I remember sitting down with bread genius Jim Lahey the very first week his cult NYC pizza place, Co., opened, and having him tell me that he dreamed of projecting movies on the big, blank back wall of the restaurant. The fantasy finally becomes a reality tonight. Lahey and the Co. team kick off the first of what will be monthly movie screenings of pie-inspired flicks. Tonight’s inaugural show will be Les Blank’s Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers, and Lahey is making a special garlicky pie to serve at the screening. The movie will be played silently during the start of dinner service and then will be shown with sound at 9:30 p.m.
 

Last night, the ever-excellent Stranger Than Fiction film series at New York City’s IFC Center screened The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World. As the title suggests, the subject was the Guinness World Records–certified West Lake Restaurant, a sprawling 5,000-seat restaurant in China's Hunan province. While the documentary captured the dizzying scale of West Lake—five kitchens, 300 chefs, 1,000 staffers serving 700 chickens, 1,200 ducks, 2,500 pounds of pork and 2,200 pounds of chiles per week—the film, as its editor Jean Tsien said, was really “about democracy in China.” Tsien noted that West Lake's lavish banquets, weddings and celebrations, featuring scores of elaborately prepared dishes, were unimaginable just a generation ago. Even the simple joy of dining out was impossible, since people were rationing cooking oil. Director Weijun Chen's internationally acclaimed, award-winning 2007 documentary Please Vote For Me covered similar territory, albeit inside a primary school in central China. While Ang Lee’s masterwork Eat Drink Man Woman will remain my favorite food film, Biggest is a wonderful documentary, and very much worth watching.

I know it’s early to say the Jets are going to the Super Bowl. But like every other Gang Green fan, I’m sure it’s going to happen. And that’s not the only reason to get excited about Miami on Super Bowl weekend. More details are emerging about superstar chef Mario Batali’s Super Brunch, which he’s hosting February 6 at the Viceroy Miami, the day before the Super Bowl. He’s co-hosting with Phillies All-Star pitcher Jamie Moyer. (How did Moyers get to know Batali? Cute story. When Moyers pitched in Seattle, he’d stop at the excellent cured meat spot Salumi on his way to the ballpark; Salumi is owned by Batali’s father Armandino).

Back to the Super Brunch party. Mario will be cooking with his friends Emeril Lagasse and Michael Psilakis of Anthos in NYC (and an F&W Best New Chef 2008). We’ll all be doing a couple of our favorite dishes,” says Batali, which means he menu includes cute little sausage and pepper sandwiches, savory chestnut crepes with ricotta and Emeril’s world -famous bbq shrimp with rosemary biscuits. Besides that, Jimmy Fallon will tell jokes, Jimmy Buffet will mix some cocktails and some singers will further entertain the party (more on that soon). Tickets are pricey—$1,000 each, available here—but all benefits go to both the Mario Batali Foundation (which empowers children) and the Moyers Foundation Camp Erin (which helps kids deal with death). Besides, it will also be your chance to mingle with a bunch of hungry athletes, including a few Jets, if they’re not too busy focusing on the big game. After all, they’re fans of Mario’s. Both coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez have been spotted at Babbo during the regular season.

 

In NYC, the Surrey Hotel’s awesome new Bar Pleiades is hosting a spectacular pairing event tomorrow (Wednesday, January 20). Here are three great reasons to stop by:

1)   Mixologist extraordinaire Cameron Bogue, formerly the bar genius at Daniel Boulud’s Vancouver outpost of DB Bistro Moderne, will be making excellent winter cocktails, including a warming brandy shaken with roasted butternut squash puree and Meyer lemon juice.
2)    Look for bar snacks from Café Boulud’s ultratalented chef Gavin Kaysen and guest chefs George Mendes of NYC’s Aldea, Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook of L.A.’s meat-centric Animal and Nate Appleman of the forthcoming Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria.
3)    Ticket proceeds benefit Citymeals-on-Wheels. Click here to eat and drink well, while contributing to a good cause.

Even if they don’t win an award at the Golden Globes this Sunday, January 17, nominees like Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and George Clooney might go home with more than the usual swag: They can adopt a tiny Dandie Extreme pig (pictured) in the GBK Gift Lounge. The micro pigs, which can weigh as little as 15 pounds and are said to be as intelligent and affectionate as dogs, are becoming the celebrity pet du jour: Paris Hilton has one named Princess Pigelette and Victoria and David Beckham have two, named Pinky and Perky. After all, a gold-and-marble statuette can’t keep you warm at night, but a mini pet pig—that’s another story.

