Strange rumblings from readers regarding Nick and Eddie. My e-mail inbox has been lighting up like a Christmas tree for a week with reports of an exodus from the kitchen—Vranian gone (supposedly “bought out” a few weeks ago, which is oftentimes restaurant code for many other things), Steven Brown gone, and Flicker helping out at D'Amico Kitchen. Several friends who are regulars buzzed me to say they had asked about some of these chefs and were told they weren’t there anymore. Some of these folks were just cooking at N & E between other gigs, but some of them have been publicly despondent about the place on their social media pages.

 

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D'Amico Kitchen (see attached menu) opens on the 24th and will have a street-level patio area, a rooftop bar, and a lounge area with a DJ on weekends. There will be live entertainment and lots of stuff to get groovy to and the best news is that Doug Flicker will be working the line during the opening. This guy is a major league talent. John Occchiato has created a great menu and any restaurant where I can order suckling pig is A-OK in my book.

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So I send in my blog last Monday and my editor Adam e-mails me the next day that I am an episode behind in Top Chef. Not only was my pick 86-ed Wednesday, but Art’s pillow had been cold for a week as well. That’s what happens when you don’t know where you are or what day it is. Anyway, it has been a busy week…here are some things to check out. They are much more timely than my last blog:

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I am in the middle of recording the audio book version of Bizarre Truth, my new book out from Random House on 9-8-09. Feel free to buy a copy on Amazon and help send my kid to college. Reading your own work is painful in the extreme, and all I see are the warts. And it doesn't help things that I have spent three nights at home in the last six weeks doesn’t help either.

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Well, let’s be honest. I owe everyone an apology. I was shooting for the last 3 weeks in the far reaches of Indonesia, had no web access and couldn’t update the blog. I hate when that happens on the sites I follow regularly, so mea culpa. 

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