Starting in January, some of New York's top restaurants and chefs will take turns offering menus inspired by 19th century banquets, as part of Zagat's "NYC Vintage Dinner Series." Each chef will host a one-day-only event where, according to Tim Zagat, guests can enjoy an "unforgettable dining experience with dishes that have largely disappeared in the last 100 years." The series was unveiled at a press conference at Le Bernardin this morning. Although none of......

After the Daily News's recent stunt, in which reporters at the tabloid used fake documents to transfer ownership of the Empire State Building to a non-existent company, city prosecutors are calling for an overhaul on how the city register handles property transactions. As the News demonstrated, clerks in the office are not required to verify that the information on deeds and mortgages is correct, and some con artists exploit the loophole to claim ownership of......

We could waste this introduction telling you how consistently funny Mike Birbiglia's new solo show Sleepwalk With Me is, but why not just let the man's comedy stylings speak for themselves? Here's a totally unrelated Birbiglia riff on our 43rd President: "I think Bush seems like that fun guy. You know, that guy you invite to the barbecue because you know he'll start the whiffle ball game. He's like Whiffle Ball Tony! You're like,......

The Daily News has a clever little cover story today about how the tabloid "stole" the Empire State Building. Inspired by the Brooklyn DA's increasing number of deed fraud prosecutions, reporters decided to try the scam, which involves drawing up fake documents, making a bogus notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property. Grifters use the fraudulent deed to take out big mortgages, then disappear. About an hour......

This week Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni re-reviews Momofuku Ssam Bar, part of chef David Chang's New York empire, which you'll recall includes the impossible-to-get-into Momofuku Ko. There's a new chef at Ssam since Bruni awarded the place two stars in '07, and now he bumps it up to a lofty triple. The opening paragraph sums up his case: "If you’ve had just about all of the fawning over David Chang that you can take,......

After shuffling through three chefs since opening about a year ago, ridiculously good looking restaurant Bobo seems to have hit its stride with James Beard award-winning chef Patrick Connolly at the helm. Writing for the Times last month, restaurant critic Frank Bruni praised his "fine sense of balance when it comes to flavors and textures...The cooking during my visits was often impressive." Occupying two floors of a century-old Greenwich Village townhouse, the candlelit restaurant can......

East Village kitsch mecca Love Saves the Day (MySpace) will close next month after more than four decades in the neighborhood, Vanishing New York reports. Originally opened in 1966 on 77 7th Street, the day glo-painted shop moved down the block to its current location at Second Avenue and 7th Street in 1983, just in time for a cameo in Desperately Seeking Susan, in which it's immortalized as the boutique where Madonna traded in her......

True, they didn't invite us to their New Year's Party (yet!), but embattled East Village cocktail warren Death & Company can use all the help they can get, so it'd be wrong to ignore their delicious-looking beverage menu simply out of spite. In fact, we're willing to overlook the slight if owner David Kaplan would kindly messenger over a Pete’s Word, their new cocktail made with Laphroaig Single Malt Scotch, Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur, Green Chartreuse,......

City Councilmen Eric Gioia of Queens and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn will introduce a bill next week that would prohibit the city from buying bottled water and water coolers for workers at city agencies, the Daily News reports. At a press conference yesterday, the two councilmen said taxpayers could save $2 million a year by having municipal offices switch to systems that filter tap water. Felder himself installed a $400 heating and cooling water filter......

Ah, the East Village, that ever-trendy nightlife destination where visitors from Long Island and beyond flock to stab each other on the weekends. Around 1 a.m. Saturday night at Sutra on First Avenue and First Street, 22-year old Freeport resident Vivian Lee got into a heated argument with her 22-year-old boyfriend, RPI graduate Joshua Clarke. Witnesses tell the Daily News that when Lee caught Clarke flirting with another dame, she smashed a pint glass over......

