“You could be a transgendered elephant walking in here and as long as you pay your check, you’re fine,” diner Lars Hoel told the Times yesterday during his last breakfast at Florent, the 24-hour French bistro that’s been a Meatpacking District institution for 23 years. The transgendered elephant refuge closed last night after the gay pride parade and a private party for staff and friends of owner Florent Morellet....

Alloro: Green Lantern, party of seven? The photo above depicts Alloro, a new 50-seat Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. The chef is Salvatore Corea, a native Calabrian, who’s leaving front-of-the-house duties to his wife Gina, just like a real-life Artie and Charmaine Bucco. Let’s just hope the mob doesn’t torch their place. Per the press release, the menu features “classic Italian specialties transformed into gastronomical creations,” such as loin of lamb in a fresh mint reduction with eggplant purée and pecorino cheese foam. And Alloro has the additional virtue of granting diners invisibility on St. Patrick’s Day. 307 East 77th Street, (212) 535-2866....

Northeast Kingdom sits on the southwest corner of Wyckoff and Troutman streets in Bushwick, a block from the L train's Jefferson stop and myriad one-story warehouses and industrial spaces. Native Vermonters Paris Smeraldo and his wife, Meg Lipke, have invoked a funky ambiance with taxidermy and vintage wallpaper alongside a bar backed with orange and yellow stained glass. Throw in the flickering candlelight and you've got a place to linger for hours after dark.......

Chef Marco Canora is having a good morning; Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni says “there may not be any dish I’ve enjoyed more in recent months than the pork blade steak” at Terroir (pictured). His column this week looks at how chefs at wine bars like Terroir and Gottino have transcended the “glorified snacks” that used to be de rigueur, to “exemplify a wine-bar evolution so thorough that nomenclature can’t keep up.” Less criticism than......

The beloved 24-hour French diner Florent will be closing on Saturday with a big send-off, and lines have often been out the door as the end approaches. Today is no exception, as Eater reports, with the restaurant still packed despite the fact that the gas has been shut off. Reached today (his birthday) by phone at his lake house in New Jersey, owner Florent Morellet tells us that the gas was shut off over a......

Clover Club: This new Cobble Hill lounge has no connection to this Clover Club “located in beautifull [sic] Mark, Illinois,” so leave your green face paint at home. The atmosphere here, as evinced by the photo, is old world charm and sophistication, hearkening back to an era when men dueled with pistols, not text messages, and the curse of the Cosmo had not yet darkened New York. Small plates include oysters on the half shell,......

Chef Justin Smillie, who took over the helm at E.U. after Akhtar Nawab's departure, was recently fired by owner Jason Hennings. According to Grub Street, Hennings blamed Smillie's unwillingness to cut costs by forgoing Greenmarket shopping: “After six months of 45 percent food costs in a recession, Justin paid more respect to the Greenmarket than to the restaurant.” Smillie reportedly took his entire crew with him. In the meantime, Hennings has put a replacement team......

Just as fast food chains Taco Bell and Wendy's are bringing the tomatoes back to their menus, the NYC Health Department announced that there have been six more reported cases of salmonella, bringing the total of NYC area cases of the disease to seven. For the past few weeks, more and more cases of salmonella connected to tainted tomatoes have been reported across the country, forcing restaurants--especially national chains--to reconsider the role of raw tomatoes......

Shalizar: Bangladesh native Parvez Eliaas and his Iranian partner Kaz Bayati have just opened their second Persian restaurant on the Upper East Side, not far from their original venture, Persepolis. According to Thrillist, the new bistro is distinguished by exposed brick and a spacious bar, where old world wines, pomegranate cocktails and wild berry-infused vodkas can be savored. The Middle Eastern menu includes delicacies like baby lamb stew and salmon kebab. 1420 Third Avenue near......

Long live the king: Barney Greengrass, the “Sturgeon King,” is 100 years old today, and to celebrate the centennial the restaurant is turning back the cash register to 1908 with a special menu. (Though the retail and mail-order side of the business will stay in 2008.) Customers can pay their respects to the Upper West Side institution by stopping in for a herring plate that costs 60 cents, 15 cent coffee, or a sturgeon sandwich for $1.75 (normally $17.50). ...

