Looking back over the year in food, 2007 was chock full of tasty goodness. The locavore movement was in full swing, truffles were over the top expensive, and Gothamist readers continue to get pissed off about foie gras. There was a lawsuit over lobster rolls, we got a new Whole Foods, the vendors at the Red Hook ball fields were threatened, rats ran crazy at Taco Bell, and the DOH went ballistic. Chumleys fell,...

Thanks to a small roster of beers curated by owner Jimmy Carbone, Jimmy’s No. 43 has always been high on our list when we’re looking to slake our thirst. Lately we’ve come to realize that there’s much more to this subterranean spot than just beer. Thanks to the addition of Philip Kirschen-Clark, the former fish chef at wd-50, Jimmy’s is putting the gastro in gastropub. A while back, we had some roasted shishito peppers with...

There’s such a dizzying number of ways to throw money away on New Year’s Eve that it’s always tempting to just stay home and avoid the throngs of staggering amateurs altogether. But what to do about dinner? If you're not in the mood to cook, it's really not such a bad night to sample some of the New Year's Eve restaurant specials, as long as you're willing to a few extra bucks. Rather than deluge...

The Cedar Tavern has been closed for over a year now, and someday soon New Yorkers will finally get more of what they so desperately need: more condo units priced at $1.7 million and up! The famous tavern on University Place, long associated with the drunken hi-jinks of notables like Jackson Pollock and Jack Kerouac, shut down in December 2006 for “renovations” and never reopened. Promises to come back as part of the nine-story condo...

The initial news of the legendary 2nd Avenue Deli’s reincarnation led us to stockpile Lipitor as visions of pastrami, chopped liver and gribenes danced through our heads. And when we feasted our eyes on the sneak preview of this fresser’s paradise, we could hardly wait to go and devour more of the menu. Even though it’s been open for a little more than a week, Gothamist paused to recover from holiday feasting before hitting...

By the end of next year, downtown Brooklyn will have a new upscale steakhouse to rival Peter Luger in Williamsburg; it was recently announced that Morton’s will be occupying the ground floor of a new Marriott annex tower on Adams Street. The Chicago-based restaurant chain will dish out their beef, seafood and sandwiches in a 300 seat restaurant near the Brooklyn Bridge. Writing for the Brooklyn Paper, Gersh Kuntzman sees Morton’s arrival as the beginning...

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Shorty’s.32 and Smith’s, awards each restaurant one star. Says that at both, “Skill, standards and a few well-chosen grace notes lift what might otherwise be favored neighborhood charmers into a slightly loftier league.” Loves the chicken and all side dishes at Shorty’s, though says the chef is “overly fond of wet fish and wet food.” Um, yuck. At Smith’s, says the lamb and lobster are the way...

Rainbow cookies are quite possibly our favorite cookies. Ever. Whenever someone brings a cookie assortment from an Italian bakery we always eat all the rainbow cookies first and usually discard the rest. The best rainbow cookies money can buy are available at Isaac's Bake Shop, 1419 Avenue J in Brooklyn, NY, right across the street from Di Fara's pizza, and just a few blocks away from where we grew up. (We still think it's...

Santa came early and dumped some carnivorous coal down the throats of vegetarians in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood this weekend. The NY Press has reported that the beloved Veggie Castle – so named because it was converted from an old White Castle fast food restaurant – has abruptly closed. The Veggie Castle was as famous for repurposing the White Castle as it was for its vegetarian twist on Caribbean classics, offering such delicacies as jerk tofu,...

If you're like a third of the people we know right now (ourselves included), you've got a cold. Although the medical community encourages increasing one's fluid intake when the plague sets in, it's unlikely that boozy drinks are on the list of approved beverages. Regardless, we've been craving warm, cozy drinks all week. One of our neighbors swears by the hot toddy to cure a cold -- we haven't read any clinical studies, but it...

Giano: Owned by three Milanesi paisans, this new addition to the East Village’s Italian scene is a high-concept homage to duality. (You know, the Jungian thing.) Named for the two-headed Roman god Janus, the restaurant (pictured) sets the modern and traditional side by side to see how they inform each other. In the back room, the typical rustic affectations contrast with a sleek, minimalist design at the front of the space. The menu, too, is...

Hot chocolate's all the hype these days with Jacques Torres, City Bakery, Cocoa Bar, and MariBelle all pouring decadent brews at their downtown locales. And, while we have to admit that we’re more likely to stop in one of these spots below 14th Street, there are plenty of reasons for heading further uptown during this holiday season—say, for ice skating at Rockefeller Center, a trip to Central Park, or a visit to the Met. The...

