Some West Village restaurants can’t catch a break this week; first an old water main broke and flooded them out during Memorial Day weekend, now the city has been stone cold shutting them down. Eater has it that the Department of Health ordered Diablo Royale on West 10th Street to close yesterday for “unsanitary conditions” – a tipster says the inspectors faulted the restaurant’s flooded basement. Now the swank bar/restaurant Employees Only has gotten......

Leaving Employees Only one night, a friend asked, if we can't afford these drinks -- and don't go in expecting anyone to buy them for us -- why do we go to these places? It's not rhetoric. It is really expensive. And we don't like the people in the bars. We're our favourite lushes and we already know where we live. We go to places we can't afford because the proprietors feel like we do,......

The waitress slid the martini in front of us with the grace of a blindfolded, 300 lb linebacker. Much of it didn’t survive the 10-foot journey from the bar to our table, and as we looked down at the half-empty martini, it was hard to remain optimistic about the cocktail we ordered. With hesitation we slowly brought the drink to our lips. Why did we select a martini as our cocktail of choice at......

September 12: Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour Restaurants and bars across the nation including Employees Only, Freeman's, and Flatiron Lounge in New York will serve New Orleans classic cocktails like the Pimm's Cup, the Hurricane, and the Sazerac from 5 to 7 p.m. All receipts from the $10 drinks will be donated to a relief fund established by the Museum of the American Cocktail, Go to the website for a full list of participants. September......

The other night, Gothamist had the most decadent dream: in one night, we ate at Hearth, WD-50, Asiate, Public, Cru, Sumile and Per Se. We sipped wines from all over the world, and nibbled on delectable desserts from Spice Market. When we woke up the next morning, we realized that it wasn't a dream after all -- it was the StarChefs.com annual Rising Stars Revue, and Gothamist was there. This relatively small and intimate tasting......