Rexfeng

Happy hours and pleated pants.

Yesterday, Steve Cuozzo reported that clothing company Brooks Brothers is opening a 15,000-square-foot steakhouse next summer at 11 East 44th Street, and now there are more details: A source tells the Post that Makers and Merchants, which is named for the Brooks Brothers' slogan, may be the first of a "national rollout" of similar restaurants, and that the preppy steakhouse will have "rich wood paneling" throughout its dining areas' three floors.

What's behind this sudden surge of restaurants connected to clothing retailers like Armani, which was just reviewed by the Times? The economic answer is that square meals (and a few drinks) facilitate more purchases, but restaurants connected to clothing companies also bolster and maybe even reinvigorate brand identity. If you start to think of the nearby Tommy Bahama as your loopy uncle who's really into dark rum, and the Gorbals at Urban Outfitters as your prankish younger brother who's working on a line of D.I.Y unicorn bots to sell on Etsy, then maybe the new Brooks Brothers type in the age of the connected dining room is a well-dressed, Ivy League alum with a fine-print "Reagan Was Right" tattoo on his inner arm.

Brooks Brothers make their culinary debut [New York Post]
Earlier: Ilan Hall’s the Gorbals Confirmed for Williamsburg’s Urban Outfitters

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: coming soon, brooks brothers, expansions, makers and merchants

In September, Apple launched two new iPhones and iOS 7. But there was plenty it didn't show, from MacBook Pros to iPads to OS X Mavericks to that wild-looking new Mac Pro — but those might all be around the corner. "People familiar with Apple's plans" tell All Things D that the company will be holding an invitation-only event on October 22nd. Current Editorials first reported the date back in mid-September. It's not yet clear where the event will be held.

Notably, October 22nd is the same day that Microsoft is launching its Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets. If that weren't enough, Nokia will be holding an event to reveal new hardware on that date as well.

Widespread leaks suggest that Apple will update its iPad mini with a...

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Perfect for Fox News. A total sham. As Richard Dunlop-Walters points out, these advanced 55-inch touchscreens are capable of showing four tweets at a time.

The White House panel tasked with reviewing the state of US intelligence operations has been stalled by the government shutdown, Politico reports. According to internal sources, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper decided on Friday to furlough the panel's staff, freezing the five members' funds to travel to Washington. While they can continue to discuss the issues, the lack of funding and general state of government affairs means their work is effectively frozen for the near future.

Even before the freeze, the shutdown had already put the panel on shaky grounds. Early last week, panel member and former CIA director Michael Morell declined to meet with Congressional intelligence committee members, saying that it was...

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The 25th season of The Simpsons just kicked off — its traditional "Treehouse of Horror" episode slated for this Sunday — and that won't be the last of the gang from Springfield. According to Variety, Fox renewed the longest-running American sitcom ever for its 26th season. It's not a surprising renewal — despite the fact that the show's quality has arguably been on the downswing for years now, the show still pulls in consistently strong ratings in the key 18-49 demographic. Earlier in the year, there were rumors that The Simpsons would wrap after its 25th season in advance of a major $1 billion cable syndication deal — but the show appears like it'll keep on going until at least 2015. Whether or not that affects any potential...

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From Serious Eats: New York

[Photograph: Max Falkowitz]

There's no shortage of street carts in Chinatown that sell freshly steamed rice noodle rolls. But if you can only go to one, I'd suggest skipping them all in favor of a visit to a tofu factory near the Manhattan Bridge, which makes a fresher, more delicate rice roll than any I've had from a cart.

To review, by rice roll I mean cheung fun, a thin rice flour batter spread across a steamer tray and cooked as one big, flat noodle until it's just set but still a little custardy. In restaurants, especially at dim sum, it's wrapped around fillings like beef or shrimp. But at street carts, for the going rate of $1.25, it comes shoved unceremoniously into a styrofoam container and topped with the fixings and sauces of your choice. Scarfing down a steaming-hot rice roll on a brisk autumn day is one of New York's great quick breakfasts—the meal at which that you most often see these rolls eaten in Chinatown.

