If you follow Gothamist on Twitter, you can win a chance to win a decadent Roman Feast for two at Danny Meyer's Italian restaurant, Maialino at the Gramercy Park Hotel. The meal, which includes two dinner and wine tastings, is on October 7, 2010 at 8 p.m.—just follow Gothamist on Twitter and retweet this message to win! Act fast, the contest ends tomorrow at 3 p.m. Courtesy of the new Lexus IS, Wield Precision. more ›

The Times's Sam Sifton reviews Tanoreen this week; it's a Lebanese place in Brooklyn run by a Palestinian-blooded, Israeli-born, American resident mother and daughter team. The food is everything good middle eastern food should be, with "ethereal hummus, lightened with lemon juice to the point of being cloudlike, and some crazily flavorful tabbouleh, whose mint and bulgur combine into something that tastes very much like joy." However, the entrees aren't as successful, and Sifton gets sidetracked over the use of basil on middle eastern lamb. "Is such cooking authentic? Yes, though no. It doesn’t matter and who cares. It’s mostly delicious." more ›

After losing out to Phoenix's Pizzeria Bianco for the best pizza in America, Motorino gets a rave from the Times's Sam Sifton, who says the margherita pie has "perfect-pitch dough with exactly the correct ratios of tomato to cheese to surface area to char to bubble and flat. And "a winter-special pie of brussels sprouts and smoked pancetta, dressed with mozzarella, garlic and pecorino, is like something from a magic act... It is great and unsettling, far better than imagination would dictate." more ›

Pork "is at the heart of the menu" in the Gramercy Park Hotel's new Maialino, says Sam Sifton, in a two-star review. Danny Meyer's new trattoria "looks like a Pottery Barn. But the bar is custom work: elegant and spare. It’s as pleasant a place for a breakfast coffee or lunch salad as for an evening glass of Frascati." Maialino serves classics from spaghetti alla carbonara to stracciatella, but the showpieces are the pork-inspired dishes. "Loin, belly, ribs and shoulder, these become the restaurant’s centerpiece meal, maialino al forno, which appears only to be listed as a special to avoid having a $72 entree on a menu that otherwise tops out at $32....pork at its best." more ›

Danny Meyer, the powerhouse behind such hits as Shake Shack and Eleven Madison Park, is almost done reinventing the downstairs space at Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel. The spot was formerly home to the failed upscale Chinese restaurant Wakiya; as you can see here Meyer's team has been busy transforming the dreary cave into a rustic bar and Italian trattoria. Dinner service starts tomorrow, and yesterday the main dining space, which seats 70, was filled with staffers training for the big debut. more ›