Burgers Old and New, Temporary Midtown Lunch, Most Popular Videos

// This Week on Savory Cities //

The slew of new restaurant openings continues this week with a number of notable offshoots coming on the scene. We'll be checking out the new Shake Shack location as soon as we can get on up to the UWS. In the mean time we've been enjoying the fine burgers and warm hospitality on the other side of town at NYC classic, JG Melons.

// Recently Opened // 

• Bar Bao - In the space formerly known as Rain, Michael "Bao" Huynh brings casual Vietnamese to the Upper West Side.
• Almond - Jeffrey Chodorow's new Flatiron outpost of the popular Bridgehampton restaurant.
• Aspen Social Club - Midtown outpost of Aspen, serving American food in a polished atmosphere.
• Desnuda - This new East Village bar has no kitchen so the menu is strictly oysters and ceviche.
• Shake Shack - Danny Meyer brings the shack burger to the Upper West Side.

// This Week's Restaurant Reviews //

• NY Times: Frank Bruni gives 2 stars to Allegretti. "The best of the food at Allegretti transported us to Nice or, I suppose, Monte Carlo," but when it came to atmosphere, it "transported us to Midtown or to the lower Upper East Side, circa the 1970s. Though elegant in its way, Allegretti has a kind of stodginess and square-ness more commonly associated with those neighborhoods and with the prevailing fine-dining ethos of decades past."
• NY Magazine: Adam Platt 1 stars Apiary and zero stars Delicatessen. Even with gentle prices, Platt isn't crazy about Apiary, "Half a star for the respectable neighborhood cooking, and another half for the modest prices and stylish space." About Delicatessen Platt says, "For a shopping lunch in Soho, I suppose you could do worse. But we can't recommend the bizarre nightclub deli scene."
• Forked: Alan Richman is the first to report on Corton, Paul Liebrandt and Drew Nieporent's first collaboration. "Liebrandt has taken a style of cooking that that has never found favor in New York--call it molecular gastronomy, call it deconstructionist, call it ironic--and transformed it into comfort food. Nothing on your plate will scare you, and, for that matter, neither will the bill."
• NY Post: Steve Cuozzo visits Double Crown and can't help but like it. "Double Crown's mildly exotic, gastro-pubby dishes are shrewdly conceived, precisely executed and mostly delicious."

// On the Blogs //

• The Epi-log weighs in on candy corn.
• Diner's Journal is taking questions for Nach Waxman, the owner of the ridiculously comprehensive UES food and cooking bookstore, Kitchen Arts & Letters. Questions will be answered on the blog in a follow up post.
• The mental_floss blog has a fun post on the birthplaces of the fried Twinkie, the root beer float, the Fat Darrell and 7 other great American foods.
  

// Events Around Town //

• For one week only, you can have lunch (dinner is by invitation only) at the Bon Appetit Supper Club or, rather, the Bon Appetit Lunch Club. Choose items like the Mario Batali's Empanada with Chorizo, Pancetta, Peppers and Onions ($8), Charlie Trotter's Curry Braised Chicken and Potato Tart served with Mixed Greens ($9) or Michael Psilakis' Lamb Burger with French Fries ($10). The club is open Oct 23rd to the 31st and is located at 221 West 57th Street, between Broadway and 7th.

// In Other News //

• Over at the NY Times, Nick Fox takes a look at how the economy is affecting restaurants in Miami, LA and Chicago.
• Get your spooky Halloween cookies at Bouchon Bakery.
• Lucy's Kitchen Notebook is a blog we regularly check in on. This week, Lucy posted some pictures of the salt flats in Trapani. Her photography as always is beautiful, but something about these pictures made us sigh.
• Listen to Michael Pollan on NPR eloquently discuss why he thinks the US should change its agricultural and food policy.
• Check out October's most popular videos on Savory and on YouTube, plus learn how to find Savory Cities videos on Google Maps.