Throwing a Golden Globes Party? Here are some delicious starters to honor the nominees:

• French Hors d’Oeuvres: 10 excellent hors d’oeuvres to honor Julie & Julia, like warm Camembert with wild mushroom fricassee, pork rillettes and a caramelized-onion-and-Gruyère tart
• Italian Antipasti: 10 delicious antipasti to root for Nine, like sautéed cauliflower frittata with thyme, red wine bagna cuda (the classic Piedmontese anchovy-and-olive-oil dip) with crudités, and super-crunchy grissini (Italian breadsticks)
• Spanish Tapas: 10 terrific tapas to celebrate Broken Embraces, like open-face crab empanadas, crispy chicken croquettes and flatbreads with shrimp and romesco sauce, a slightly smoky puree of roasted red peppers, garlic and almonds

 

Yesterday, the New York Times named its 31 must-get-to destinations for 2010. It’s no surprise that South Africa was high on the list with the 2010 FIFA World Cup taking place there this June. Uncharted Africa Safari Co. is taking advantage of the soccer madness and the growing trend of pop-up everything by launching a pop-up safari camp in the Cradle of Humankind from June 10–July 12. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is equidistant from the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Rustenburg soccer stadiums and Uncharted Africa is setting up über-luxe tents outfitted with gorgeous rugs and furniture, Wi-Fi and 46-inch plasma-screen TVs. African barbecue will be served at 24-seat dining tables and the bars will be stocked with some of South Africa’s top wines. Those lucky enough to have tickets to the matches can choose to get to the stadiums via helicopter or limo, while the ticketless can watch the games broadcast on a video wall in a party tent.

 

As F&W's travel editor and someone with a serious case of wanderlust, it’s rare that I’m home for more than a few days at a time. But I promised myself I’d start off the new year in NYC and kicked off 2010 with a megadose of culture paired with some great meals. Here, a mini winter arts cheat sheet for Manhattan:

*MoMa has put together a brilliant, mind-bending retrospective of Tim Burton’s work that includes slightly disturbing teenage doodles, 3-D monsters and a showing of Burton's films. After, go to the bar room at the Modern and eat chef Gabriel Kreuther’s Alsatian thin-crust tarte flambé with crème fraiche, onion and applewood-smoked bacon and his decadent slow-poached farm egg served in a mason jar with Maine lobster, sunchokes and sear urchin froth.

*I dare anyone not to get dizzy as they wind their way around the Guggenheim viewing Wassily Kandinsky’s wild, geometric paintings. The museum’s new restaurant, the Wright, offers more sensory overload with a sleek space designed by British artist Liam Gillick that makes you feel like you’re riding Disney’s Space Mountain roller coaster. The food, from David Bouley-alum Rodolfo Contreras, is appropriately gorgeous with delicate dishes like roasted red and golden beets topped with sheep’s-milk cheese, citrus and pistachio and a fantastic spiced pumpkin and chocolate cake with pumpkin-seed-oil ice cream.

*I may never look at paper the same way again after viewing Slash: Paper Under the Knife at the Museum of Arts and Design. Drop by late and then have dinner at the just-opened restaurant Robert. The comforting Italian dishes like chicken cooked under a brick and papparadelle with wild boar ragu are delicious. Also amazing: the Central Park views and the room’s funky art and Jetson-esque design pieces (there’s a video-art piece by Jennifer Steinkamp and Barbie-pink acrylic lighting designed by Johanna Grawunder).

 

It’s frigid here in New York City, and with the long holiday weekend ahead, I plan on holing up and cooking my favorite comfort foods, drinking some great wines and watching a lot of college football. I recently heard about a new wine bar in Texas that combines all three things. Max’s Wine Dive opened in May in downtown Austin with the philosophy of "Fried chicken and champagne? Why the hell not?!"

With its local team, the University of Texas Longhorns, playing for the national championship on January 7, the bar should be packed with fans eating not just fried chicken with Champagne but kobe burgers with Cabernet and oyster nachos with premier cru Burgundy.

Until I find my own NYC version of Max’s, I’ll be replicating their comfort-food-and-wine pairings with ideas from Food & Wine.

Is there anything that could possibly be better than hanging out with Tom Colicchio during the Top Chef finale? Yes: spending the finale with Tom and John Legend, the unbelievably soulful singer at a super-intimate dinner at Craftsteak for an American Express Pairings dinner. (It's part of Amex's Enthusiast program for card members that pairs Food & Wine & Music. This is where I say that F&W is owned by Amex.) That means Tom and John talked about how they met (Tom says a Hamptons food event; John thinks it was at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami). And how John’s food background inspired Tom’s dinner: John’s grandmother played organ at church on Sundays and then came home and made cornbread and greens. Tom translated that into a fabulously creamy polenta with spigarello (a Tuscan-kale-like green) with succulent roasted porchetta. He also served guinea hen, because, hey, John loves poultry.

John and Tom created a playlist for the meal, including Stevie Wonder’s “Summer Soft” and Sufjan Stevens’s “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!” What tops that? John Legend playing the most unbelievably awesome 40-minute set, including “Good Morning” (it doubled as “Happy Birthday” to his girlfriend), a cover of Chaka Khan’s “Sweet Thing” and, for an encore, “Ordinary People.” The only thing that didn’t happen at that dinner: Tom revealing who'd win Top Chef.

 

I just returned from Art Basel Miami Beach. Here, a food lover’s highlights:

* Jennifer Rubell, daughter of the legendary Miami art collectors Mera and Don Rubell, created an edible installation titled “Old-Fashioned” for the “Beg Borrow and Steal” show. It featured 1,521 Dunkin’ Donuts nailed to a white wall.

*Timothy Thompson’s aluminum cupcakes were on display inside of a 1960s camper van at the Camper Contemporary exhibition’s mobile art gallery.

* Artist Marky Ryden showed his new painting, "Incarnation," (above) at the Paul Kasmin Gallery booth. Ryder has the ability to make raw meat look mesmerizing and, in this case, turns it into a carnivore’s haute couture. The painting sold for nearly $900,000.