Chickpea: We used to love Chickpea, that fresh falafel place on Third Avenue and St. Mark’s Place that let you squirt as much tahini as you wanted into your pita. But we lost interest when they went through that whole confusing name change contest – marred by allegations that the game was rigged – and ended up calling themselves Kosher Village. Now it’s Tahini, and they bake their falafel, which is as about healthy as......

From the ashes of the beloved Read Cafe in Williamsburg (that space is now occupied by the decidedly un-funky El Beit coffee shop) comes owner Laurence Elliott's new baby, The Rabbithole. Opening this Sunday, his latest venture is further south but still on Bedford, between South 4th and South 3rd Streets. When we spoke with Elliott back in March, he still had a long way to go turning the former apartments into a restaurant/cafe with......

Laurence Elliott, owner of old Williamsburg's sorely missed Read Cafe (now the more upscale coffee shop El Beit) is opening up a new and bigger place in South Williamsburg, on Bedford between South 4th and South 3rd. First things first: the Read Cafe tradition of backyard garden lounging will live on behind Elliott's new home, called The Rabbit Hole. Elliott, who trained at the French Culinary Institute while running Read, has been obsessed lately with......

It would a bit too simplistic to blame the impending closure of La Fortuna, the Upper West Side café that first opened in 1976, entirely on the skyrocketing rents of a turbo-gentrifying neighborhood. While the ever rising rental tide was certainly a factor – the building was taken over by a real-estate group after the previous landlord died – three years still remained on the lease. According to amNY, the closure has more to do......