Queens Bridge Game Dishes Eataly Scoop

You know you've got a food-oriented family when you're getting hot New York restaurant gossip from your 87-year-old grandmother.

Doris, Queens resident and expert at preparing mean spreads of pickled herring and bagels, just called to inform me of two news items essential to this blog.

First, she said that she remembered to pass out a bunch of Fuchs Foodie Journal blog business cards at her bridge game this morning.  Her friends, she reported, thought that the card was "cute and creative," but it didn't take long for them to start crunching numbers.  "How does he make any money off of this?" one asked.

According to my grandmother, my Aunt Jackie, another participant in the bi-weekly Bridge Bash of Queens, rushed to my defense.  "He gets people who want to have their products on his site and they pay for it," she said proudly.

For someone who has probably been on the internet no more than twice in her life, that struck me as a pretty damn good answer.  The real answer, of course, is that I'll have to get back to them if I ever figure it out.

So, you ask, what was the hot food scene tip? 

Well, at the same octogenarian bridge party, which I hope to start attending just to stay current despite my regretfully unadvanced age and out-of-the-way D.C. residence, one of the other players broke the news that Eataly, Mario Batali's new 32,000 square foot, downtown Italian food market, will have its grand opening on August 31.  The woman, who lives in the same neighborhood as the location destined for Eataly, added that Mayor Bloomberg will keynote the grand opening; a private party for industry insiders is planned a few days earlier; and that she has been regularly peering through the windows of the sprawling market.  Pending some final touches, it looks "grand". 

I'm definitely making a  special trip up to NYC as close to August 31 as possible to eat my way through Eataly.  Here's the Village Voice's description:

With one outpost already in Tokyo, this sustainable, slow-food institution is changing the way people are tasting and purchasing food, one city at a time. The concept is one of category, with eight smaller restaurants and a gelateria within. The boutique restaurants inside Eataly are based on flavor, so you'll find an entire tasting concept within foods like pasta, salami, cheese, pizza, fish, vegetables, beer, and coffee.  You can have a bite from a $1,000 hunk of salami at the “salami bar” and a Dixie cup of raw milk at the “dairy bar” before mowing down a gianduia (chocolate and hazelnut candy) at the gelateria. The idea is to promote sustainable, slow-food producers and to educate consumers on the history and background of their food choices.

And my grandmother's bridge posse was the first to get the scoop about the grand opening.  Okay, so maybe Village Voice already knew (in mid-June) about the opening date.  And maybe my grandmother didn't seem to know who Mario Batali was.  I'm still checking out that bridge game if I get an invite, if for no other reason than to luxuriate in some pickled herring.