Tremayne Durham, who served time for a Manhattan rape in 1992, decided to plead guilty to murdering an Oregon man in exchange for "feast of KFC chicken, Popeye's chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, carrot cake and ice cream." Durham originally ordered an $18,000 ice cream truck, but changed his mind. The Oregon company wouldn't refund his money, so Durham took a bus to Oregon and killed a former employee of the company while looking for the......

This week in the Times, Bruni two-stars Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill (the new one, at Columbus Circle). After a few rocky meals immediately after the opening, “the food has been consistently first-rate,” says Bruni. “Much of it also reflects the [owners’, Eric and Bruce] Bromberg’s winning playfulness.” He also says that while the sushi isn't the best in town, the fried chicken may be. In Dining Briefs, Bruni visits Cooper’s Tavern (pictured) in......

Go! Go! Curry: This Japanese fast food hot spot had lines down the block when they opened in the Garment District last spring; now they’re building on the buzz and branching out in the East Village. We’ve become addicted to their belt-busting Grand Slam (pictured), “a monster platter that comes with fried chicken, pork sausages and a hard-boiled egg, among other things. The thick, sweet sauce has a tiny kick of heat and is served......

From rats ruling a West Village KFC/Taco Bell to Governor Spitzer's downward spiral, from a shock jock's questionable words to an up-and-down year for the MTA (and its riders), we bring up the biggest stories of 2007. Midtown Steam Pipe Explosion On a July afternoon, an 83-year-old steam pipe near Grand Central Station exploded, ripping apart the street. Debris, including asbestos, filled the air and covered people as they ran from the scene. One woman......

A while ago when Gothamist got wind of TKettle, a spot on St. Marks that promised bubble tea, dumplings and Korean fried chicken, we were tempted to place it in the same category as many Chinatown spots trading in savory snacks and bizarre boba drinks. The appeal of slurping chewy gelatinous globes through an oversized straw has always proved elusive, but we harbor no such prejudices against fried chicken or dumplings. Additional reports about succulent......

Good news for old-school New Yorkers: the new 2nd Ave Delicatessen is expected to open sometime next week in its new Murray Hill Location on 33rd Street, near Third Avenue. Lovers of the deli’s famous matzo ball soup and pastrami sandwiches were devastated last year when, after a half-century in business, the 2nd Ave and 10th Street legend was snuffed out. The closure came in the wake of a bitter rent dispute between deli......

On a stretch of Northern Boulevard in Flushing that's home to some of the city's best Korean fried chicken joints sits Ga Si Ri, one of the city's top Korean BBQ spots. Unless you read Korean, you'd probably never know that it's a BBQ restaurant. We happened upon this place a while back while passing by with a friend; drawn in by the rustic exterior – complete with thatched roof and clusters of fake yams......

It's been quite a 24 hours for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. Last nght, he was at the Apollo for his first Harlem event. And this morning, he had breakfast with Mayor Bloomberg at a Midtown diner. At last night's $50-per-ticket fund-raiser, both Cornel West and Chris Rock introduced Obama. West asked the audience to think about entertainers like James Brown and Billie Holliday, who "represent a way of life that goes all the......

The other night we found ourselves craving shwarma as we strolled the stretch of Flushing’s Main Street that’s home to kosher groceries and dairy restaurants. As Gothamist approached Pita Hot, with visions of rotating meat dancing wildly in our head, we noticed an orange storefront out of the corner of our eye. Next to the utilitarian space that’s home to some of the borough’s best shwarma was a joint with a day-glo orange sign that......

When it comes to Queens, Gothamist has kvelled carnivorously about everything from Korean fried chicken to Filipino pork crackling. Despite our devotion to the borough's meat dishes, every fortnight or so we venture forth seeking vegetarian fare. Specifically South Indian, which features such snacks as crispy dosai, crêpes made from rice and lentil batter. We prefer ours filled with potato and green chilies. Yesterday when a friend told us about Sai Bhavan Snack & Sweets......

