Our Plea: Get Thee to Pleiades

After giving Café Boulud a beautiful renovation last fall, the indefatigable Daniel Boulud also birthed Bar Pleiades, site of tonight’s Winter Cocktail party benefit for Citymeals on Wheels.  Pleiades mixologist Cameron Bogue (left) busily delivered creation after creation to the dapper crowd. Of his three exceedingly exciting cocktails, the Gourd-geous Sling, with butternut squash purée, left us appreciatively dumbfounded (How seasonal! How brilliant!) Drinks aside (but only momentarily), we couldn’t help but munch on the elegant creations being passed around from Chef Gavin Kaysen (Café Boulud). Guest chefs Nate Appleman (Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria), George Mendes (Aldea), and Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook (LA’s Animal) scattered themselves around the room, amicably plating and chatting with guests. Our favorite canapé was Animal’s chicken liver paté, a demonstration of bold flavor artfully spread under drops of pear and mustard (wacka, wacka, wacka!) The intimate and classy bar, with niches of beige quilted, Chanel handbag-inspired walls, is one you’ll find us returning to soon. Particularly when we have the chance to support such a worthy cause.

For more party pics, click here.

That's All, Folks! (Until Miami.)

Lee Schrager (center), director of the New York City Wine & Food Festival, called the weekend a wrap last night, with a rollicking after-party for chefs and friends of the festival at the Garden Rooms at the Standard Hotel. Boldface foodies from Giada Di Laurentiis to Marc Murphy, Daniel Boulud, Cesare Casella and Marco Canora turned up to toast the completion of a successful (and only second) outing for the food event. With Ultimat vodka flowing and savories and desserts aplenty, the élite of the food world enjoyed the chance to kick back and relax after a wonderfully long weekend of eating, drinking, cooking and learning. The revelers even gave ping-pong a whirl, with Burger Bash victor Spike Mendelsohn showing off his table tennis skills.

For pics from last night's party, click here.

And with that, all eyes are now on Miami, where the South Beach Wine & Food Festival takes place next February. Until then, it's diet time!

Daniel Boulud Branches Out

Offering a first peek at his new eatery DBGB, French chef extraordinaire Daniel Boulud peeled back the construction paper and fired up the kitchen to reveal his vision for a spot that will specialize in beer, sausage and burgers. (Done as only Daniel can, of course.)

So what does DBGB stand for? "Some have suggested it stands for Daniel Boulud's Giant Balls," joked the chef. But in actual fact, the name is an obeisance to CBGB, the late, legendary music destination that was located not far from the place where the new restaurant now stands.

Deliberately designed with no back-of-house storage, the restaurant stows all of the kitchen's tools in plain view, on floor-to-ceiling open shelving that runs the perimeter of the dining room and which acts as a visual buffer between the dining area and the open kitchen.

With just a few weeks (and a few tweaks) left before DBGB opens to the public, the venue (even in its unfinished form) proves itself to be an exciting newcomer and a dining spot unlike any in the Boulud empire.

Bravo for the Beard Awards!

David Chang, Daniel Boulud, Dan Barber and Jean-Georges Vongerichten were among the big winners at last night's James Beard Awards, held at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. The glittering evening, known to avid restaurant-goers as the Oscars of the food world, drew the industry's best an brightest for an evening of peer recognition and, of course, good eating.

Show hosts Cat Cora, Emeril Lagasse and actor Stanley Tucci did an admirable job of keeping the proceedings moving, but much like the Academy Awards, the Beard show is infamous for running long and dry. Still, enduring the speeches is always a small price to pay for the post-awards reception and after-parties. In keeping with the theme of this year's show, Women in Food, the reception featured the culinary creations of some of the nation's leading women chefs, including Lidia Bastianich, Anita Lo, Michelle Bernstein, Carrie Nahabedian and Jennifer Petrusky.

Once they moved on from Lincoln Center, guests, nominees and winners had their pick of after-parties, with the more ambitious foodies packing in several stops. New York Insider briefly checked out Bar Boulud (conveniently located across the street from Lincoln Center) before heading to Nobu 57, where Drew Nieporent was hosting a Champagne and sushi celebration. We then decamped to the Modern, where the booze was flowing, though there was not a nibble to be had. Other revelers headed downtown to Mario Batali's Otto or to Terroir, in the East Village.

All in all, it was a night of great fun and redkindled friendships—as is always the case when the hospitality world pulls out all of its stops.

For more photos, click here.

Fourteen Going on Fifteen

Fourteen restaurants each brought a signature dish to 15 Union Square Park West tonight for a special walk-around grand-tasting to benefit Citymeals on Wheels. The new luxury condo complex (at one time the home of Tiffany & Co.) is far from completion, but the model-unit floor of this very-much-under-construction building proved to be one heck of a hip spot to throw an open-house party. Co-chair and chef Daniel Boulud somehow found a moment to break from his Upper East Side restaurant and accept all-around congratulations for a glowing write-up in this morning's Times. (Frank Bruni's much-anticipated weigh-in reaffirmed the eatery's well-deserved four-star status.) But Daniel wasn't the only happy camper in the bunch. Sated guests left the event with copies of Dining in New York City, the new book by writer-photographer Jan Bartelsman, which features 40 of his picks for the city's best eateries. There are no recipes in the compendium, but with chefs this good in our metropolis, why would any of us even dare to set foot in a kitchen?

For more photos, click here.

Oh it Looks Like Daniel...Must Be the Clouds in My Eyes.

"Well Daniel says it's the best place that he's ever seen." When Elton John sang these lyrics for the first time in 1973, it's a safe bet he was not thinking of Daniel Boulud and his newly refurbished digs at Restaurant Daniel. Nonetheless, the superchef's eponymous restaurant has been given a substantial face-lift by designer Adam Tihany and needless to say, Boulud is very happy. "I felt it was time to refresh it, a modern sophistication on par with our cuisine," the chef says. The restaurant's first makeover since it opened on East 65th Street ten years ago, the look includes a new color palette and lighting as well as contemporary touches that were absent from the original. To borrow from Sir Elton once more, "Daniel, you're a star."

Caviar Guaranteed To Get You Tipsy

Daniel Boulud, one of the most famous members of New York's restaurant royalty, has never been one for serving up molecular gastronomy in his restaurants. Instead, the concept of cuisine created through chemistry has been the provenance of chefs like Ferran Adrià, of Spain's El Bulli, and Grant Achatz, of Chicago's Alinea. But last night, the hallowed walls of restaurant Daniel, on East 65th Street, shimmered with the gleam of "caviar beads" made from gellified Cointreau. Created by head bartender Xavier Herit, (above) the new cocktail—a strawberry margarita with a side of perfectly shaped pearls made from strawberry-infused Cointreau—took its place among Daniel's bar offerings. For $29. Steep for a margarita—even at Daniel—but what you're paying for here is the preparation, which is done right before your eyes. Syringes, strainers and all. Needless to say, it's a lot more involved than pouring a perfect Guinness. And a lot more colorful. INSIDER TIP: Ask nicely and bartender Herit may just show you the supersized silver briefcase containing all of the tools a would-be master mixologist needs to create Cointreau magic. INSIDE TIP #2: The caviar beads also go well with a glass of Piper Heisieck Champagne (pictured left).