Tired of squandering your mornings laboriously spreading cream cheese on your freshly defrosted bagel? Kraft Foods, Inc. is here to blast you and your breakfast into the 21st century, with their new line of frozen bagels that come pre-filled with cream cheese! They’re called Bagel-Fuls, and they’re expected to hit stores in April after an “integrated” marketing campaign that’s sure to feature commercials with New York “characters” hailing this new revolution in bageldom, maybe the......

“It’s horrible. I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Arye Lewkowitz, owner of Daniel’s Bagels on Third Avenue, recently told Metro. “We’re going to have to sell a bagel for over $1.” Lewkowitz isn’t alone; bagel and bread prices are soaring nationwide due to the skyrocketing cost of wheat, which more than doubled in the past year in New York, from $5.31 a bushel to $14.22. The main reason for the spike is drought......

Time to dress up and play "I have my own food television show!" If you've ever thought you had it in you, now's the time. Epicurious.com is hosting a contest for the best video on holiday food and entertaining. Submit your entry by January 2, 2008 and have a chance to win prizes including Michael Chiarello cookware and Epicurious.com editors' favorite cookbooks. And if you're quick about it, the first 25 people to submit videos......

The Comedians of Comedy are performing at Irving Plaze on October 27th at 6 and 10:30 PM. Both shows will be hosted by Patton Oswalt, who will be joined by Brian Poshein, Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney, and some yet to be announced special guests. Last year's surprises included performances by David Cross, Nick Swardson, Jon Benjamin, and Jon Glaser. With such a line up, the event is certainly a night not to be......

There are many questions surrounding Saturday's Deutsche Bank building fire that took the lives of two firefighters. Were firefighters using outdated information? WABC 7 says that a FDNY report, which is used by fire commanders for planning how they will attack the fire, indicated that the building had 38 floors (when it was really 26) and that the standpipe was working (it wasn't connected). Did the FDNY ignore post-9/11 advice? The NY Times reports that......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a suspicious fire in the area of Ludlow and Stanton Sts. in Manhattan, a crane vs. overpass incident at Westchester and Prospect Aves. in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Shell Rd. in Brooklyn. Musician/actor Jon Bon Jovi is suing the maker of an energy drink for selling a coffee-based beverage called Mijovi. The owner of the NJ beverage company says that the name of his product is......

New Anchor, Same Old Tardiness There must be something about the morning shift at WABC. After just four days on the job as the permanent replacement for Steve Bartelstein, Ken Rosato, overslept and was late for the 5 a.m. edition of Eyewitness News. We think it is pretty safe to assume that he just overslept, since he probably hasn’t adjusted his body clock fully to the new hours, and that he wasn’t spending the night......

Earlier this week Gothamist had the chance to attend the taping of Len Berman's 20th Anniversary of Spanning the World special at NBC’s 30 Rock studios.. The show was filled with some of the best clips of the past twenty years and a visit by the always fun Al Roker. During the breaks in the taping Len answered questions from the audience, including several interesting hockey related questions from a young Rangers fan which......

The Grasshopper Bar at Baked is the more portable version of the eponymous cake that the Red Hook bakery also sells, a 3x3 inch paean to the ultimate Betty Crocker housewife kitchen caveat, an old-fashioned, unholy marriage of Cool Whip, Crème De Menthe, and a little brownie mix. While most old school Grasshopper recipes are garish, Technicolor artery cloggers, Baked’s version is unflashy (and downright sexy) and cleaned up for legitimacy, joining the company of......

Remember doodling in your notebook while your teacher droned on and on and on and on like Ben Stein? Well, pull that Bic from behind your ear and start scribbling. The drawings from These Bagels Are Gnarly: Ballpoint Pen Group Drawing Show are on sale for up to $1200 at Cinders Gallery (103 Havemeyer; Brooklyn). Unlike in a high-school cafeteria, everyone finds acceptance at Cinders. Simple rows of crosshatches like the kind kept to pass......

Residentially speaking, Gothamist is blessed with rather ample proportions. We’ve graduated from the grimy hovels of our youth to a humbly appointed dwelling which, owing to the block’s somewhat tawdry reputation, takes only a modest toll on our wallets while allowing enough space for the occasional fete. It’s that very real estate-fueled confidence that convinced us recently that our home would be the ideal space for a 20-person dinner party—a decision made in spite......

“Welcome to Brooklyn,” I said, even though we’d been in the borough for 4 hours already. A half dozen Hasidic children darted by. I saw perplexed expressions wash over my customers’ faces. We all stood there as if shell shocked, holding what remained of our Grimaldi’s slice and staring off at the desolate Floyd Bennett airfield. Countless Hasidic families roamed the grounds oblivious to the shameful pizza we’d just eaten. I’d picked up the Pattin......

-- If you like bagels and butt-holes, then this story is for you. Everyone else: look away! -- Curbed visits the disturbingly asymmetric New Museum development on Bowery-- when will buildings look normal again? -- Hilarious: One of Blogger's default templates makes the window at Saks 5th Avenue. -- Does "depraved indifference" homicide warrant 25 years to life? In this case, being totally drunk, driving your car on the wrong side of a highway......

One of the many things I love about this town is that there are a thousand places where you might find yourself saying, “It doesn’t even feel like I’m in New York City anymore.” I started driving a yellow cab, in large part, to try to find as many of those places as I could. I’ve discovered quite a few. The first time I drove down those steep streets in upper Manhattan I imagined I......

