In the restaurant world, terminology like "organic," "local," and "seasonal" have become so commonplace they can be easy to ignore. But, when Market Table – which offers all three of these – opened on Carmine Street (at Bedford) in the West Village last September, they highlighted a new buzzword: market. With an emphasis on bringing food from the market directly to the table, the restaurant simultaneously offers a capacious (and beautiful) dining room headed by chef Mikey Price (formerly of Mermaid Inn), which is adjacent to a general-store like grocery stocked with olive oils, fresh breads, assorted condiments, dried goods, and a deli case full of gravlax, fresh herbs, cheeses, and sauces and stocks. Price is partner to Chef Joey Campanaro and Gabriel Stulman of the nearby Little Owl, of which we're also big fans. more ›

As Gothamist recently noted, New Year's and the following week or so are a particularly festive occasion for the Japanese. Which is no doubt why Haru decided to celebrate the grand opening of its newest location on Wall Street last Wednesday. Hordes of sushi-crazed suits crowded the restaurant located in the historic Beaver Building for the gala event, which was also a benefit for the Downtown Alliance. more ›

What is Rudy Giuliani getting for the new year? It looks like he's in for some campaign tactics from families representing firefighters that died on 9/11 that The Post is calling "Swift Boat" like. James Riches, a deputy fire chief who's son James Jr., a firefighter who died at Ground Zero, is organizing the campaign against the former mayor. Riches told The Post that things should be "up and running" for January 1st and that "the purpose is going to be to set the record straight about 9/11. Rudy Giuliani is not a hero." more ›

One of the first rules of using your iPod in the subway is to ditch the white headphones. Apple's tell-tale earbuds can have the negative effect of drawing attention to the fact that you are carrying a ~$400 device on you (we've known this since 2005, when iPod robberies were all the rage). Probably not something that needs to be advertised. When Gothamist first purchased our iPhone on launch day this fact weighed heavily... more ›

Museum of the Moving Image more ›

When Gothamist first visited Tribeca's Devin Tavern, home of the rustic American fare offered by the purveyors of nearby steakhouse Dylan Prime, we left our dinner dreaming of a memorable corn souffle and pepper basil caipirinhas. Devin recently added Sunday brunch to their repetoire so Gothamist decided to drop by and see how the menu compared to the dinner cuisine. more ›

The government is asking Americans not to eat spinach as it continues to investigate the E.coli outbreak related to the leafy green. Spinach - and other vegetable - supplier Natural Selection has been cleared of contamination, but the FDA hasn't lifted the recalls on Natural Selection brands. But some restaurants and grocery stores are still featuring spinach, as the Post reports seeing "spinach soups, spinach pizzas and even bunches of fresh spinach." Now, spinach soups and pizzas might be passable, because the spinach could have been long frozen (how does E.coli do in the freezing temps, though?), but we'd think most customers would avoid spinach. more ›

- On the way home from a dual trip to Schnack and Fernando’s in Red Hook, Peter Hoffman and his blue greenmarketcycle popped up on the corner of Houston and Lafayette as our ride dispatched us onto the corner. As per usual, he was effusive about his eats – specifically jazzed up about the big clam bake Savoy has nightly through the end of July. Here is some discussion from Mouthfuls. more ›

This past weekend marked the opening of the new Tasting Room in the old M&R Bar space on Elizabeth just south of Houston. The bar is open for business to all comers, but it was mostly friends & family, and the food will be at least 10 days behind the booze. Speaking of old spaces, with this opening, the previous Tasting Room space on First Street is now closed until late summer when it will re-emerge as an all day spot open for coffee, baked goods, wine, and small plates. more ›

There are few things New Yorkers love more than a good slice of pizza, but add an outdoor garden and a cup of the city's finest spumoni and you've got yourself a sliver of urban heaven. Trek out to L&B Spumoni Gardens located in(conveniently) in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and you'll find all of these magic ingredients: sizzling hot sicilian slices, icy cold spumoni (mix of vanilla, chocolate, and pistachio ices), and an open garden for kicking back with friends.