At Sun Hing Lung Co. you order through a small takeout window, and if you don't speak Chinese, you may have to get by with some gesturing towards the rectangular steamer. You can opt to have some egg stirred into your rice flour batter, which I recommend—the egg sweetens and enriches the noodle enough to make it a little more sustaining. As for toppings, sriracha and a sweetened soy sauce are my go-tos—the roll doesn't need anything else.

Be sure to eat your rice roll quickly before it looses its delicate elasticity. If you need to wash it down, Sun Hing Lung Co makes a great soy milk that's full of beany flavor; their fresh tofu is also some of the better you'll find in the neighborhood.

Note that the shop opens early and closes for business around 4 p.m., so plan your trip accordingly.

About the author: Max Falkowitz is the editor of Serious Eats: New York. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.

In this great nation of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around the country. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.

[Photograph: Michael Nusair]

Torontonians (or anyone visiting our fair city) take note: Beast serves what has to be the city's most decadently gluttonous sandwich. Aptly named the Beastwich ($14), it begins with a buttermilk biscuit, to which is added a ridiculously juicy breaded-and-fried chicken thigh, pimento cheese, and a fried egg. Did I mention the sausage gravy? I didn't? Because, yeah. They put sausage gravy on there, too.

If you're like me, then you're already figuring out how you can get your hands on this sandwich (figuratively speaking, of course—this is strictly a fork-and-knife affair. Pick this monster up at your own peril). If you're a bit more reasonable, you might think that this sounds a little bit too rich. Trust me, it's not too rich.

All the elements come together with such harmony that it never feels leaden or over-the-top; it all coalesces into something that my dining companion almost instantly declared to be one of the best sandwiches he's ever had. I can't say I particularly disagree.

The real star here is the amazingly crisp, perfectly seasoned chicken. It's dark meat, so it's naturally more succulent and flavorful than the breast meat that you tend to find in similar sandwiches. It helps, too, that it's perfectly cooked.

The creamy sausage gravy, pimento cheese, and silky fried egg collectively add a heady richness that's a perfect foil for the crispy fried chicken.

Am I using the word perfect too much? What can I say; it's that kind of meal. Let me use it one more time—the dense, buttery biscuit is the perfect vehicle for the other elements of the sandwich.

Let's be honest: this isn't exactly light eating. It is, to be precise, the exact opposite. In fact, I'm fairly certain that it shaved a couple of days off my life. But you know what? I'll take this sandwich over those days. It's worth it.

About the author: Michael Nusair is a Toronto-area writer / podcaster / cool dude who likes eating good food and watching Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Sometimes at the same time! You can read about his various eating exploits here and here, and follow him on Twitter at MichaelKN.

From Serious Eats: New York

View Pat LaFrieda Neighborhood Guide in a larger map

While Pat LaFrieda's name has become synonymous with steaks and burgers in many top restaurants across the country, the family's business started in the West Village long before the neighborhood became gentrified. LaFrieda and his family still consider the Village home in many ways even while the business, which is now based in New Jersey, outgrew an area that was once an industrial and manufacturing hub. "Our roots will always be there," he says of the neighborhood.

Physical location aside, LaFrieda's presence across New York is still strong. At this year's New York City Wine and Food Festival, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors is sponsoring the popular Burger Bash, in which each participating restaurant will serve up at least 2,000 of portions of the namesake dish; and an Oktoberfest event hosted by Andrew Zimmern, who's partnered with LaFrieda to create a line of sausages. Here are LaFrieda's favorite bites around the West Village.

[Photograph: Ed Levine]

Burger: Obviously, people ask me this question all the time. Market Table is one of my favorites. I like it seared on the outside and rare in the inside. It's very important. They get it to you at the right temperature. They have white cheddar, caramelized onions, an awesome pickle, and their fries. It's a game changer.

Pizza: Everyone's opinionated on pizza. I'm in the meat business, but I'm a carb freak. It's not in the Village, but Rubirosa. The get a classic. It's a thin crust. What I like about it is that you pick up a slice and it doesn't collapse and fall down on you. You have flavor and you have quality. You have that thin crust, it's amazing.