Ha! When it was revealed that frozen dessert chain CremaLita did not have low-fat or fat-free ice cream, we should have known there would be a lawsuit. The Post reports that Stephen Brandt sued Crema Lita, blaming his "severe health problems, including but not limited to cardiovascular problems, mobility problems and cancer [as well as the] negative self-esteem issues [that the] social stigma [of] excess weight gain carries [in today's culture]" on the misadvertised treat.......

Josh Karpf at foody.org tackled taste testing a staple of the Sunday morning: The everything bagel. He took bagels from Terrace Bagels and Bagel Hole in Brooklyn and judged them by their appearance, taste - even the bags they come in. Now, Josh does not seem to name one the winner over the other, as it may depend on how you like your bagels (soft or chewy? sweet or malty?). You can see the photographic......

Just when we were starting to forget about Peter 'the fake firefighter rapist' Braunstein, the New York Post brings him back. Er, well, talks to his 62-year-old former Bellevue roommate, a guy named William Allman. Honestly there isn't a shred of new verifiable information in the entire article, but we have to admit that we found ourselves unable to stop reading about how "Braunstein 'hounds' others into giving up their food so he can......

AOL has released their Cityguide for New York with a list of "The 2006 City's Best," some of which are a surprise and others which were not so surprising. Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope took Cityguide's top restaurant honor, beating out big names like Daniel, Le Bernardin, Per Se, and Masa. The Chef and co-owner of Stone Park told the Daily News, "We're very thrilled - winning these types of contests really attests to......

- The Phoenix looks at the Village Voice's changes - including the missing Press Clips (last seen on January 31) - An advocacy group goes online for its outreach efforts to educate gay blacks and Latinos about crystal meth - Congratulations, Columbia - you have more dangerous professors than any other NYC school - The NYPD says it acted correctly in the case of the 7 year old beaten by her stepfather - Ugh: Planes......

"If you can't beat 'em, psych 'em out" seems to be the tactic of the Brooklyn bagel shop that incited the ire of the MTA when it used MTA symbols. The shop, the former "F Line Bagels," was hit with a cease and desist from the MTA last March and eight month laters, fined and forced to remove the various subway signage the owners bought from the MTA. Deciding that a new sign would only......

The Post looks at the growing chasm between old school bagels which tend to be small and the bagels that are the size of a cat. Now, Gothamist didn't realize there was this chasm - we only were aware that there were "NYC bagels" and "crap bagels" (which can even come from NYC, but then they are from Dunkin' Donuts or Au Bon Pain or some other huge chain). The Post's Chris Erikson explains:The smaller......

Tired of that cramped studio? Dying to have a view other than a brick wall to look at? Has public urination gotten you down? Then head on out to the suburbs where the air is clean, the housing is bigger and the rents are cheap(er). Just make sure to read the hilarious piece in today’s New York Times first. Among the priceless quotes that Gothamist loved were: "Out there, you have to work at being......

We spotted this sign on Bedford in Williamsburg yesterday. If Subway gets burned down by rampaging hipsters, we recommend the bagels at The Bagel Store (Bedford and N3rd) or BagelSmith (N7th). [Related: An easier to read web-version is available at MotherlessBrooklyn.org.]......

Even when Gothamist is half way around the world, we cannot get away from timely NYC topics. Yesterday, we wrote about the MTA's demand that F Line Bagels remove any MTA-related signage and decor from the premises, plus pay a fine, and a few hours later, we wandered into a "New York style deli" in a trendy Hong Kong neighborhood... that had a huge subway map and Metrocard behind the counter! Of course, the......

Following up eight months after MTA told Carroll Gardens bagel shop, F Line Bagels (decorated with various official MTA merchandise), to cease-and-desist using the anything-MTA-related in their store, a judge ruled that the store must indeed cease using MTA logos and materials. The judge said the Assad brothers just need to cover up the MTA logos, but the MTA wants the signs totally removed PLUS $5,000 in licensing fees. Clearly, no settlement was ever brokered,......

Next Wednesday at sundown the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur begins - a 24 hour period of fasting and atonement. After a full day without food or drink, many Jews ritually break their annual fast with the "other" Jewish cuisine - Chinese. But, even more members of "the Tribe" default to the classic urban Judaic breakfast for break-the-fast - a smoked fish-palooza featuring a bevy of assorted bagels and cream cheese spreads. So, all......

New York magazine brings the funny this week with a cover story about Conan O'Brien as well as some other NYC-comedy features. The Conan story delves into his "unsuave" persona and the possibilities of bringing his style to the rest of America when he takes over the Tonight Show (he says, "I’m open to going to L.A. Mostly because it won’t be my choice."). Gothamist highly recommends you read it, but we have pulled out......

There's nothing like a mean New Yorker cover to get Brooklyn intellectuals into a huff. Two weeks ago, the cover of the New Yorker featured God's hand banishing Adam and Eve across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn, in an illustration by Marcellus Hall called "Unaffordable Eden." The Daily News spoke to some enraged Brooklynites, who think the idea of Brooklyn being a second-class borough is outdated, scoffing at Manhattan denizens who think Manhattan is "the......

It's St. Patrick's Day, the day when New Yorkers are greeted by the sight of green bagels. Today's parade starts at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street at 11AM, and goes north to 86th Street. However, some firefighters will be protesting the decision not to allow firefighters to wear green berets during the parade by standing on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; another group protesting the parade is the Irish Lesbian and......

F Line Bagels, the new Smith Street bagel shop (see the nice exterior shot from Curbed) that has raised the ire of the MTA for using various subway memorabilia in the store, say they will propose a settlement to end the issues. The MTA issued a cease-and-desist to the shop, claiming that the shop used its trademarked items improperly and is infringing on the MTA's intellectual property. Okay, Gothamist gets that, but is making stupid......