A big crowd packed Joe on East 13th Street last night for New York’s first inter-cafe barista showdown, as representatives from some of the city’s top coffee houses competed in a Latte Art Throwdown to benefit American Red Cross relief efforts in Burma and China. In fact, so many spectators turned out to watch the competition – which was simulcast on the back wall – that they had to send out for more beer three......

Serendipitously coinciding with Obama’s big primary win, tonight’s Latte Art Throwdown at the 13th Street Joe will surely be crawling elitist liberals who love stuff like delicious espresso and college education. The city’s top coffee houses (Ninth Street Espresso, Gimme Coffee, Cafe Grumpy, Everyman Espresso, and Gorilla Coffee) will be sending baristas to the event, which is called "Rosettas for Relief" and benefit the American Red Cross' efforts in Myanmar and China....

BATCH: The wrapping around pastry chef Pichet Ong’s 12 seat dessert shop, Batch, is being torn off today and visitors are invited to “preview” his new array of sweets. Ong is trying to capitalize on the success of P*ong, the cozy savory/sweet pastry restaurant next door that’s so good Bruni called 2007 “the year of P*ong.” (Okay, so Bruni’s 2007 wrap-up had a lot of ‘year of’ declarations, but he still likes the place enough.)......