Click on the images for the scoop on this weekend's Grub Street Food festival, the new menu and chef at Macao Trading Co., and the Halloween cocktails at The Empire Hotel. more ›

We're not giving up on summer, you guys! It's still August, it's still intermittently stinking hot, and there's still time left to do all those summery activities you ambitiously planned way back in May. These include killing a shark with your bare hands at Sandy Hook, eating lobster rolls until Maine's crustacean stocks are completely depleted, and mixing your own refreshing cocktails just like our BFF Rachel Maddow does. more ›

Designed to evoke the kind of joint where you'd plant a revolver in the men's room in order to shoot a corrupt police captain, the East Side Social Club opened last night, from the family behind such winners as Employees Only and Macao Trading Co. Located on East 51st Street in the former Montparnasse space in The Pod Hotel, the club is divided into three distinct sections: a bar in front with Art Deco accents; a fine dining room with classic checkered tablecloths in the center; and an elevated, semi-private back room divided by ironwork. It's open from 6:45 a.m. to 4 a.m., giving the public the opportunity to conduct "business" at all hours. (For the record, it's not literally a "club.") more ›

This week in the Village Voice, Robert Sietsema has his turn with The John Dory (photos), the new seafood place from the owners of The Spotted Pig. He concurs that "the menu is sometimes shockingly expensive. On our first visit, a half-dozen oysters set us back $24." But some items are worth it, like the cod milt (fish sperm, $16), "a dish that defines just how far the menu will go to deliver novel seafood sensations. While this may conjure up images of ejaculating fish and hapless under-chefs running after them with paper cups, the semen comes in a sac that fries up like sweetbreads. For aficionados of weird food, it's delicious." And Sarah DiGregorio loves Bushwick's Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos, where "the tortillas are wonderful: thick, slightly chewy, and fragrant." more ›

The Employees Only crowd have joined forces with David Waltuck (chef/owner of Chanterelle and 2007 James Beard Award winner) to open Tribeca's Macao Trading Co., a big funky restaurant packed with antiques to evoke "the 1940s portside feel of Macao’s red lantern district." The space is bi-level and the menu's bi too, with Macao's history as a Portuguese colony reflected in both Chinese and Portuguese versions of ribs, bass tripe. Meals are served family-style in the 82-seat dining room and bar; other dishes include African fried chicken ($18), Portuguese Style Grilled Prawns with vinho verde & garlic butter ($28), and Chinese Style grilled sirloin with oyster sauce & Chinese broccoli ($32). more ›