Left cover by Gretel sent to subscribers, right runner-up cover by Wieden + Kennedy. New York’s Best of New York lifestyle catalog is out, and among the rightful winners, like Best Old School Lobby: The Chrysler Building and Best Dive Bar: Mars Bar, there are some curious ‘bests’ to ponder. In the New York Classics section, for instance, the sterile, six-month old Music Hall of Williamsburg is hailed for its “unequaled” sound and sightlines. This......

Z100 Jingle Ball Rock We remember Z100 fondly. It was our morning listen for much of elementary school, and for better or worse, has stuck to the same broadcasting formula for all this time. The annual Jingle Ball is a fun tradition, if for nothing else, as a convenient year end recap of all the biggest pop hits of the year we might have missed. Getting all these names together for one night only is......

Mike Huckabee, featured in a profile in Sunday's New York Times magazine, chose to eat at T.G.I.Friday's when given a choice of lunch spots in Manhattan. The author vetoed his choice, and they ended up at his second choice, the Olive Garden. Politics aside, that's reason enough for us not to vote for the guy. Then again, we're pretty impressed that he lost over 100 pounds and runs marathons despite eating such crap. Gael Greene......

Attention Pacific Northwest: New Yorkers don't care about your cuisine. None of Jeffrey Chodorow's blogging, full page ads in the Times or other theatrics could save Wild Salmon from its imminent closure. After Eater circulated news of its potential doom, Chodorow issued a statement, published on Grub Street, "Regrettably, we will be closing Wild Salmon after the new year. We were excited about bringing the food and wine of the Pacific Northwest to New York,......

This week's New York Mag runs down some of this season's upcoming restaurant openings -- better start planning now. We've already given you the scoop on Will Goldfarb's Picnick and Peter Hoffman's Back Forty, due in September and October respectively, but we're looking forward to some of the other spots highlighted by Rob and Robin, especially noodle shop Bun, from Mai House chef Michael Huynh and his wife, Thao Nguyen, and El Quinto Pino, from......

This week's New York Mag focuses on one of the backbones of NYC culture -- the street vendor. Despite the title of the feature, "Cartography: The Complete Road Map to New York City Street Food," a vendor map is conspicuously absent. What you will find, however, is a list of the city's top 20 vendors, according to Rob & Robin, a glimpse into the daily life of a street cart vendor, and an interview with......

Sasha Frere Jones has a problem...and NY Mag has a problem with how he's going about solving it. The New Yorker music critic's files, photos and memories have been imprisoned by the evil LaCie 1TB, and the bail is a hefty $5K. He explains on his blog: Several years' worth of photos I took with my Canon PowerShot S400—every photo taken between October 2003 and December 2005—are trapped inside a LaCie 1 TB enclosure......

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......

We've already told you where to find your gefilte fish, so let's talk about some of the other Seder staples: - The gang at Wheelhouse Pickles (read all about our trip to their pickle plant) has created More Roar Horseradish just in time for your Passover Seder, Easter dinner, or even just in time for lunch. Made from fresh grated horseradish, tarragon-infused white wine vinegar, honey and salt, it is made in small batches then......

Jeffrey Chodorow has it out for Frank Bruni, and we mean big time. In a full page ad in yesterday's New York Times dining section (at a reported cost of over $83,000), Chodorow a essentially called Bruni a hack with no real food or reviewing experience (see Bruni's bio here), and accused Bruni of personally attacking him rather than focusing on the food at his latest restaurant, Kobe Club. In a rather deliberate move, he......

In case you've been cut off from the outside world, we wanted to let you know that Keith McNally's Morandi (named after the painter, Giorgio Morandi) is officially opening tonight in the West Village. The man behind Balthazar, Pastis, and Schiller's Liquor Bar has teamed up with Chef Jody Williams, most recently at Gusto, for an Italian extravaganza. The menu from chef Jody Williams features Burrata with roasted peppers and arugula, Bagna Cauda, a......

Really, you if you're considering going out for dinner on Valentine's Day, you probably should have made your reservations by now. If you haven't, here's a roundup of Valentine's Day roundups -- you should be able to find a place to woo your sweetheart over a prix fixe dinner. Citysearch has a list of restaurants offering Valentine's Day specials including a four course meal at The Little Owl for $80 or at Aroma for $130.......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a professor at Brooklyn Law was killed by a garbage truck this morning in Brooklyn Heights and an "all hands" fire broke out on Ludlow and Delancey Street in Manhattan. A Westchester teen got busted by the SPCA after collecting more than 150 animals, and forcing them to live in squalid conditions. The animals included "bearded dragon lizards, rabbits, guinea pigs, turtles, ferrets, chameleons, South American squirrels, cats, hamsters,......

