FESTIVAL: The New York Ukulele Festival has arrived. The weekend includes: "nonstop Ukulele Fun! Concerts, Vendors, Workshops, Jams! 40,000 Square Feet, Two Concert Stages! FREE BEER ALL WEEKEND. FREE UKULELE DOOR PRIZES AT EVERY CONCERT!!” more ›

- The Place restaurant is engaged in a dispute with their landlords, Edith Rappy and Taube Management, who have decided not to renew The Place’s lease without any explanation. The community is rallying behind owner Alexander Achilleos and his restaurant at www.savetheplace.com; we encourage you to sign the petition if you'd like to help out this local favorite, which gives 10% of its proceeds to charity. The Place at W.10th Street is not impacted by this dispute and remains open. more ›

Gothamist has debated where to find the best hot chocolate in the city many times, so we're always on the lookout for new hot chocolate vendors. Today, we were walking down Spring Street and noticed that Vosges Haut Chocolat, the Chicago truffle emporium, had opened up a new shop. They advertised three varieties of hot chocolate, but we only sampled two: the dark chocolate with vanilla bean, and the spicy hot chocolate with cinnamon and chili peppers. The verdict? The regular hot chocolate is our new favorite winter chocolate beverage. It had a sweet, sophisticated dark chocolate taste, and a clean, delicious aftertaste. It knocked out our old favorite, the Maribelle/Lunettes et Chocolate hot chocolate, because it has a much more digestible texture. Sure, we love the pudding-like consistency of Mariebelle, but it's not something you can imbibe every day. As for the spicy hot chocolate, as at Mariebelle, it simply is not to our taste. It had a strong cinnamon aftertaste, and tasted a little bit medicinal. more ›

The Onion A.V. Club's least essential albums of 2003. more ›

In today's Metro Section, Clyde Haberman, closet Gothamist, applauds the Belmont Stakes for changing their official song from "Sidewalks of New York" (which you might know from Ken Burns' documentary on the City, if no where else) to the slightly more up to date "New York, New York". Haberman feels however, that our fair Gotham is poorly represented by the whinings of a "self-involved parvenu who wants to be 'king of the hill, top of the heap.'" He goes on to suggest several other songs that might replace it, including: "New York, New York (It's a Helluva Town)" by Leonard Bernstein, "New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel, "I Happen to Like New York" by Cole Porter, "New York" by U2, "We Run N.Y." by Redman, "Manhattan" by Rodgers and Hart, and "N.Y.C." from the musical "Annie" with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin. more ›