S’MAC at 1st and 1st On Track After All

In June, Veselka owner Tom Birchard announced that Little Veselka, his coffee/pastry kiosk located in a small park at 1st and 1st, would make way for a branch of East Village mac and cheese shop S’MAC. Owner Sarita Ekya said the new branch would open by “Early Fall.” Then, as it tends to happen with these things, there was radio silence on the matter for nearly six months. Now, a help wanted sign looking for cooks and cashiers indicates that the project will be moving forward after all.

So, look forward to the opportunity to pick up mac and cheese before your morning commute (?) some time in early 2012.

Marketing Intern Gets Creative, Pairs CD With Wine

This just showed up on my desk. It’s a box of Dreaming Tree wine and a Dave Matthew Band CD. More specifically, it’s the debut vino effort from Dave Matthews and winemaker Steve Reeder. You see, “The Dreaming Tree” is a song (the press materials describe it as a hit) off the band’s 1998 album “Before These Crowded Streets.” Strangely, this “hit” song wasn’t even released as a single.

So what happened here? I imagine the whole thing went down like this.

INT. MARKETING FIRM CONFRENCE ROOM

MARKETING GUY 1: Our new wine is going out to the press next week. We need…something! A hook! You! Intern! What ideas do you have?

INTERN: Gee, I’m just—

MARKETING GUY: I know you’re an intern! JUST JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING.

INTERN: Alright. I mean, the wine is named after an obscure song off a decade old jam band album, right?

Everyone in the room grumbles in agreement.

INTERN: And it’s not very good, right? I mean, it’s yet another vanity wine label!

MARKETING GUY 2: But Dave went and did barrel tastings himself! He was really involved!

More grumbles.

INTERN: Okay, so. Why don’t we include the album in the box and call the song that no one remembers a “hit?”

MARKETING GUY: GENIUS, KID.

Genius.

Worst PR Release of the Day: Millesime

When it seems fit, I’ll post the most embarrassing passage from a particularly terrible PR release. Today’s debut entry comes from the fine folks at Millesime. Take it away, PR person!

“As part of the restaurant’s new music series which runs in the Salon Wednesdays thru Sundays weekly and features a different act nightly, Millesime has introduced Burlesque Brunch, consisting of performances by The Cat’s Meow alongside two dancers on platforms that seductively make way thru the tables and excite the senses with their provocative yet tasteful movements.”

It’s not that this is the most offensive, horribly written release I’ve ever seen (for one, it doesn’t start out “Dear Editor,”). It’s more that it perfectly encapsulates how low a once promising restaurant has fallen.

[photo credit]

Everybody in my kitchen loves working with me. They say it’s hard and that you don’t have fun, but when they leave, they have learned something. They consider it an experience that they can’t find somewhere else. A lot of my cooks who leave, they tell me that they miss working in the kitchen. They say they can’t find that with another chef. The environment is good.
Laurent Gras still has no restaurant but wants you to know he’s awesome (via Eater).

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