Brunch/breakfast: In the West Village, you can't beat Commerce. I like the sweet breads and chorizo omelet every time. Where can you get that? It's the best brunch you can find in New York City. Forget about the West Village. I think it's on one of the prettiest streets in New York. The chef is always there, and he runs a tight ship. He cares about what he's doing.

[Photograph:Brent Herrig]

Mexican: I call it a Josh Capon show at El Toro Blanco. I absolutely love craziness. I think he hit it right on the head there.

Italian: Perla. I order the lamb head or the calf's head. When I was younger, a lot of restaurants ordered it. Now they prepare it differently. They put it on the table and different parts out. When I go out to eat, I want something different. You're not going to get something more different than that.

It's not really Italian, but I go to Barbuto for the chicken. It's phenomenal. I like Jonathan Waxman's cooking method. He splits the chicken from the back and takes out the rib bones out. The combination of seasoning on it is killer. It's no new news, and it's a dinosaur of a dish, but you still can't beat it.

[Photograph: Kathy YL Chan]

Coffee: Milk and Cookies. I like them for their coffee and their cookies. They make the bacon chocolate chip cookie. The owner's name is Tina. It's right across from her brother's bar, and it's a little hidden gem.

Bakery: I love Patisserie Claude. He's crazy. He's like the Soup Nazi almost, but for quiches and croissants. My favorite thing there is always the quiches. I love the one with the mushroom. It's just buttery and light. They're small, so you eat a half dozen of them. [The baker] is there in the morning, slaving over them. It's hard to find anything like that these days. You're not going to go into a Starbucks and find something like that, so I gotta give Claude credit.

Sandwich: You can't get better than the meatball sandwich at Little Owl. Again, real tasty, real fresh. They make it every day.

[Photograph: Nick Solares]

Asian: RedFarm. It has the best ribeye steak. His preparation of the cold water over the ribeye is great. I think it's the best Asian restaurant out there. Joe Ng's dumplings are amazing, too.

Date: Lupa is romantic. It has a very soft feel. It's been there for a very long time, which is tough when you're in New York City. It's small, but it's impressive. They have garganelli with tripe, which is one of my favorites to eat.

Drinks: The second floor of The Spotted Pig. April does awesome food and drinks. The English style beers come out at room temperature, and I love that.

Fascinating piece by Fred Vogelstein in The New York Times on the development and launch announcement of the original iPhone, largely based on remarks from Andy Grignon, who was then the engineering manager in charge of the iPhone’s antenna systems (and who obviously no longer works for Apple; it’s rare to see the company’s code of silence broken even by former employees).

A taste:

It’s hard to overstate the gamble Jobs took when he decided to unveil the iPhone back in January 2007. Not only was he introducing a new kind of phone — something Apple had never made before — he was doing so with a prototype that barely worked. Even though the iPhone wouldn’t go on sale for another six months, he wanted the world to want one right then. In truth, the list of things that still needed to be done was enormous. A production line had yet to be set up. Only about a hundred iPhones even existed, all of them of varying quality. Some had noticeable gaps between the screen and the plastic edge; others had scuff marks on the screen. And the software that ran the phone was full of bugs.

The iPhone could play a section of a song or a video, but it couldn’t play an entire clip reliably without crashing. It worked fine if you sent an e-mail and then surfed the Web. If you did those things in reverse, however, it might not. Hours of trial and error had helped the iPhone team develop what engineers called “the golden path,” a specific set of tasks, performed in a specific way and order, that made the phone look as if it worked.

I don’t want to spoil the ending; it’s a great story.

The contract extension means that the late-night host will be on the air well past the Jay Leno era on NBC.

Addictive mobile sim Tiny Tower has eaten up untold hours of free time, and now developer Nimblebit has teamed up with Disney to bring that same formula to outer space. The Star Wars-themed Tiny Death Star looks to bring the same style of building management to George Lucas' sci-fi universe, though we don't have much in the way of details yet. What we do know is that the series' painfully addictive pixel art looks even better when applied to characters like Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and the Ewoks. This is far from the first mobile collaboration from Lucasfilm's new owner Disney, which has teamed up with talented studios to release games based on films like Monsters Inc. and Brave. Unfortunately, there's no word yet on when we'll all be...

