Jamon Iberico de Bellota, Double Crown

// This Week on Savory Cities //

• Jamón Ibérico de Bellota: What price would you pay for pig?
• The New Daniel: pics and more
• Over in SF, we have new videos for Anchor and Hope with Mitchell Rosenthal, Fifth Floor with Laurent Manrique and Orson with Elizabeth Falkner.

// Recently Opened //

• Double Crown - Cuisine inspired by the British Empire, as imagined by talented chef Brad Farmerie, chef of Savory favorite Public. Wine Director Rubén Sanz Ramiro has put together an eclectic list featuring wines made with grapes grown in unexpected places. The AvroKO-designed space and lower Bowery location should draw a hip, youthful crowd. As will the companion lounge next door, Madame Geneva.
• Bloomingdale Road - Ed Witt, formerly of Il Buco and Varietal, is the chef at this casual American small plates spot on the Upper West Side.
• De Santos - A new modern Italian in Greenwich Village partly owned by the drummer of the popular Mexican pop/rock band Maná.
• The Libertine - A new Todd English conception in the Financial District.
• Jerry's Cafe  - The comfy SoHo standby relocated to TriBeCa.
• Tierra - The short-lived Tasca on lower Seventh Avenue is now Tierra.

// This Week's Restaurant Reviews //

• NY Times: Frank Bruni goes on a Brooklyn jaunt to review James (1 of 4 stars). "Mr. Calvert's time years ago in the kitchens at Bouley and at Union Pacific was well spent. For the most part he combines flavors sensibly, and he doesn't lose sight of a dish's centerpiece attraction."
• $25 and Under takes a look at two Cambodian restaurants, Kampuchea and Cambodian Cuisine.
  On Kampuchea, "To serve authentic food seems less of a priority than to appeal to the young and restless who haunt the Lower East Side." On Cambodian Cuisine, "Best to heed the house favorites, including ahmok, a highlight of Cambodian home cooking ($14.95). Customarily made with fish steamed in curry until it achieves a mousse-like texture, here it takes the form of chicken, breaded with curry and swamped in coconut curd. It's delicious, with biting citrus notes and a subtle flare of heat."
• Bloomberg: Last week, Ryan Sutton was the first to review Momofuku Ko's extravagant 18-course, $255 lunch. "There's something markedly annoying about trying to appreciate delicate lobster with tomato water and anise hyssop while glasses shatter, cooks swear, oven doors slam and waiters squeeze behind you -- all at 12:30 in the afternoon." This week, Sutton goes to Lever House checking in on their lunch and dinner service. Despite the critique below, Sutton lauds Lever House's new chef, Bradford Thompson's ability. "A hamburger without Kobe or truffles is $26 at lunch -- $35 with fries. The medium-rare patty was underseasoned and overwhelmed by red-wine onions. Couldn't taste the cheddar. Value is subjective, but when there are better burgers for $10, even the wealthy will feel ripped off." At dinner, it's the after work suit crowd ordering "$16 dirty martinis" and tables who run a bill of "nearly $8,000 on wines like a 1966 Mouton Rothschild." Midtown is apparently alive and well, at least for now.
• NY Magazine: Last week, Platt visited Convivio giving it 3 out of 5 stars. The review was of particular interest to us because we'd visited the restaurant just a week earlier. We found the food to be very good, but the service was rushed and unpolished, and in two instances downright sloppy. Perhaps because of its location, the restaurant attracts an older crowd. Platt describes "graybeard diplomats and Tudor City swells staggering about the room." Platt on the food, "White is one of restaurant-land's great omnivores, and the range of his cooking is almost overwhelming. But if you're still standing after the sfizi, the antipasti, and this little wave of expertly rendered pastas, you won't want to miss the secondi courses, like perfectly cooked lamb chops topped with toasted bread crumbs and salsa verde, or the ribbons of golden sautéed swordfish involtini, stuffed with pine nuts and sweet currants and set on a bed of yogurt flavored with mint."
• This week, The Underground Gourmet visits Williamsburg Mexican, La Superior. "The toothsomeness of the griddled corn masa, the piquancy of the salsas, and the tenderness of the pork in the cochinita pibil. On these fronts, La Superior excels, and the cool music and friendly service don't hurt either."

// In Other News //

• According to a new study, vegetarians and vegans are six times more likely to suffer from brain shrinkage than meat eaters.
• NPR has a few ideas on how to keep you distracted from the worry.

// Events Around Town //

• The annual Grand Central "Oyster Frenzy" takes place this Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to close at the Grand Central Oyster Bar. The event will feature a shucking competition, cooking demonstrations, a "slurp off" eating competition, musical entertainment and 16 varieties of oysters.
• On Monday, September 22nd Il Buco will host its fifth annual "Sagra del Maiale" pig roast, celebrating the Autumn Equinox. The celebration will take place outside il Buco on Bond Street between Lafayette and Bowery from 1-6 p.m. Roast pig can be had for $20 per plate.

// What We're Drinking //

We enjoyed our first paloma cocktail on Wednesday at Brandy Library in TriBeCa. This popular Mexican drink should help take the scare out of anyone still fighting off tequila demons from years past. We found it to be a nice foil to the lingering late summer heat.

Making your own couldn't be easier. Fill a Collins glass with ice, pour 1 part Siembra Azul Blanco tequila, 3 parts grapefruit soda (or fresh grapefruit juice and splash of soda) and 1/2 ounce of fresh lime juice, stir and enjoy. Or enjoy one at Brandy Library, Death and Company in the East Village, Rayuela in the Lower East Side or Toloache in Midtown. Siembra Azul Blanco, a super smooth 100% blue agave tequila, can be purchased at finer liquor stores around town.