Former Quality Eats Chef Plans New Spanish Restaurant on LES

Former Quality Eats chef plans solo project

Chef Ryan Bartlow of casual steakhouse hit Quality Eats is turning his attention towards a solo restaurant. The new restaurant called Ernesto’s will be on the Lower East Side at 259 East Broadway, at Montgomery Street. Here, Bartlow will be serving food from the Basque region of Spain, along with a natural wine list. Before Quality Eats, Bartlow worked at restaurants like Frankie’s Spuntino and Alinea.

More than 90 year old Cabaret Law ends after today

As expected with the creation of the Office of Nightlife, the Prohibition-era “Cabaret Law” that prevents people from dancing in clubs is expected to end on Tuesday. The law requires bars and clubs to apply for a separate cabaret license if they want people to legally dance in their spaces. It’s not been evenly enforced, but the requirement has been criticized as a way to drive dancers into unsafe, unregulated conditions. Soon, people can dance without fear of the business getting fined.

Another raw cookie dough shop plans to open

Yet another shop primarily selling raw cookie dough is making its way to new York. The boldly-named World’s Best Cookie Dough has signed a lease to open at 164 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village in December. It will have flavors like red velvet and oatmeal raisin, and they’re already expecting “lines down the block,” according to a statement. The trend that refuses to die has spawned two other independent shops this year: Do, which has had long lines and a food poisoning lawsuit, and 2 Dough Boyz, a stand in the Gansevoort Market.

Controversial sushi chef still expanding

David Bouhadana — a white sushi chef who’s previously spoken in an offensive fake Asian accent during service — is planning a new location for his 30-minute omakase restaurant, Sushi by Bou. Time Out New York reports that the controversial chef will be opening a 10-seat counter in Jue Lan Club in Flatiron, mid-November. Chef Oona Tempest will be on hand as well, offering the 90-minute Sushi by Bae omakase. Bouhadana also has a location in Midtown at the Sanctuary Hotel; the original outpost in Gansevoort Market is no longer listed on the Sushi by Bou website.

Sexual harassment culture in NYC restaurants makes it hard to tell who is ‘dangerous’

Writer Tracie McMillan writes in an op-ed that her time in a New York Applebee’s showed how the pervasive culture of machismo and sexual harassment in restaurant kitchens made it difficult to tell who was truly dangerous. She details her last night on the job, when an unexpected co-worker assaulted her after a night of drinking. “When the entire culture of a place is lewd, it makes it impossible to tell which men are dangerous,” she writes.

A talk with April Bloomfield, Elise Kornack, and Kerry Diamond

Spotted Pig chef April Bloomfield, former Take Root owner Elise Kornack, and Cherry Bombe magazine co-founder Kerry Diamond, chatted about what it’s like to be a woman in the industry. Diamond notes that a lack of women in the industry means there’s less of an infrastructure for support: “We have to start penetrating that infrastructure if we want to have equal opportunity,” she says.

Tuxedos, the drink, are back in style, the Times says

A drink that’s popping up all over town is the tuxedo, a cocktail named for an exclusive upstate retreat for the rich. One version of it has gin, sherry, and orange bitters, while another has gin, vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and absinthe. They’ve shown up on menus at the bar at The Grill, Flora Bar, and the Bar Room at the Beekman, and they’re always luxurious.

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