Wildly successful young chef and restaurateur Michael Psilakis – whose Anthos is one of only two Greek restaurants in the world with a Michelin star – refined his talent not in culinary school but in the kitchen beside his Greek mother during his childhood on Long Island. After earning a business degree, he found himself drawn back to the food world, where he worked his way up from waiter to owner of the Long Island......

Yesterday, a two-alarm fire broke out in a Corona home and after firefighters put it out, they found the body of 5-year-old Jason Guallpa, curled up behind a TV. The police later arrested his 24-year-old brother Diego with endangering the welfare of a child. Diego Guallpa was supposed to be baby-sitting his younger brother, but he decided to meet his accountant and file his tax returns. He left little Jason in the home alone (a......

Patrick Venetek, the cop whose service weapon wound up shooting through the ceiling of his downstairs neighbors' apartment and striking an 18-month-old's arm, gave further details on how the incident occurred. Perhaps to the relief of Porcellini's six brothers and sisters, Venetek has been stripped of his badge and gun at this time and is on modified duty. Apparently, Ventek was going to start cleaning his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in the dwindling natural light......

Paul Adams goes to Back Forty (pictured) for the NY Sun this week. “The restaurant takes its focus on farm-to-table cuisine almost to the point of self-parody,” he says. Back Forty could benefit more by the presence of Peter Hoffman (the chef and owner) in the kitchen, not so much at the greenmarket, says Adams. This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Barbuto. He loves the roasted chicken, so much so that he basically reviewed......

According to Turkey Carving for Dummies, every year hundreds of thousands of people wind up in hospital emergency rooms as a result of kitchen accidents involving knives. Don’t become a statistic! In yesterday’s article about the best way to carve the turkey, the Times helpfully points out the wrong approach, to be read aloud in a southern accent: “One year the turkey took a long time to cook and I went to carve it......

You might have had a copy of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style on your desk in high school or college. It was your go-to reference book whenever you forgot (yet again) where you should stick that damned apostrophe. Michael Ruhlman, food writer, trained chef, and most recently, judge on the Food Network's Next Iron Chef, has created his go-to reference guide for the kitchen, The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for......

Just a week after making headlines for unveiling the world’s most expensive dessert – $25,000! – the popular Upper East Side restaurant Serendipity 3 has been shuttered by the New York City Department of Health. Could all the hoopla surrounding the Frrrozen [sic] Haute Chocolate have brought some unwanted attention to the establishment? The shutdown went into effect last night and calls to the restaurant have thus far not been serendipitous. We do know that......

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Harry Cipriani in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, awards the restaurant no stars. Finds “service so confused and food so undistinguished it wouldn’t pass muster at half the cost.” Says prices at the restaurant ridiculous. The restaurant was last reviewed in 1991, when Bryan Miller gave it two stars. The one positive? “The people-watching is nonpareil." Peter Meehan visits Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for tacos. Likes Epocas......

A Staten Island man was about to fall asleep early Thursday morning only to be woken up when someone broke into his apartment - little did he know that it was the 'Ninja Burgler'. Phil Chiolo heard his cat Tippy growl, which was unusual, before hearing something fall downstairs. While in the kitchen investigating the sound, Chiolo saw someone dressed in, "a Halloween-like ninja outfit, with just his eyes peering out." Soon afterwards, the ninja......

A recent op-ed in the New York Times explained the limits of "food miles," the concept that one's dinner plate should be measured via the amount of carbon dioxide emissions (and other pollution) produced by the modes of transportation required to literally bring home the bacon. A study done at Lincoln University in New Zealand indicates that other variables complicate the equations of food production and transport, and that emissions calculations aren't necessarily so straightforward.......

Did you know you can make a salad out of weeds you find in Central Park? Or that there are mushrooms you can gather for free that taste just like chicken? There's plenty that you can find and eat in the city's park system and The Wildman Steve Brill is just the guy to show you where and how. Gothamist sat down to chat with New York's best known naturalist about the evils of lawns,......

We've gathered a bunch of our favorite ice cream recipes from some of the best food blogs we know to keep you busy and cool over the weekend. So, get busy in the kitchen and give these ice creams a taste this weekend: Hazelnut Cookie Sherry Vinegar Swirl Ice Cream (pictured) from Habeas Brulee Gianduja Gelato from Cafe Fernando Dulce de Leche & Nougat Ice Cream from R Khooks Tiramisu Ice Cream from Desert......

Food writing has changed a lot in the last few years. Its focus has shifted to an almost philosophical arena where any recipe can be dissected for the broader, global meaning of its constituent ingredients. The source of every carrot or celery stalk we eat is inexorably combined with issues of nutrition and environmental sustainability. It’s the Omnivore’s Dilemma effect - people are suddenly grappling with the repercussions of a country that runs on......

Gothamist finally made the trip to Queens to drink and dine at Danny Brown Wine Bar & Kitchen, a stylish spot that looks more SoHo than Forest Hills. Some of you may recall that this eatery located across the street from Councilwoman Melinda Katz's office caught the attention of Daniel Boulud back in May. The French megachef was steamed that Danny Brown, the chef-owner, uses almost the same lowercase "db" on its signage as Boulud's......

Jenni Ferrari-Adler has held many jobs—egg-seller, literary agency assistant, reader for The Paris Review—but her latest accomplishment is as the editor of a mouth-watering anthology of essays entitled Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant. Born out of a summer spent subsisting largely on cereal and water while finishing up her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, Ferrari-Adler wanted to explore what comfort food, solo food, meant to her favorite writers. Collected here......

