Options for a midday meal in under the Manhattan Bridge are limited, but Punto Bianco at the corner of Jay and John Streets in DUMBO now offers espresso and Mediterranean fare with an emphasis on fresh, healthy ingredients. "I've had my eye on this space for 15 years," says owner George Lati of the voluminous café with walls of windows and a modern flair. "We opened up just before the holidays which was crazy and my wife was so excited she was just giving everything away for free. 'Let the people eat,' she'd say. She was in heaven!" Lati describes his wife Shela as the engine that keeps the café running. And with a little help from their five children, Punto Bianco is seems to have found its footing. more ›

Perfectly located on the ground floor of a newish condo, right next to the new nail salon "FiNAILly" and across the street from the overpriced Millennium Market, you'll find Fushimi, the gargantuan and batshit crazy Asian fusion restaurant that's destined to totally blow late night yupster minds. Fushimi, which has two other locations on Staten Island and Bay Ridge, may remind some customers of that scene in Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing" adaptation where the bar at The Mint Hotel transforms into a "fucking reptile zoo, and somebody's giving booze to these goddamn things." But since we're talking about Williamsburg in this Foul Year of Our Lord 2012, catering to boozy lizards seems like a shrewd business model, eh? Ready to sign in for your credentials? more ›

From Stuyvesant Heights to the Clinton Hill border, we're going to walk you through the best of Bedford-Stuyvesant—here's our hand-picked guide on where to wine and dine out in the neighborhood. more ›

Just as we've come to terms with the idea of a mandatory 20 percent tip in NY restaurants (and the fact that Steve Cuozzo of all people suggested it), San Francisco had to go and shake everything up. Some members of the SF service industry are reportedly pushing to make a 25 percent tip the standard. Is this one tip that intactivists will be able to get behind? more ›

Click through on the photos for the scoop on the latest bar and restaurant openings around town, which include Betto in Williamsburg, thin crust and more at Piazza Seventeen, Sourthern fusion at SoCo in Clinton Hill, Left Bank in the West Village, Mexicue's first brick-and-mortar on Seventh Avenue, and Gold Coast Delicatessen in Bay Ridge. And check out our photo feature on Ellabess, the new venture from the dell'anima team in the Nolitan Hotel! more ›

The team behind the ever-popular West Village restaurant dell'anima (as well as L’Artusi and Anfora) pop the doors tonight on their latest venture, ellabess (all ee cummings' lowercase like its predecessor). It's located inside the boutique Nolitan Hotel (which isn't even open yet), where it will serve a seasonal American menu from chef Troy Unruh, who has done time at Del Posto. As you can see, the 70-seat restaurant and lounge is sleek, not slick, rocking a sort of minimalist chic aesthetic with plenty of natural light and custom-made oak tables and chairs, Austrian white oak floors, and a white Carrera marble bar. more ›

Just as your server doesn't barge into your cubicle to tell you that you should be using more Outlook reminders so that you won't forget those pointless meetings you attend, restaurant patrons probably shouldn't demand that their servers take their order with a pen and pad. Today's Post describes the practice of waitstaff memorizing their customers' as "all the rage," and describes the effects of such lawlessness on diner psyche, as one tells them "Every time a waiter doesn't write anything down I think three things: One, she or he is definitely going to forget. Two, since when does being a good waiter mean having a steel-trap memory? Show me the pad! And three: I feel anxious." Wait, could you repeat those last two? We weren't listening. more ›

Named after a popular Havana ice cream shop, Coppelia is a 24-hour, NY-style luncheonette featuring a Cuban-inspired menu from Julian Medina, the chef/owner of Toloache, Yerba Buena, and Toloache Taqueria. As you can see, it's a cheery little spot that seats about 70. There is a large marble bar with spinning stools for counter-service seating, or you can get fresh in one of the booths meant to evoke the backseat of a 1950s Chevy. Weather permitting, an additional 25 diners can be accommodated in the garden. more ›

The NYC restaurant business sure is rough: the critics are heartless, the profit margin is tight, the overhead is crushing. And then you've got international oil conglomerates and the Department of Transportation breathing down your neck. East Village restaurant Mara's Homemade has just announced its closing, and in a farewell email, the Cajun eatery explains that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the bike lane on First Avenue put them out of business: more ›

Yee Li restaurant, on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Bayard, used do business under the much more amusing name New Big Wang. A few years ago they changed the name, but thankfully the ownership and the menu remained intact. As you enter this friendly Cantonese restaurant, you'll notice the huge roast ducks, roast and steamed chicken, and pig's head hanging in the window; beyond the door, giant fish tanks are stocked with soon-to-be-dinner. Once inside, a balding waiter with a beautifully oversized melon greets your party with a smile and leads you to one of the circular tables that fill the single-room restaurant. The place is nothing much to look at, but one dish in particular is worth writing home about. more ›

Cooper Square's answer to the West Village's Fedora has arrived: Called The Trilby, the hat-named lounge/restaurant (which also compliments El Sombrero on the LES) opened Friday in the Cooper Square Hotel. This is the controversial hotel's third attempt to score a win with the space, which was previously Scott Conant's Faustina, and before that Govind Armstrong's Table 8. This time around, there are no boldfaced names involved, and the interior—which some critics described as "unworkable"—has been totally revamped, with tufted leather couches, vintage adornments and cozy booths. more ›

New York is undisputedly one of the restaurant capitals of the world. We may not have the best restaurant in the country (that title these days seems to go to Alinea or the French Laundry depending on which list you are studying) but we almost always fill out the rest of any top ten. For sheer number of great restaurants in one place we can't be beat. But don't tell to that Lauren Collins of the Guardian. In a screed today she makes every effort to paint our dining scene as a crowded, chaotic and unappetizing mess. "A dinner out in New York," she says, "even for those who intend to pay the bill in full, often offers all the relaxation of a rush-hour tube ride to the dentist's office." more ›

After a drubbing from New York's Adam Platt, chef Michael White's upscale, French Riveria-inspired Italian restaurant Ai Fiori in the Setai Fifth Avenue gets three-stars of praise from the Times' Sam Sifton who calls it "a winning new defense of fine dining" and "one of the best restaurants to open in New York in the last 12 months." Though it is "not really a beautiful restaurant" that is ok because the cooking, "a soulful amalgamation of French technique and Italian passion, executed with great skill," is "at its very top here." more ›

In this city, restaurants come and go faster than you can say "sustainable locavore burger." And even though there are great new additions to the culinary landscape popping up every week, you've gotta give kudos to anyone who can stick it out for over a year. With that in mind, we bring you Still Got It, our tribute to establishments that continue to serve mouthwatering meals long after the buzz has faded—or if the lingering hype is still justified. more ›

Click on the photos for all the details on the new restaurants and bars on the scene, which include The Rum House in the Edison Hotel, seasonal French-American cuisine at La Silhouette, fine coffee and wood-fired everything at Modca in Williamsburg, music and more at MikNik Lounge, and brew and chew at 61 Local in Cobble Hill. more ›