Donatella cooks... and maybe chefs?

​Donatella Arpaia's growing empire includes Mia Dona, Anthos, Kefi, and Eos in Miami. Her recent public split from partner and chef Michael Psilakis in two of those ventures has tongues wagging about her vision for both her restaurants and her career. A blog post by Frank Bruni suggested that Arpaia has her heart set on becoming a celebrity cooking sensation. While a cooking show is in the works, she tells Fork in the Road that she's thinking much smaller. After building a string of successful restaurants, she's looking to go against the flow of restaurant world traffic: from restaurateur to chef. Arpaia says she's been in the kitchen more than you know and has plans to be there even more.

Her first cookbook, Donatella Cooks, is out in mid-April. Its angle is simple foods that look much fancier than they are, with a particular focus on good, pretty ingredients and what can only described as "flair" items. Think fresh herbs and gold dust.

Where do your recipes come from, the home or your restaurants?

I think some of them come from home. Its' inspired from home, but the twists and the drama come from the restaurant. So, I added a restaurant twist to home meals and simplified restaurant recipes for the home. It's 60/40 home v. restaurant.

This week in food blogs...

Eater hosted a heated debate in its comments section following Sam Sifton's three-star review of Colicchio & Sons. Quoth one reader: "I have eaten there twice, and it's two at best. politics politic and more politics."

Grub Street looked back on two years of Fatty 'Cue hype, including a 2008 glimpse of the menu that promised a smoked fatback burger and red curry-cured bacon.

Midtown Lunch discovered that Kyochon closed for two days to retrain all its staff following poor reviews of the place.

The Atlantic Food Channel rounded up strange food rules, like never eating sweet potatoes after dark, and avoiding combining milk and mustard sandwiches.

​"Jeez! This place is gigantic," a friend exclaimed as we stepped inside Blue Bottle. (Click on the pictures for a better view.)

It being one of the nicest days of the century, a friend and I decided to go to Williamsburg to check out Blue Bottle Coffee, Oakland, CA's contribution to the New York coffee wars, and a place enthusiastically recommended by Fork in the Road's San Francisco-based beer consultant, Tracy Van Dyk. The company describes itself as "Microroasters of Organic and Shade Grown Coffees."

Restaurants, they come and they go. Here are a few making their debuts and taking their leaves this week.​

Barocco Cafe in Chelsea, once run by the restaurateur behind the wine bars Bottino and Zampa, has been shuttered for weeks and is now being gutted.
[Jeremiah's Vanishing NY]

Seppi's in Le Parker Meridien Hotel quietly closed three weeks ago. A spokeswoman said several options for the space are being considered.
[Crain's]

Pizzaiolo Salvatore Olivella, formerly of L'Asso, has opened 57 Napoli Pizza e Vino, where he'll turn out his famed round and skateboard-shaped pies, as well as his Nutella pie.
[TONY]

Sushi lovers sink the ban that could have saved this species.

​

Despite the best efforts of Greenpeace, PETA, and OCEANA, the proposed ban on the trade of endangered bluefin tuna was rejected yesterday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Doha. Per The Economist, tensions ran high during the voting among the 175 nations in attendance. Proposed by Monaco, the ban was backed by the E.U. and the U.S., but Libya was so against it that its delegate reportedly started "screaming and calling everyone liars... He said the science was no good and that it was part of a conspiracy of developed countries."

​Despite the advent of smart-phone apps, enhanced mobile websites, and scannable 2-D bar codes, restaurateurs find that simple text coupons can be efficient and successful.
[Nation's Restaurant News]

Americans are developing a more sophisticated palate for cheese, according to experts, which can be attributed to food TV and travel abroad.
[ABC News]

The latest proposed food ban comes from an Arkansas senator who is calling for an all-out ban on selling junk food in schools.
[Reuters]

In case you haven't seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, here's a recap: The town hates him and he's not too fond of an old "git" on the local radio either.
[NY Post]

​Served on rye with mustard and sauerkraut, Katz's knoblewurst packs a megaton wallop of garlic.

Sausages originated as a way to preserve meats past their "expire by" dates sometime during human pre-history, and turned out to be the best way to hide animal parts that we didn't necessarily want to look at. Nearly every culinary culture has them, with a flavoring scheme best suited to the tastes of their respective cuisines: The English have their pallid bangers; the French their garlicky saucisson; the Chinese their sticky-sweet links, redolent of star anise; the South Americans their chorizo (and chourico), laced with wine; the Thais their sour sausage; the Germans their doughty wursts; the Balkans their cevapis -- the list goes on and on.

​Kunafa is like the Middle East's version of a cheese danish. Its base is mild, stretchy white cheese--very like fresh mozzarella or paneer--with a topping of rich semolina pastry, all of it soaked in sweet rosewater syrup. The sweet is baked in giant rounds, and cut into pieces for serving.

Coming to a multiplex near you.

​Scarcely seven months since Julie and Julia hit screens and convinced legions of food bloggers that they too could turn their recipes for tuna fish casserole and cocktails made with Big Macs into solid gold, it looks like another of their ilk is set to get the big-screen treatment.

Deadline New York is reporting that Columbia Pictures has just bought the rights to The Pioneer Woman, a cooking/lifestyle blog created by Ree Drummond to detail her transformation from "spoiled city girl to domestic country wife." The studio may turn it into a romantic comedy vehicle for Reese Witherspoon, who more or less did this drill before in Sweet Home Alabama. The film will reportedly "explore the fantasy of trading big city living for a wholesome simpler life," though there doesn't seem to be anything that simple about running what is basically a lifestyle cottage industry out of one's own home.

[Via Serious Eats]

Two great tastes that taste great together.

​Winning an almost-instant following in the fickle and feckless world of Twitter is no easy feat, but it's much easier if you're particularly adept at both Photoshop and slaughtering sacred cows. Thus has Ruth Bourdain become the latest Twitter phenomenon: a mash-up of Ruth Reichl's twee tweets and Anthony Bourdain's potty mouth, @ruthbourdain has gained 2,318 followers since first tweeting on March 3. Today's latest post: "Fresh bong juice, the scent whirling in the air. Matzo brei, melting lardo (treif shmeif). Raspberries plump like Nigella's boobs. Spring!"