Like them or not, the outdoor dining sheds that have been an upshot of the pandemic are more or less here to stay. Last week, City Hall and the Department of Transportation issued new guidelines for Dining Out NYC, its official program, and the largest such program in the country. “It’s been a priority for Mayor Adams from Day 1,” said Ya-Ting Liu, the city’s chief public realm officer. Restaurants and other establishments that serve food can now apply for permits to take part through an official portal online. Those that are approved and pay a fee for a four-year license ($1,050) for either a roadbed or sidewalk enclosure have 30 days to remove their temporary structures or outfit them to comply with the city’s rules. The authorized structures can remain in place from April through Nov. 29. Restaurants without approval will have to remove their sheds by Aug. 3; those with a pending application will have until Nov. 1. The city has approved four prototypes designed by WXY Studio to eliminate many of the problems with existing makeshift sheds and to adapt to various roadway and sidewalk configurations. They are being built by SITU, a fabrication company, and are already in place at several restaurants. They are not heated and will supposedly be rat-proof; some models are equipped with solar panels. At Bodrum, on Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side, Huseyin Ozer, an owner, said the 40-foot unit in the roadway outside his restaurant had planters, could be customized with signage, will allow for 16 seats and is easy to disassemble. Hinged floor panels lift to allow for cleaning. Full compliance citywide is expected when the season reopens in April 2025.
Dining Out NYC, diningoutnyc.info.
How the Medicis Ate
Equipped with a doctorate from the University of Exeter, Rocky Ruggiero, an American professor of art history specializing in Renaissance Italy has been running excellent online lectures and tours related to his field of expertise for years. Later this month, with Sally J. Cornelison, a professor at Syracuse University with a doctorate in art history, he’ll delve into what there was to eat on the tables of the Medicis and other notables in a three-part exploration of the Renaissance culinary scene. They will interpret it through visual depictions of the subject, including Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” The courses are interactive so expect time for questions.
“The Art of Cooking and Dining in Renaissance Italy” with Dr. Sally J. Cornelison, March 26, April 2 and 9, $110, online, rockyruggiero.com.
Sip Some Serbian Fruit Brandies
Draga Culic has had a career in marketing for spirits companies. Now, she is tapping into her Serbian roots to create fruit brandies for her new Chicago company, Blacklisted Brandy; the name references Prohibition. Fruit flourishes in that Balkan country, as does brandy-making. Hers depend on heirloom Serbian-grown apricots, pears, quince and plums fermented and distilled in Belgrade. Slivovitz plum brandy might be the best-known in the United States as a fiery drink. But her excellent plum spirit has a mellower side, having spent time in oak for at least 18 months, giving it the deep color and graceful complexity of French vieille prune from Gascony. The other brandies are clear and bright and deliver proper ripe aromas and sotte voce fruitiness. The quince, an unusual flavor, has smoky richness. Use those all as you would eaux de vie or grappa. The plum is 50 proof, the others weigh in at 40.
Blacklisted Brandy, $59.99 unaged, $69.99 aged, 750 milliliters, blacklistedbrandy.com.
A Cast-Iron Wok for Heavy-Duty Cooking
Having a good wok on the stove is critical for all kinds of cooking. A copious, heavy-duty yet easily managed example has been introduced by the Mala Market, a Nashville source for Chinese ingredients and equipment from Sichuan. Most woks are carbon steel but this one is cast iron, and you should know by now the advantages of cooking in cast iron. Yet despite the material and its generous size, it weighs less than five pounds. It is 14-inches in diameter with a flattened bottom to suit most American stovetops, though a round-bottom model is also available. It has two wooden handles, a tempered glass cover with a steam outlet and does not require preseasoning. A somewhat smaller version is on the way this summer.
Cast Iron Woks, Sichuan Heritage Brand, $160, themalamarket.com.
Purim Dishes from Across the Globe
The Jewish celebration of Purim will start the evening of March 23. Have you lined up your hamantaschen, the filled triangular cookies that represent the holiday? “The Jewish Holiday Table” by Naama Shefi, with Devra Ferst and the Jewish Food Society, is here to help. Other treats for Purim are also included and, like most of the recipes, have been contributed by individuals and families whose origins and culinary traditions stretch across the globe. Baghdad, London, Brooklyn, Casablanca, Milan, Tashkent, Kyiv, Mexico City, Jerusalem and Toronto are some of the cities that figure in the family histories that fill the book’s bright pages. It starts with Rosh Hashana in the fall and cycles throughout the year with a series of menus based on Sephardic, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi dishes, providing astonishing diversity. Beef curry with spiced tomato sauce, carrot salad with cilantro, latkes with stracchino, beigli Hungarian pastry roulade, brisket tamales, Yemenite flatbread, gravlax and several kinds of gefilte fish populate the book’s pages. Ms. Shefi, who was raised on a kibbutz in Israel and settled in New York in 2005, established the Jewish Food Society in 2017, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Jewish culinary heritage through classes, podcasts, dinners, family recipes, stories and now this book.
“The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions and Stories to Celebrate All Year Long” by Naama Shefi with Devra Ferst & the Jewish Food Society (Artisan, $36).
Chocolate Shopping With a Personal Touch
Usually, when you see “price upon request” for designer goods, you assume you can’t afford them. Chocolaknin Paris, a new company that imports its chocolates and other confections fresh from France, also doesn’t list prices on its website. (Not that they fear sticker shock — the range is $15 to $200). The owners of the company, Gila and Jerome Aknin, who are based in New York, have purposely omitted prices because they prefer to engage with customers by email and tailor the selections to their tastes. They sell assortments of truffles, chocolate-covered fruit peels, marrons glacés and such, using only fine dark chocolate for pieces that are gluten-free, lactose-free, vegan and kosher.
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