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Alex Ureña’s Pamploma, gives the restaurant two stars. “Pamplona is Ureña [the chef’s former restaurant] with an attitude adjustment,” he says. “His best dishes are more than memorable enough to redeem Pamplona’s shortcomings.” In the Post, Cuozzo goes to BLT Market, where he finds “Tourondel’s first fully-composed dishes since Cello.” Says the restaurant revives the corner of Sixth Ave and Central Park South, and “What BLT Market......

Bruni goes to Franny’s in Brooklyn, rates it a top pick, awards it two stars, and calls himself a newly converted “besotted Franny’s believer.” Says Franny’s simplicity—they serve crostini, cured meats, pasta and pizza (along with a few other items)—“is deceptive. The restaurant finds transcendence in dishes and genres that wouldn’t seem to yield so readily to invention or open the door to so much pleasure.” And Cuozzo says Little Italy is “drawing unaccustomed buzz”......

Ah, summer in New York: hot-dog contests, fireworks, the beach, and, don't forget, a stolid steamy blanket of humidity that greets all who dare to step outside their freon fortresses. But summer in the city needn't be all about sweating through the wet-dog daze. As soon the mercury rises many turn to salads for solace, but let's face it, mixed greens are neither filling nor cooling enough when its hot and humid. To Gothamist sweltering......

Korean fried chicken has been on the radar of Manhattan foodies for quite some time, thanks to Koreatown's Bon Chon. But nowhere else in our fair city has this highly cravable treat spread its wings so rapidly as in Flushing, particularly around Northern Boulevard in the 150s and 160s. The number of restaurants in the nabe serving this delicacy invites comparison to the growth of Starbucks, but in a better, less evil way. There are......

The Sunday EV Greenmarket has now picked up a fishmonger from a Hampton, not really sure where really or how long they have been there, but the stuff looked superb. Porgy filets, creamish colored sea scallops, black sea bass, and yellowfin tuna were some of the selection presented. Speaking of the farmers, they seem to be finding a published voice more often, hopefully they can join the celeb chef's on the podium and grab a......

Gothamist is just recovering from the food coma that followed Wednesday night's preopening party at Borough Food & Drink. By the time we got there the room was jammed with all manner of food bloggers, writers and restaurant industry insiders all gleefully sampling items from the menu of the new Chodorow-Pelaccio venture. It's good to know that our time trolling the mean streets of Queens and Brooklyn hasn't been spent in vain. As soon as......

Although after this weekend the days will begin to get shorter, there's still plenty of evening sunlight left for a picnic. Grab some wine, a blanket and some friends and get going. One of the most unique yet practical picnic items we've seen in some time is this picnic saddlebag set ($79.95), designed to fit on a bicycle luggage rack. One side contains cutlery, plates, glasses and napkins for four, salt & pepper shakers,......

We arrived at the Japan Day festivities in Central Park last Sunday afternoon only to find that the food had run out. Nevertheless, we enjoyed an excellent jazz combo, but soon it started to rain. In order to salvage the day, and keep with the Japanese theme, Gothamist headed downtown to give Go!Go! Curry a try. One of the reasons we waited so long to pay Go!Go! Curry a visit was that it was host......

Yesterday, an out-of-control car crashed into a crowded Popeye's Fried Chicken restaurant at Frederick Douglas Boulevard and 145th Street. Police say that the driver had a leg cramp, which made he "stomp on the gas pedal." A witness told WNBC, "(It's) something I don't want to see again. She came down the hill and went straight into the window." WNBC has pictures of the scene, complete with half-eaten meals. The NY Times reported that the......

Korean fried chicken joint Bon Chon looks out of place on the second floor of an otherwise food-less building, even more so when you step out of the elevator and are met with dance music -- so loud that you have to shout in order to be heard by the person next to you -- in an environment that seems better fit for a trendy bar, not a restaurant. This place specializes in fried......

