Photo: Amber de Vos for PMC

        Never mind that Daniel’s new burger-bangers-and-beer joint on the Bowery wasn’t quite ready. He had promised fans a first peek at DBGB Kitchen and Bar for the benefit of Citymeals-on-Wheels last night and hundreds poured in the door. With dozens of chefs from Boulud’s mushrooming empire stuffed into the kitchen, waiters with trays of tasting plates kept fanning out into the big rectangular room where supplies are piled on shelves (no storage space out back) and copper pots from Daniel’s famous chef cronies make up a museum. From the tags hanging down, I spotted copper casseroles and molds from Paul Bocuse, Louis Outhier, Alain Ducasse.

        The chef sees the copper and the menu design as a bow to what the Bowery once meant: rows of kitchen supply emporiums between the flophouses. Are there any derelicts left? Surely when an uptown guy like Boulud plants himself here, I have to guess the Bowery Missions are in retreat.  

        After the early evening Citymeals launch, a huge financial bonanza thanks to a generous gift from Scott Kasen, the evening’s co-host, the DBGB crew braced for a second wave of revelers -- Daniel’s chef pals. Among them:  Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Bobby Flay and partner Lawrence Kretchmer, Todd English, Daniel Humm, Wylie Dufresne, Marcus Samuelsson, some Maccioni juniors, Drew Nieporent and Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson from Balthazar and Minetta Tavern. 

        What will we eat? 

        Crispy lamb ribs, spicy crab cake, boudin Basque, pork and cheddar link with hash browns, fish and chips, roasted bone marrow…a lengthy hit parade menu for gourmands and fussbudgets alike.

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