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What was one of the last meals for the first class passengers on board the Titanic? The lunch menu for the midday meal served on April 14th,1912 is now up on the auction block in the UK, and is expected to sell for $157,960 USD. The menu was on the table of Dr. Washington Dodge, a banker from San Francisco who was traveling with his wife and son. The entire family survived the tragic crash, and his wife Ruth had the menu from that afternoon, placing it in her handbag. It has been in the family since, and is one of the rarest pieces of Titanic memorabilia. more ›

Maybe you're eating out for Thanksgiving this year, or maybe you're entertaining at home with the Best Turkey Ever. But either way, take a moment to reflect upon the Thanksgiving menus of yesteryear, culled from the fantastic menu archives at the New York Public Library. more ›

There are a lot of options for dining out in the city this Thanksgiving, but none of them cost just 75 cents. Ephemeral NY looks back at the Thanksgiving menu from 1899 at the Sturtevant House, a popular hotel on Broadway and 29th Street (which was in operation from 1871 to 1903). As you can see by comparison, 75 cents for the whole meal was a pretty good deal—you could only get an entree for that much at The Plaza on the same night. more ›

A pit bull died yesterday after mauling a Chinese restaurant owner trying to slide a menu under the door of a house in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Xiu Ming Li, 52, was mauled by three pit bulls during the attack, and is currently listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital with bites on his legs, arm and head. One of his earlobes was also chewed off! The dogs' owner, Samantha Sing, and the landlord, Desiree Murray, heard the dogs' barking and rushed outside to try and stop them. "He was saying ‘Help me, help me," Murray tells the Post. "He was just lying there. They would have killed him." more ›

Three's a trend! A few months back we saw the debut of upscale tiki lounge Painkiller; in the next few weeks two more arrive on the scene: Lani Kai (from The Clover Club's Julie Reiner) will open in the former Tailor space next month, and on Monday, The Hurricane Club flings open its upscale doors. Has NYC gone tiki crazy? Restaurateurs are betting big bucks on it, at least judging by the dark opulence on display at The Hurricane. more ›

The team behind Williamsburg beer mecca Spuyten Duyvil and BBQ mecca Fette Sau has finally added a third mecca to their portfolio: St. Anselm. After a long delay, co-owner Joe Carroll began serving a limited lunch menu this week (seen here), and expects to extend that into dinner on Monday. But he won't be offering the full, meat manic menu for another month or two, and today he explained the hold up. more ›

Hidden bars are so over, so surely some of you are too cool for Cienfuegos, a new Cuban small plates and rum punch "cocteleria" from the team behind Mayahuel and Death & Co. But if you're the kind of person who's indifferent to the vicissitudes of whatever's deemed "fresh" or "whack," here's a tour of this really, really ridiculously good looking new joint. The address is 95 Avenue A, but the entrance is found through the back of a sandwich shop on East Sixth Street. more ›

Tamarind, Avtar Walia’s hit Indian restaurant in the Flatiron district, has just opened a capacious and elegantly understated location in Tribeca, designed by Wid Chapman. As you can see here, the two-level, 175-seat space is flooded with natural light, thanks to almost 100 feet of windows throughout the restaurant. We really like the look of this place—all the Brazilian teak ("sustainable"!) and sunshine makes us want to wander in barefoot off the beach and order a giant mango lassi. (We'll have to settle for strolling in off the Hudson River park.) In case you're wondering, the lovely flowers you see on every table are Vanda orchids from Thailand. more ›

Well, isn't this just darling. Mark Grossich (the guy behind such upscale cocktail lounges as The Campbell Apartment and The World Bar in The Trump World Tower) has opened this plush new venture in a former post office on the ground floor of the Empire State Building. (The whole building was recently renovated to the tune of $500 million—every window was replaced with energy efficient ones.) Called The Empire Room, the 3,500 square feet lounge is filled with art deco flourishes, lots of mohair upholstery, velvet, embossed leather and polished stainless steel. This is the place to break out your finest monocle and forget all about that vulgar recession, with the help of a few fancy cocktails. more ›

These photos are making us hungry, and unfortunately Paulie Gee's doesn't deliver (yet). You'll just have to venture to Greenpoint in person to try this gorgeous new pizzeria, which this month replaced the tragically-burned Paloma. Patrons of the former establishment will hardly recognize the new place, which swaps out Paloma's sleek, mod design for a warm, rustic, reclaimed wood aesthetic. The center of attention here is Gee's Stefano Ferrara wood-fired oven, which cost about $20,000 to purchase, ship from Naples, and install. (It weighs 6,000 pounds and can reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees.) more ›

Aww. Roots drummer ?uestlove, who questioned the menu choices of NBC's cafeteria in celebration of Black History Month (fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas)... has made peace with chef Leslie Calhoun. She defended her menu after the Twitpic he took of it made it all the way to the Jay Leno show, and now ?uestlove says: "just so yall dont think that im all talk. i presented leslie in our kitchen with flowers and an extremely sizable gift certificate spa treatment with the works." more ›

While it would be nice to blame NBC's Black History Month Menu-tastrophe on Jeff Zucker, the dishes offered yesterday (fried chicken, collard greens and black-eyed peas) were actually chosen by Leslie Calhoun... NBC's black chef. more ›

