The Michelin Guide announced selections today for its third New York Edition, which officially goes on sale Wednesday. The new edition features 565 restaurants (and 54 Manhattan hotels.) Of the eateries, 42 were awarded stars ranging from one to three; a mere 3 restaurants merited the highest 3-star rating (Jean Georges, Le Bernardin and Per Se), while 6 others made the 2-star cut. But star-gazing aside, the guide comes in handy for diners on a......

Graffiti: Pastry Chef Jehangir Mehta, who has spent time at Aix, Jean Georges, Vong, and Union Pacific, takes a stab at the world of the savory. He has opened a restaurant and bakery in the East Village with a "global bistro comfort food" menu. Offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, Graffiti serves up baked goods, coffee and tea, and a dinner menu where the dishes range in size from "nibbles" to "all mine." For the kicker, the......

Earlier this week, StarChefs held its 2nd International Chef’s Congress on the top two floors of 7 World Trade Center. Open to industry professionals only, this annual event draws notable chefs from all over the world and provides the opportunity to honor its Rising Stars, an award the culinary organization gives to young professionals. A full list of this year’s winners, including Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, Chris Lee of Gilt, and Daniel Eardley......

There's been confirmation that the Red Hook ball field vendors will be starting their season on April 28th. We're keeping our fingers crossed for warmer weather by then. [via Porkchop Express]Jean Georges Vongerichten is in the process of transforming 66 from upscale Chinese to (presumably) upscale Japanese, with an emphasis on soba noodles. Once the metamorphosis is complete, it will be known as Matsu Gen. [via NYT]Crif Dogs is opening a "secret" bar next door......

Just ask Jean Georges, Mario Batali or Tom Colicchio and they’ll tell you there is no need to re-invent the cheese-wheel, so to speak. They’ve built multi-million dollar culinary empires on a single concept, with a few tweaks here or there for freshness. But we’re sure they would warn, as they’ve learned in varying degrees, that the key is not to spread yourself too thin. They’d say to maintain high standards and consistency because your......

Unless you've been under a rock (or perhaps out of the country for the last week or so), you've probably seen all the hooplah about this fall's upcoming culinary offerings. New York Mag was first on the scene with their fall preview issue, followed closely by the New York Times (offering "sooner" and "later" openings), and Andrea Strong. Here are some of the spots we're the most excited to try: - Gordon Ramsey comes to......

Bruni hits Jean Georges' "fringe players," Mercer Kitchen and Vong. Between the two, Vong emerges victorious with one star: "you keep wondering if the food they deliver is really as it should be and all that it could be, if the restaurant is receiving Mr. Vongerichten’s most considered judgments . . ." while Mercer Kitchen rates a mere "satisfactory": Bruni calls their menu an "ethnically indistinct assortment of dishes with enough pro forma salads and......

- Lots of talk these days about absentee Chef’s and their far-flung empires. Here is Frank Bruni's Diners Journal round up, where he makes this observation: "I’m betting that if we had copies of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s daily planners for the last year, we’d see that he spent much more time at Perry St. and at Jean Georges than he did at Jo Jo, 66 or Vong. My assumption is based on my experiences at those......

Sunday and Monday nights were the James Beard Awards annual gala events, and the results are now in. Sunday night focused on the journalists, highlighting books, broadcast media, and even websites (a new category), while Monday was all about the chefs and restaurants. The excitement was palpable in the food world, so much so that Ed Levine decided to liveblog Monday's Awards dinner, an extravagant black tie affair, for those of us not "in" enough......

- Jean Georges still gets four stars, even from Bruni: "Eating is seldom this absorbing, this bracing." - Daisy May's now has seats and they're serving roast pigs. Pork-o-riffic! [via NYT] - The James Beard Society emerges from the rubble of their scandal with a new president, Susan Ungaro, who served as editor-in-chief of Family Circle from 1994 to 2005. - Degustation may be small, but it's worth 392 progeniturillian stars from Augieland.......

New Yorkers may think we're the best in the world generally, but as far as restaurants of the world are concerned, we only made it to number eight. Thomas Keller's Per Se was the only New York restaurant to make the top ten of the world's 50 best restaurants, as named by Restaurant magazine, although his West Coast restaurant, French Laundry, came in at number four. Other New York eateries on the list include......

On tonight's Apprentice, the remaining wannabe figurehead Trump employees in the reality show making will have to do something really badly, but less badly than the other team, in order to win a prize of some quality time with Senator Schumer. Now, Senator Schumer probably has some great life and business ("Don't try hire lobbyists") lessons for the group, but it's a pretty boring prize, given that previous winners during this season have been able......

Well, one vacant restaurant at the Time Warner Center filled, one to go! Today's Times brings the announcement that one of the more famously vacant restaurant spaces in the city has been filled. After the failure of Jean Georges Vongerichten's V Steakhouse, not to mention the no-show of the originally called for Charlie Trotter restaurant, there has been a fair amount of interest in who would come next. And now we know that the answer......

Photo by Lars Klove for The New York Times Gothamist was somewhat dismayed when we saw Kuma Inn in today's $25 and Under NYT column, as it has long been one of our just-under-the-radar favorites. Sure, we let our close friends know about it, but now we're worried that the publicity will make it much harder to stop by for the Chinese sausage with sticy rice, caramelized onions, and fiery hot sauce (in the......

The new Zagat rankings for New York restaurants are out and the top restaurant is again Union Square Cafe, which had reigned as New Yorkers' favorite restaurant as tallied by Tim and Nina for 6 straight years (1997-2002) except last year, when sister restaurant Gramercy Tavern took over. The Le Coze fish shrine, Le Bernardin, is number one in food quality. The Times takes a look at the surprising inclusion of Brooklyn's Grocery in the......

The Post rustles up a food critic and sends Steve Cuozzo the Lower East Side and WD-50 and loves Wylie Dufresne's food. In fact, he writes, "Its brand of modern-American cooking is witty but not wacky." Later on, he says that pastry chef Sam Mason's desserts are "kooky without being kinky." Gothamist would like further details if in fact Dufresne is witty but not wacky and if Sam Mason is kooky without being kinky......

The eagerly anticipated 66 is reviewed by Williams Grimes. It's pretty positive, with the last lines being: They are to the traditional fortune cookie what the hundred dollar bill is to the single. The fortunes, of course, are printed on heavy stock. From beginning to end, the production values at 66 are top-of-the-line. Sometimes the food is too. The 66 cocktail......