Eat Cetera: Let's Shad, Giant Bake Sale, Belgian Restaurant Week
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<strong>Shad Dinner:</strong> Fishing for shad is an annual spring tradition on rivers along the Atlantic seaboard, where the androgynous herring swim upstream to spawn. Peter Hoffman, the chef/owner of <a href="http://www.savoynyc.com/">Savoy</a>, wrote an interesting <a href="http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/20090302/net_loss/">article in Edible Manhattan</a> about fishing for shad, in which he explains that "each spring, customers call Savoy to ask when shad will be on the menu, perhaps because these days few restaurants serve it and we have a reputation for local and seasonal cooking. But it goes deeper than that. People crave shad because they need to connect to the past, to a different moment in New York life, and to the cycle of the season."<p></p>Next Tuesday, March 29th, you can reconnect at <a href="http://www.savoynyc.com/">Savoy</a>, the SoHo restaurant with the wood-burning fireplace. (The building it's located in occupies two floors of a Federal-style townhouse that dates back to the 1830s.) Hoffman and Chis Letts, a long-time shad fisherman and educator with the Hudson River Foundation, will be cooking the shad in the traditional manner, on oak planks in the fireplace. Sauteed roe, pickled fillets and shad roe bottarga will also be part of the affair. <p></p><em>70 Prince Street, 212-219-8570.</em>
<strong>World's Largest Bake Sale:</strong> Also next Tuesday, the rather terrifying-looking alien celebrity chef Sandra Lee, seen here in extreme close-up, will be <strike>abducting more human specimens for the mother ship</strike> hosting what's being described as "<a href="http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/go/displayHours.cfm?eventID=2145383784">The World's Largest Bake Sale</a>" at Grand Central Terminal. Proceeds from the bake sale will benefit <a href="http://www.foodbanknyc.org/">The Food Bank of New York</a>, and is part of a nationwide day of fund-raising to raise money for local area food banks. <p></p>At Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall, the bake-in will feature sweet and savory baked goods from 30 of New Yorkâs most well-respected chefs and restaurants. These include Del Posto, Ciao Bella Gelato, Juniorâs Restaurant, Magnolia, Manhattan Chili Company, Murray's and Zaroâs. (And after you've filled up on desserts, head over to the Nintendo demo in Grand Central, which ends on the 30th.) <p></p><em>Grand Central Terminal, 11:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.</em>
<em>The <a href="http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/">Wafels and Dinges</a> trucks will be giving away "a surprise goodie with every waffle!" during Belgian Restaurant Week (Courtesy <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eatingintranslation/2273401716/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Eating in Translation's Flickr</a>) </em><p></p><strong>Belgian Restaurant Week:</strong> When you think of Belgium (it has to happen sometime?) the first thing that comes to mind isn't necessarily the food. It's... Tin Tin and that statue of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis">naked boy urinating</a>. Or maybe it is food? They've got some pretty great fries and chocolate and waffles and dinges over there. And to celebrate all that Belgian gastronomy in NYC, a week-long <a href="http://www.belgianrestaurantweeknyc.com/">Belgian Restaurant Week</a> kicks off tomorrow. All the participating restaurants will be offering specials, such as a pot of mussels prepared any style plus one of the five Belgian beers on draft for $20 at Markt, or Belgian beer and two specialty toasts at <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/10/30/rouge_tomate.php#photo-1">Gothamist favorite Rouge Tomate</a> for $12.<p></p>At the East 20th, West 17th Street and West Broadway locations of <a href="http://www.petiteabeille.com/">Petite Abeille</a>, there will be different deals each day; on Saturday they're offering their Black Angus Beef ground-on-site burgers for $5 each, kids eat for free starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, and on Thursday there will be 11-ounce drafts of Palm Ale for just $1 from 7 p.m. until closing. There's also a Tin Tin trivia night on Tuesday with dinner on the house as the grand prize.And any guest who takes advantage of the Belgian Restaurant Week deals at any of the restaurants will be entered to win "a gastronomic trip to Belgium." <a href="http://www.belgianrestaurantweeknyc.com/">All the details here</a>.