Today the Times’s Frank Bruni destroys Ago (pictured), the new Italian restaurant in Tribeca’s Greenwich Hotel owned by Robert De Niro. It’s a savage burn, and way more entertaining than any movie De Niro’s been involved with during the last decade. Things go sideways immediately when the bartender unleashes “the Poseidon Adventure of wine spills” on Bruni’s lady friend and his party of four has to wait almost an hour for their table, which is......

Red Egg: The glittering new Chinatown restaurant pictured above had its share of hassles before finally opening this week – something to do with the construction company failing to get the right permits – but after a six week delay, Red Egg’s staff is finally ready to get cracking. Executive Chef Mei Kun Chen was previously the State Chef for Guangzhou (not exactly a lightweight); second in command is Yu Hua Wu, who did......

The incessant stampede of beloved neighborhood institutions closing has a way of making your eyes glaze over and wonder it even merits mentioning anymore. But today’s tally of three (so far!) price-outs demands observation. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York – fast becoming the most depressing read in town – has the bad news of two of them. The first is Hopscotch, the 2.0 version of Avenue A’s Alt Coffee, renowned for its ‘No ODs Allowed’ signage in the filthy bathroom. Owner Nick Bodor had hoped to fancy it up for the yupsters, but it seems the local real estate market won’t rest until it’s a real estate office....

According to its press release, the mood and décor at Yerba Buena, which opens tonight, “takes its inspiration from old-time Havana.” There’s nothing over-the-top about it; the place thankfully does not look like a movie set. A small, bright white neon sign is planted in the restaurant’s window, and the room is breezy and dark. Diners can check in on the kitchen, which is separated from the dining room with a large glass window. Yerba......

The Times’s Frank Bruni reports “a mix of exciting, intriguing and frustrating moments” in his review of Elettaria (pictured), the haute-Indian restaurant in the Village. BYO rimshot because one liners abound: “Elettaria describes itself as ‘spice-driven.’ (I’m waiting for the restaurant that’s driven by Morgan Freeman.)” But seriously folks, he loves the fluke in a sauce of coconut and tapioca pearls, while other entrees prove disappointing. Still, it gets a star for the “definite peaks......

Biryani is classified as any number of spiced South Asian rice dishes, heavily spiced, and layered with meat—often chicken, lamb, or beef. The biryani at Sangam, a new hole in the wall spot on Bleecker Street just east of 6th Avenue, receives what owner Ishrat Ansari calls “an authentic royal haute cuisine preparation.” The description is definitely merited when it comes to his wife Rafat’s homegrown recipe, which is served all vegetable, with chicken,......

Red Hook residents who used to party at Lillie’s bar on Beard Street may be surprised to discover that right next door to the decadent nightspot was an elegant restaurant waiting to be born. What was previously storage space has been thoroughly overhauled into a French bistro called La Bouillabaisse, which owner Neil Ganic (Petite Crevette) hopes to have running in time for the June 18th grand opening of IKEA, conveniently located across the street.......

Photo of Tavern on the Green petting zoo courtesy Pixietart. Central Park’s Tavern on the Green – which Wallace Shawn best described in a thinly-veiled allusion as that “always overcrowded café to whose allure all visitors to the park would eventually succumb on even the nicest days, despite the well-known quality of its ambiance and food” – has agreed to cough up $2.2 million dollars in a discrimination lawsuit. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity......

Kafana: Serbia has landed in Alphabet City, over on Avenue C. Owner Vladimir Ocokoljic tells NY Mag that what sets his new place (pictured) apart can be summed up in one word: “Pork.” Thrillist has the menu, and Ocokoljic isn’t playing: pork dominates, from the Meat Meze appetizer of assorted pork rinds to the pan fried schnitzel entrée rolled with ham and creamy spread. There are salads for the swine-averse, as well as some concessions......

From the ashes of the beloved Read Cafe in Williamsburg (that space is now occupied by the decidedly un-funky El Beit coffee shop) comes owner Laurence Elliott's new baby, The Rabbithole. Opening this Sunday, his latest venture is further south but still on Bedford, between South 4th and South 3rd Streets. When we spoke with Elliott back in March, he still had a long way to go turning the former apartments into a restaurant/cafe with......

