Skeen's A&D deliciousness in better days. (Photo: Lizz Kuehl)

The Feed caught up with Ryan Skeen this afternoon following an e-dismissal from his previous employer, Dick Friedberg of Allen & Delancey. Skeen has a lot of opinions of his tenure at the financially plagued restaurant, and most of them are not good. View excerpts of the conversation after the jump. Read more »

Ryan Skeen, chef on the move. (Photo courtesy of the James Beard Foundation)

As of 2:30pm yesterday, chef Ryan Skeen was dismissed by his Allen & Delancey boss, Dick Friedberg. Skeen told the Feed that the method of termination was “via e-mail.” Cold. The Twitter world was already privy to Skeen’s dissatisfaction with his most recent job. It’s too bad, since TONY restaurant critic Jay Cheshes was duly impressed with Skeen’s evolution as a chef at that particular gig. He wrote in this fall’s Allen & Delancey review: “This rapidly maturing talent—his food here is far and away his most impressive to date—might soon put him in the ranks of the best cooks in New York.” Skeen will be talking to the Feed later today about what exactly went down, and his plans now that he’s free. Meanwhile, we fear not for the chef’s future—his career is just taking off. As for Allen & Delancey, well, where does the troubled restaurant go from here?

Correction: Ryan Skeen was dismissed this morning via e-mail, and was told that his tenure would officially be over today at 2:30pm.

The Appleseed Cobbler at Rye House (Photo: Lizz Kuehl)

In honor of tonight’s Rye House soft opening, the Feed publishes the tantalizing food and drink menus from Lynette Marrero, Jim Kearns and chef Greg Johnson. Click after the jump for Buffalo-style sweetbreads and appetizing cocktails, like the Orange Blossom Special, a brown-liquor Ramoz Gin Fizz doppelgänger made with Overholt Rye, lemon juice, simple syrup, orange-flower water, egg white and soda. Read more »

Shack attack, doughnut style (Photo: Gabriella Gershenson)

Greetings, Shack fans! (Because, who are we kidding? We know you all are.) The Feed has the pleasure of kicking off this week’s posts with some tasty Shake Shack news. Now on the menu: hot apple cider with doughnuts for $3.75 (caramel-apple Munchkin-like treats from the Doughnut Plant, to be exact). It’s a first at the Shack (mulled cider!) and a first for the Doughnut Plant (the DP’s never dabbled in the doughnut hole—oh, that sounded dirty). So, how was it? Read more »

The Feed just heard from Mr. Ben Leventhal, writing from his NBC e-mail account. His prepared statement, reproduced in its entirety after the jump, was informative yet murky about his future relationship with Eater. Restaurateurs should not breathe a sigh of relief—Deathwatch will continue under Mr. Leventhal’s stewardship, as will recurring posts such as Tuesdays with Jeffrey. In carefully fashioned language, Leventhal expressed that he will continue consulting the current team in terms of expansion (um, Eater National), but “certainly not in any kind of operational capacity.” (We’d be curious to hear what his comrades at Eater would have to say about this.) Though it would be satisfying to proclaim it, since Leventhal popularized the term himself, his role with Eater, it seems, is not quite doneski. Read more »

Ben Leventhal

After the news that Josh Ozersky is leaving Citysearch and his blog there will no longer exist (RIP), the Feed heard from NBC insiders that Eater cofounder Ben Leventhal, who has been bouncing between gigs at Curbed and Grub Street for the last little bit, has been recruited to become a part of NBC’s editorial team. In fact, looks like today is his first day. (Here, in an August Grub Street post, he writes about the network’s food blog, then in beta—could this be the one?) Though it’s unclear whether his role is as a New York or national correspondent, it sure does make us wonder about the flexibility of Leventhal’s gig, and other things, too. First, writing for the competition, and now, shortly after his high-profile launch of Eater National, teaming up with a media superpower. Does this mean that the fruitful marriage between Eater and Leventhal is now kaput? Lest we continue to postulate, we’ve requested more info from Leventhal and are hoping to hear proper details from the man himself, one of the more influential voices in this food bloggers’ game.

Though the Feed has not been able to confirm this independently, a rep for the company Nutrilite has alerted us to a seasonal fruit and veggie giveaway going on right now at 12 East 22nd Street between Park Avenue and Broadway. The vitamin brand has 2,000 bags of produce to hand out until 2pm today, and apparently there’s still plenty left. (No strings, they promised.) If you, dear reader, manage to pop over and snag a sack, let us know what’s in it, won’t you?

Related: A handy chart to what’s in season this autumn at the Greenmarket

Reichl, in happier times.

Though, on an emotional level, it seems a little soon for Gourmet’s Ruth Reichl to be publicly discussing the demise of the magazine she helmed—how will she be able to open her mouth without choking up?—the former editor-in-chief will be interviewed today on the excellent NPR program Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The Feed wonders: Will she address the obvious issues—how did it come to this? What were the warning signs? To what degree was she responsible? Or will Reichl deflect the tough questions and promote her new Gourmet-branded cookbook and television show instead? We’ll see.

Listen here at 3pm.

Related: An appreciation of Gourmet magazine, and where we go from here

For those of you who know and love Seattle’s Pike Place Market, it may be a bit premature to rejoice, but the good word has it that Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, the artisan cheesemonger that makes curds on-site, is looking for a Manhattan location. The projected arrival is 2011, so we have a waaaay to go. Or should that be “whey”? We apologize.

Photos: Jeffrey Gurwin

Our first thought when we entered the Meatball Madness competitive tasting last night on far West 28th Street: Where’s the madness? The vibe at la.venue was decidedly stodgy: An adorably aged yet woefully outdated trio played the Italian-American equivalent of oompah music; decoration came in the form of red, white and green banners; and the majority of the meatball entries were Italian style, and from Italian restaurants (because other cultures don’t make meatballs). Since we obviously didn’t “get it,” the Feed required the insights of an out-of-towner to understand the evening’s significance. “This is really a New York event,” said the Floridian, a veteran of South Beach’s Wine & Food Festival circuit. “I mean, it’s so New York. It’s all about Little Italy, all the things that New York is about.” Uh-huh. Read more »