Back in 2008 New York Magazine made a big splash when it purchased MenuPages for an undisclosed sum, scooping up the site's local food blogs with it. Three years later those blogs are gone (or merged into Grub Street) and New York has decided it can do without the hassle of maintaining up-to-date listings of what local restaurants have on their menu. So they've gone and sold the site to Seamless, the delivery site that used to be called SeamlessWeb (and which last we checked was owned by ARAMARK). But what does that really mean? more ›

Everybody loves lists, right? In that spirit, here's your list alert: New York has its annual "Best of NY" issue out this week, and you can see it all online, and check in on their picks for things such as best tasting menus, best sober activities, and best repair specialists. They give props to our new neighborhood candy store! You can also check out some new lists from Crain's on the 50 most powerful women in NYC and the 40 best places to work in NYC. Finally, the News has a list of the best iphone applications for NYers, including SitOrSquat, which'll get you to the closest cleanest public bathroom. more ›

This week the Times's interim chief dining critic Pete Wells takes a hammer to deservedly acclaimed chef Michael Psilakis, whose latest venture, Gus & Gabriel, is inspired by the culinary tastes of his son, TGI Friday's, and whiskey. Wells's review is disastrous, which means it's a fun read: "When three children under age 10 leave their milkshakes almost untouched, you know there’s trouble." The restaurant's "colossal misfires are almost impossible to believe and harder still to explain." Specifically: "Almost every chef in town is experimenting with techniques for building a better burger. Mr. Psilakis may be the only one to have perfected a new technology that magically strips out all the taste. The skin on what is advertised as 'crispy chicken' was as crisp as a balloon, and the biscuits on the plate were wet and doughy, as if the cook had decided halfway through that he would rather make dumplings." more ›

This week's New York includes an expansive feature on marijuana use in NYC, written by Mark Jacobson, a self-described pothead who first turned on in Alley Pond Park, Queens. Maybe we're just really stoned, but this article is waaaay long, so let's, um, break it up: more ›

If you've been following along with the allegations of sexual harassment and general depravity at The Box—the nightclub where guests pay over $1,000 so that performers like transvestite Miss Rose Wood can pull a Jameson's bottle out of his ass, take a swig and then spit on them—you may be interested in NY Mag's lengthy profile on owner Simon Hammerstein, "The Impresario of Smut." He strongly denies the most scandalous accusations, but unnamed sources say auditions for Simon sometimes climax back at his apartment. Miss Rose Wood has perhaps the best Hammerstein horror story: "Then Simon said to me, ‘So, can you pull a string of Christmas lights out of your ass?’ I said to him, ‘Well, you know, I’m Jewish. And so before the Christmas lights come out, I’ve got to dislodge the menorah.’" That's professionalism, people! more ›

NY Magazine threw their 10th Annual tasting frenzy last night at Skylight, with chefs from dozens of the city's best restaurants corralled to raise money for City Harvest. Some of the bolder-faced names included April Bloomfield from The Spotted Pig and, supposedly, Tom Colicchio, but he was nowhere to be seen at the Craft table when we were there. As for the food, the big standouts of the night were definitely L'Ecole's Smoked Arctic Char with Pickled Tomato and Goat Cheese, Adour's Hazlenut Croustillant, and the Witch's Kiss tequila cocktail from PDT. more ›

This week’s New York Magazine cover story drops over 5,500 words on the “slightly illicit-sounding” Brownstoner, a blog that for several years has chronicled the steamy vicissitudes of gentrifying Brooklyn. Or rather, the article looks at Brooklyn’s turbulence through the prism of the blog’s commenters – specifically a derisive doomsday prophet who calls himself The What. 5,500 words, one commenter. Up next, a sprawling New Yorker profile on Alex Balk’s Tumblr imitator. more ›

Last month we all got to see Lindsay Lohan play dress up for NY Mag as she posed as Marilyn Monroe. Michael Musto wasn't about to let her steal the show though, he's now topped the troubled tart by posing as Lindsay posing as Marilyn. He tells his loyal readers how he prepared for his own "Last Sitting":

The slinky Lindsay said she did 250 crunches the night before her shoot. Well, I did 250 Nestlé Crunches. Lindsay watched Niagara in early preparation for her Marilyn awakening. Well, I was considering Viagra... more ›

The Wisconsin, Washington and Hawaii primaries have been going on today, and while John McCain is expected to further solidify his presumptive nomination, the Democratic race is tight as ever, with a Gallup pole now showing Clinton closing the gap on Obama after his string of eight straight victories. more ›

Us Magazine is reporting that Gwyneth Paltrow was admitted to New York's Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday afternoon. The reason for the hospitalization is not known, but could it have something to do with her history of crazy diets?

