Here we are again with another story about a shocked diner who could not believe a restaurant would discourage her from bringing outside food. As usual, the "victim" has her own set of special reasons why she should have been indulged: Rose Levy Beranbaum is a baker/blogger/cookbook author, and she went to The Breslin for lunch after videotaping a cooking segment. So she's in the industry, as they say, and even offered to share her cake with the hip restaurant's pastry chef. When the waiter informs her that the pastry chef is out, Beranbaum offers him his own piece. But the "haughty twenty-something server" isn't so easily bribed, and says, "I don’t do that kind of thing." Then things gets expensive: more ›

Sorry to start the day on a note of bitter envy, but check out all these really, really, ridiculously good looking places we can't get into nor afford! While their styles are somewhat disparate, they do share one thing in common: they all sprang from the minds of Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, the hip couple behind design firm Roman and Williams. SO hot right now—but you might not know it if you can't afford a room at The Standard, or can't wait hours for a table at The Breslin or The Standard Grill, or have naively tried to visit that insane Mordor-esque red-glowing bar, formerly known as The Boom Boom Room, atop the 18th floor of The Standard. (To be fair, impecunious nobodies are perfectly welcome to buy a coffee from Stumptown and drink it in the lobby of The Ace Hotel.) more ›

The lovely-looking restaurant and bar The Breslin begins lunch service tomorrow, and co-owner Ken Friedman (The Spotted Pig) is planning on serving alcohol despite objections from the Masjid Ar-Rahman mosque across the street. Earlier this month the mosque’s leaders called a meeting with Friedman at The Ace Hotel, where The Breslin is located, and asked, "Can you move the bar?" Friedman's response makes us want to hurry over to The Breslin right now for a dram of Laphroaig to show our support (and drown out the voices): more ›