Plus: “Thanks Obama” beer and Locol’s one-year anniversary
Gordon Ramsay joins Dan Barber’s food waste pop-up
Chef/vegetable whisperer Dan Barber — whose New York destination Blue Hill at Stone Barns simultaneously manages to be the Best Restaurant in America while also pioneering the chefs-saving-the-world movement — is taking his WasteED pop-up to London. And as promised, some major UK culinary stars will join him: Michelin-starred chefs Gordon Ramsay, Claire Smyth, and Tom Kerridge are among the just-announced guest chefs.
In a savvy move, event organizers will not let diners know what chef will be cooking on the night they book their reservations; a strategy that will avoid the public clamoring for £15 dishes cooked by specific chefs. It’s also unclear how many nights, if multiple, each guest chef will take their turns in the kitchen. For Ramsay (who’s constantly sending overcooked scallops straight to the garbage can on his reality food competitions), the no-waste concept is sure to be an adjustment.
Locol in Watts celebrates its one-year anniversary
In Los Angeles’s Watts neighborhood, chef/founder Roy Choi threw a block party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his community-minded fast-food restaurant Locol. “I celebrate milestones like a MF,” Choi tweeted two days before the celebration. “Deal with it.” The party came just two weeks after the New York Times’s Pete Wells published a zero-star review of the growing chain’s Oakland location, which kicked off a still-ongoing conversation about where restaurant criticism should and should not be applied.
“Thanks Obama” beer exists
In what it’s calling a non-partisan decision (but one brilliantly designed to draw the internet’s ire), Minneapolis’ Surly Brewing Co. has announced it’ll launch a Winter Rye IPA called “Thanks Obama” on Inauguration Day. “Beer is one of the few bipartisan things left in this country,” the brand writes on its website, “so please don’t yell at us about the name on the internet, even though we know you’re going to anyway.” If you’re looking to score a six-pack to supplement your Inauguration viewing, the IPA will unfortunately only be available at the brewery’s taproom.
WORTHY READING
“It’ll take us 25 years just to pay it all back,” says Noma chef René Redzepi of the upcoming Noma 2.0, aka the re-imagined version of his highly acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant, the “analog” version of which will close in February for the massive revamp. The Guardian speaks with the chef in a look back at what Noma has meant for fine dining, and what its new incarnation hopes to achieve. [Guardian]