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The idea is simple, the execution more complex: open a restaurant dedicated solely to mac n' cheese. Synonymous with comfort food, mac n' cheese brings back memories gooey cheddar, blue kraft boxes, and pure indulgence, but when the husband-wife team of Caesar & Sarita Ekya opened S'MAC a scant week ago, they didn't stop there. Cheese purists and engineers on the wayside, S'MAC's menu boasts 10 deluxe mac n' cheese combos either on traditional elbow or slightly more healthful whole wheat pastas served in 3-different sized skillets endearingly named "nosh" ($4.25 - 6.75), "major munch" ($6.50 - $9), and "mongo" ($11-16), which Gothamist assures you is enough to feed an entire hungry family. more ›

When Gothamist thinks summer, we think of Sundaes & Cones. While for some that's just ice cream, for others, it's Royce Chan's newly relocated, but long-revered ice cream shop, now on E. 10th St. between 3rd & 4th Avenues (formerly in Sunset Park). Homemade ice creams and sorbets that don't break the bank are served in standard vanilla, chocolate, and cookies n' cream, but more obscure flavors really make the indulgance worth it. We recommend the ginger (with spicy bite), red bean, green tea, and subtly sweet honey ginseng. Others might like the mango, lychee, pineapple, or , though honestly, we prefer our corn roasted the way Cafe Habana does it. A small dish or cone rings up at $2.75, a medium at $3.95, and a 3-scoop large for $5.15 while fresh fruit smoothies (made with ice cream) are $4.50 for a small, $5.50 for the large. Never one to complain about a new ice cream shop, Gothamist warmly welcomes all the Sundaes and Cones that come through these doors. What Sunset Park lost, E. 10th street has surely gained. more ›

When Gothamist decided to air its dirty laundry last month, we had no idea what we were starting. Who knew so many people were having the same discoloration issues with their dwell bedding! After running the post, we were quickly contacted by the people at dwell (as you can see from the comments section). They agreed to replace our bedding and asked that we simply use a mild detergent and stay away from anything with "stripping qualities". Unfortunately, dwell no longer carries the vivid leaf green we so adored. In fact, they've discontinued all their super bright colors. In its place, we received a lovely pale blue (pretty, just not quite as striking as the leaf). After a month of wear and washing they have remained in excellent shape and completely colorfast. The only difference in our care of the sheets was that we switched from washing them in Cheer or Tide to Ivory Snow detergent (which we use for all of Gothamist Baby's clothes). more ›

When Gothamist was wee we learned a basic fact of life from Lon Chaney: acid on the face is not a good idea. more ›

- All the dialogue seems stilted and hokey - again, maybe not an issue with the movie itself, but in the trailer, it's like a lead weightMaybe the trailer will play well in parts not near NYC, but it really seems to trivialize what happened, to assign emotions to an event many people already have very strong emotions about. When Gothamist thinks about September 11, we don't have a sweeping soundtrack telling us to cry playing. We hope there's more naturalistic use of sound in the movie, because the trailer is telling us in big letters not to see it. Luckily, at the very end of the trailer, there is something that looks good: A cool shot of Cage and Pena under the rubble, and the camera pans up. Well, Paramount will have until August 11 to release another trailer. more ›

Just over a year old, but with a window full of gastronomic accolades, former Le Cirque pastry chef Iacopo Falai's eponymously named Clinton Street joint radiates with new flavor and experimentation of Florentine style brought to the Lower East Side. With white tile, white tables, white chairs, white candles, and a white-bricked garden, Falai relies upon the reflections of dining patrons in the mirrors and the color of food on plates to bring color where color is due. When Gothamist visited on a recent night, reservations were required even for an early seat--upon sitting waiters hovered with the night's menu, immediately taking beverage orders and reciting the evening's specialties. more ›

If you ever thought it sucked that New York had so many airports in the area, just imagine how grateful the people on American Airlines flight 321 were yesterday when they were forced to land due to engine problems. Shortly after taking off from LaGuardia, the Chicago bound flight had issues with its right engine. An American spokesperson said that only a few minutes into the flight, an indicator warned of an oil filter problem. more ›

When Gothamist was in college, we remember watching curling on the CBC and thinking that it was the coolest sport ever. We just couldn't get enough of it. Good thing we could watch the CBC. When we came back to New York, we were out of luck - no curling. Yesterday, the United States men's curling team won its first Olympic curling medal ever. Led by Pete Fenson, the United States defeated Great Britain, 8-6. Fenton, who owns two Minnesota pizzerias, sealed the bronze medal for the Americans in the 10th inning. And is it us, or has curling become really popular? So much so that there was even a casino sponsored streaker. Canada won the gold while Finland won the silver medal. more ›

Toby at Random Observations captured this great moment in local TV news: Sue Simmons doing her best groundhog impression during the Live at Five broadcast, writing, "It is something that I always look forward to every year." When Gothamist caught the 11PM broadcast, Chuck Scarborough created quite a fanfare for Simmons to repeat the impression. And suddenly we realized that while WNBC mentioned Punxsutawny Phil, they neglected to mention another Chuck - Staten Island Chuck who predicts an early spring. At any rate, this is why we love local news. more ›