A team of twenty brave (or crazy) cyclists recently took part in a nighttime group ride along Queens Boulevard, that twelve-lane traffic artery affectionately known as the Boulevard of Death. Wearing reflective vests with "Share the Road" printed on the back, the so-called "bike pool" gathers monthly to remind drivers that cyclists also use the dangerous boulevard, where 22-year-old Asif Rahman, a photographer and aspiring hip-hop artist, was killed by a truck earlier this year.......

Prespa: This new bi-level restaurant and lounge is named after two freshwater lakes in southeast Europe shared by Greece, Albania, and the Republic of Macedonia. It's a redesign of what was formerly Prespa Mediterranean Brasserie, and Strong Buzz says Murray Hill gourmands are fervently hoping it'll become a local dining oasis in their mediocre neighborhood. The menu from Executive Chef Richard Farnabe (Jean-Georges, Montrachet) emphasizes Mediterranean tapas, but there are also full size entrees such......

Drivers, it's the last Friday in November—do you know where your car is? The day after Thanksgiving was the most-ticketed day of the last fiscal year, according to an extensive analysis of parking tickets conducted by the Times. The study concluded that parking tickets issued citywide have surged 42 percent since Mayor Bloomberg took office. During the last fiscal year, the city raked in $624 million in parking fines, which is more than the city spends to run the entire Department of Transportation. Officials, maintaining a straight face, insist the parking enforcement is not driven by revenue goals....

East Village residents packed a community forum Wednesday night to vent about a surge in the local rat population. City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who co-hosted the meeting, declared that rats were "the largest growing population in the East Village." And Community Board 3 manager Susan Stetzer deemed the rat boom a "crisis...This year we didn’t even have the little Halloween parade in Tompkins Square Park for the kids because of all the rats." According to......

While most retailers are worried that Black Friday will leave them deep in the red, Christmas tree sellers are now sounding sanguine, with a perfectly objective source at the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association telling the Post, "In times like these, it's natural to fall back on events that are comfortable, like traditional holiday celebrations." Adding to the optimism is the fact that lower gas costs will mean cheaper trees than last year. And then......

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A 19-year-old male model flew into a rage yesterday after a Daily News cover story sparked a media frenzy outside the Ozone Park home he shares with his 37-year-old lover, a former teacher who is suing the city for firing her over the affair. WCBS has video of the teen tantrum, which features Hugo Boss model Joshua Walter charging from the house in slippers, clapping his hands and yelling "Leave! Get the f--- outta......

This week Frank Bruni at the Times reviews Double Crown, the new bi-level restaurant and bar in the East Village that, in his words, "ponders the glories of culinary cross-pollination, making a promise of 'British-Indio-Asian' fusion that sounds more like a threat, given that it’s a two-hyphen fusion and that one of the words bumping up against one of the hyphens is 'British.' And isn’t India in Asia? Note to self: bone up on world......

At a press conference this morning, MTA executive Elliot Sander announced a "major initiative" that will enable the authority to let riders know how hard their commutes are going to suck with text messaging and email alerts in real time. The MTA has been working toward a real-time update system for several years now, starting out with weekly email updates and sporadic advisories on their website. In a statement, Sander said, "This is a revolutionary......

A tenured second grade school teacher in Queens is suing to win her job back after being fired because her boyfriend/baby daddy was a high school student at one point in their relationship. Joshua Walter, 19, whose pretty face can be seen most recently in ads and commercials for Hugo Boss, met his lover Gina Salamino, age 37, when he was just 12. But their passion wasn't ignited until two years ago, when they reconnected......

In a recent Zagat survey, 10,000 frequent fliers ranked LaGuardia the worst out of America's 27 biggest airports, the Daily News reports. JFK didn't fare much better either, coming in fourth from the bottom of the list. Zagat Buzz has more on the survey, which declared Tampa the best airport in the land. Speaking to the News on her way through LaGuardia, 40-year-old Jennifer Thayer of Colorado Springs griped that the airport "seems like it's......

