NYU is moving forward with its plans to copy us and set up shop in the quickly-changing city of Shanghai. Like the school's outpost in Abu Dhabi, NYU Shanghai will be run in conjunction with a partner institution, East China Normal University, won't be funded by NYU and has hopes that a majority of its 3,000 students will be Chinese, not American. Students will be required to study at least one semester abroad. It aims to open as soon as Fall 2013. We just hope it doesn't turn out like some other institution's attempts to branch out to that region... more ›

Last night Shanghai scenesters turned out in force for the opening of the crazy new Obama Club, and we are so envious of the joint's so-tacky-it's-sublime insanity that we had to share. This is just what the Meatpacking District club scene needs: decisive, over the top "CHANGE" (or at least international sanctions)—but we'll probably never get it because whenever anyone tries use Obama's name in this town the White House swoops in to spoil the fun. more ›

It's time for the Lunar New Year, which starts February 7th and lasts for 14 days, and this year is the Year of the Rat, 4706. Sure, there are plenty of things to do to celebrate the holiday, but to us, it means one thing -- a new year banquet. We've found a few places that are offering banquets in honor of the Year of the Rat, including variations of traditional Chinese Lunar New Year foods that bring prosperity, happiness and good fortune to all who join together to feast, like dumplings, uncut noodles, whole fish and chicken. more ›

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Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg speaking at the State of the City address by Mary Altaffer/AP more ›

Mayor Bloomberg continued his whirlwind tour through Asia yesterday with a stop in Bali, Indonesia to talk to United Nations officials about the global effects of climate change. This is after a foray to China, that brought to mind Ed Koch's Beijing inspiration for bike paths in NYC to The New York Times' Clyde Haberman. Like NYC, Bali was the victim of a devastating terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. more ›

Not far from the 7 train or the Sheraton LaGuardia where we had some world-renowned soup dumplings is Nanxiang Xiaolong Bao (aka Noodle House), a small restaurant with an equally small menu. Although the restaurant has far fewer menu options than a typical Chinese restaurant, Nanxiang Xiaolong Bao excels at what they do make. As their Chinese name implies, soup dumplings are their specialty. Orders of the soup dumplings are prepared in an area... more ›

Except for the large banner hanging from the scaffolding outside Pasta Wafu, you would hardly know it was there. It is tucked in the long and narrow space behind the usually packed Ramen Setagaya, and the name on the door still reads "Oriental Spoon," it's former incarnation as a Japanese tapas restaurant, which itself only opened in July. But Pasta Wafu is all new and features Japanese style pasta, and sushi, and Italian food--all under one roof. Confusing? Yes. Tasty? Well, that too. more ›

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? more ›

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A week ago, Gothamist was rhetorically asking if our days of 80-degree weather were behind us until next spring. Now it is looking like we will have at least one more warm spell before fall sets in. That got us to wondering what the latest days were that Central Park reached 80 or 90 degrees. We churned through the daily temperature data from 1971 to the present to plot the graph above. The latest date that it warmed to 90 was September 22nd in 1980. The latest 80-degree day occurred in 1979 on October 22nd. The median latest 90 degree day is August 24th, and the median last 80-degree day is September 23rd. In 1993 the last 90- and 80-degree days were the same day, September 15th. more ›

This week Bruni one-stars Bar Stuzzichini. Says that overall the restaurant is “an honorable effort worthy of note. Its dishes include more successes than failures.” However, service is flawed, lighting unflattering and the space itself “evocative of…a Midtown mess hall.” more ›

On Monday, the NY Times reported about Chinatown mainstay May May Bakery's end-of-the-month closing. To those who flocked to the Pell Street bakery for the prepared dumplings, shu mai, zongzi ("Chinese tamales"), roast pork buns, and many other items (much, if not all, made at its Long Island City warehouse), it's an upsetting prospect. more ›

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. more ›

BarFry: Sumile's Josh DeChellis is bringing New York our first ever tempura bar. Not only will he be perfectly battering and frying fresh veggies, seafood, and meat and serving them up with his signature dipping sauces (wasabi remoulade and pickled jalapeno soy, to name a few), but he'll be offering made-to-order tempura Po Boys. Wash everything down with Gaijin Pale Ale from Oregon's Rogue Brewery, made especially for BarFry. And -- they deliver in the neighborhood. West Village, better buy some elastic-waist pants. 50 Carmine between Bedford and Bleecker Streets, 212-929-5050. more ›

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. more ›

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• Bruni puts in his two cents about the latest crop of contestants on Top Chef. Season three premiered earlier this week, and Frank has already highlighted some of his favorites, including CJ ("I've got a false testicle and I'm ready to cook." If only for that quote alone), Hung, and Lia.
• In a Times Op-Ed, The Zagats tout the idea of a culinary visa program to open up America's tastebuds to something beyond the lackluster Chinese cuisine to which we've become accustomed. Get ready for "tea-flavored dishes from Hangzhou, the cult-inspiring hairy crabs of Shanghai [and] the fabled honeyed ham from Yunnan."
• The Post dishes about the Spotted Pig's latest restaurant inspection, during which it receive 34 points, putting it over the 27 point pass mark.

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 416 points (a significant 3.3% drop) after a plunge in Shanghai's stock market. Well, now the Asian stock markets have fallen again, because investors are worried about the American economy! The NY Times reports that share prices rebounded in China, rising "nearly 4 percent today after state-controlled media reported that the government might allow greater foreign investment in Chinese stocks and would not impose capital gains taxes on stocks soon." Way to go, state-controlled media! But in places without state controlled media, like Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Europe, the markets seem to be down by another 2%. You can check Wall Street and world stock markets at CNBC. more ›

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, more ›

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. more ›

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- With T-day approaching, Ed Levine digs deep on pies. At this moment the first 8 posts on the front page are pie related. more ›

Jagshemash! more ›

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... more ›

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbq's and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder? more ›