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Watch as several kayakers rocket down a drainage ditch in BC at speeds approaching 35 mph.

That looks like a lot of fun. See also what fast looks like. (via devour)

Tags: kayaking   sports   video

Treehouse of horrors: check out this Guillermo del Toro-directed couch gag for this Sunday's Halloween special episode of The Simpsons—it's pretty freakin' rad. How many references do you catch? (Via Wired)

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They’re all great, but Dr. No and Moonraker are my favorites of the bunch.

The Mermaid sundae got a makeover.

Back in March, Big Gay Ice Cream owners Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff decided to scrap their commercial soft-serve base in favor of using a high-quality proprietary mix developed by Ronnybrook Farm Dairy. Now they're revamping the menu yet again by introducing homemade toppings. "Our mission as we open new locations is to keep improving the quality of our ice cream," says Petroff. "We're moving into everything being homemade, but we don't want that to result in any price changes."

Here's what to expect: The Mermaid sundae is now topped with homemade graham crumble and homemade key-lime curd (instead of premade graham crackers). That same crumble will be in the apple and pumpkin Gobbler sundaes, which also include apple butter, a bourbon-butterscotch topping, and local Coombs Family Farms maple syrup.

Two brand-new sauces will also be available by the end of October: an old-school hot fudge and a wet-walnut sauce. "We're calling the wet walnuts 'whiskey walnuts' because they have whiskey and maple in them," Petroff says. Awesome.

Lastly, a few temporary offerings are now permanently on the menu, too. Big Gay introduced the Rocky Roadhouse topping in honor of Patrick Swayze's birthday, and it was so popular that it's coming back full-time. The Affo'gay'to coffee drinks and the mocha-peanut-butter shake are also moving on to the varsity team and will be offered daily.

Read more posts by Sierra Tishgart

Filed Under: ch-ch-ch-changes, big gay ice cream, brooklyn, ice cream, new york

Danny Meyer's global domination continues with an outpost on Moscow's Arbat Street. This location will offer the usual burgers and fries, as well as menu items that "cater to Russian tastes and traditions." So that means fast-food beef Stroganoff and blinis, right? [Earlier, Moscow Times]

Read more posts by Sierra Tishgart

Filed Under: expansions, danny meyer, food news, moscow, russia, shake shack

For the past few years, UK police have used a secret network of fully furnished fake houses to snare burglars. They're called capture houses.

Based in the city of Rotherham, Stopford explained to me the hit-and-miss nature of a capture house. Some of the fake apartments have been open for as little for one day before being hit by burglars, and as long as nearly a year without being broken into even once. As Stopford went on to describe, these otherwise uninhabited residences are fully stocked, complete with electronic equipment, lights on timers, and bare but functional furniture, and they tend to be small apartments located in multi-unit housing blocks.

That apartment you pass everyday on the fourth floor, in other words, might not be an apartment at all, really, but an elaborate trap run by the police, bristling inside with tiny surveillance cameras and ready to spray invisible chemical markings onto anyone who steps inside-or slips in through the window, as the case may be.

See also bait cars and honeypots.

Tags: architecture   crime

Anand Lal Shimpi and Brian Klug:

We started piecing this data together back in July, and even had conversations with both silicon vendors and OEMs about getting it to stop. With the exception of Apple and Motorola, literally every single OEM we’ve worked with ships (or has shipped) at least one device that runs this silly CPU optimization. It’s possible that older Motorola devices might’ve done the same thing, but none of the newer devices we have on hand exhibited the behavior. It’s a systemic problem that seems to have surfaced over the last two years, and one that extends far beyond Samsung.

Just sad.

Steven Hawking came up with a simple and clever way of seeing if time travel is possible. On June 28, 2009, he threw a party for time travellers from the future...but didn't advertise it until after the party was already over.

