October 6: Strategies for Building a Balanced Wine Collection The experts at the Italian Wine Merchants can show you how to build up your wine collection beyond those bottles that were left over from your last party. During the course of the afternoon, you'll taste eight Italian wines including vintage Barolo, Brunello, Super-Tuscans, and more while sampling assorted antipasti. $125 per person. Reservations required and can be made online or by calling 212-473-2323 x106. 1:00......

September 8: Hudson River Riverside Oyster Festival Oysters, Guiness, Irish music -- what more do you need, really. Head to Riverside Park for this free festival -- oysters and Guiness available for purchase. Hudson Beach Cafe, 103rd St, at Riverside Park, 4-9:30 PM, call (917) 370-3448 for more information. September 9: Slow Cooker Demo Rosh Hashannah is right around the corner -- time to get your brisket on, and a slow cooker is just the......

July 15: Bastille Day at Bar Tabac If you've never played petanque, head on down to Smith Street for North America's largest petanque tournament -- the two block stretch betweeen Bergen and Pacific will be shut down and covered with sand just for the occasion. While your'e watching the action, enjoy special cocktails from Ricard and other drink specials ($5-6), nibble on grilled merguez and chicken sandwiches ($5) and groove to Jazz band Blue Orchid......

June 3: A Day A Whey (the Sequel!) Join Saxelby Cheesemongers for a day trip to the Valley Shepherd Creamery in New Jersey to see a sheep dairy in action. Learn about the cheesemaking process from start to finish and end the day with a picnic on the farm. 11 am to 7 pm. Tickets are $75 and are available online. June 4: Japanese Food Demonstration and Tasting Head on over to the Brooklyn Kitchen......

Tonight, there's a public meeting and hearing to discuss what will happen with Pier 40 on the Hudson River. The plan on the table is a $626 million proposal called "Pier 40 Performing Arts Center," which includes a Cirque du Soleil performance space, a 12-screen movie theater, a banquet hall and much more. Detractors call it "Las Vegas on the Hudson," and this has set up what the Times calls a "potential showdown between......

Last night's Department of Transportation presentation to Park Slope's Community Board 6 brought out hundreds of residents. Streetsblog has excellent coverage, noting that CB6 rejected the plan to turn Sixth and Seventh Avenues into one-way streets and residents want comprehensive planning, versus "secretive, top-down, traffic engineer-driven planning." Streetsblog also has a bootlegged copy of the presentation that lacks many details. In this plan you will find nothing about traffic calming, pedestrian counts the numerous......

Tonight is the big meeting where the Department of Transportation will present its plan to turn Sixth and Seventh Avenues one-way. The DOT thinks that one-way-ing the big streets will improve safety with less cars making sharper turns and cars traveling the speed limit (how, we don't know). Some residents believe the DOT is actually easing the way for more Atlantic Yards -related traffic. Streetsblog checked out the traffic on one-way Eighth Avenue, and......

In case you've been caught up in your holiday shopping, we wanted to let you know about some recent restaurant openings: - Kobe Club: If you're into Waygu beef, it's all over the menu at Jeffrey Chodorow's latest venture. Restaurant Girl gives us an early look. 68 West 58th Street, 212-644-5623. - Dennis Foy: chef (and painter) Dennis Foy brings his take on "French-influenced Contemporary American fare" to Tribeca, even dabbling in a bit of......

Yes, the TKTS booth is moving from Duffy Square to the Marriott Marquis until December of this year while the new TKTS booth that looks like a huge red staircase (the ticket counters are under the stairs) is being constructed. But why did it take so long? Because the Times Square Alliance decided to spiff up Duffy Square, that sliver of land between Broadway and Seventh Avenues, between 47th and 46th Streets, in a......

Recently disturbed to find ourselves in Times Square, we stopped into Tintol, a new Portugese tapas and wine bar and were pleasently surprised- the bar looks like it's trying to forget that it is in the gaudiest place in the world, too. From Jose de Meirelles, a former partner (and co-executive chef) at Les Halles, and owner of the kosher steakhouse across 46th Street, Marais, Tintol has a Portugese take on small plates and an......

July 14: Bastille Day at Paris Commune Celebrate Bastille Day, with a prixe fixe menu ($29.95) that includes choices like filet mignon with duck mousse, and salad nicoise. The cost of dinner covers an additional course for dessert: a ride along the Hudson River in a rickshaw-styled Petite Cab courtesy of Bicyclette Wines after dinner. 99 Bank Street, 212-929-0509. July 16, 17, 23, 24: Blue Crab Festival Join the gang at Bar Minnow from 11......

A pair of robbers has been terrorizing residents in Gramercy Park, East Village and Chelsea. Their M.O. is to watch people entering their apartments or knock on their doors and then force their way in. They demand cash, cellphones, and sometimes drugs, leading police to believe they are junkies. The Post notes the locations of the robberies: - March 15, at 2:39 a.m., on West 16th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. - March 17,......