Get to a phone, frugal foodies – New York’s winter Restaurant Week goes down next month, but reservations are being accepted starting today. And since these places tend to fill up fast, now is not the time to let any fear of commitment hold you back. Over 200 restaurants will be offering a special three course, prix-fixe dining option for a set price of $24.07 for lunch for and $35 for dinner. (Though not every...

You will never find Chef Bobby Flay too far away from an ancho chili pepper. Back in 1991, he opened Mesa Grill in New York, his shrine to the Southwestern flavors for which he is now famous around the world. In 1992, Mesa Grill won New York Magazine's Best New Restaurant, and the following year, Flay was given the James Beard Rising Star Chef award. Since then, he has created a mini-empire of six restaurants,...

In 1993 Matthew Kenney debuted his first restaurant, Matthew’s, to enviable acclaim; before he knew it Food and Wine Magazine had declared him one of the ten best new chefs in America. A flurry of activity followed, as Kenney involved himself with a series of popular restaurants throughout Manhattan that emphasized regional Mediterranean cooking. In 2004 he switched gears, opening Pure Food and Wine, an organic raw food restaurant on Irving Place that continues to...

The last recipe in Niloufer Ichaporia King's new Parsi cookbook, My Bombay Kitchen, is a light dessert drink hat's supposed to be served on March 21st, the Parsi New Year. It is certainly delicious enough to have year round, though, or perhaps on our own New Year's Eve in a few weeks. It's a cinch to throw together. Soak some basil seeds in water (just a teaspoon or so will be enough for several...

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn have announced a plan to issue 1,500 new permits to vendors who commit to selling fresh fruits and vegetables from carts in low-income neighborhoods. The “Green Cart” plan, expected to be approved by the City Council, comes on the heels of a Health Department study comparing Harlem to the Upper East Side; it determined that supermarkets in Harlem are 30% less common than the UES, and...

Instead of a lengthy 2007 “best of” food list, we proudly present you (via The Gurgling Cod) with this single edible, the latest and hopefully last stunt luxury foodstuff in a year remorselessly filled with them. It comes, somewhat improbably and definitely ironically, from the gift shop at the newly opened New Museum, and it’s got karats: Edible gold crumbled into capsules, a massive $275 for the starter set. Shown here to the left, a...

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Primehouse New York . Calls it “an estimable [steakhouse], with virtues that will rightly earn it the affection of many discerning carnivores and give it a solid chance in a competitive field.” On the downside, the quality of the meats isn’t always quite what it should be, service is uneven, and beyond the steaks, the menu doesn’t have much to offer. In Dining Briefs, Bruni revisits One if...

This past September, preservationists won a major victory when the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to give parts of the massive old Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg landmark status. Three of the buildings at the site will be preserved and renovated for residential use, including some affordable housing. These things move slowly, of course. In the meantime the old refinery has been given a sweet homage by a Flickr group named Powerhouse. All we know...

Chef Jonathan Waxman is known for many things, but the benchmark of his cooking over the years has arguably always been his roast chicken. The cover of his new cookbook A Great American Cook depicts Waxman slyly drawing a Lavazza espresso cup to his mouth, wood-burning oven full flame in the background and a sliced open cheese pumpkin in front. The book also features the chef’s roast chicken recipe. “My culinary anthem,” Waxman waxes in...

Guys, it’s Rachael Ray’s world, we just eat in it – this was verified by Time Magazine when the Food Network host was declared one of the 100 people who “shape our world” last year. And now that world will continue turning for at least two more years; it was announced yesterday that Ray’s contract has been extended beyond the Bush administration. That means at least 120 more episodes of her daytime cooking show, 30...

We love Momofuku, especially now that the Noodle Bar has moved to a larger location where we can actually bring our friends and chat with them at a table over dinner instead of just hoping to find one or two spaces at the bar. The food is amazing, and being the devoted carnivores that we are, we enjoy chef David Chang's devotion to adding meat to every dish on the menu (with one exception)....

Mike Huckabee, featured in a profile in Sunday's New York Times magazine, chose to eat at T.G.I.Friday's when given a choice of lunch spots in Manhattan. The author vetoed his choice, and they ended up at his second choice, the Olive Garden. Politics aside, that's reason enough for us not to vote for the guy. Then again, we're pretty impressed that he lost over 100 pounds and runs marathons despite eating such crap. Gael Greene...

Intertube-savvy metropolitan diners now have yet another way to make sure their every culinary craving is sated: the new website FoodieBytes, now beta testing, lets users search restaurant menus based on the food they desire. For instance, typing in “pesto” and “whole wheat pasta” yields over a hundred New York eateries. You can narrow your search by neighborhood and, once you find a restaurant that seems appealing, peruse the entire menu, get the hours,...

