Last night, Savoy chef and local foods champion Peter Hoffman gave a presentation at the Museum of Natural History on the role of water in sustainable farming, in conjunction with the ongoing Water: H2O = Life exhibit (now through May 25). We missed it too, but found some similar upcoming events. Call it the Mr. Wizard meets Escoffier edition- these food happenings deal with the intersections of ingredients, science, and art. Experimental Cuisine Collective While......

Kellari’s Parea: This Greek bistro, housed in the space that was formerly Michael Symon’s Parea, was created by the same team that runs Kellari Taverna in midtown. This "green" restaurant features an organic menu that includes pizzas fresh from the wood-burning oven, lamb that has been marinated overnight, and eggplant with feta ice cream. 36 E 20th St between Broadway and Park Ave South (212-777-8448) Maxie’s Grill: This casusal offshoot of Angelo & Maxie’s steakhouse......

This week's New York Mag runs down some of this season's upcoming restaurant openings -- better start planning now. We've already given you the scoop on Will Goldfarb's Picnick and Peter Hoffman's Back Forty, due in September and October respectively, but we're looking forward to some of the other spots highlighted by Rob and Robin, especially noodle shop Bun, from Mai House chef Michael Huynh and his wife, Thao Nguyen, and El Quinto Pino, from......

This month's Bon Appetit is the restaurant issue, highlighting recipes from restaurants all across the world, but our own Little Owl made the cover photo with their delectable meatball sliders. Other hometown shout-outs went to The Good Fork, for their Korean-style steak and eggs, a spiced plum chutney from Tabla, and WD-50's music playlist (including one of our current obsessions, Hall & Oates). A feature article focuses on some of our finest pastry chefs, who......

Picnick, the new Will Goldfarb double kiosk project at the Battery, is starting to shape up for its projected Labor Day weekend opening. Director of operations will be Kevin Pomplun, most recently chef at the Hotel on Rivington restaurant Thor. The somewhat upscale Picnick menu will range in price from $6-11. Sandwich selections will include sous vide chicken club with Berkshire bacon, prosicuitto with taleggio, and a Caprese-style sandwich with Joe’s mozzarella and local arugula.......

Yesterday morning, the nominees for the 2007 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced at the Beard House on West 12th Street. In additional to New York restaurant stalwarts David Waltuck of Chanterelle, Floyd Cardoz of Tabla, and Terrance Brennan of Picholine (which was rebooted in 2006 to impressive reviews, the nominees also include a bumper crop of young chefs including David Chang for Momofuku Ssam Bar, Daniel Humm for Eleven Madison Park (both for......

The Master and The Margarita While it is best known as a dessert-only place, there is no molten corn syrup river running through Room 4 Dessert. The restaurant also lacks the Willy Wonka clichés and kit-built, old-world Vienna museum mumbo jumbo of certain chocolate chains. Room 4 Dessert eschews the garish Candyland factor in favor of minimalist offerings like its “nrj”- a mix of red grapefruit sorbet topped with segments of the fruit, smoked......

Bill Buford, having moved on from Mario Batali, visits Will Goldfarb at Room 4 Dessert to learn more about the wild and wacky world of pastry chefs in the New Yorker. If you haven't downloaded it already -- the Shake Shack cam/clock/custard flavor widget. Cuozzo slams Mr. Chow, as does Tables for Two. NYC Slav tips us off to B.Y.O.W. Wednesdays at Petrossian -- bring your own wine to go with your caviar. Hey, you've......

Lonely hearts can cheer up this Valentine's day with the chance to win a meal cooked especially for them by Room 4 Dessert's chef de cuisine, Bob Truitt. The restaurant emailed Gothamist with the dirty (delicious) details, describing the event: Valentine's Day Special: Aside from running a prix fixe option for couples, we are simultaneously running a "lonely hearts" event...where we will auction off Bob Truitt (the guy in the middle of your photo),......

The long, narrow, striated-wood counter at chef Will Goldfarb's serves 30, but at the brand new Room 4 Dessert, previously home to Bar Tonno and Bar Veloce, it's a sweets-only endeavor. Goldfarb, the former chef at Cru, known for spontaneous and experimental creations, brings us desserts in themes, like a curry-scented concoction named "Voyage to India," cotton candy and meringues ("Infance"), a vanilla coupe glacee with whiskey sabayon, and quartets of apples in various......