If Crisco Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Use Crisco

Hizznanny wants to ban trans fats — not at schools, not in public facilities, but everywhere:

The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously yesterday to move forward with plans to prohibit the city’s 20,000 restaurants from serving food that contains more than a minute amount of artificial trans fats, the chemically modified ingredients considered by doctors and nutritionists to increase the risk of heart disease.

The board, which is authorized to adopt the plan without the consent of any other agency, did not take that step yesterday, but it set in motion a period for written public comments, leading up a public hearing on Oct. 30 and a final vote in December.

Yesterday’s initiative appeared to ensure that the city would eventually take some formal action against artificial trans fats. If approved, the proposal voted on yesterday by the Board of Health would make New York the first large city in the country to strictly limit such fats in restaurants. Chicago is considering a similar prohibition affecting restaurants with less than $20 million in annual sales.

The New York prohibition would affect the city’s entire restaurant industry, by far the nation’s largest, from McDonald’s to fashionable bistros to street corner takeouts across the five boroughs.

The city would set a limit of a half-gram of artificial trans fats per serving of any menu item, sharply reducing most customers’ intake. The fats are commonly found in baked goods, like doughnuts and cakes, as well as breads and salad dressing.

As you might assume, the restaurant industry was skeptical:

E. Charles Hunt, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association, which represents about 3,500 restaurants in New York City, said the proposal before the city’s Board of Health would most likely lead to litigation. The group plans to fight the proposal at an Oct. 30 public hearing.

“They’re going way beyond the scope of an appointed agency,” Mr. Hunt said of the health department. He added that such an action “could be considered in restraint of interstate commerce” even if it was enacted by the mayor and City Council and that there could be grounds for a lawsuit.

. . .

And Mr. Hunt wondered how small restaurants would adapt. “For a health inspector to walk into a mom and pop restaurant in Queens, where they barely speak English, and find a can of Crisco shortening on the shelf and then fine them $1,000,” he said, “well, that’s unreasonable.”

But at least one local restauranteur went off message, reasoning that since his establishment didn’t use trans fats, he didn’t feel the need to speak out:

Some restaurant owners support the plan. Mark Maynard-Parisi, 39, managing partner at Blue Smoke, a barbecue restaurant in Gramercy Park, said the plan was “wonderful.”

Blue Smoke uses a blend of canola and vegetable oils for frying that was recently certified as trans fat free by the health department, Mr. Maynard-Parisi said. “I’m not trying to pass us off as a healthy restaurant,” he said. But, he said, he and his partners “wanted it to be real and, to us, margarine,” which is rich in trans fats, “isn’t real.”

First they came for the trans fats . . .

Then again, why worry? After all, in large swaths of the city, even the smoking ban is largely unenforced.

Or alternatively, let the Health Department inspect places like Blue Smoke in Manhattan all they want — everyone grandstands, no one is punished, everyone wins.

One Day, My Son, You Will Look Fondly On These Important Years

A future Frank Bruni tackles NYU Dining Hall options. Menus range from “not bad”:

Available every Friday night at Rubin, the seafood-themed dinner serves not only numerous fruitti de mer but also the enticing regular menu items offered every night.

The rustic dining hall is adorned with fishing nets and clamshells in an attempt to play up the theme. The adequately lit dining area does a fair job of creating a comfortable atmosphere. Seafood night starts at 7 p.m. and the lines are not lengthy at all — minus the batch of students hovering around the made-to-order pasta station served with red or white clam sauce. Little did they know the five-plus minute wait would only pay off with a bowl of lackluster pasta doused in an insipid, watery sauce and bottom-dollar clams.

The hand-carved herb crusted tuna — though lacking in a distinct flavor and zest — provided some hope along with a station featuring fresh shrimp station laid over ice.

. . . to “sort of bad”:

True carnivores, on the other hand, should make sure to set aside Sunday Nights for a trip to Third North for its protein-laden menu.

Upon entry, each meal swipe is granted one meal voucher redeemable for either a grilled, mass-produced peppery T-bone or an eight-ounce slice of medium-well ribeye hand-cut by the one and only Tony.

Even with the cowboy-decorated carving station and wooden bucket of potatoes strategically spread about the table, the dining service managers staring down each customer created an apprehensive atmosphere for the steak-hungry patrons.

On top of that, the service, as with most dining halls, requires that the customer utter no more than four complete sentences with the employees before a broken path of communication and confusion ensues. In retrospect, one should grab their food and sit down by utilizing the fewest possible words.

Help The Local Economy — Apply For Food Stamps

It is often said that for every dollar the State of New York sends to the federal government in taxes, the state receives only 80 to 85 cents in return. That is about to change:

More than 500,000 New Yorkers are passing up food stamps that could add nearly $1 billion a year to the city’s economy, City Council members and advocates for the poor said.

In a new initiative begun last week, Council Speaker Christine Quinn vowed to sign up at least 350,000 additional eligible recipients by December 2009.

And she’s recruiting her fellow councilmembers to go into targeted communities at least once a month to help get the job done by her self-imposed deadline.

. . .

Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) said the city is passing up tens of millions of dollars of federal funds that would be spent in local grocery stores, supermarkets, bodegas, greenmarkets and other food retailers.

Many of those eligible don’t know they qualify or consider the application process too difficult. Still others may feel there’s a stigma to receiving food stamps, officials said.

Traffic Shouldn’t Be Too Bad At That Time Of Day On The East Side

Because if you’re driving around on the lam the obvious place to escape to is Midtown Manhattan:

Joel Noonan, 36, of Avon, Mass., was driving a Jeep on Lexington Avenue yesterday morning when he collided with a Nissan Pathfinder at 63rd Street, police said. The Pathfinder bounced off the Jeep and struck a woman who was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital and was listed last night in stable condition. Noonan’s Jeep was sent onto the sidewalk where it collided with a group of pedestrians. Their conditions were unclear last night.

Two Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers were the first on the scene and found Noonan outside his vehicle with a knife in his hand, authorities said. Police said they fired at him and used pepper spray to subdue him.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene.

“He had a knife in his left hand and he’s swinging it at the cops, chasing them around his Jeep,” recalled bystander Raymond Garcia, who said he saw the police pepper-spray and shoot Noonan.

. . .

Noonan — who was shot in the groin and abdomen — is wanted in connection with the stabbing death of his cousin’s husband. East Providence, R.I., police told the Providence Journal-Bulletin that Noonan stabbed 37-year-old Steven Dowaglia to death during an argument Sunday evening at a home there. He then attacked his cousin and her 8-year-old daughter, police said.

Second Avenue Subway Work To Begin

Believe it — work is set to begin on the Second Avenue Subway in 2008:

Phase 1 of the project calls for the construction of stations at East 96th, 86th, and 72nd streets, and a connection to existing tracks at 63rd Street.

A giant hole will be dug between 92nd and 95th streets to allow the tunnel-boring machine to launch under ground, said Mysore Nagaraja, president of MTA Capital Construction.

The Post warns, however, that if they find too many arrowheads, work will stop:

. . . [A]rchaeologists will be on hand to halt the massive tunnel-boring machine at the first sign of artifacts dating back hundreds of years . . . officials said.

A consultant hired by the MTA told the agency that there is the potential for Native American and Colonial artifacts along the route, which was once closer to the shoreline than it is today, said Amanda Sutphin of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

“You don’t know what is there until you start digging and it can actually be tested,” Sutphin said. “The topography of Manhattan was very different back then. Hills were leveled and valleys filled in.”