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......

May 12: Brooklyn Pigfest It's the 7th year for this pork-filled event, which also serves as a fundraiser for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. Swine and birds will be tenderly slow-cooked by Waterfront Ale House's own Sam Barbieri and his champion BBQ team, and there will be plenty of cold beer and live music to go around. Tobacco Warehouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1 - 6 p.m., tickets $75, available online in advance and at......

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Esca, calls chef Dave Pasternack a "fish whisperer" (um, OK Frank) and awards the restaurant three stars. "In an era when too many restaurants try to be everything to everyone," he says, "Esca has a specific agenda: show what the sea can yield." The restaurant was previously awarded two stars by William Grimes in 2000. In $25 and Under, Peter Meehan checks out the cafes at the......

MOVIE: The 10th Annual New York International Children's Film Festival commences tonight, starting with the US premiere of the French animated film U (which includes unicorns!). A kid-friendly catered reception will take place after the film. More weekend movies here. Friday (festival through March 11th) // 6pm // Director's Guild of America Theater [110 W 57th St] // $20 EVENT: It's the first Friday of the month, that means it's time to head up to......

Get your creepy crawly on with two potentially frightening movies out this weekend. Yet another '80s horror staple is getting the remake treatment with Dave Meyers' The Hitcher. Little do the college couple Grace (the former Mrs. Chad Michael Murray, Sophia Bush) and Jim (Zachary Knighton) know what's in store for them when they pick up John Ryder by the side of the road. Though it would seem clear from his various bad guy roles......

Everyone loves a good caprese salad. The Italian delicacy is genius in its simplicity. It can be nothing more than sliced tomatoes topped with fresh mozzarella, garnished with basil and drizzled in olive oil. Anybody can make caprese as well as any Italian restaurant in town so long as anybody has access to high quality ingredients. Ay, there’s the rub: Where to find those ingredients. Jersey tomatoes are some of the best on the planet......

February 22: From Disaster to Dessert – the Fate of New Orleans Food Slow Food NYC and the Project for Public Spaces will host a panel discussion on the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on food production in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf region. Panelists include: Clara Gerica, an independent Gulf Coast shrimper; Richard McCarthy, founder of the New Orleans Crescent City Farmers Market; Poppy Tooker, the leader of Slow Food New Orleans;......

Like many others, one of Gothamist's favorite books about turn-of-the-century New York City is The Alienist by Caleb Carr. A novel about finding a cruel serial killer, The Alienist also had wall-to-wall details about what life was like in the city, with a particular grittiness that escaped film depictions. And we always liked how Carr would discuss in interviews that while people fret and worry about New York being crime-ridden, the kinds of horrors happening......

Just a couple blocks south of the much-coveted MTA railyards, two other rich dudes are fighting over the right to develop Pier 57. The Daily News calls it the "heavyweight real estate duel of the season" (we guess the DN thinks the Hudson Yards is the duel of the year), and gives some good background of the two developers, Roland Betts of Chelsea Piers (and Dubya crony) and Stephen Witkoff, a real estate developer, as......

Priscilla Grim, Membership & Advocacy Director AIVF...

In what the advertising and film worlds consider a rather ballsy move, Miramax has asked various car manufacturers for $35 million to feature their car in the upcoming Green Hornet movie, scheduled for summer of 2005. Of course, the Green Hornet has been in development heck for a long time, has no script or director, etc. The money would goes towards marketing the film, and Lori Sale of Miramax tells AdAge, "It has to be......