Brooklyn Cafe Selling the Most Expensive Coffee in the Country Shutters

Brooklyn cafe known for serving $18 coffee shutters

Extraction Lab — the Brooklyn cafe that once sold America’s most expensive cup of coffee, coming in at a whopping $18 — is now closed, the Spoon reports. The coffee shop’s parent company Alpha Dominche announced it was halting all operations earlier this month, according to the Spoon. The company was known for its flagship product called the “steampunk,” a $15,000 coffee and tea brewer operated through an iPad app. Many high-end cafes around the U.S. purchased the product, but now that the company has closed, its servers are eventually shutting off, meaning all the machines will stop working, the Spoon reports.

Smith & Wollensky back in action after fire

High-end steakhouse Smith & Wollensky is reopening today after a December 1 fire shut it down for the month. The restaurant at 797 Third Ave., on Mahattan’s East side near Murray Hill, will open with a full menu tonight. The weekend will kick off lunch and dinner, though Wollensky’s Grill is still under construction. That portion of the venue will open later in January, a spokesperson tells Eater.

Joe Biden swings by Carmine’s for some chicken parmigiana

Joe Biden stopped by Times Square Italian hotspot Carmine’s this week before watching the “To Kill a Mockingbird” show. The former vice president ordered a classic meal: stuffed artichoke, chicken parmigiana, and rigatoni with broccoli and sausage, according to a spokesperson for the restaurant. In other presidential news, Michelle Obama was seen dining at Cafe Altro Paradiso earlier this week.

Critic finds street food with a “punch of flavor” in the West Village

Chef Diana Tandia of Berber Street Food serves “elegant” and “thoughtful” African street food with a “punch of flavor,” Times critic Ligaya Mishan says. Mishan finds “rich” jollof rice with “smoke still in its soul” at the West Village restaurant that opened in September. Plus, Tandia’s harissa — which evokes the “fervor of chiles without their spiky heat” — is an “essential contribution” to the city, Mishan writes. She goes on to say that everything the chef serves is “delicious,” and labels Berber Street Food a “gift” for the neighborhood.