Ratatouille (directed by Brad Bird) For fans of animated movies, the work produced by the Pixar studio hold a prominent place in our hearts. Pixar and their often rocky involvement with the Disney Company was back in the news a year and a half ago, when Disney (who had previously released a number of Pixar projects like Toy Story, Monsters Inc and The Incredibles) purchased Pixar to the tune of $7.4 billion in stock and......

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Insieme, awards the restaurant two stars. Says, “When Isieme is good, it’s outstanding, and any serious food lover should head here fast…” He hates the atmosphere, though, and the salmon. Insieme is the second restaurant in midtown this year where he’s been “frustrated by the way some dazzling cooking is undercut not only by unevenness across the menu or inconsistency in the kitchen but also by atmospherics......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child at Richmond Terrace and Franklin Ave. on Staten Island, a stabbing on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, and a patient went missing at Parkway Hospital at 113 St. and 70th Rd. in Queens. Physicist Stephen Hawking is writing an adventure novel aimed at middle-grade readers called "George's Secret Key to the Universe." After-school programs at city schools, which help kids with academic tutoring and offer music and......

Bruni visits the recently reopened Provence (now owned and run by Cookshop & Five Points’ Marc Meyer and Vicki Freeman), awards the restaurant one star. He likes the minimal changes they’ve made to the design; the food, not so much: “Provence’s is inconsistent and dull,” he says. He does like the wine and the cheese selection though. Also in the Times, ">Peter Meehan goes to Grand Sichuan East Village for $25 and Under. Says, “Of......

This week ">Bruni goes to Anthos, Michael Psilakis and Donatella Arpaia's new Greek restaurant, and awards the restaurant two stars. "Much of the cooking is inspired," he says, "and much of it is excellent." Bruni finds the décor dreary, and the pacing of the meal a bit off, but overall thinks the restaurant is on its way to good places (and more stars in future). Also in the Times, ">Peter Meehan visits Super Taco, the......

Coming slowly but surely to a grocery store near you is 5 Boroughs Ice Cream. What started with little more than a couple’s wedding present followed by some kitchen experimentation has become a quest to endow every New York City neighborhood with its own signature ice cream flavor. 5 Boroughs owners Scott and Kim Myles are the Big Apple’s Ben and Jerry, sans Birkenstocks. With 8 themed flavors, such as the Jackson Heights Mangodesh......

In the recent history of television, the people have been given three separate but still gritty police procedurals set in New York City: The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders in Law & Order, the dedicated Special Victims Unit detectives who investigate especially heinous sexually based offenses in Law & Order Special Victims Unit, and the Major Case Squad detectives who chew scenery as well as they suss......

Snow Cake (directed by Marc Evans): A diagnosis of autism is usually characterized by a person having impaired social interaction, impaired communication and restricted or repetitive interests. The autistic character Sigourney Weaver plays in the festival favorite and new release this week, Snow Cake, has some of these traits but not others. She hates people except for her new friend Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman) and she must do her tidying rituals in the kitchen whether......

And we'd subtitle the report "Or How 311 Doesn't Quite Work So Well." If you're looking for a page-turning read, look no further than the Department of Health's report - complete with next steps- on the rats at KFC/Taco Bell incident. Yesterday, Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said, "Our restaurant program performs well overall, but in this instance there were failings of personnel, policy and practice." Well, that's an understatement. The DOH detailed the rat......

DJ Hazard is a comedian who's lived a wild life. He was a part of the wild Boston comedy scene of the 80's that spawned the likes of Stephen Wright and Bobcat Goldthwait, he's talked people out of killing themselves, and he's lived out of his car for three years as he traveled the country doing stand up. Someone get this guy a book deal! What are your earliest memories of comedy, of seeing......

We've all heard the old adage that there's nothing more dangerous in the kitchen than a dull knife. A sharp knife cuts cleanly through things. A dull knife forces you to use more pressure, then may bounce off the surface of the onion you're trying to slice and onto another surface, such as--for instance--your hand. Ouch! Our favorite knife sharpener in town is Henry Westpfal, at 105 West 30th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues.......

March 22: World Water Day As we've mentioned before, today is World Water Day. Over 290 local restaurants are participating in the Tap Project -- just fork up $1 for the tap water that's usually gratis and UNICEF will donate that money to help provide clean drinking water to children around the world. March 24: Spring Cooking Class Join Executive Chef Franck Deletrain from Café Centro to learn how to prepare a menu focusing on......

Since opening day, Joe Ng's dumplings have been proclaimed by critics to be the highlight of the Chinatown Brasserie menu. Since opening, the original Chef, Tyson Wong Ophaso, has left, elevating Joe's position in the kitchen. Thankfully, the quality of the dumplings has remained intact through the change. Although you can't expect Chinatown prices (each order of dim sum ranges from $6 to $15 at lunchtime, a buck or two more at dinner), the......

As many have already pointed out, the imminent redevelopment of Coney Island may very well turn out to be a garish Disneyfied nightmare, complete with a Vegas-style hotel or two. A multi-million dollar food court, and a string of expensive restaurants can’t be far behind. Neptune Avenue in winter may resemble one fifteen block-long auto repair shop, with gas fumes and broken glass in the streets, but for us it’s the old Coney Island takeout......

Residentially speaking, Gothamist is blessed with rather ample proportions. We’ve graduated from the grimy hovels of our youth to a humbly appointed dwelling which, owing to the block’s somewhat tawdry reputation, takes only a modest toll on our wallets while allowing enough space for the occasional fete. It’s that very real estate-fueled confidence that convinced us recently that our home would be the ideal space for a 20-person dinner party—a decision made in spite......