Photograph of Mark Simmons, Top Chef contestant and sous-chef at Public, and WD-50 chef and owner Wylie Dufresne The festive factor was running high at last night's Taste of the Lower East Side, the 8th Annual fundraiser for the Grand Street Settlement. Forty neighborhood eateries pitched in to benefit Grand Street's programs that assist low-income Lower East Side residents, and they showcased some of their best dishes for the crowd of well over 1,000......

Dean’s: A third Dean’s Restaurant is now open in Tribeca. The Italian eatery has won fans with their signature thin crust brick oven pizza made with homemade mozzarella and a dozen potential toppings. But if amazing brick oven pizza isn’t your thing, Dean’s also has a full Italian menu with pasta dishes like Parpardella Toscana, a wide ribbon pasta with wild mushroom and sundried tomatoes in a light cream white wine sauce. There are also......

Paul Adams goes to Back Forty (pictured) for the NY Sun this week. “The restaurant takes its focus on farm-to-table cuisine almost to the point of self-parody,” he says. Back Forty could benefit more by the presence of Peter Hoffman (the chef and owner) in the kitchen, not so much at the greenmarket, says Adams. This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Barbuto. He loves the roasted chicken, so much so that he basically reviewed......