In an effort to improve the chances of the party invite being noticed by future generations, Peter Dean, working with approval from Hawking, has made this gorgeous hand-printed poster of the party invitation:

There's also a smaller less-expensive version of the poster in grey and a fetching yellow/orange.

Tags: design   Peter Dean   Stephen Hawking   time   time travel   video

Defense ministers from the two countries also said they would review the prickly issue of when South Korea will obtain wartime control of their combined forces in its country.

Fitbit is set to release a new fitness tracking band called the Force. The new device will be positioned above the company's current fitness band, the Flex, and will feature a built-in altimeter that measures your present altitude. It'll use this information to give you more detailed statistics on your fitness regime through the addition of a "Floors" statistic that tells you how many flights of stairs you've traversed each day. From the promotional images we have obtained, the Force also appears to have a much-improved display over the Flex, and it's also partially water-resistant.

There's another welcome addition in the form of a physical button, which will presumably be used to cycle through settings and functions. The Flex...

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Last year, Facebook began trialling a novel approach to Wi-Fi: it gave consumers free access to high-speed internet in exchange for checking in at a business. Starting today, it's expanding that initiative even further with the help of Cisco. The two companies are collaborating on what's being called CMX for Facebook Wi-Fi. That branding is a bit of a mouthful, but for end users it's largely the same experience. When you visit a participating retailer, hotel, or other business, hopping onto Wi-Fi is as easy as joining the local network and checking in with your Facebook account. For users, it offers a near-instantaneous login process that gets them browsing faster. "We like to think of everything first and foremost from the user...

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On September 24, Diablo creator Blizzard Entertainment filed an application to trademark the phrase "Heroes of the Storm" with the United States Patent And Trademark Office.

It's unclear what Blizzard plans to use this trademark for, though the application specifies that the mark is for use in computer and console games, downloadable content, and games designed for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. More intriguingly, the application notes that the name could also be applied to "computer games that may be accessed via a global computer network," lending credence to the theory that "Heroes of the Storm" may refer to an upcoming expansion for Blizzard's hit MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Whatever this trademark application refers to is not likely to be revealed to the public any time soon. We contacted Blizzard for clarification on its plans but were met with a boilerplate "no comment" in response.

Blizzard files 'Heroes of the Storm' trademark application originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m at a loss for words on this one.

Kevin Poulsen, reporting for Wired’s Threat Level:

In an interesting work-around, Levison complied the next day by turning over the private SSL keys as an 11 page printout in 4-point type. The government, not unreasonably, called the printout “illegible.”

“To make use of these keys, the FBI would have to manually input all 2,560 characters, and one incorrect keystroke in this laborious process would render the FBI collection system incapable of collecting decrypted data,” prosecutors wrote.

The court ordered Levison to provide a more useful electronic copy. By August 5, Lavabit was still resisting the order, and the judge ordered that Levison would be fined $5,000 a day beginning August 6 until he handed over electronic copies of the keys.

On August 8, Levison shuttered Lavabit, making any attempt at surveillance moot. He posted an oblique message saying he’d been left with little choice in the matter.

In case you missed it yesterday, I encourage everyone to join me in contributing to Ladar Levison’s defense fund. He deserves our support.

The designer Marc Jacobs confirmed Wednesday that he is leaving Louis Vuitton after 16 years, to concentrate on his own eponymous line.

Because why the hell not, right?

Riding the bunnovation bandwagon that birthed the ramen burger and the doughnut burger, Chicago's Rockit Bar & Grill recently debuted a Mac Attack burger. The "bun" for this particular concoction is just patties of deep-fried mac and cheese. Rockit will only be selling these bad boys through Sunday, but if it's a hit — and given the state of the American diet, why wouldn't it be? — expect to see knockoff Mac Attacks popping up around the country soon. [HuffPo]

Read more posts by Belle Cushing

Filed Under: bunnovations, chicago, mac attack, rockit bar and grill

The addition of a new box of sweets at La Maison du Chocolat means freebies for all on Thursday. The shop on Wall St. (btw. William & Pearl) will be giving out tastes of a new pairing of chocolates featuring ganache and orange peel from noon to 6 p.m. You know what to do.