washing stations. I've certainly wished for both of these amenities after wolfing down a few tacos de carnitas on the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens. But it's simply not going to happen. It should be pointed out that if my fair city banned the taco trucks, there's a fair chance that I'd soon find myself living in L.A.

But back to the story at hand. Jeff Parish pols raised concerns that the mobile kitchens are unsanitary, even though state health officials found nothing wrong. As the article I read pointed out, the taco trucks are embroiled in a food fight of sorts. To be sure, racisim also plays a role in the ban, but so does a concern that the cuisine of Puebla threatens the historic foodways of the Big Easy. New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas recently asked, "How do the tacos help gumbo?"

The burning question for me is something more along the lines of, "How soon can I get me a boudin noir taco?

When I go into a fast food place such as McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's (which I think I've done maybe 3 times in the past 3 years), I know beforehand that I have made a decision to eat badly that day. I don't care if these places have "salads" or "low-fat foods," it's still fast food to me, and I don't need anyone to tell me what I'm about to eat probably has a lot of fat and calories.

Having said that, I see no real problem with New York City restaurants having to show calorie info where customers can see it. The law took effect earlier this week. Some of the fast food companies argued that it "violated their First Amendment rights," which I still don't understand. Some places are putting the info in areas where they're not immediately accessible to customers, while other places, like Subway, have the info upfront.

Fines will start being issued October 1 for restaurants that violate the law.

It hasn't been such a good week for New York City pizza makers named De Marco. First came the shooting rampage that started at De Marco's Pizzeria and left four dead. I've enjoyed a slice and the occasional bowl of linguine puttanesca at this West Village spot, which is owned by Dominick Demarco Jr., the son of the pizzaiolo behind Brooklyn's legendary Di Fara Pizza. I wish De Marco's all the luck in the world, but the idea of eating there anytime soon creeps me out.

Thankfully, the second mishap to befall the De Marco family this week is not nearly as grave. Di Fara Pizza has been swept up in all the commotion caused by rats in my fair city's eateries. It seems that as of yesterday afternoon Midwood's temple of pizza artistry had been temporarily closed by the Health Department. As a fan of this spot I'm not surprised that it's been shuttered, though I am glad that it wasn't for anything nearly as serious as vermin. It's long been a dirty little secret that Di Fara's is a tad unkempt, but only because they're so insanely busy. I gave them a ring this morning and the maestro himself answered. He told me that they're closed for a few days for "little things." I felt a sense of relief wash over me as I pondered eating several perfect slices there in the very near future. [via Slice]

The playful antics of the rats at a Taco Bell-KFC restaurant in New York City's Greenwich Village have probably seen more ink than Taco Bell's recent E. coli outbreak. Their performance has certainly garnered tons of local TV news coverage and as of this writing has more than 800 hits on YouTube.

The good folks over at The Scoop over on the NRN Foodservice Blog reported on the story behind the story the other day via an exclusive interview with the leader of the Taco Bell rats. And quite a scoop it was. They managed to catch the leader before his appearance on Conan later that night. Among the revelations from the interview is the fact that the rats' celebrity like that of most stars was no easy task. They'd been practicing their dance moves for more than two months starting with when they were discovered by the city's Health Department in December.

As one might imagine, the leader describes living in the restaurant as a paradise chock-full of tacos and fried chicken. And he offers up a theory as to why the Health Department allowed the fast-food joint to continue to operate even though a troupe of performing rats had set up shop. They're just too busy with important matters like protecting the public from the trans-fat menace. Never let it be said that New York City doesn't support the arts.

With the all the scurrying around that preceded Christmas, I missed the obit for Jerry Berns, the longtime host and co-owner of New York City's famed 21 Club. Berns, who welcomed presidents and celebrities, until he sold the onetime speakeasy in 1985 for $21 million died at the age of 99.

The number 21 figures not only in the club's address (21 W. 52 St.), but it also happens to be the date that the affable Berns passed away, December 21, 2006, to be exact.

Known as Mr. Jerry, Berns was associated with 21 for 50 years. During that tenure he warmly welcomed everyone who walked through the doors from the likes of Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart to more ordinary folks. Berns also served as a trustee of the Culinary Institute of America. Thanks to his efforts to spur the directors to move the CIA to Hyde Park, N.Y., he was one of the first people to be named to its Hall of Fame.

Incidentally the number plays another eerie role in the restaurant's history. Pete Kriendler, the other co-owner also died on December 21, five years earlier in 2001. As far as I can tell the number 21 has nothing to do with the number of chutes and levers that helped the club avoid detection by the police during its heyday as a speakeasy.