When Gothamist was a little kid we always looked forward to our Upstate vacations. Sure, helping Grandpa milk the cows was fun, and visiting our older cousins was always a treat, but the real treat came at night. Our cousins lived a mile or two north of a Nestle's Chocolate plant. On nights with a southerly breeze the whole town would fill with the smell of chocolate. It was as if we had moved to Willy Wonka's town. Awesome! more ›

A shuttered 2nd Avenue Deli was an unfamiliar site on an otherwise regular Thursday - except that people knew that owner Jack Lebewohl was engaged in a kind of protest against his new owners, Jonis Realty, over a $9,000 increase in rent to $33,000 per month. The NY Times sets up the situation as an inevitable turn of the real estate market, with some interesting details: Some sort of rent increase was part of a deal with the previous owners 15 years ago (!) - and Jonis apparenlty agreed to knock off $3,000 of the rent. Huh - if someone generates a model that can project, hmm, let's see, what an acceptable margin of profit would be, over 15 years, and see how that might offset a 25% increase in rent, with considerable new capital investments to make, taking into account inflation, wage issues, and price elasticity (or inelasticity), please tell us! more ›

When Gothamist awoke from our food coma this morning, we checked all vital signs and aside from the headache from the 8 bottles of wine our family polished off, it was official, we survived the holidays. Now with Christmas and Hanukah under our belt (along with a few extra inches, like we could resist those triple fudge brownies...we are human, damnit!) we turn our attention to New Year's, the holiday where we can truly focus on the important things...like drinking and making out with strangers. more ›

And the hook-ups? Please, we predict a lot of "Hey, I live near your office...why don't you just stay over?" offers. But not to us - we're about to set up camp in our office. We have our WetNaps, Febreze and deodorant! more ›

Members of one of the city's largest taxi driver's union are saying they'll strike if the Taxi and Limousine Commission doesn't raise fares and if the TLC installs GPS into the cabs. The union says the fare hike is necessary because of rising gas prices (they'd like a surcharge if gas prices are above $2). Newsday notes that neither Mayor Bloomberg or Fernando Ferrer have weighed in on the matter, and perhaps that's because TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus hasn't yet decided whether or not to "support or reject" the surcharge. Daus did say the TLC would "move forward" with installing GPS into cabs, which some union members feel will violate their civil liberties; the TLC wants to use GPS to direct cab drivers to areas where there are lots of customers waiting for cabs (Gothamist thought that's what the CB radios were for!). When Gothamist ask a cab driver if the last round of surcharges were helpful, he was dismissive. He did, however, warn us that we should never cross the street immediately when the light turns red for traffic, because many cabs have terrible brakes and we might get hit. more ›

With a century-old subway, we expect track work and construction to cause some issues with our travels. But when the subway's service advisories (via email and in-station signage) fail to communicate changes, what are riders supposed to do? Gothamist Weather's Joe Schumacher encountered the insane and inane "handling" of the diverted 2/3 service over the weekend, surmising that "All the MTA had to say was the 3 isn't running and the 2 is replaced by a local-running 5," but instead "put up three posters that contradict each other, are incomplete, or are just plain wrong." That last part seems to describe the MTA to a T at times. When Gothamist attempted to take the 2/3 from Chambers yesterday, an MTA employee had to personally tell the people waiting on the platform about the changes - the only sign that mentioned the 5 train was running was handwritten and not as noticeable. What good are the emailed service advisories from the MTA when one line runs on another's tracks isn't mentioned? more ›

Stacy Horn, Writer more ›

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Dan Hoyt, the East Village man suspected of masturbating on the subway only to have a rider cameraphone his picture and put it online which then made him a front page story on the Daily News, surrendered to the police yesterday. However, he claimed his innocence saying, "I didn't do anything," as he was paraded out in Columbus Circle. When Gothamist watched the local news coverage of this, it looked as though he was leaving the Columbus Circle subway station, making us wonder if someone else spotted him underground, but he was actually just on his way to Central Booking. Four women picked Hoyt out of lineups as being, as the Post calls him, the "self-touching rider," and he was charged with four counts of public lewdness. Thao Nguyen, who took the photograph that launched dozens of complaints about Hoyt, says she hopes he gets jail while employees at Quintessence, the restaurant he co-owns, had no comment. Hoyt's previous public lewdness arrest resulted in community service. more ›

the bar and found ourselves in Underground in what we can safely say in neither a cool nor interesting neighborhood. Sorry. more ›

When Gothamist thinks of going to a football game we think of many things not the least of which is tailgating. But apparently in the New York area those days are over, and not because the Jets are moving to a stadium without a parking lot (that didn't work out, remember?). more ›