Savory Tidbits: Restaurant News and Views for NYC, San Francisco, Chicago and LA

Upcoming NYC Cooking Classes with Notable Chefs

Flickr photo by DanMelinger

The Institute for Culinary Education catalog showed up at the office recently and a quick flip through its pages revealed a few fun sounding recreational class options for this summer. Here are a few of the choice options featuring well known NYC chefs and bartenders.

Progressive Cocktails with Eben Freeman
Tuesday, July 1, 7-9:30pm
Eben Freeman, who runs the cocktail program at Tailor in SoHo, will be teaching how to use atypical ingredients and innovative techniques to make "progressive" cocktails.

Mixology 101
Saturday, June 14, 6:30-9:30pm and Saturday, August 16, 6:30-9:30pm
Polish up on the basics before heading to Freeman's class with Savoy and Back Forty bar manager Michael Cecconi. He'll teach you how to perfect the martini, mojito, sidecar, strappy sandal and French 75.

Favorite Dishes from Hill Country
Friday, August 1, 6-11pm
Executive Chef Elizabeth Karmel will reveal the secrets of some of Hill Country's most popular dishes including their brisket, beer can game hen and, our personal favorite, Kreuz market sausages.

Favorite Dishes from Elettaria
Friday, August 15, 6-11pm
Akhtar Nawab, the former executive chef of Craftbar and The E.U. and current chef/co-owner of Elletaria, will demonstrate how he makes several of the signature dishes from his new Greenwich Village restaurant, including cured Tasmanian sea trout with heart of palm and beef sirloin with salsify, black trumpet mushrooms and bacon.

DeGustibus at Macy's Herald Square is also featuring a full calendar of demonstrations by top NYC chefs, including some great sounding options in June with Tabla chef Floyd Cardoz, John Schenk of Strip House, Josh Grinker of Brooklyn's Stone Park Cafe, Rebecca Charles of Pearl Oyster Bar, Alex Urena of Pamplona and Wylie Dufresne of wd-50.

For more information about DeGustibus classes at Macy's Herald Square visit the DeGustibus web site, call 212-439-1714 or email GRTCOOKS@AOL.COM.

For more information on ICE classes visit their web site or call 212-847-0770.

Is Jody Williams the David Chang of the Italian Wine Bar?

The recent spate of good press directed toward Jody Williams and her new "gastroteca," Gottino, in the West Village has us wondering if she's on her way to becoming the David Chang of Italian wine bar owners.

Here's a sample of some of the recent media praise:

• Time Out New York awarded Gottino with a Critic's Choice Award for Best Reason to Abandon the Tapas Bar
• New York Times' Dining section front page article, "Wine Bars Grow Up and Squeeze In" featured Gottino prominently.
• New York Magazine lavished early praise on Williams' pig’s-feet meat and chestnut bread stuffing, gave her 3+ stars and in March named Gottino the Best Wine Bar of 2008 in its Best of New York Awards.