Terrifying: the entire lawn at Cadman Plaza has been astroturfed! [Via Brownstoner.] Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery in Staten Island, a suicidal member of service on the George Washington Bridge, and a perp search down by the Manhattan Bridge. Foreign tourists are bum-rushing New York because of the weak dollar: "For example, the Microsoft Zune player - a rival to Apple's iPod - sells for $442 in London but can be......

Unless you've been under a rock (or perhaps out of the country for the last week or so), you've probably seen all the hooplah about this fall's upcoming culinary offerings. New York Mag was first on the scene with their fall preview issue, followed closely by the New York Times (offering "sooner" and "later" openings), and Andrea Strong. Here are some of the spots we're the most excited to try: - Gordon Ramsey comes to......

-- The city has seized control of the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene. After their huge successes in the WTC, West Side Rail, and Brooklyn Yards projects, what could go wrong? -- Did you know that Ocean Parkway was the first bike path in America? It's getting a facelift this year. -- But wait, there's more: Ron Popeil's Biography episode is on tonight! -- Shaolin's Mid-Island team is going to the Little League......

The City's Greenmarkets turn 30 this week. They've become such an integral part of our culinary landscape, with 45 locations across all five boroughs, that it's hard to imagine that there was a time we didn't have ready access to ramps, heirloom tomatoes, and locally grown berries (and neither did our chefs). According to New York Mag, the Greenmarkets were set up as a way to preserve farmland by lowering the costs involved in......

- What the hell got into Frank Bruni this week with his mock e-mail exchange review of Sacha? Too many "special cocktails," perhaps? - Congrats to Harold Dieterle for winning this season's Top Chef and for making NYC proud. We look forward to seeing your restaurant later this year (and we're pretty psyched for next season). Missed the whole thing? Check out the recaps on Slashfood. - According to the Beer Advocate's 'Top 50 Places......

We got smart this year and took our mom out for Mother's Day brunch at Cookshop two weeks ago. Not only did we beat the crowds and have no trouble getting a reservation, but we probably saved a buck or two since there was no special Mother's Day menu (but don't tell our Mom that). For those of you who are still figuring out where to take Mom on Sunday, here's a roundup of Mother's......

- Some good news about Li Miu from Felix Solomon, we were intrigued by the quartet of chefs who came together on this one. - A long deserved smackdown of the ever burgeoning EVOO empire. - Everybody has the Holy Grail they are always on the lookout for in life, ours has just appeared. The Times wrote yesterday about the possibility of pork products with heart healthy Omega-3 oils most often sourced in fish. -......

Thanks to the folks at New York Mag for bringing this one to our attention. Tia Pol's Chef Alex Raij is putting together a Valentine's day menu that contains loving tributes to her favorite dishes throughout the city. Some of Alex's favorites are ours too: Banh Mi So 1's amazing sandwiches, Pearl Oyster Bar's lobster rolls, 'ino's truffled egg toast, and Momofuku's pork buns. For each dish, she creates her own variation. If you could......

What is it about stars that gets people so worked up? New Yorkers went ballistic over the stars doled out by the Michelin Guide (the Spotted Pig?!?), and the addition of one extra star from the New York Times can make all the difference when you're trying to get a reservation. And now, New York Mag has jumped on the star bandwagon, with Adam Platt dishing out stars to his 101 favorite restaurants in the......

It's quite the red letter week for us bookish types, with the prestigious, sometimes baffling, and oft-maligned National Book Awards dinner and awards ceremony tomorrow night where trophies will be bestowed, granted, totally robbed, whatever, at the Marriott Marquis. To that end, critic A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the contradictions and complications inherent to the awards, Medal Fatigue (registration required). Garrison Keillor is the Master of Ceremonies which, frankly, is why Gothamist wishes......

This week's New York Magazine highlights the mozzarella "mini-trend" that they claim is sweeping the city. We're convinced that fresh mozzarella is always in style, although we will admit, we're particularly partial to it in the summertime, paired with a ripe tomato, some basil, and a drizzle of good olive oil. While we wait for the 30-plus varieties on the menu at Mario Batali's Mozza Bar, which New York Mag reports will be opening......

It's true. A new French bistro is opening in Brooklyn - Jolie Restaurant. The gall (or Gaul, as it were)! Opening up in Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill, where standbys like Bar Tabac, Quercy, Banania and Patois have already cornered the Gallic gourmand market. But Gothamist paid a "preview" visit to Jolie and has to admit that the new Brooklyn boîte has its charms. The sweet circular marble bar seemed like the perfect spot for an apertif,......

Seems like all the foodies are gearing up for Thanksgiving, and we can't forget dessert among all the hype of picture-perfect turkey and stuffing served with lump-free mashed potatoes and gravy. New York Magazine brings us nine of the city's best pies, in case you don't want to make your own. Witchcraft's pumpkin, Kitchenette's double crust apple, and Blue Smoke's bourbon-pecan certainly sounded appealing (dessert and booze in one place? Now we're talkin'), but keep......