MINT PLAZA—The development of 54 Mint Plaza has been a stop and go enterprise, with everyone from New York's Il Buco to Jocelyn Bulow to lots of insects involved. Well, Lady Hopstress has all the details on the newest project there, and it turns out our rumormongering wasn't too far off: it's going to be an Italian restaurant from Alberto Avalle, who was an original founder of Il Buco. Simply called 54 Mint, the chef will be Ehsan Ganji, also an Il Buco vet. [TH, previously]
THE SMALL SCREEN—Mark Bittman, not a fan of television cooking: "I was at a taping of a Food Network star a couple of years ago when he put a piece of meat on a stovetop ... the thing immediately caught fire ... the charred evidence was whisked off the set, and an assistant came on and grilled a new piece of meat properly ... Show people what actually happens in the kitchen, show people that mistakes are made." Also amusing is Food Network Addict's response. [Bitten via ENY]
SOMA—Regarding that giant tomato last seen at Vino e Cucina that was on sale for $1500 last week: someone bought it. Final pricetag unknown. [~ESF~]
PIZZAVERSE— Last night Consumerist posted videos of Domino's employees behaving badly (think toppings in orifices). Today, they were fired. Slice's take: "To its credit, Domino's corporate was swift in handling this, but this incident is a perfect reminder why it's better to go to an indie pizzeria. In the videos, there's no supervision of these two presumably low-level employees, who have no interest in doing or incentive to do anything more than shit around." [Slice via ENY]
