MOVIE: After Marion Cotillard took home the gold for best actress in La Vie en Rose last Sunday, French cinema is sure to be all the rage. Today the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2008 series kicks off with a screening of Roman de gare (pictured). Buy tickets and get the schedule here. Friday// 6:30 and 9pm // Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts [70 Lincoln Center Plaza] // $12 (stand......

Photo of the still open Gray's Papaya by Wallyg Crain’s takes notes of a sharp spike in restaurant closings, with real estate brokers reporting many more closures than usual and a surge in restaurant auctions; the city's leading restaurant auctioneer tells Crain’s he’s been handling “20 liquidations a month for the past year, twice as many as the year before.” Especially telling is that many of the auctions involve seasoned operators rather than neophytes who......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: two pedestrians struck at 71st St. and Northern Blvd. in Queens, a shooting at St. John's Pl. in Brooklyn, and a collapse at 52nd St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan. Someone stole the "diamond dress" that Carol Channing wore during her stage run in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," from an unattended luggage cart. The $150,000 dress was about to be donated to the Smithsonian Museum. Annheuser Busch is moving a......

The Observer reports that Google is outgrowing its 360,000+ square foot office space at 76 Ninth Avenue and has closed on 130,000 square feet at 75 Ninth Avenue, the Chelsea Market. Located directly across the street from each other, Google is keeping private about any plans for the new space, but The Observer gets more info on how much it might have cost the company:The source also explained that a special deal had been worked......

It's July 14, which means it's time to appreciate the je ne sais quoi of all things French as you celebrate Bastille Day. Eating frites is one way, but there are many other events and activities today and tomorrow. Today there's the Waiter's Race at Les Halles (and they have specials), there's music, can-can dancers and French food on sale at Chelsea Market, and tonight's Bastille Ball. Tomorrow has the big Bastille Day on 60th......

We've all heard the old adage that there's nothing more dangerous in the kitchen than a dull knife. A sharp knife cuts cleanly through things. A dull knife forces you to use more pressure, then may bounce off the surface of the onion you're trying to slice and onto another surface, such as--for instance--your hand. Ouch! Our favorite knife sharpener in town is Henry Westpfal, at 105 West 30th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues.......

Reader Stanley sent us this photograph of what he described as a "low key PETA protest" from the other day. Two PETA demonstrators were protesting an Iron Chef America outside of Chelsea Market, where the show films. An episode of the cooking showdown featured a lobster challenge - Morimoto vs. Eme from Season 3. But the protest may have had an unintended effect: Stanley tells us that he was inspired enough to buy a......

December 7: Alex Prud’homme at O&CO. Join Alex Prud’homme, Julia Child's grandnephew, as he recounts stories about Julia and reads from her memoir, My Life in France, which he co-authored. He will also be available to sign books, which might make a great present for someone on your holiday shopping list. O&CO. store, Grand Central Terminal, Graybar Passage--Lexington Ave & 42nd St. (212-973-1472), 6:00 pm, Free. December 8 - 17: Gingerbread Homes for Animals Pastry......

We came to win. We were prepared for the challenges they laid before us. Blind wines…bring it. Guess the spices…we came to play. Decorate the cookie…we’ll take down the pastry chefs. This was our mantra. Dirty or fair, we had one goal and that was to win the 2nd Annual Duckathlon sponsored by D’Artagnan. Clearly there was a miscount, because team Mother Ducker didn’t win, although we did steal the duck bacon prize from team......

In a time before Pastis transformed the Gansevoort Market forever, Gothamist lived in shared commercial space on Little West 12th Street with some artistically inclined folks. The food routine was straightforward; La Taza de Oro and Hector’s (44 Little West 12th Street, 212-206-7592) for day to day prepared food, Chelsea Market and Western Beef to buy raw foodstuffs, and Rio Mar served endless tapas with your Sangria. As time marches on some things change,......

The Chelsea parking garage which had a four alarm fire blaze through it yesterday is still closed as the Department of Buildings decides whether or not it is in danger of collapsing. The fire, which closed down parts of 9th and 10 Avenues and created smoke problems in the A/C/E station at 14th Street and 8th Avenue, is still under investigation, though some early reports suggest there may have been an elevator short circuit. The......

Bob Tuschman,
Food Network...

Reading the William Grimes' NY Times feature on Iron Chef America on the Food Network (it premieres this Sunday) only made Gothamist, to borrow a phrase from another Food TV personality, kick our irrational hatred of Bobby Flay up a notch. BAM! Forever will the memory of Bobby Flay jumping up on the kitchen counter during the 2000 Iron Chef showdown between Flay and Masaharu Morimoto be burned in our brains. Grimes mentions the......

This past weekend, Animal Magazine had a show of various artists work at the Chelsea Market. One work, a portrist of President Bush using monkeys, caused the Chelsea Market's manager to freak out and forced the show to close. Of course there is debate about free speech, references to Mayor Giuliani's reaction to Chris Ofili's Virgin Mary embellished (quite beautifully, in Gothamist's opinion) with cow elephant dung at the 1999 BMA Sensation show, etc., but......

As part of our foray to the Bronx, we decided to check out the Arthur Avenue Retail Market. Different retailers sell from the large building - cigar makers, florists, housewares (like a mini, less gentrified Chelsea Market) - amidst the stretch of restaurants, bakeries, fishmongers, and other butchers on Arthur Avenue. We made a beeline for Michael's Deli, in the back right corner of the market, because we had seen Michael give a demonstration......

Gothamist just love love loves that Halloween is around the corner because not only does it mean candy (candy!), it means seeing dogs wearing ridiculously cute outfits. We wanted to ask our dog-owning readers for the scoop on the NYC Halloween circuit this year. We know that Fort Green Pups has its Halloween event this Saturday (info here in PDF) and we think there's an event in Tompkins Square Park this Saturday as well.......