Today the Times’s Frank Bruni relates his multiple visits to West Village Asian barbecue restaurant Bar Q, and by the sounds of it you’d never guess print media is in any kind of financial trouble – an initial trip with one group of ungrateful friends prompted so much "grumbling" he had to "unruffle their feathers" by being “especially profligate with the wine” on his paper’s expense account. The hangers-on who shared his second visit tasted......

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes. What you see before is bag of dried hibiscus flowers, or karkade, as these dried little blossoms are known in Egypt. You can boil them up to make a wonderfully red-hued tea that's packed with plenty of vitamin C. As you can probably guess from the image on the packaging it's sometimes served hot......

A long-running feud between a Bath Beach apartment building superintendent and a tenant turned violent yesterday morning. Tenant Alberto Sanchez allegedly wielded a knife at super Leoncio DeJesus, who then threw acid in Sanchez's face. The acid hit Sanchez's girlfriend, who was attempting to calm him down, as well. Sanchez had allegedly jabbed the knife towards the super, and a witness said he overheard Sanchez saying, "I am gonna kill him" yesterday morning. Another said,......

Police are wondering if yesterday's execution-style killing of Genovese crime family member is related to the shooting of another mob member a day before. The Post has a graphic (pictured) showing that the Tuesday attack on Gambino family member Robert DeCicco was just a mile away from Rudolph Izzi's Shore Parkway home, where he was found dead. Izzi's body was shot in the head, after a friend/doctor noticed there were signs of forced entry. Izzi,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: "injured police dog" (oh no!) on Bedford in Williamsburg, a double stabbing at Landmark High School on 58th Street, and a 2nd alarm fire in Fort Greene. A bill in the New Jersey legislature would set up a $1m voting lottery: "any registered voter who cast a ballot that year in a primary or general election eligible for the $1 million prize." Sadly, the bill doesn't look like it's......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a residential high-rise fire on upper Broadway, a "church robbery" (! - those robbers took from the poor box!) in Queens, and a shooting in Bed-Stuy. Have you lost the Christmas spirit? If you have, read "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story", by Paul Auster-- it'll cheer you up. [Via OTBKB] James Forbes, the controversial pastor of Riverside Church, has delivered his last sermon there. He'll be embarking on a farewell......