OH: Don't expect the Times's Frank Bruni to review it—Portfolio theorizes he HATES going to Harlem—but for everyone else, this three story restaurant/bar seems worth a try. Well, maybe not everyone; the top floor is a member's only club where $500 gets you "top notch service" and discount food and drinks. ($1000 gets you "full VIP access" to the cigar terrace.) Greasy Guide has a full review and reports that the menu features mini catfish......

The new bike lane that extends along Grand Street between Varick and Chrystie Streets has been warmly received by many cyclists who like the way it's separated from traffic by a row of parked cars. Not so pleased are business owners through Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown, some of whom fear the bike lane will "hurt business and create a dangerous situation," according to The Villager. Ernest Lepore, owner of Ferrara Little Italy, says, "Last......

......

If there was ever a time to open a glamorous new bi-level restaurant in midtown, this ain't it. But you've got to admire restaurateur Rohini Dey for going through with this NYC outpost of her acclaimed Indian-Latin American restaurant, called Vermilion in Chicago and At Vermilion here. If you build "At," they will come—and hopefully they'll still have a line of credit available. Her ambitious new location features a double-height water curtain, a 22-foot metal......

In a well-coordinated publicity stunt, the first cases of Georges Duboeuf 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau arrived in New York City yesterday via Harley-Davidson motorcade, with Franck Duboeuf (Georges Duboeuf’s son) holding it triumphantly aloft from a motorcycle sidecar. According to the Times, some 20 chefs, including David Bouley and Francois Payard, sommeliers, and a posse of Harley-Davidson Hog Club members chaperoned the wine from Battery Park to David Bouley’s new restaurant Secession, where lunch was served.......

Drab and dreary old Times Square is finally going to get some razzle dazzle starting tonight when a massive 17,000-square-foot, three-sided diagonal LED sign is turned on at 1 Times Square, right where the New Year's ball drops. Designed by D3 LED to promote the Walgreen's flagship location—not to mention other publicity-deprived corporations like Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, and Colgate—the "spectacular" display runs off almost 30 computers and uses 12 million energy efficient light-emitting......

When Sam Buffa, co-owner of the Freemans Sporting Club Barber Shops, went on his first impromptu date with his bride-to-be Jean Adamson, who was then head chef at Freemans, their night ended in Vinegar Hill, the quaint little neighborhood bordering DUMBO. So it's kind of sweet that their new labor of love is opening in a 19th century carriage house right where they started, and now reside. They've spent the last four and a half......

Macy's Parade Studio in Hoboken opened its doors yesterday for children from various New Jersey elementary schools to get a preview of this year's eight new floats and four new giant helium balloons. Disney's new Bolt movie was represented, but the real star was a freaky display of Woodland creatures celebrating the first Thanksgiving. (Or celebrating their first acid-fueled orgy?) And if you grew up on the Smurfs, you'll be happy or appalled to know......

This week the Times's Frank Bruni reviews Kurve (pictured), the Thai-centric space-age restaurant in the East Village, which has had a long, rocky road to opening. (After Sarah DiGregorio at the Voice ate there in September, she was informed it "was not yet open.") Bruni awards it zero stars and has fun with his disgruntled companions along the way:"Kurve struts. Until recently it outfitted its servers in proper hats, which prompted associations that changed depending......

Almost one month ago, Representative Anthony Weiner's brother Jason opened a Flatiron district outpost of Almond, his popular Hamptons restaurant. At the time, much was made of the restaurant/lounge's cursed location, which some say is still haunted by the ghosts of Borough Food & Wine, Jeffrey Chodorow’s Caviar & Banana, and Rocco DiSpirito's eponymous FAIL. Although Chef Weiner and his business partner Eric Lemonides have reportedly enjoyed a month of steady business, it's still too......

Dardanel: Salt crusted fish is the star of the reasonably priced seafood menu at this new midtown east restaurant (pictured), named for the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. As such, the high number of seafood dishes are complemented by Turkish classics like halvah pie. The fish is imported daily from the Mediterranean, and entrees include Brook Trout Casserole with grilled vegetables ($19); brick oven baked Black Sea anchovies with rice, pine......

......

New York, meet the bike rack of the future. Today the DOT announced that after a lengthy design competition, a jury of six—including sodden cyclist David Byrne—chose "Hoop" (pictured) out of the ten finalists. It's the work of two Copenhagen designers, Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve. "Constructed of cast metal, the design is elegant yet sturdy enough to withstand New York cyclists’ harsh treatment," the DOT said in a statement. Mahaffy and De......

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......

Since Amy Poehler had to go and get knocked up, and Tina Fey's return was only temporary, Saturday Night Live has been left with a severe shortage of female cast members. The NY Times reports that two new lucky ladies, Michaela Watkins and Abby Elliott (Chris's daughter), have been added--and they've got awfully big heels (and Palin wigs) to fill. If you're guessing that one of these women might be a minority (perhaps to play......

This week Frank Bruni reviews Market Table (pictured), the market-and-dining venue that now only focuses on dining from chef Mikey Price (who is a principal owner along with Joey Campanaro of Little Owl). And Bruni is taken by its "warm," "soothing," "humble," "unambiguous," and "generous" cooking, attitude and style and gives it two stars. He delights in discovering how "There’s bacon with the skate wing and bacon with the brussels sprouts and pancetta with......

