The charges have been dropped against the two men who were arrested for trying to cash a dead man’s $355 social security check. Back in January, David Daloia and James O'Hare made headlines with their foiled scheme to capitalize on O’Hare’s roommate’s death by pushing his corpse in an office chair up to a Pay-O-Matic check cashing joint in Hell’s Kitchen. They were arrested en route after a detective spotted the visibly deceased third man.......

Kyotofu is best known for turning out beautiful Japanese desserts, but this Hell’s Kitchen hot spot has been steadily adding savory items, and its new spring menu features some surprises on both the sweet and savory fronts. Delicate homemade tofu has always been a point of pride, but now the bean curd has been incorporated into a slider. Carnivorous types will be pleased to learn that these are no mere veggie burgers; the patties are......

The desperate antics of old-school Hell's Kitchen residents are still making news. James O'Hare and David Daloia were arraigned for forgery, petty larceny and other charges when they tried to cash in O'Hare's roommate's Social Security check - while O'Hare's dead roommate's body was in a chair outside the checking cashing place. Police believe dead roommate, Virgilio Cintron, died of natural causes on Monday, the day before O'Hare and Dalaia tried to pull the scam.......

James O’Hare and David Dalaia, both 65, were arrested after they wheeled in the corpse of O'Hare's roommate to a check cashing office, attempting to cash in O'Hare's dead roommate's Social Security check. With a roommate like this... Virgilio Cintron had died (of natural causes) at age 66 on Monday in the Hell's Kitchen apartment he shared with O'Hare, who would have been well-aware of Cintron's $355 check. He and Dalaia tried to dress Cintron,......

Yesterday, Governor Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander and other officials kicked off the extension of the 7 line by unveiling a new sign in Times Square pointing the way to Hudson Yards. Ah, nothing like putting in signs for things that won't be ready for years - the 7 will reach 34th and 11th Avenue in 2013. The 7 line extension will cost $2 billion for the 1.5 miles......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn, a bank robbery on Maiden Ln. and Gold St. in Manhattan, and an amputation at The Public School on Bristol St. in Brooklyn. Get ready for a possible porn release of Amy Fisher, thanks to her boyfriend. He handed over video of the pair to a porn producer during a fight and before the pair reconciled. Neighborhood resistance to the......

Early yesterday morning in Hell's Kitchen, soap opera actor Nathaniel Martson allegedly attacked three people. The Daily News reports that Marston, who plays Dr. Michael McBain on One Life to Live, swung a metal crate at his victims, which broke one of the men's legs. One of the victims, Salvatore Cabibo who didn't even know the actor, said Marston had been arguing with a cab driver and then charged at him, shouting, "I'm going to......

Back Forty: Peter Hoffman of Savoy brings his fresh-from-the-farm mentality to the East Village, complete with farm implements decorating the walls. The term "Back Forty" referred to the undeveloped quarter of a 160-acre homestead where farm families went to relax and unwind. The menu may be small, but includes a grass-fed beef burger, Maine shrimp and bacon beignets, and a whole grilled Catskill trout. Wash it down with a house cocktail, or if you've got......

The New York Times looks at the Market Diner today, the Hell's Kitchen restaurant that occupies the corner lot on 43rd St. and 11th Ave. The diner closed in 2006, but has thus far avoided the wrecking ball, while grass sprouts from cracks in the parking lot where large sedans used to pull in 24 hours a day. The Times says the Market Diner opened in 1962, but the painted glass window out front......

Last Monday was one of those sweltering August days, which is why Gothamist was quite glad to kick off the evening at Kyotofu with the house cocktail, a refreshing combination of sesame shochu and raspberry. Refreshing as the cocktails were, we must admit that's not what drew us to Kyotofu that night. We were there to drink (and talk) sake. The Hell's Kitchen dessert spot was host to a tasting of sakes from Yamagata Prefecture's......

This week on food-related TV, we’ve got: Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Brazil. For a critical take on the show—you’re basically just watching a guy eat and it’s boring—read the Post here. Episode 8 of Top Chef airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Daniel Boulud is the guest judge this week. Read EW’s wrapup of the previous episode here. Last week NY’s final representative on the show, Sara, got......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Hell's Kitchen (Monday, 9:00 p.m., WNYW 5) Gordon Ramsay makes his choice in the season finale. The World According to Google (Monday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) A Dutch documentary about the Google empire and the social and ethical practices of the company. Weeds (Monday, 10:00 p.m., Showtime) The third season starts with the looming problem of a new mega church in the neighborhood. Californication (Monday, 10:30 p.m.,......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations continues tonight at 10pm on the Travel Channel. This episode features Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern exploring New York City. On Hell's Kitchen (Monday at 10pm, Fox), it’s the grande finale. Bonnie vs. Rock: who would’ve foreseen this matchup? If you missed last week, read the recap in the LA Times. Episode 7 of Top Chef airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Did you watch......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? The third season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations premieres tonight at 10pm on the Travel Channel. The first episode features his trip to Shanghai. Fox has Episode 9 of Hell's Kitchen, also on tonight at 9pm. Both Julia and Josh were kicked to the curb last week (but in a random act of kindness, Ramsay promised to send Julia to culinary school). Now three contestants remain. Read......

