After her whirlwind culinary tour of NYC, North Dakota restaurant critic and Internet viral sensation Marilyn Hagerty has finally filed her review of one of the city's best restaurants, Le Bernardin. And guess what—it seems better than the new Olive Garden in Grand Forks! more ›

Former Playboy enthusiast and Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert of Top Chef fame gave his favorite airport dining spots to the Wall Street Journal, and shockingly Cinnabon didn't make the list. Correctly noting that "there's always time to eat in airports, because flights are always being delayed," Ripert chooses the pizza joint Crust at LaGuardia for their "thin crust, well seasoned, good-quality ingredients," and Bobby Van's Steakhouse at JFK. If we could eat the sense of helpless rage, we wouldn't need a $40 steak. more ›

Since the tragedy in Japan left the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant teetering on the edge of a meltdown, alarms have been raised about radioactive materials spilling in the water. And some NYers are particularly worried about their favorite delicacy: sushi. It's a serious enough concern to Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin that he has bought a radiation detector: “I just want to make sure whatever we use is safe...Nobody knows how the currents will carry the contaminated water," he told the Times. more ›

Open wide for some dining guides! Today marks the debut of the new editions of the Zagat guide and the prestigious NYC Michelin restaurant guide (more on that later). We turn first to the more proletarian Zagat, which covers 2,115 restaurants, slightly more than last year, rated online by 40,569 respondents. Here's what's new and noteworthy: more ›

As expected, the truth behind some of New York's fanciest restaurants is coming to light, thanks to the DOH's new restaurant grading system. And the city's #1 restaurant is one of the first victims! World-renowned chef and Top Chef judge Eric Ripert's Le Bernardin got 32 demerits, just four points above a C grade, at its last inspection. Perhaps the Michelin starred joint needs to take a trip to LIC for some tips. more ›

Aaron D. Allen, restaurant consultant, is pissed that the three Michelin star restaurant Le Bernardin wouldn't let him bring his cup of Starbucks tea to lunch. We're all ready cast some judgment, but, well, whose side to choose? On the one hand, Allen points out that we're in a recession, so maybe the comically stereotypical French maître d’ shouldn't have turned away a $55 prix-fixe sale over a $3 tea. However, who in their right mind thinks it's acceptable to bring outside food into any restaurant? Starbucks won't even let you do that! [Via Eater] more ›

Last Friday night, chef Eric Ripert took a couple hours off from working the pass at Le Bernardin to grab a bag of popcorn and settle into one of the seats at the IFC Film Center. Ripert screened the well-reviewed documentary Pressure Cooker (playing through Thursday), about a teacher named Wilma Stephenson and her culinary arts class at a Philly public high school called Frankford. more ›

Eric Ripert really is that cool. The four-star chef—a sometime Top Chef judge, practicing Buddhist, and altogether nice person—announced this morning that throughout 2009, Le Bernardin will donate $1 to City Harvest for each customer who dines at the restaurant. City Harvest feeds more than 260,000 men, women, and children each week; the charity organization “rescues” more than 20 million pounds of food each year from various food service sectors. Chef Ripert also announced this morning that $1 will be donated to City Harvest for every copy sold of his new behind the scenes cookbook called On The Line (seen here), which we wrote about last month.

In 1994, Eric Ripert became the executive chef of Le Bernardin after chef-owner Gilbert Le Coze died of a sudden heart attack. The following year, Ripert was only 29 years old when the restaurant was re-reviewed and kept its four-star rating from the New York Times. Le Bernardin has had a total of four four-star New York Times reviews since its New York opening in 1986, and has consistently been awarded a top rating of three Michelin stars since guide inspectors first set up shop here in 2005. more ›

is an incredibly thorough and well-researched reference guide for home and professional cooks alike. more ›

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 on a name, try to come up with one on the way – we’re thinking maybe The Slouching Beast or Brodeo. 133 Essex St, near Rivington. more ›

The Michelin Guide announced selections today for its third New York Edition, which officially goes on sale Wednesday. more ›

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 for a longer meal worth while. He likes the special cocktails, though. more ›

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 a living until he hit the big time. He started a catering company and the rest, as they say, is history, but she noted that he would have been pretty excited to be up on that stage. more ›

-- Sweet and sort of sad: the public make-out session planned to celebrate Columbia's Gay Day was only lightly attended. more ›

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, with labels like "Must Try," "Never Again," and "Love it!" more ›

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. more ›

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, putrid or decomposed." This would give the agriculture commissioner the option of banning foie gras. The Times gets what could be the best quote regarding this issue from Eric Ripert, the executive chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin who sighs and then says:

We can criticize how foie gras is produced and be concerned about the health of the duck and blah, blah, blah, O.K., fine.

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 Jean Georges, Daniel, Le Bernardin, and Gramercy Tavern. As the New York Post notes, you're going to have spend a decent chunk of change to sample the world's best -- approximately $95 and Jean Georges, $100 at Daniel, and $210 at Per Se (prices have gone up since our visit). Not that reservations will be any easier to come by, thanks to the honor. more ›

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 the loyal support of our customers." more ›

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 sweet bun, and Le Bernardin's milk chocolate pot de creme with caramel foam, maple syrup, and sea salt, but hell, it was all delicious. Full photo gallery onLaren's flickr page. more ›

Deborah Schoeneman, New York Magazine more ›

Dana Cowin, Food & Wine magazine more ›