Or at least you can get your fat on. You can start by hitting up the newly opened Popeye's Fried Chicken at 40th Street between 7th and 8th. And of course you'll need to follow it up with some pancakes. Lucky for you, IHOP is giving them away free until 10 p.m. today! Here's a list of nearby IHOPs, for your convenience. For other pancake options, the New York post rounds up a wide variety,......

Yesterday afternoon, an apartment building at 115th Street and Lenox Avenue caught fire and tenants and onlookers cheered as five children and their mothers were led to safety. A neighboring building's super, Sharif Abdul Aziz, made three different trips down the fire escape to save mothers and their babies. Aziz simply said, "Everything I do, I do for God." Firefighters also rescued one set of twins from the fifth floor by handing the kids through......

- It's strange that in this arctic weather that the best food news we've heard today is that NYC Icy is returning. NYC Nosh snapped a photo of this sign in Hell's Kitchen. Bring on the summer! - Midtown Lunch shares the news that you can now find chicken and waffles in Midtown. - And speaking of fried chicken, we're now seriously craving some of the Korean fried chicken featured in today's Times. - Michael......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was hit by a truck and killed in Chelsea and a bank robbery was foiled in Brooklyn Heights (more pix at Flickr). Most meta-muttonchop shot ever! Can't get enough? Fine, here's one more. A manager at the Park Slope Barnes & Nobles had a great idea for reducing crowding: banning strollers. What could go wrong? Dante's Inferno, Queens edition: "screeching elevated trains serving two lines roar overhead......

Some new details about why an angry Kennedy Fried Chicken owner burned down his neighbor-turned-competitor's store in the Bronx. The owner-arsonist, Kabeer Ahmad, says he was drunk. Shocking! The court documents have Ahmad stating, "I went out drinking last night [New Year's Eve] and after I got drunk I went to the store at 870 Hunts Point Avenue about 3 a.m. and told the customers and employees that the store was closing and that everyone......

When you hear that a restaurant is burning, you think grease fire. But in the case of a Bronx establishment, it was actually arson - by way of a next-door neighbor/business rival! A Kennedy Fried Chicken owner decided enough was enough when his neighbor, a Twin Donut owner, started to sell cheaper fried chicken. So the Kennedy Fried Chicken owner Kabeer Ahmad "hammered a hole in the wall between the two stores, sprayed in some......

- Beloved dive bar Siberia (wall signage pictured at right) to close? - Get a look at a roundup of "casual dining" burgers on Serious Eats, from Houlihan's, Applebee's, T.G.I.Friday's, and Red Robin, just in case you find yourself trapped somewhere in the middle of the country. - Jennifer Leuzzi of Snack dives into the rumor mill around Le Cirque. True: Christophe Bellanca, formerly of L.A.'s, L'Orangerie, will be joining the kitchen as of the......

The alligator that was found in Brooklyn yesterday was successfully turned over to Animal Care & Control. The police found the 2-foot caiman alligator in a cardboard box with a shoelace tied and double-knotted around its jaw. Animal Care & Control warmed up the caiman and said it would go to licensed wildlife care or rehab facilities in Long Island or New Jersey. Oh, come on - at this point, the city should open up......

Fret not, lovers of trans-fats, as it seems that the Board of Health has had a change of heart about banning them from city restaurants. Dr Thomas Frieden, the City Health Commissioner, spoke at a Crain's New York Business breakfast yesterday (we would love to see that menu), sharing that the original July 2007 deadline for banishing the good stuff may have to be postponed. A new proposal will be presented at a December 5th......

Yesterday the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene held a public hearing about banning trans fats in city restaurants. Overall, most people said it was a good thing, with health and diet experts noting the "historic nature of these hearings" and that 22% of heart-related deaths are due to trans fats consumption. However, there was opposition - and not just from fast food restaurants. The Food Bank for New York City pointed out that......