Alfred Portale became Gotham Bar and Grill’s chef in May of 1985. The restaurant had been open for a year: despite a strong opening, business was seriously flagging and the food didn’t taste so good. Portale basically cooked his pants off for six months, at which point the restaurant was re-reviewed and awarded three stars from the Times. It was also around that time that the chef started attracting young, talented cooks with names like Colicchio, Telepan, and Valenti to work in his kitchen. Later, Wylie Dufresne and Chris Lee spent time on Portale’s line, and the talent roster continues to grow. more ›

The festive factor was running high at last night's Taste of the Lower East Side, the 8th Annual fundraiser for the Grand Street Settlement. Forty neighborhood eateries pitched in to benefit Grand Street's programs that assist low-income Lower East Side residents, and they showcased some of their best dishes for the crowd of well over 1,000 people. more ›

Today the Times’s chief food critic Frank Bruni revisits WD-50 (pictured) and elevates the Lower East Side avant-garde restaurant to three stars (a 2003 Times review by another critic had awarded it two). Chef Wylie Dufresne has made WD-50 a destination with his experimental, transgressive menu, and Bruni concedes that in the past “too many of his creations were gratuitously perverse… many visitors understandably feel that what they’ve experienced isn’t so much a meal as a prank.” But now most of the dishes are “knockouts” and Bruni extols “the tidiest Benedict the egg-loving world has ever known.” more ›

After busy weeks of hype surrounding high profile restaurant openings like Adour and Bar Boulud, which feature a laser projected bar menu and standalone charcuterie kitchen, respectively, it's now time to catch your breath with some chefs who are mixing their concept food with a trace of nostalgia for after-school snack-time. (And opposed to the trendy new kids on the block, you can actually get a table to taste these fun foods.) more ›