It a big week for New York's newly open-for-the-season ice skating rinks. Bryant Park's rink, which is seasonally surrounded by holiday shops, now has a giant glass restaurant sitting by its side as well. Celsius (housed in a tent previous years) is having a grand opening this weekend in their 7,000 square foot, all glass, two-story building. The balcony overlooking the park and rink is even complete with outdoor heat lamps for staying toasty.......

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......

Disgruntled delivery workers chanted "No Justice, No Noodles!" at a raucous demonstration outside Union Square's Republic restaurant yesterday; the crowd was gathered to protest against co-owner Jonathan Morr and his alleged retaliation against eight workers who filed a federal labor-violation lawsuit last April. Seven of those eight workers remain, and they say that since the lawsuit they've had their hours cut dramatically and have been subjected to constant harassment from management, including being cursed......

Last night the City Winery opened its slightly unfinished doors to the press, revealing New York's only fully functioning winery/venue. Downstairs in a temperature-controlled room, casks of wine made on the premises were being stored...some of it for customers who had already purchased their own. (Customers like Lou Reed.) That's right, possibly the best thing about this place is that you can put your name on a barrel and come tap into it whenever you......

Oh, remember how this time last year Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni thought nothing of dropping $7,000 on a 1.1 pound white truffle? Those were the days. Now, with Wall Street rapidly turning into Skid Row, it's hard out there for a truffle. Last week there was big buzz in the restaurant world when this 2.15 lbs white truffle—dwarfing last year's star—was flown in from Alba, Italy by Mikuni Wild Harvest rep Tyler Gray. He......

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......

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......

You'll recall how excited everyone was—EVERYONE—last October when Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni bought a "perfectly round, pristine" 1.1 pound white truffle for $7,000. Child's play! Behold the 2.15 lbs white truffle that has just arrived on our shores from Alba, Italy. It's been acquired by Mikuni Wild Harvest, whose representative Tyler Gray writes:A very excited Italian gentleman named Francesco the Forager stumbled / sprinted out of the forest mid afternoon in a haze......

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......

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......

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......

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......

Of course, the big thing on everyone's minds this morning is Frank Bruni's review of Bobo, a Greenwich Village restaurant as maligned for its food as it is adored for its ambiance. Well, after a long night of suspense and speculation, Bruni has made his announcement: one star, and considerable praise for Patrick Connolly, the restaurant's third chef in a year. "In fact a few of his dishes — his appetizers, at least — manage......

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......

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......

This week Frank Bruni double-fists it with a review of two sushi places: Kanoyama, in the East Village, and Sushi Azabu (pictured), in TriBeCa, that both "stand out in part because they’re navigable in ways that aren’t too financially wounding." Kanoyama’s "brimming, glistening combination platter...is first-rate, and doesn’t give you the sense you sometimes get at other restaurants that what you’re saving in money you’re sacrificing in freshness." The clandestine Sushi Azabu, accessed via a......

Respected chef Neil Ferguson, who opened the warmly-received Allen & Delancey just last fall, has abruptly quit, taking an offer to be the top chef at Soho House, a private club whose food we cannot vouch for because we only went there this one time to interview the Beastie Boys. But what's cool about Soho House is when you ask them for water, they give you an entire glass bottle of some exotic brand that......

Besides the sickening amount of mass-produced prole candy available this time of year, there's also an abundance of higher grade Halloween eating and drinking options. And so it begins; the long, downward holiday flab spiral that reaches its nadir around the first week of January when you have to start leaving the top button of your pants undone. Oh well, no use fighting it; here are some consumption opportunities we've been able to scare up:Through......

Aspen Social Club: The big opening this week is this "modern‑rustic" evocation of Colorado ski-lodge chic in the heart of Times Square. Gold plated antlers hover over the bar like an inverted middle finger to the recession, and another $100,000 worth of illuminated antlers cover the dining room. The 3,000 square foot restaurant and lounge will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with delicacies like Bison Sliders with smoked cheddar, bacon & “gonzo” sauce. The "gonzo"......

This week Frank Bruni at the Times bestows two glittering stars on Allegretti, where one of his dining companions swoons for the fish soup, sounding like an absolutely insufferable food snob: "'It tastes exactly the way it should," she said, rushing the words out as soon as the soup was down. She wanted the rest of us to know. She wanted to crow. She wanted to be done with talking and get back to the......

The Chestnut Bar: Carroll Gardens neighborhood restaurant Chestnut has expanded into the space next door with a “cozy, rustic bar.” We're told it’s got exposed brick, tin ceilings, a U-shaped bar, tall snack tables made of recycled Chestnut, and a collection of antique "chestnuts" (bottles like these, from which the restaurant got its original name). Chef and co-owner Daniel Eardley is all about the farm-to-table, sustainable agriculture thing, and his $30 three-course prix fixe menu......

The 8th Street Winecellar is a cozy subterranean spot in Greenwich Village that opened up just over a year ago. But don't let the name fool you -- owners and longtime restaurant industry vets Michael Lagnese (left) and Jonny Cohen (right) want this to be your all-around neighborhood bar, even if you don't live in the 'hood. Where did the two of you meet? Michael Lagnese: Union Square Café. Jonny Cohen: Originally we met at......

Candle 79, the fancy vegan restaurant on the Upper East Side, "takes a limited larder and stages an impressive show, reminding the pork-stuffed, duck-spoiled diner how much else is out there, and how much of it has never relied on animals or fish in the first place," according to Frank Bruni at the Times. He's no vegetarian, so he's thrilled to discover that the place is "largely satisfying, leaving an omnivorous interloper with a......

Page Six has a long profile on Tavern on the Green owner Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who inherited the place from her flamboyant father Warner LeRoy in 2001 at the age of 22. She currently pays $1.3 million a year in rent to the Parks Department, but the city will be putting the lease up for bidding when it expires in the fall. Donald Trump, Nobu owner Drew Nieporent, and Danny Meyer are rumored to be......

"M" by Megu: Expensive Tribeca Japanese restaurant Megu has redone its upstairs space (formerly Kimono Bar) into a swank nightclub (pictured) with a "small bites" menu. The dance floor has been expanded, fancy cocktails like “Death in the Afternoon” (Absinthe, Champagne, Rock Sugar) have been concocted, and the waitress have been attired in swimsuits custom designed by Keiko, who we're told is kind of a big deal. Menu options include Kobe Beef Sliders, Crispy Cod......

You'll recall that neighbors living near the revoltingly trendy Delicatessen in Soho are getting really fed up with all the obnoxious tools blathering through the night, with one man going so far as to urinate down onto the roof, which is part glass. Could this be the same scold who led a near-riot last night, according to this priceless email sent to Eater by one witness? "Some young super-angry dude storms up to the bar......

Buzz has been building for Socarrat Paella Bar (pictured), the casual tapas and paella joint that has fans waiting 20-30 minutes for a seat at a long communal table. And after today's review by Frank Bruni in the Times, you may as well take that wait time and double it: "They’re better than the paellas at many other Spanish restaurants in New York, where paella doesn’t always fare so well...The broad, shallow, black cast iron......