In November, Soho's popular French-Moroccan mainstay Cafe Gitane opened up a new location in the controversial Jane Hotel. Things started out slowly with breakfast and lunch, but now the cheery cafe is open for dinner, starting tonight. The West Village outpost, which boasts lovely views of the Hudson River, is serving many of the favorites from the original Mott Street location, such as the appetizing Smoked Trout Salad with black lentils, walnuts, arugula, dried cranberries, avocado, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, shallots and vinaigrette ($14). more ›

Click on the images for details on this week's new restaurants and bars, which include Baba, Ofrenda, Vintry Wine & Whiskey, and The Norry at Kampuchea—plus news on this weekend's free Ketel One Canteen, Marfa's terrific new chef, and a new menu at Aretsky’s Patroon. 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 ›

A press release with this thrilling title landed in the inbox this morning: "CONTROVERSIAL 100 PROOF VODKA INFUSED HOLIDAY TURKEY IS BEING UNVEILED FOR THE HOLIDAY'S BY LOCAL NYC TAVERN. NO ONE UNDER 21 ALLOWED TO EAT AND INCLUDES A TAXI RIDE HOME." To which we would only add BARF. Earlier today Paul Hurley at O'Casey's Tavern on East 41st Street began injecting an unspecified number of 20-pound birds with 8 ounces of 100 proof flavored Georgi vodka: peach, raspberry, cherry and apple. Most of the vodka will evaporate out of the turkeys during cooking, but O'Casey's chef has planned for that, and he's preparing a vodka-infused gravy, served with a straw. more ›

Yesterday suspiciously perky cooking celebrity Rachael Ray, Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn and other government officials held a press event at P.S. 89/I.S. 289 in Tribeca to preview a new menu that Ray created for NYC public schools. On Thursday, 600,000 students, from kindergartners to 12th graders, will have the option to sample the menu Ray developed: whole-wheat flatbread with roasted chicken, a ratatouille-style stew with beans, and corn salad on top. (Plus a side of broccoli.) But yesterday there was also a side of cockroach! more ›

Click on the images above for the scoop on 'Wichcraft's dinner, Harbour's lunch and "Mai Tai Tuesdays," brunch at Charles, speed lunch at La Fonda del Sol, and "Moules Frites Monday" at Bar Blanc Bistro. more ›

Opening "softly" tomorrow, A Voce Columbus is the new big sister location of the cozier A Voce in the Flatiron District. The original location made a big name for chef Andrew Carmellini, who is currently saving Robert De Niro's restaurant reputation at Locanda Verde in the Greenwich Hotel. Then came chef Missy Robbins, who joined A Voce after her tour as Executive Chef at the Obamas' favorite Chicago restaurant, Spiaggia. more ›

Sharks may attack us humans, especially during slow news summers, but does that make it okay for us to slaughter them? Many chefs don't dare serve up shark fin soup due to its controversial nature, but Animal Tourism says there are plenty of places in the city with the dish—considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine— on their menus. more ›

The former Grayz restaurant space in midtown has been tweaked into the ambitious Atria, serving "Modern European" cuisine by Bavarian chef Martin Brock (Café Gray, Grayz). Named for the eight story atrium vaulted above the main dining room, the restaurant underwent a bit of a facelift since severing its association with celebrated chef Gray Kunz. more ›

As a number of area apartment doors have made abundantly clear, Cupid is baaaack, and he's not fluttering away until we're all broke, frustrated or reduced to tears. (Or, we suppose, in loooove.) So we've taken a shovel to an avalanche of V-Day dining promotions piling up in our inbox, and have come out the other side with a number of recommendations, none of which beat observing Corporate Love Day by cooking your own dinner at home. Unless, like many New Yorkers, you have annoying roommates or absurdist kitchens or wholly unromantic dining areas! 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 ›

While the Obamas have yet to discuss any culinary changes in the White House, some chefs have discussed what they would prepare for the inaugural dinner if called to task. The only New York chef asked was Eric Ripert, who also has a DC restaurant. He said that if he was in charge "he would highlight different regions of the country by offering prawns from Santa Barbara, Calif.; scallop chowder from Nantucket Bay and stuffed quail with Wisconsin cheddar grits. And for a comforting finish Ripert would end with an American favorite: peanut butter. Or rather, a peanut butter souffle." more ›

For anyone out there who still has money to spend at restaurants (congratulations one person; need arm candy?), here's 10 Downing, which officially opened last night in the West Village after a long delay. (It was originally scheduled to open over a year ago.) Chef Katy Sparks, who has developed quite the following at the Upper West Side restaurant Compass—and Soho's Quilty's—is teaming up here with Jason Neroni, whose pedigree includes Porchetta and the Tasting Room. Their menu emphasizes (surprise, surprise) "seasonal ingredients" with a Mediterranean influence; one appetizer, the pickled mustard seed chorizo quail egg, is a veteran of Neroni's Tasting Room menu. more ›

Originally designed by Plaza Hotel architect Henry Hardenbergh in 1907 as a men’s bar, The Oak Room closed during Prohibition and re-opened in 1934 as a full-service restaurant. The interior is a city Landmark, as is the Plaza Hotel, which reopened in March (after extensive renovations) as a hotel and luxury condominium, where some tenants complain of loneliness. The Palm Court, that other famous eatery in The Plaza, also reopened in March to derisive reviews from Bloomberg News and the Post. more ›