Kuta Satay House & Wine Bar: Taking its name from the tourist beach town in Bali, Kuta Satay House (pictured) is bringing its modern Southeast Asia menu to the Lower East Side. The main attraction here are the skewers, such as short ribs with asian pears and sesame barbeque sauce. Entrees emphasize seafood and steak, but there’s also a spicy duck curry and side dishes like garlic fries. 65 Rivington St, (212) 777-5882. Le Royale:...

During the holidays, we are all bombarded with requests for charitable giving. Sure, it's a great way to do something good and squeeze in one more tax deduction before year's end, but given the number of requests, making a choice about how to spend your charity dollars can be somewhat daunting. The Times focused this week on the dizzying number of food-related charities making year-end requests. Alongside the more traditional hunger-related organizations, "[c]haritable groups dedicated...

Spanish ibérico ham used to be banned in the United States because of USDA restrictions. However, as part of a newish approval process, the first shipments of the stuff arrived last week at New York stores Despaña and Dean & DeLuca. The former is selling free range sliced ibérico at $90-$99 a pound, and the latter has some of the fancier bellota ham at $75 a pound. More ibérico ham is on the way- in...

The Brooklyn-based Wheelhouse Pickles company has been selling a hot sauce named after the seminal D.C. hardcore band Minor Threat – and the band’s co-founder Ian MacKaye has given it his conditional blessings. The famously anti-commercial MacKaye, who not too long ago blasted Nike for ripping off a Minor Threat album design, was sent a sample of the sauce with a label similar to the Minor Threat illustration “Bottled Violence.” And after tasting the sauce,...

Native New Yorker Melissa Murphy is the mellifluous force behind Sweet Melissa Patisserie, a beloved Brooklyn house of tempting treats that opened in Cobble Hill in 1998. A graduate of New York’s French Culinary Institute, Murphy has spent the past decade building a budding dessert empire, bolstered by a profile-raising appearance on the Food Network and a baking book to be published by Viking in March. Last year Murphy added a second Sweet Melissa location...

An opening for the new 2nd Avenue Deli is in sight! This week, they've been putting the final touches on the new Murray Hill location, but today Gothamist stopped by for a quick preview of the legendary deli. During the friends and family only preview, they don't have a their full 5-page menu ready yet, but they did have the classic items including matzah ball soup, pastrami and tuna sandwiches. One new item is...

A good December night: four friends hosting twenty-five dinner guests in one capacious Williamsburg loft for a multi-course dinner with unlimited cocktails and wine pairings. This Friday -- if you act fast -- the Whisk and Ladle Supper Club invites Gothamist readers to a dinner party -- revamped, with a seasonal menu featuring Black Bear. The cost? $40 – 50 dollars a head, depending on the cost of ingredients. Friday’s Whisk & Ladle Menu:......

Urban Rustic, the new Brooklyn grocery store whose shelves are almost exclusively stocked with food from within a 100-mile radius, opens tomorrow. Located on North 12th Street across from McCarren Park, the grocery is the brainchild of Aaron Woolf, a partner in the nearby faux-alpine Lodge restaurant/bar/general store. Woolf is also one of the producers of the indie documentary King Corn, which followed the misadventures of two neophyte corn farmers and their harrowing journey......

A while ago when Gothamist got wind of TKettle, a spot on St. Marks that promised bubble tea, dumplings and Korean fried chicken, we were tempted to place it in the same category as many Chinatown spots trading in savory snacks and bizarre boba drinks. The appeal of slurping chewy gelatinous globes through an oversized straw has always proved elusive, but we harbor no such prejudices against fried chicken or dumplings. Additional reports about succulent......

If you like the sandy, gritty texture of cornmeal and the intense burst of flavor of dried strawberries, these biscuits are the breakfast treat for you. The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, and our only adaptation was the addition of the strawberries for extra richness. Strawberry Maple Cornmeal Biscuits 1 C all-purpose flour 1 C yellow cornmeal 1 tbsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 6......

When The Villager broke the news that fancy East Village cocktail lounge Death & Co. would be temporarily shut down by the State Liquor Authority, no one was as publicly dismayed as Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni. In a blog homage to the elegantly dark nightspot, Bruni gushed:There’s a drink on Death & Co.’s latest cocktail menu with bourbon and rye, along with Courvoisier and bitters. I may in fact have had it – or......

If you’re thinking about buying into the future Soho Mews condo but still unsure whether the “doorman, concierge and a curator” will be enough for you, the news in today’s Post might just be your tipping point. The under-construction condo, which is comprised of two buildings joined by a shared courtyard garden, has announced a partnership with Centovini, the Italian restaurant on West Houston, four blocks north from the condo on West Broadway, across from......