Many people have a strong preference when forced to choose between sweet and savory -- french toast or eggs, cupcakes or french fries, chocolate or cheese? These days, however, the line is getting blurred, with more pastry chefs entering the savory fray, like Sam Mason's Tailor and Pichet Ong's P*ong, both with menus that bring sweetness into entrees and a savory edge to desserts. A dash of coarse sea salt gives an added kick to......

Inspired by the miso butterscotch pork belly we had at Tailor, these ribs are meatier, heftier, and to our bellies more satisfying than Sam Mason's creation. Betcha expected a Thanksgiving recipe for us today. Well, our family traditionally goes to Peter Luger's every year on Thanksgiving, so we can't help you there. If you're willing to flout tradition, though, we can't think of a better way to express gratitude for our loved ones than......

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Sam Mason’s Tailor. Loves the design of the place, and—along with everyone else—the pork belly, the arctic char and the drinks. Overall? “[Mason’s] infatuation with his own imagination doesn’t leave room enough for a self-appraisal of the results… a duck-and-eel terrine in a chocolate consommé tastes like cat food splashed with Yoo-hoo.” Hee. In Dining Briefs, Bruni goes to Toloache. Calls the upscale Mexican restaurant a “welcome addition”......

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Harry Cipriani in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, awards the restaurant no stars. Finds “service so confused and food so undistinguished it wouldn’t pass muster at half the cost.” Says prices at the restaurant ridiculous. The restaurant was last reviewed in 1991, when Bryan Miller gave it two stars. The one positive? “The people-watching is nonpareil." Peter Meehan visits Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for tacos. Likes Epocas......

If you’ve got a sweet tooth and a couple hundred bucks to blow, you’ll want to mark your calendar for Friday November 16th, when the Food Network throws New York’s “largest dessert party ever.” Called Sweet, the event will unleash a massive tsunami of temptations from some of NewYork’s top pastry chefs, confectioners, cheese makers, bakers and chocolatiers. To wash it all down there’ll be a wide selection of champagne and wine, including samples from......

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Gemma in the Bowery Hotel for Italian, awards the restaurant one star. Calls it a “cheat sheet” of a restaurant that recalls Morandi, but with a less skilled chef. “It’s also Morandi in a smarter, sexier outfit, with more charismatic, fluid service. That’s it’s saving grace,” he says. Ryan Sutton stops by Tailor for Bloomberg News. Says “two evil geniuses [Sam Mason and mixologist Eben Freeman, both......

Market Table -- Mike Price, formerly of the Mermaid Inn has partnered with the Little Owl's Joey Campanaro and Gabriel Stulman, moved into the former Shopsins space and created a market/restaurant where, among other things, they'll be selling the kick-ass pork chops served at the Little Owl so you can attempt to re-create them at home. The market portion is in the soft-opening stage, and the restaurant is due to open the week of September......

Sam Mason's Tailor, in it's post-plywood, pre-opening glory. Word on the street is that it's set for an August 30th opening. Dozing off in the afternoon? Maybe you're not eating the right lunch. Are all the rumors about Restaurant Liebrandt true? Tune in next week to find out. Restaurateur Drew Nieporent may eat like he owns some heavy-hitting restaurants, but the man has lost 70 pounds in the process. Got a tidbit for us? Send......

This month's Bon Appetit is the restaurant issue, highlighting recipes from restaurants all across the world, but our own Little Owl made the cover photo with their delectable meatball sliders. Other hometown shout-outs went to The Good Fork, for their Korean-style steak and eggs, a spiced plum chutney from Tabla, and WD-50's music playlist (including one of our current obsessions, Hall & Oates). A feature article focuses on some of our finest pastry chefs, who......

Every year that tragically hip (used to be Downtown) now-Midtown magazine, Paper, gives us a list of all the beautiful people. Some are famous, most you've never heard of, all of them are pretty on the inside (and/or outside!) and most importantly - they're all doing something cooler than you. Let's take a look at some of this years BPs: • Hayes Peebles is in there, the 14-year old wunderkind that played our last Movable......

Without much fanfare last July, Alex Stupak replaced Sam Mason as pastry chef at Wylie Dufresne's Clinton Street avant-garde institution WD~50. Prior to arriving in New York, Stupak, who will turn 27 later this month, had already accrued a blockbuster resume- most notably he was the pastry chef at Alinea in Chicago, named the #1 restaurant in the United States by Gourmet magazine in 2006. Last week, Stupak talked with Gothamist while plating one his......

Bright Eyes Twangs Out Bowery Remember those tense hours a few months back when nobody could get Bright Eyes tickets? The chance to see the folk-emo megastar at an intimate club like the Bowery Ballroom was a dream come true for hardcore fans looking to get a first listen at material off the upcoming album. This last Friday and Saturday were the days these kids have been waiting for, and Conor and Friends did......

Gothamist's Star Chefs report is brought to us by Regina Varolli, a Manhattan-based freelance writer. Though most of her private clients are in DC, she lives here because the food is better, in general. After 11 years on the web, StarChefs.com held its inaugural “International Chefs Congress” last week. Gathering chefs from around the globe, the event boasted an impressive line-up including pastry god Pierre Hermé, elBulli’s Albert Adrià, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, NYC chemist-chefs......

All the foodies are in a tizzy today as the coveted James Beard Award nominees were announced last night. The actual awards ceremony and reception will be held on May 8, at an event celebrating "the culinary legacy of New Orleans." Reservations for the May 8th event can be made by calling 212-367-9490 or toll free at 1-866-362-6442. Admission is $375 ($325 for James Beard Foundation members/$120 for students - find your old ID cards......

The Post rustles up a food critic and sends Steve Cuozzo the Lower East Side and WD-50 and loves Wylie Dufresne's food. In fact, he writes, "Its brand of modern-American cooking is witty but not wacky." Later on, he says that pastry chef Sam Mason's desserts are "kooky without being kinky." Gothamist would like further details if in fact Dufresne is witty but not wacky and if Sam Mason is kooky without being kinky......

These dudes look like they're in a rock band or just went to check one out downtown. But actually they are the chefs at WD-50, headed by Wylie Dufresne, formerly of 71 Clinton Fresh Food and who helped spark the Lower East Side restaurant boom. The Times gives foodies a glimpse into the new operation. Don't know if Wylie Dufresne is trying to be all ironic, but WD-50 is a lot like WD-40. Not to......