Porno Pete Launches Boycott Against Chili's For Supporting LGBT Civil Rights

Yesterday Porno Pete LaBarbera posted the above boycott letter sent to the management group of Chili's Restaurants because of a donation the company made to support the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's annual Creating Change conference. LaBarbera is especially angry because his "undercover spies" reported that the conference featured (GASP!) unisex restrooms. Outrageous!

Lots of companies, of course, donate to the Task Force, but Porno Pete's boycott against Chili's is actually meant as a response to the "hateful anti-Christian" boycott of Chick-Fil-A. But let's use his link anyway and thank Chili's for supporting the civil equality of all Americans.

Thank Chili's for supporting equality.

IHOP Coming To Times Square

Eater reports that IHOP has inked a deal to open 24 restaurants in the NYC area, including a flagship outlet in Times Square. Currently the only IHOP in NYC is in Harlem. Among the other glamorous restaurants in glittering fabulous Times Square: Applebee's, Olive Garden, Sbarro, Chili's, TGI Friday's, and Red Lobster. And don't forget Pop Tarts, the cafe.

Grade Inflation

NYC's restaurants are now required to post their letter grade in sanitation from the Health Department. The Wall Street Journal notes the creative manner in which one midtown joint complied. What if they'd gotten a "C"?

New From Denny's

The fried cheese melt. Not as gross looking as the Double Down or the Donut Burger.

Morning View - The Corner Deli

It has a secret/mysterious underground dining room.

Evening View - At Garde Manger

Tonight my able homo-guide to Montreal treated me to dinner in Old Montreal at Garde Manger, a highly-regarded place recently made more famous because of a reality show starring its owner, which is now running on the Food Network in Canada. I recommend the halibut. And the scallops. And the bartender. Definitely the bartender.

MenuPad

Not very cost-effective, but whatevs.

(Via - Andrew Sullivan)

The Soup Nazi Returns

The real life Soup Nazi of Seinfeld fame is reopening his original store in Hell's Kitchen today, six years after the last of his several Manhattan locations closed. All the famously stringent rules will be enforced: Have your money ready, step to the left, no unnecessary talking. I used to patronize the location at 42nd and Fifth, where a tiny portion of lobster bisque would set you back $12. And was totally worth it.

CENTRAL Park: Lunch Delivery To Your Blanket Via iPhone GPS

Seven NYC restaurants have signed onto a delivery service that will find you anywhere in Central Park via an iPhone GPS app.

A new iPhone application for food delivery to the Manhattan oasis debuted Saturday, with Sheep Meadow sunbathers free to order a slice and Great Lawn Frisbee tossers liberated to call for chow mein. The app comes with a GPS add-on, allowing the runners carrying the meals to locate hungry customers anywhere in the 843-acre park. "The GPS thing is a little freaky - that people can track you down like that," said Annie Yano, 28, of the upper West Side. "But I like it. It's great they're using it for Central Park. It's so convenient." The CityMint app is free for download, and offers meals from seven restaurants near the park. The cost of delivery is free, too. Customers can pay with credit cards or cash, with food available from noon-7 p.m. on weekends through Labor Day.

The service is called CityMint. The company plans to add many more restaurants to its Central Park delivery list.

Florent: Queen Of The Meat Market

David Sigal's documentary Florent: Queen Of The Meat Market, premieres next Thursday, June 24th, at the NYC Food Film Festival. Get tickets here. Openly gay and openly HIV+ Florent Morellet's namesake Meatpacking District restaurant was long the post-clubbing meeting place for a spectacular hodge-podge of NYC's nightlife denizens, celebrities, and activists. The restaurant was forced out of business last year due the neighborhood's rampant gentrification. I loved that Florent posted his T-cell counts on the outside menu board, right above the daily specials.

It'll Be Just A Few Minutes

More and more NYC restaurants are doing away with taking reservations, citing the costs of hiring reservationists and the membership fees paid to online table booking services.

The easy button for many restaurateurs is OpenTable.com, which allows diners to make reservations 24/7 online. “The average restaurant spends $1,500 to $2,000 a month on OpenTable,” said Mr. Brown, of Ed’s Chowder House, adding that restaurants like his pay a setup fee, monthly fees and a fee for every reservation. In addition, a serious fine-dining experience requires reservationists “12 hours a day, seven days a week,” Mr. Brown said, “a minimum of three people making $30,000 apiece per year plus benefits.” “Add to that yearly payments of $20,000 in OpenTable fees,” he said. “So by having no reservations, that restaurant saves $125,000 a year.” Furthermore, while no-reservations restaurants can reach as many as four table turns a night, two may be the maximum for restaurants that take reservations, Mr. Brown said. “So for them, often the only way to cope with increasing costs is to keep charging more money.” That, in turn, can price a restaurant out of its market.

The upside of taking reservations is that owners can whisk in regulars and celebrities as if they were expected, bypassing all the nobodies.

Ten Things Not To Do In NYC

Travel site Concierge lists their ten most over-hyped tourist experiences in NYC.

1. Hansom cab ride through Central Park.
2. Dining at Tavern On The Green.
3. Eating anywhere in Times Square.
4. Comedy shows in Times Square.
5. Shopping at Century 21.
6. Nightclubbing in the Meatpacking District.
7. A pedi-cab ride through mid-town.
8. Eating from a hot dog cart.
9. Visiting the Empire State Building.
10. Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery.

Since I first read the above-linked story last night, the site updated their list to note that, hello, Tavern On The Green is closed. Otherwise, I agree with most of the list. Except for Century 21. And hot dog carts.

NYC's Famed Empire Diner To Close

Chelsea's iconic Empire Diner will close next month.

"After more than thirty years of serving Chelsea residents, actors, police commissioners, athletes, gangsters, such luminaries as Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, and anyone carrying a New York City Guide Book, the Empire Diner has lost its lease and is closing its doors May 15th, 2010."

I had breakfast at the Empire with outing king Mike Rogers a few weeks ago. I'll have to get there one more time before they close.