People like to judge, that’s a fact. Don’t let people judge you for mixing a below-par margarita, because once you get that reputation you will never be allowed near the shaker again.

We asked Philip Ward, co-owner of Mayahuel, for professional advice, and his six-step process is right here in our new edition of Kitchen Aid.

Here at the Feed, we know that you care about the environment, but you’re also way too cool to be seen with an “I am not a plastic bag” tote. We also know that there’s a side of you that could be described as a lush. This event tonight with Bags for the People at Spacecraft covers all three bases:

Bags on Draught
Sometimes brown-bagging it just won’t do: Sew yourself a classier carrier at this boozy tote-bag construction workshop. Fabric, machines and instruction all come free, as do bottles of house-made summer ale. FREE Spacecraft, 355 Bedford Ave between South 4th and 5th Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-599-2718). 7–10pm.

The Feed told you about the UnFancy Food Show. Now, here’s a dispatch from the convention it apes. Yesterday, we milled about the Javits Center with what must have been thousands of industry professionals on the last day of this summer’s Fancy Food Show. Representatives of countries from all over the world—among them, Senegalese spice traders and sleek Italians hawking mozzarella di buffala—manned hundreds of booths devoted to indigenous products. Big-name producers like D’Artagan (we love you, smoked duck breast) shared the vast floor with smaller companies such as Udi’s Natural Artisan Granola (with standout blends like Hawaiian ginger, toasted Macadamia nut and coconut). The U.S. was also well represented, though New York clearly took the cake: Brooklyn-based Mari’s bakery was among this year’s prizewinners for their caramel sea-salt brownie. Check out The Feed’s slide show for a taste of the samples we enjoyed.—Lara Rabinovitch

The metal gates came down for the last time at Upper East Side staple Payard Pâtisserie earlier this week. The Feed caught up with diner Elizabeth Cirone-Segal—who has been warming a barstool at Payard twice a day for ten years—to see what the regulars make of the loss.

Elizabeth Cirone-Segal at Payard

When did you first hear rumblings that Payard would be shutting down?
I heard mild rumblings about two months ago that Payard was going to close that location. But like all things, if you do not think about them hopefully they will not happen. I hoped that by some magic they would resolve the issues or transfer to another location immediately, and no one’s life would be disturbed. Read more »

We are all allowed guilty pleasures. Indulge your passions for karaoke and The Real World: Brooklyn tonight.

Karaoke Night at Angels & Kings
Chet Cannon of The Real World: Brooklyn hosts this eclectic karaoke night at rocker Pete Wentz’s East Village bar, Angels & Kings. There’s $5 whiskey and dirt-cheap PBR, which should help make everyone feel like a C-list reality star. FREE Angels & Kings, 500 E 11th St at Ave A (212-254-4090). 10pm–2am.

Butter-poached lobster with beárnaise mousseline at Per Se (Photograph: Roxana Marroquin)

Jay Cheshes dines on the new lounge menu at Per Se, which “may be the city’s most tepid recession concession.” Large prices and small portions make for a three (out of five) star experience. [TONY]

The Southern-fried joint The Brooklyn Star, run by Momofuku alum Joaquin Baca, gets three stars from TONY: “The iced tea flows, Johnny Cash croons, and seriously hospitable servers shuttle some of Williamsburg’s most satisfying low-country grub.” [TONY] Read more »

Julio Lazzarini and his friend the blender.

Last night’s episode of Chopped! demonstrated that, despite the New York–centric nature of the program, even chefs from as far as Wilmington, Delaware, have a shot at the title. That chef—Julio Lazzarini of Orillas Tapas Bar—was joined by Mark Spooner, a veritable mountain of a man and chef with Great Performances catering, “the fourth largest catering company in America,” Massimo Felici of DeGrezia restaurant in midtown, and Christine Campbell, a butcher and private chef working on Long Island. Judges were Aaron Sanchez, Scott Conant and Amanda Freitag—who sported a wispy, almost Shirley Temple–esque ‘do. Read more »

City Winery’s Michael Dorf may have been quick on the trigger with his controversial MJ tribute event, but the question of taste seemed to have at least occurred to him. The same can’t be said of the Village Pourhouse group, which fired off an e-mail chockablock with hee-hawing Jacko references this morning about its upcoming King of Pop pub crawl. This is parasitic gutter PR at its most vile.

Read the entire e-mail after the jump—at peril of encouraging any undue patronage, we’ve redacted the locations of the crawl. Read more »

Statement of the bleeding obvious: We like chefs. They’re like our guides to the best food. Actually, make that Sherpas, guiding us and lugging our food around so it’s there when we want it.

But you can’t spend your life in restaurants; you have to shop for yourself at some point. Thankfully, Txikito’s chef Alex Raij will guide you to the best places in her neighborhoods—Chinatown and the Lower East Side—in our new edition of Provision Quest. She won’t carry your groceries home for you, though.

Grub Street spot-checks the city’s new cache of fancy pizzerias to see which is raking it in. Co. comes out on top. [Grub Street]

Cue report: NYC barbecue favorite Hill Country is expanding to D.C. [Washington Post via Citysearch]

Eat Me Daily finds a checklist for “greenwashing” food packaging materials. Among the deceptive tricks: earth tones and unbleached paper. For shame. [Eat Me Daily]

Six food vendors were arrested for using black-market permits this morning. Here’s hoping those Midtown Lunch favorites are operating aboveboard. [Diner's Journal/NYT]