There's a new New Year's Eve ball in town, and it's bigger and brighter than the one of year's past (12 feet in diameter, 11,875 pounds, and containing 32,000 LED lights and 2,668 pieces of crystal). One Good Morning America viewer, where it was unveiled earlier today (video), tells us that while it can "do patterns (sun, water, rainbow, American flag)"...it's "ugly" and lacking the charm that the old school ball had. However, the Waterford......

The Hanger Bar was a beloved dive on East Third Street with a pool table, DJ booth and a vintage clothes for sale up front. It closed some months ago, and owners Jay Schneider and Natalka Burian have given the place a serious face lift while keeping the drinking/clothing consumption combo. Bespoke men's suits will now be sold, but even more eye-catching is the antique sewing machine they've turned into a beer tap. For the......

This is the third Manhattan location for Bar And Books, which first opened in 1990 as a clubby lounge for cigars, scotch, whiskey, vintage port, wine, and other spirits. (They also have a couple in Prague.) This outpost is located on First Avenue and 50th Street, and features a back room for smoking, a front room for breathing, complimentary cigars for ladies on Mondays, and discount whiskeys on Tuesday nights. There's an impressive cheese and......

Indian Express: Dubbed "an expedition to Spiceland," this new Tribeca restaurant boasts two chefs as your tour guides: Alfred Durga Prasad and Alexander Xalxo, of Tamarind and Earthen Oven. (Alfred is regarded at a "Master Chef" of Indian Cuisine, so there's bound to be a some jealousy in the kitchen.) The press materials warn: "Don't let the name fool you...this is anything BUT fast food." Dishes served in the 65 seat restaurant include such items......

Hey there fellow F train straphangers, good news is rolling into a station near you sometime soon. Control Geek has a report from this morning: "I was waiting for the F subway at 15th Street/Prospect Park Brooklyn this morning and a brand new train came in! Apparently they were testing it, it had the automated announcements and everything. To keep people from boarding, they were opening the doors on the wrong side." Lost City also......

In Role Models, Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play bad-boy salesmen who travel to schools pushing an energy drink called Minotaur. When Rudd's character over-imbibes and totals the company truck, they're forced to do court-ordered community service in a mentoring program for troubled youth. Hilarious hi-jinks ensue? Not so much, says Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal: "This furiously raunchy, occasionally bright and eventually benumbing comedy...is a prototypical summer release dropped into......

Famed restaurateur and one-time blogger Jeffrey Chodorow has just opened up Center Cut in the Empire Hotel, and if for some reason a vegan had to eat a steak—say, to win a million dollars or get Fugazi back together—this would be the place to force it down. The theatrical 190 seat restaurant, complete with bar and lounge, is serving "steakhouse classics" using naturally-raised meats, free-range fowl and sustainable seafood. Their catchphrase is "where style and......

The revolving hotel room that's part of theanyspacewhatever exhibit at the Guggenheim isn't the only noteworthy work on view at the moment; through January the museum is hosting a mid-career survey of Catherine Opie, who's known for her striking photographs of diverse subjects ranging from Minnesota ice fishers to the west coast L.G.B.T. community. Her photographs of the ice houses were made in a particularly painstaking manner, with Opie braving inclement weather with a field......

This is Houndstooth Pub, a big new bar and restaurant at West 37th Street that's located in 6,800 square feet of space formerly occupied by a Chock full o' Nuts coffee shop. It's run by the guys behind popular after-work bar Stitch, and, for what it's worth, a couple of blokes from Snow Patrol have sunk some money into it. The bi-level space has three bars; one on the ground floor and two downstairs. Depending......

Two Jewish entrepreneurs have developed software that can turn an average BlackBerry into a sacred prayer book. They've dubbed their upgrade "The JewBerry," and have sold it to over 10,000 customers for $30 a pop, according to the Post. Co-creator Jonathan Bennett explains the appeal: "Throughout the day, Jews gather in office-building stairwells and conference rooms to pray, and while sometimes you might not remember your prayer book, no one goes anywhere without their BlackBerry."......

Photo courtesy Vero Midtown. Vero Midtown: The little amber-hued nook seen here is nestled inside this warm and inviting wine bar on East 53rd Street that boasts a 2,200-bottle wine cellar. This is the second Vero location, and while the uptown original emphasizes panini, this iteration has a full kitchen serving dishes such as short rib tacos, gnocchi with foie gras and truffle sauce, and pan-roasted quail. The romantic scene is set by raw wood......

In Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are platonic pals who find romance through their entrepreneurial porno-making scheme. Robert Wilonsky at the Village Voice says, "There is something decidedly novel (nay, revolutionary!) about this particular Kevin Smith film: It looks professionally made, which counts for something. No longer does a Smith movie play like a vacation slideshow; the camera moves!" But Wilonsky thinks "the storyline's as conventional......

Nightlife impresarios Cornelis Craane and Paul Coleman Drohan, whose pedigree extends to old school clubs like Palladium, The Roxy, and China Club, have just opened this new venue that hearkens back to the messier '80s era of NYC nightlife, before the hedge fund bros took over with their $1,000 bottles of Absolut. Located in the Flatiron District, the duo hopes The Imperial will "recreate a fantasy playground reminiscent of the Warhol-Basquiat club days where art......

Award-winning architectural firm Bentel & Bentel has just unveiled Rouge Tomate, an ambitiously designed bi-level restaurant in midtown that's founded on the principal of S.P.E. (Sanitas Per Escam, Latin for Health Through Food). It's the first New York location of a Belgian chain started by a former Mercedes-Benz salesman. In keeping with the eco-friendly approach, executive chef Jeremy Bearman (L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas and db Bistro Moderne here in NYC) is committed......