Nestled away on a romantic little bend of Commerce Street in the West Village is Commerce, the newish bar and restaurant from chef Harold Moore and restaurateur Tony Zazula. Operating out of a carriage house dating back to 1911, the place was formerly a Prohibition-era speakeasy, then Blue Mill Tavern for 50 years, then the neighborhood favorite Grange Hall. You might assume that its new iteration is a fussy stab at resuscitating the past, but......

Save room for tongue! Bubby’s restaurant, the longtime Tribeca haunt of lettuce-fed models, will now be serving beef exclusively derived from grass-fed steers. Cattle raised on a grass, as opposed to the unnatural method of grain or corn, are much healthier and yield beef lower in saturated fat. While the trend is nothing new, what sets Bubby’s apart is that owner Ron Silver has committed to using every single part of the steer, from “tongue......

When we first noted this incoming Brazilian restaurant/bar back at the beginning of January, we incorrectly referred to it as Favela. Turns out it's Miss Favela to you (and us); the South Williamsburg "Brazilian Botequim" is currently in soft opening mode. Co-owner Alain Denneulin (of Soho's French Bistro Felix) tells us they're shooting for an official opening June 2nd. And once Miss Favela is in full swing, they'll be serving lunch and dinner until midnight......

Today the Times’s Frank Bruni reviews The Harrison (pictured) in Tribeca; the paper gave it two stars in 2001 and Bruni maintains status quo with two stars today. There’s a different chef in the kitchen, Amanda Freitag, and Bruni digs the restaurant’s “populist bent, its awareness that breaded or fried objects are a sure path to many a diner’s heart.” But don’t get him started on the ambiance: “The Harrison’s visual evocation of a country......

Scarpetta: Chef Scott Conant (L’Impero, Alto) has opened a new restaurant on West 14th Street called Scarpetta (pictured), which is an Italian expression meaning “little shoe” – or the shape bread takes when used to soak up a dish. The 70-seat restaurant features a retractable roof in the main dining room, alfresco dining out front, and a long mahogany bar offering a separate menu and some “wine-inspired” cocktails. Conant’s ingredients here are, of course, seasonal......

On behalf of the Village Voice, critic Robert Sietsema dines at chef Anita Lo’s newish Bar Q and deems the tuna-rib appetizer “mouth-worthy.” But then things go wrong, and Anita’s mom gets caught in the crossfire: “An appetizer of baby back ribs ($11) with ‘my mother's BBQ sauce’ tastes like it's been dumped out of a white carton from the local Chinese carry-out… The spicy pork wings remain flightless because they're heavily coated with cloying......

Those retro TV dinners with the pre-formulated portions aren’t just for Eisenhower-era loners anymore; the factory-made frozen meals have been cleverly revived for big city sophisticates dining at the Regency Hotel's 540 Park restaurant. The first Swanson TV Brand Frozen Dinner sold for 98 cents in 1953; at the Regency it’s been brought up to date for $30. Chef Andrew Rubin is offering three iterations on the classic, each one served on that famous, sectioned......

As the weather warms up, restaurants who keep their windows open wide maintain a serious advantage over their stuffier competitors. On a recent heated evening, this is how we stumbled upon the LES's Kampuchea, a crowded spot that riffs on Cambodian street food. While hardly authentic, Chef Ratha Chau's menu is heavy in chili, lime, coconut, and lemongrass: sweet meets sour meets spicy all over your palate. Soups and noodles comprise most of the......

Crisp: This sleek new vegetarian restaurant at Third and 43rd Street is all about fresh-made tea, colorful salad and Middle-Eastern tributes, like hummus bowls and “handbag” pita sandwiches stuffed with falafel and your choice of ingredients that include eggplant, sundried tomato spread and pesto. Naturally, Midtown Lunch had a correspondent at the scene for the opening, and first impressions are favorable. Much of the ingredients are organic and delivered fresh daily, the cooking oil is......

Tribeca’s 15-year-old Franklin Station Café will close next month, and the Downtown Express has a nice, long goodbye (928 words!) to the neighborhood mainstay. The French and Malaysian bistro, located at the corner of West Broadway and Franklin across from the 1 train stop, was one of the few moderately-priced places left in the increasingly cost-prohibitive neighborhood, and had long been a favored hang-out for locals. No surprises here, folks; the closure was brought on......