The Debate Society, arguably New York's most charming theater company, is adept at seducing their audience with the atmosphere of whatever locale they choose to evoke. Their latest work, called Cape Disappointment, meticulously conjures up Gothic worlds of lost highways, traveling salesmen, Eisenhower-era teens, and roadside bandits. Designer Karl Allen has done excellent work transforming the upstairs theater at P.S. 122 into a romantically decayed drive-in movie, even installing vintage speaker boxes throughout the audience. And to complete the scene, free bags of popcorn are distributed—noisy, crinkly bags that maddeningly break the spell just like at the cinema. ...

OH: Don't expect the Times's Frank Bruni to review it—Portfolio theorizes he HATES going to Harlem—but for everyone else, this three story restaurant/bar seems worth a try. Well, maybe not everyone; the top floor is a member's only club where $500 gets you "top notch service" and discount food and drinks. ($1000 gets you "full VIP access" to the cigar terrace.) Greasy Guide has a full review and reports that the menu features mini catfish......

If there was ever a time to open a glamorous new bi-level restaurant in midtown, this ain't it. But you've got to admire restaurateur Rohini Dey for going through with this NYC outpost of her acclaimed Indian-Latin American restaurant, called Vermilion in Chicago and At Vermilion here. If you build "At," they will come—and hopefully they'll still have a line of credit available. Her ambitious new location features a double-height water curtain, a 22-foot metal......

Drab and dreary old Times Square is finally going to get some razzle dazzle starting tonight when a massive 17,000-square-foot, three-sided diagonal LED sign is turned on at 1 Times Square, right where the New Year's ball drops. Designed by D3 LED to promote the Walgreen's flagship location—not to mention other publicity-deprived corporations like Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, and Colgate—the "spectacular" display runs off almost 30 computers and uses 12 million energy efficient light-emitting......

Widely-respected critic Clive Barnes lost his battle with cancer yesterday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 81. The British-born, Oxford-educated Barnes began his career assailing what he perceived to be an ignorant provincialism pervading dance criticism post-World War II; while other critics turned up their noses at pioneers like Martha Graham, Barnes was an early champion in England. He began covering dance for the New York Times in '65, then took over the......

A day after Antitrust star Tim Robbins excoriated the Board of Elections in an open letter that described commissioner Gregory Soumas as a "petty vindictive corrupt scumbag," the bureaucrats have fired back with their own open letter! After some boilerplate about how the NYC BOE "takes special pride in the conduct of the November 4, 2008 election," and how they "recognize the need for all voters to be informed of all electoral procedural requirements," the......

Those blissed-out Christmas tree sellers from Quebec who camp out on every other corner this time of year are worried that the economic tailspin is going to seriously harsh the holiday vibe. Scott MacKinnon of Elite Balsam Products tells the Daily News that everyone's "a little bit nervous." In order to appeal to budget-conscious tree buyers, vendors have cut prices by 25% by buying cheaper trees. But other sellers are exhibiting unshakable faith in New......

This week the Times's Frank Bruni reviews Kurve (pictured), the Thai-centric space-age restaurant in the East Village, which has had a long, rocky road to opening. (After Sarah DiGregorio at the Voice ate there in September, she was informed it "was not yet open.") Bruni awards it zero stars and has fun with his disgruntled companions along the way:"Kurve struts. Until recently it outfitted its servers in proper hats, which prompted associations that changed depending......

Almost one month ago, Representative Anthony Weiner's brother Jason opened a Flatiron district outpost of Almond, his popular Hamptons restaurant. At the time, much was made of the restaurant/lounge's cursed location, which some say is still haunted by the ghosts of Borough Food & Wine, Jeffrey Chodorow’s Caviar & Banana, and Rocco DiSpirito's eponymous FAIL. Although Chef Weiner and his business partner Eric Lemonides have reportedly enjoyed a month of steady business, it's still too......