Two weekends ago we went for brunch at the Veselka outpost on First Street, Veselka Bowery, and were struck by how dead the place seemed compared to its northern sibling (seriously, it was a ghost town). Apparently we weren't the only ones concerned. As EVGrieve notes, this weekend the venerable East Village institution started offering free pedicab rides from the mothership all the way down Second Avenue to the newcomer. more ›

has staked a claim on Veselka. Owner Tom Birchard told SE that they were "slammed all weekend" with folks allegedly wanting to recreate the scene where Michael Cera and Kat Dennings enjoy some pierogies at the 24-hour eatery (the address is even given in the dialogue). No word on if Arlene's Grocery also saw an influx of customers, but our very own Billy Parker was at Veselka on Saturday at 10 p.m. and says it was "definitely not" crowded, nor was the clientele younger than usual. In fact, he says, "two middle aged-men were sitting alone on either side of me. It reminded me that romance is usually best left to the movies." more ›

In American Nerd: The Story of My People, Brooklyn-based writer Benjamin Nugent combines a peripatetic history of the word “nerd” with accounts of the various kinds of people it is most often used to describe. The book includes an autobiographical dose; one section called “My Credentials” details Nugent’s early 90s adolescent exodus from d20-style probabilities. On page 3, Nugent fittingly discloses: “when I was eleven, I had a rich fantasy life in which I carried a glowing staff.” But American Nerd isn’t a massive, single subject history, and it isn’t straightforward memoir. The book is often poignant, especially when Nugent revisits the proving grounds of his young nerd-hood, and more often than that it is funny. The nerd you recognize in its pages may very well be yourself. more ›

Fans of the neo-Gilded Age New York fantasy show Gossip Girl are so going to love this news: the fictional grilled fontina cheese sandwich with truffle oil ordered by Serena van der Woodsen in the show’s pilot is now a real sandwich! Zagat’s website reports that the item is now permanently part of the bar menu at Gilt – the very location where cameras filmed actress Blake Lively being served the sandwich. Once just a... more ›