A Monster Line for Federal Donuts, Taste Talks Brooklyn Kickoff, and More Intel

— The three-day Taste Talks Brooklyn festival kicks off in Williamsburg this evening. This year’s event focuses on Southern cuisine and will feature conversations and meals with a ton of acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs, including Enrique Olvera, Wylie Dufresne, Lisa Giffen, Sohui Kim, Patti Jackson, Jeremiah Stone, and Fabian Von Hauske, to name a few. Sean Brock and the Mission Chinese Food crew are doing a Low Country crab boil at Esh. Eater’s editor-in-chief Amanda Kludt will talk with Claus Meyer about his Brownsville education project. And the event will conclude with a barbecue on the Williamsburg waterfront. Check out the official homepage for more information and to purchase tickets.

— According to Eater’s intrepid doughnut corespondent (and senior critic) Robert Sietsema, the line for the Federal Donuts pop-up at Chef’s Club in Nolita started forming around 6 a.m. this morning. Michael Solomonov and his crew started serving Philly’s wildly popular doughnuts at 7 a.m. Here’s a peek at the scene around 9 a.m.:

[Robert Sietsema]

Sietsema sends word: "Waiting to order and then waiting for your doughnuts are two separate processes. About 100 waiting in total in both lines." Michael Solomonov recently appeared to give the line-waiters some samples:

Robert Sietsema

The Federal Donuts crew will start serving fried chicken sandwiches at 11 a.m., and the whole thing will wrap up around 2 p.m.

— The new iteration of Gramercy favorite Ess-a-Bagel has a few panels of wood from the original restaurant that have farewell message from longtime customers.

— NYC-based upscale Italian chain Serafina just opened an outpost in Los Angeles. Spice Girl Mel B is one of the investors.

— Randy Stricklin-Witherspoon, a chef who regularly caters for the casts of Hamilton as well as other Broadway shows, is opening his own restaurant at 331 West 51st St. in Hell’s Kitchen. Dubbed SpoonFed NYC, the cafe will serve Southern fare, with a menu that will include grilled pork chops, candied bacon with Brussels sprouts, and mac and cheese made with seven cheeses and smoked turkey. It’s slated to open next month.

— SNL cast member/Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones celebrated her 49th birthday party at Ocean Prime this week. After dinner, Jones and her crew partied at Marquee.

— Chipotle is testing out drone burrito delivery in Virginia for one week.

— Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley took their families to Serendipity 3 yesterday.

— Critic Ligaya Mishan eats her way through the menu at Woodside Cafe, a Nepalese restaurant with a few Italian flourishes: "The kitchen is exceptional at snacks, like musya palu, roasted soybeans burnished in mustard oil, and woh, lentil cakes that maintain a careful distinction between tenderness and disintegration. Macha tareko are small whiting cosseted in yogurt, ginger, garlic and garam masala, then surrendered to the fryer. They emerge like time-crusted fossils, throats slit and heads arched back, brittle and flaking, and are beautiful to eat, bones and all."

— A new pizzeria called Via Roma Pizza Bar is under construction in the Court Street space that previously housed Vinny’s in Carroll Gardens.

— The owners of East Village pub St. Dymphna's are planning a Portuguese bar/restaurant in the old Yaffa Cafe space at 97 St. Mark's Place called Taberna 97.

— And finally, here’s a look at the late night eats at Village standby Kenka: