Bro, the Lower East Side has finally arrived! Know how we know? There’s totally a bangin’ new rodeo themed bar/restaurant with a mechanical bull!!! We’re going to be getting so much sweet action once the hotties see us taming that bad boy. Plus there’s like 16 killer beers on tap, chicken fried stake and pork chops! So untuck that striped shirt and ramble on down here, cowbro! Oh, and since the place still hasn’t settled......

This year's Zagat NYC guide is out on the streets today. The familiar burgundy book is still a staple to many searching for the top food in the city, although many argue that the voting process leads to inconsistent results. That said, here are the numbers, the highlights, and the rest:This year's edition covers 2069 restaurants and compiles results from over 34,000 surveys. Gordon Ramsay knocks one over the fence with the top newcomer, earning......

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......

This week Bruni goes to P*ong, the dessert/savory restaurant brought to us by pastry chef Pichet Ong (formerly of Perry Street and Spice Market), awards the restaurant one star. Finds the restaurant "tantalizing, often irritating," and says it challenges one's ideas of what should be sweet and what should be savory. But the desserts are the restaurant's strenth, says Bruni, and also it's too crowded and the service is not good enough to make staying......

Maybe it was just the red carpet, but most of the people we spoke to seemed particularly excited about the new digs for the James Beard Foundation Awards, black-tie affair held last night at Avery Fisher Hall to honor some of the country's best chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary professionals. Susan Ungaro, the President of JBF, noted that originally, James Beard had moved to New York to become an opera singer, but had to earn......

-- Time Out says the nicest block in New York City is South Portland Avenue between Dekalb and Lafayette in Fort Greene. No, seriously, they do. -- Tony Bourdain revises his famous eating rule: "Fish on Monday? I eat it all the time--but at sushi bars--where the quality is apparent and at Le Bernardin or at any restaurant where they specialize in and have made their reputation on seafood (like Esca) and at restaurants......

Tim, Nina and the gang are at it again. This year's NYC Zagat Restaurant Guide is now available, compiling surveys from 31,604 participants and covering 2,014 restaurants. First off, although we generally do most of our restaurant research online, we definitely appreciate two additional features that are part of the new physical guide: a foldout map listing the 50 "New Yorkers' Favorite Restaurants," and sticky arrow tabs designed for users to place throughout the book,......

Bruni three-stars L'Atelier Joel Robuchon. While "it hit the ground limping," he says, "it improved quickly and greatly, and your focus can now fall on its mostly exhilarating food." He also finds at L'Atelier a new contender for the city's best haute burger: made with Kobe beef, foie gras, caramelized peppers and brioche buns. The Eater oddsmakers are back and right on the money: even odds on three stars. Also in the Times, FloFab's got......

Gothamist has never had a taste for foie gras (although, some of us do) as we can't get past the fact that we're eating liver, but animal rights activists are trying to get the delicacy banned entirely. In an appeal to the state legislature, groups including the Humane Society asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to label foie gras as an "adulterated" food, which is defined as food that is "diseased, contaminated, filthy,......

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......

AOL has released their Cityguide for New York with a list of "The 2006 City's Best," some of which are a surprise and others which were not so surprising. Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope took Cityguide's top restaurant honor, beating out big names like Daniel, Le Bernardin, Per Se, and Masa. The Chef and co-owner of Stone Park told the Daily News, "We're very thrilled - winning these types of contests really attests to......

Gothamist had the chance to attend New York magazine's annual Taste of New York event, benefitting City Harvest. Despite the dazzling array of cocktails, we didn't get quite as liquored up as last year, and tasted some spectacular food. We were particularly wowed by Onera's orange marlin sashimi with candied quince, leek confit and toasted pine nuts, Café Boulud's veal short ribs with yukon potatoes and white truffles, Sapa's duck confit sandwich on a......

Deborah Schoeneman, New York Magazine...

Dana Cowin, Food & Wine magazine...

City Harvest, the non-profit that "rescues" food that would otherwise be thrown away (example, food leftover from restaurants and schools - you've seen their vans around), has a great fundraiser right now: Skip Lunch, Fight Hunger on Wednesday, May 12, where people donate what they would have spent on lunch to City Harvest. As they break it down:$5 (a fancy coffee drink) - could help feed two children for a week. $10 (a deli soup......

In a move to both elevate the level of cleanliness in restaurants and the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene brand, NYC's Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden announced the Golden Apple Award (press release with lots of details), which would bestow restaurants that "have excellent recent inspection results, participate in a new DOHMH Quality Improvement Food Protection course (or demonstrate that acceptable quality assurance measures have been in place for the last 12 months) and pass......

With flusher economic times in most sectors, the power lunch booms once again. The Times' David Carr does his media thing, but now with a side of food, as he examines the restaurants where the powerful tend to eat. The hot restaurants are The Four Seasons, Michael's, DB Bistro Moderne (deemed downtown, even though it's only on 44th!), and newcomer Lever House, where the booths are tables du jour. Other restaurants include Eleven Madison......

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......