Food

Virgil's 30th anniversary, happy hour at Mermaid Inn and Christmas decorations at Pete's Tavern

Menu Talk: Pat and Bret chat about the latest food and drink trends and share an interview with Chris and Megan Curren of Graceful Ordinary in St. Charles, Illinois.

On this week’s podcast, Pat Cobe, senior menu editor of Restaurant Business, and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, discuss recent tasting adventures as the holidays approach. 

Pat went to Pete’s Tavern near Union Square in Manhattan, which decks itself out in Christmas regalia every year. She went early with friends to beat the crowds and enjoyed well-made fish & chips while her friends had burgers and nachos. The festive décor and negronis made up for the pouring rain.

On another day, Pat and her friends went to Mermaid Inn’s Times Square location, which has an “amazing” happy hour from 4-5:30 p.m. every day. That includes $12 cocktails and a bunch of appetizers, highlighted by particularly good oysters. 

Bret went to the 30th anniversary celebration of Virgil’s, also in Times Square. It’s a barbecue restaurant run by the same people who operate neighboring Italian-American landmark Carmine’s. Both are among those rare places in Midtown Manhattan where you can usually show up with a large crowd and get a table, and also eat your fill for a reasonable price.

A guest at the celebration was Shaw-naé Dixon of Shaw-naé’s House on Staten Island, who served her Savage Fries, which are fries topped with braised oxtail, four cheese mac & cheese and collard greens. Bret recommended that highly.

Megan Curren

Megan Curren of Graceful Ordinary restaurant. | Photo courtesy of Graceful Ordinary.

Bret also shared an interview with Chris and Megan Curren, who operate Graceful Ordinary, a restaurant in St. Charles, Illinois, that opened at the tail-end of the pandemic and serves satisfying and slightly cheffed-up food from its wood-burning hearth.

Give a listen.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on Spotify.

Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Shoppers apparently returned to stores on Black Friday

The Bottom Line: Holiday shopping season isn’t what it used to be as more than half of consumers get most of their gifts online. But they were more likely to shop inside stores last weekend.

Financing

Most consumers now consider convenience stores viable alternatives to fast food

The Bottom Line: More than half of U.S. consumers now believe convenience-store prepared food is a good alternative to quick-service chains. Did value drive that change?

Financing

It was an ugly quarter for the fast-food business

The Bottom Line: The sector leads the list of losers from the third quarter, as consumers largely shifted spending to other restaurants or just stayed home.

Trending

More from our partners