Seems like I always miss the fun stuff whenever I'm out of town. Case in point: the gigantic cranberry bog that Ocean Spray brought to New York City's Rockefeller Center from November 1 to November 3. The 1,500-square-foot cranberry sea was constructed as part of the company's Bogs Across America campaign. I imagine the campaign is an effort to remind people not to forget to serve cranberries at Thanksgiving.

Celebrity chef Ming Tsai was on hand at Rock Center for a cooking demo that included sweet-and-sour cranberry chutney. No word yet as to whether any rowdy Gothamites decided to jump into what Ocean Spray dubbed its Big Apple Bog.

The cranberry campaign touched down in Chicago today with the Windy City Bog, which will remain at the Chicago Tribune Tower until November 9. And if you happen to live in Los Angeles, you too can view a ridiculous amount of cranberries. The Red Carpet Bog will be at the city's Hollywood & Highland Center from November 14 to November 16. [via: Grub Street]

Whether of not you live in New York City you will find much to learn, share and enjoy from a recently begun food blog called Not Eating Out in New York , by local writer Catharine Erway. In addition to writing on film and other topics, Erway has been spending her time since graduating Emerson college a few years ago working in various administrative jobs and, mainly, cooking. "The blog idea came to me when eating in some restaurant one day and realizing, you have no control over what they're putting in your food," she told me recently in Union Square Park . "They may say the food is organic, but you have no guarantee unless you follow the cook around the kitchen."

At first, a project called Taste of the New York Subway System doesn't sound that appetizing. The concept, however, is a good one: a stop-by-stop guide to restaurants within 200 meters of NYC subway stations. Just pick a line, the "G" for instance, and you get all the restaurants near each stop on that line. Restaurants are linked to their respective Yahoo! Local pages. Those of you with a daily subway routine probably know what's in your neighborhood, but I could see this being quite useful if you had to travel out of your way for some reason and wanted to know what your eating options were.

There is now an extremely useful tool for anyone who dines in New York City and is tired of paying exorbitantly high markups on their alcohol at restaurants. Amuse-Bouche.net has created an interactive BYOB map of NYC. The idea of the map is that it will enable people to find a BYOB joint in the area where they are, or where they are going, with ease, as other lists of restaurants that are sorted by name, not proximity. So far, it looks like the map has quite a few listings, including restaurants which charge no corkage, no corkage on some nights or a small (under $10) fee.  As a reader-submitted list, the BYOB map is likely to be the best, most current source of information, and since it is a subject that appeals to many, there is no doubt that the database will grow quickly. If you (or the restaurant) can verify the BYOB status of your favorite eatery, they'll happily add it to the map.

[Via The Food Section]

Next week Monday through Friday, January 23 to 27, and the following Monday through Friday, January 30 to February 3, New York City hosts its two week run of Restaurant Week.

The event is organized by the city's official tourism group, and sponsored by Amex and Coca Cola, but it's not all just about commercial interests. For every reservation made via OpenTable for either of the $24.07 prix fixe lunch or $35.00 prix fixe dinner, a donation is made to CityHarvest, a charitable organization that rescues leftover food from the food industry and distributes it to New York's hungry.

The website is organized well so you can find restaurants by cuisine, neighborhood, and name.

Between NYC Restaurant Week and SF's Dine About Town, January is looking like a great time to spend your holidays gifts of cash.

 

Dylan Lauren, daughter of Ralph and kitschy queen of New York's sweets scene, has been ringing up the candy purchases of hip Manhattanite sugar freaks at Dylan's Candy Bar for years. But what's a girl who just turned 30 to do to stay with it? How about branch out from candy to, umm, candy-inspired stuff.

What?

Sunday's New York Times has a piece on how Dylan Lauren is trying to enter the fashion world, but in her own candy-colored style. She's developing candy-themed apparel, household stuff, spa products and parties. Her concept is that girls, like her, have an inner child best expressed through their love of candy. The Times wonders "whether Ms. Lauren's business will do for candy couture what her father has done for cashmere..." And all I have to say is, candy couture? Who knew?

Yesterday, the New York City health department announced it is "asking" all city restaurants to remove trans fats from their menu. While the campaign is "strictly voluntary," NYC health commissioner is comparing the dangers to those of asbestos and lead; intimating that the ban may become more formal over time. Of course, in a related piece in the Times, Kim Severson pointed out that delicacies such as the black and white cookie can't really be made without trans fat, and that many less chichi restaurant owners really have no clue - either about what the health commissioners are saying, or about what trans fats even are.