What's worth watching, food-wise, on TV this week? Fox has Episode 8 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Brad surprisingly got the boot last week; now five contestants remain. Read the latest episode roundup on EW’s TV Watch. This week on Top Chef: Rocco DiSpirito is appearing as a judge! And—allegedly—looking a little more plastic than he used to. Also, check out the proposed rules for next season in the Village Voice: we’re right......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? ">Martha Stewart has all new episodes this week (10am Monday-Friday, NBC). Monday her guests are Mario Batali, Michael Schulson and Scott Conant; on Wednesday it’s Rick Bayless, Sue Torres and Tom Douglas. Fox has Episode 7 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Melissa’s gone, and six contestants remain. Read the latest episode roundup in the LA Times here. Gordon Ramsay has also adapted his BBC show......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Here’s the breakdown: Fox has Episode 6 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Read the latest Entertainment Weekly episode wrapup here as well as a (slightly depressing) update on the previous two winners in the Post here. The Surreal Gourmet, Bob Blumer, returns to TV with a new show on the Food Network. Called Glutton for Punishment, it premieres this Tuesday at 9:30pm. Blumer participates in......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Here’s the breakdown: Fox has Episode 5 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Read the Entertainment Weekly episode wrapup here. And see Anthony Bourdain’s less-than-flattering assessment of the season here. There’s no new episode of Top Chef this Wednesday, due to the holiday, but Bravo reruns frequently if you want to catch up. See the schedule here. And EW's episode summary is always amusing. Rounding out......

It's not just venues closing down these days, the latest real estate casualty is still music-related, however. AMNY reports that Sony BMG is closing its Hell's Kitchen studios. Not surprisingly, the company alluded to difficult times in the recording industry when internally annoucing the five-story brick building (which resides on West 54th St and 10th Ave) will be shutting its doors this August. Employees received the memo on June 8th, also letting them know all......

Last week, it was announced that two emergency medical technicians had resigned because they had filmed patients on the job. The FDNY did not reveal what was on the tapes, only calling them "inappropriate," but now the Post has the details. - A shocking sequence in which a prostitute bares her breasts. - A nasty prank in which a medic taps a drunk on the shoulder before he tips over. - A mean-spirited verbal poke......

This Sunday, the Mayor will formally unveil more PlaNYC details (though the website has been up for a while now). He'll give the speech at the American Museum of Natural History, to which New York Mag says, "while we're excited to see the plan, we confess the museum's symbolism is making us nervous: dinosaurs … carcasses … oy." MUSIC: Celebrate the earth with some tunes this weekend at the Green Apple Music Festival. Musicians will......

Awesome: The owner of a Burger King at Fifth Avenue and 36th Street is suing its landlord. Apparently the BK at 401 Fifth Avenue got infested with rats "after an adjacent Chinese restaurant shut down earlier this month," according to the NY Sun. And then when Inside Edition caught the rats inside the Burger King (as well as rats in other city restaurants), the owners decided to sue. The lawsuit says, "The rodents from the......

On the 9th Avenue block between 48th and 49th streets in Hell's Kitchen, the warm glow from newcomer dessert bar Kyotofu looked especially inviting on a recent rainy night. Adding to a once niche industry made popular by ChikaLicious and the much discussed Room 4 Dessert, Kyotofu adds their own style and that's a style based in soy. Once inside, sleek white walls, an arsenal of sakes, and a briskly moving waitstaff dodge around......

Brooklyn Industries is opening an art gallery in Williamsburg, on the site of their old retail location on Broadway and Driggs. Oh no! Eric Brown has reached the shark-jumping point of his internet celebrity-- posing drunk and surly at a K-Y Jelly party. Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: gas leak on East 4th Street, suspicious package on the Upper West Side, and two missing kids in Harlem. Who doesn't love a classic New York......

In the crossroads of the "Can't Beat 'Em, So Join 'Em" chronicles and the "____ Diner, R.I.P." annals, there's is the Moondance Diner. The NY Sun reports the SoHo fixture will be razed for - you guessed it - luxury condos. But that's not all: Moondance owner Sunil "Sunny" Sharma was originally going to sell the property, but decided to develop it himself with Extell's Gary Barnett and others. Plans for a 66,743 square......

- 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......

Subway station is better than no subway station. That's the lesson we're taking from the NY Sun's story about surging subway ridership at some unlikely stations. The fast growing station? The J/M/Z station at Bowery and Delancey, which now has 1,771 people entering the station daily, versus 308 in 1995. The station's growth seems to be a reflection of the intense Lower East Side development. The second fastest growing station is Beach 98th Street......

Yesterday, Senator - and official Presidential candidate - Hillary Clinton made her first public appearances. She went to Hell's Kitchen to discuss a health insurance program for children - and announced she would make health care a critical of her campaign:"I want to have a conversation with our citizens about we want for our country, and one of the goals that I will be presenting is health insurance for every child and universal health......

Two weeks ago, Fauzto Lopez was on his way to his second job at the Ninth Avenue Saloon in Hell's Kitchen when two men, mistaking him for a man they earlier had an argument with, jumped him and then fatally shot him. Today, the Ninth Avenue Saloon will hold a fundraiser for his wife and four children, partly to send his body back to Mexico and partly to support the children. The fundraiser is at......

- Tomatoes and watermelon together, really? One blogger thinks yes really. Just add it to the list of things to try sometime. - A big week for animal slaughtering, insight from SauteWednesday and Gordon Ramsay. - Speaking of Ramsay, we are damn glad Heather won last night on Hell's Kitchen; that challenge-winning streak by Virginia was odd by any measure. - Mmmmm….BLT’s. Do you think that the lettuce is superfluous in this classic? - A......