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......

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Irving Mill (pictured). Says, “It’s a self-conscious heir to Gramercy Tavern…if only it performed that way.” He does like some of the food, and the wine list. “At Irving Mill’s finest moments, with its finest dishes, it’s decidedly more than pleasant,” he says. But the cooking is inconsistent, the menu sounds more flavorful than it tastes, the desserts are only so-so, and the space too big, says Bruni.......

The entrée is so over, the top chefs tell us. Yesterday Times reporter Kim Severson sunk her teeth into the long decline of the entrée and the increasing dominance of side dishes and tapas at many fine restaurants. As former Gramercy Tavern chef Tom Colicchio tells her, “Eating an entrée is too many bites of one thing, and it’s boring.” Amid all the evidence of diminishing entrée options at restaurants nationwide (at Gemma, entrées are......

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 Korean restaurant Moim in Park Slope, awards the restaurant one star. Says, “Many of its dishes, distinguished by a beautifully modulated and lingering heat, are compelling. Most are at least satisfying.” Prices are reasonable as well, he says, though service less than attentive. Ryan Sutton goes to Bobo in the West Village for French/Italian. Stay away from the Italian, he warns. Also, sit inside unless you’re a......

October 22: Wine Dinner at Aix This five-course wine dinner will feature nine top wines from Alsace, Austria and Germany paired with regional dishes such as Alsatian Onion Tart with Thinly Sliced House-Smoked Brisket and Raclette Fondue and Riesling-Marinated Poulet Rouge with Glazed Baby Turnips and Carrots Crispy Sauteed Spaetzle, and Riesling Jus. Doesn't that sound like fall to you? $125, tax and tip excluded. For reservations, call 212.874.7400. 7pm, Aix, 2398 Broadway at 88th......

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......

In case you haven't yet heard the good news, the Red Hook vendors have gotten their permit extended through through October 21, which is when they traditionally end their season. Go and grab some pupusas. Can you live off the land in your own backyard? In Brooklyn? Without torturing your family? Unclear. Manhattan User's Guide gives us their latest hot list, including newcomers Tailor and Market Table. Andrew Carmellini admits to smuggling $12,000 worth of......

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......

Of all the genre-transcending brilliance of John Le Carré’s Cold War novels, perhaps the most impressive was the even, subtle brush with which he painted either side of his idealogical divide. The British Intelligence and Moscow Centre were equal foes – it simply depended on which side of the curtain you found yourself. The Cold War was, undoubtedly, Le Carré’s playing field, and his mastery of it was legendary. And although the world has moved......

While Britain may have limited television options, the BBC has continued to churn out its high quality television adapatations of novels, both classic and contemporary. The current "go-to man" in giving the adaptations a rich life on screen is Andrew Davies, as profiled in the L.A. Times today, in anticipation of tonight's premiere of his adpatation of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda on PBS tonight and tomorrow. What's fascinating about Davies is that he only turned......