"She was slumped over in a wheelchair pushed by [husband] Chris Martin," an eyewitness tells Us. "She looked not well." more ›

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We checked in with some folks recently for a little end of '07 "exit interview" before we enter a new year. Thomas Onorato was the subject of a tell-all titled Confessions From the Velvet Rope last year -- but what has the self-proclaimed "door bitch" been doing in 2007? more ›

We remember Z100 fondly. It was our morning listen for much of elementary school, and for better or worse, has stuck to the same broadcasting formula for all this time. The annual Jingle Ball is a fun tradition, if for nothing else, as a convenient year end recap of all the biggest pop hits of the year we might have missed. Getting all these names together for one night only is no easy feat. They had your Fall Out Boys and Backstreet Boys, Alisha Keys and Avril Levine, Timbaland's bizarre soft-rock crossover protégées and many more. They all got a slot to perform their one hit wonders to the obsessed, shrieking masses. The biggest story coming out of the concert may have been the state of Ashley Tisdale's schnoz, but the music itself was a perfect storm of mainstream glitz that just seems fitting for this crazy season. (pic via Z100.com) more ›

Two years ago the famed Saturday Night Fever dance floor was sold at auction for $188,000 when the Brooklyn club where the movie was filmed, Odyssey 2001 (later called Spectrum), was closed. Just yesterday the legendary movie turned 30 and amNewYork got nostalgic looking back at the Bay Ridge kid, Tony Manero, who sought refuge on that dance floor.

Thirty years ago this weekend, a tough young kid from Bay Ridge strutted across America's movie screens and struck his finger in the air to announce a new moment in the country's culture. Disco had been bubbling in the underground for a few years before the film came out, opening the sub-culture to a mass audience. more ›

Former Ramones manager and most recently a real estate agent "to the stars," Linda Stein, was found murdered yesterday. The character who shows Charlie Sheen apartments in the movie Wall Street was reportedly based on her, and Michael Gross published a profile on her in NY Mag in the early '90s. Mrs. Stein was also the ex-wife of music industry mogul Seymour Stein. more ›

Got a tidbit for us? Send it to the feedbag. more ›

This week NY Mag has a scathing analysis of Thomas Krens' tenure at the Guggenheim, calling the air around the museum during his 17-year reign "distorted and toxic." Writer Jerry Saltz says the museum is beginning to recover only now, two years after Lisa Dennison, who is now leaving to become executive vice president for Sotheby's North America, replaced him when he left to run the Guggenheim Foundation. more ›

We love this week’s NY Mag article by “locavore” Manny Howard, who planted a farm in his 800 square foot Brooklyn backyard. He grew vegetables and raised both rabbits and chickens, with the goal of using what he raised from March through July as his sole subsistence for the month of August. more ›

The PR team over at Mercadito sent us a very disturbing email earlier today:

On Sunday, August 26, at 7:20 am Antonio Barranco Hernandez was killed, and Luis Romero and Augusto Bravo were seriously injured after a drunk driver slammed into the back of the van while the men delivered produce to Mercadito Grove restaurant, located at 100 Seventh Avenue South in New York City. more ›

Lance Bass took a bite of the Big Apple, only to spit it right back out. NY Mag reported that the ex-'n Syncer, who is in town starring as Corny Collins in Hairspray, said he doesn't like New York too much.

“There’s a lot of pieces of crap here for a lot of money,” he says. “And I don’t think anyone here has any style. I was looking at fully furnished places and it was like, you can either have a bunch of floral prints or some dusty couch from the 1960s.”

According to The New York City Department of Health, New Yorkers have a longer shelf life than those in the rest of the country. NY Mag has some astounding stats including: a New Yorker born in 2004 can now expect to live 78.6 years, which may not sound that long but it's in fact nine months longer than the average American. Note that the average gets brought down anytime a young person dies, which seems to happen all too often around here. Still, since 1990 New Yorkers have added 6.2 years to their lives while the average American has only added 2.5! more ›

If you watch the reality shows, you probably wonder at the random, more boring, points of your day: Whatever happened to so-and-so from Project whatchamacallit? Or more likely, you don't. more ›

NY Mag reports that the bull costs $10,000 a year to insure, which might be why their ultra-premium margaritas cost $51. While it may take a couple of those margaritas to get on the bull, we wonder if they check how sober a person is before riding. more ›

READING: Today NY Mag asks, "What does Tina Brown have to do to get some attention?" Well tonight she's signing copies of her new book (a tell-all on Princess Di) called The Diana Chronicles. more ›

The store was founded by Ben Bass on what was known as Book Row, which at the time housed 48 bookstores. Today it's run by Fred and Nancy Bass. When asked how the business changed over the past 80 years and if people are still as literary as they once were, Fred Bass answered: more ›

Finally, we have two reasons to discuss Lost. First a warning: stop reading this if the show is still on your DVR, unwatched. more ›

Sasha Frere Jones has a problem...and NY Mag has a problem with how he's going about solving it. The New Yorker music critic's files, photos and memories have been imprisoned by the evil LaCie 1TB, and the bail is a hefty $5K. He explains on his blog: more ›