Elettaria: Hendrix shredded here once upon a time, when it was a music venue called The 8th Wonder, but now the stage is an open kitchen and South Asian-spiced American dishes are the stars. Decorated by the man behind Allen & Delancey, the seductive 72-seat interior (pictured) features a rustic reclaimed barn-wood ceiling, plush banquettes, old-world paintings and exposed brick walls. Appetizers include a dish of dayboat sea scallops with celery root puree, oxtail, Meyer......

The tragic death of a construction worker at the Trump Soho building has put the spotlight on the spotty history of a contractor on the project. On Monday afternoon, a worker, Yuriy Vanchytskyy (pictured below), fell 42 stories to his death when the molds he and other workers were pouring concrete into broke, causing a collapse into lower floors. The NY Times notes that another worker, also working for subcontractor DiFama Concrete, died when he......

Photograph of an injured worker being unloaded from the construction bucket from reader Nick Sonderup There are reports that a crane lost its load of concrete beams at Spring and 6th Avenue. The beams hit the building and sidewalk scaffolding and people are trapped. One fatality is being reported. Photograph of workers on the sidewalk pointing by from stconrad on Flickr The reports indicate the accident occurred at a building under contraction at 246......

THEATER: The salty, electric dynamo that is Elaine Stritch shows no sign of waning – about to turn 83-years-young, the show biz legend has kicked off 2008 with a reprise of her Tony-winning cabaret show. Backed by a six-piece band and performed in two acts for a dining audience at the newly restored Café Carlyle, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, co-written with the New Yorker’s John Lahr, is a hilarious, old-fashioned ride through star-studded post-war Broadway,......

Drama rocked the tabloid news website Gawker last week when half the editorial staff abruptly resigned. The news came to readers through an initially unassuming post on the website by editor Emily Gould, who addressed at length an essay about Gawker in the new issue of literary magazine n + 1 before divulging news of her departure, along with managing editor Choire Sicha. (It was later learned that a third editor, Joshua Stein, had also......

Sean Combs clocked a 31 year old clubgoer in SoHo on Sunday, right in the kisser...twice. Oh yes he Diddy! The rap mogul was at the after-hours club Kiosk (located at 95 Spring Street) when the rumble went down, and he's yet to turn himself in. amNewYork reports that "he was expected to appear at the First Precinct this morning for questioning."Police would not identify the victim in the case but they said First Precinct......

Do you hate graffiti? Do you also hate Brooklyn gentrification? Then you're really going to hate this email we received from Gothamist reader Paul Vogeler: Hey this developer has chosen 7 local Brooklyn based artists to “wheatpaste” their art on the construction fence on North 10th and North 11th between Bedford and Berry in Williamsburg. It should set a new precedent for developers beginning to incorporate more artists in the beginning, middle, and final......

Will Manhattan's clubs be moving to the 10013? With the group that opened Cain on 27th Street having opened Gold Bar at 389 Broome Street in February; and uber-promoter Danny A having opened the VIP-only Upstairs on Spring Street and Broadway, The Observer is reporting on a move of "clubland" to Chinatown. Following the flock is former model Emma Cleary who purchased Double Happiness at 173 Mott Street. The lounge will open as a "hip......

Johnny Utah's -- Nothing says classy like a mechanical bull and an enormous bourbon selection. Marlon Manton, formerly of Blue Smoke, will be serving up twists on Tex-Mex, including Texas brisket with red-eye gravy, and smoked chorizo with pickled okra. 25 West 51st Street, (212) 265-8824. Noble Food and Wine - Talk about taking your wine seriously -- these guys have a high-tech wine preservation system allowing them to pour eight different bottles by the......

Over the weekend, we spotted a new addition to Pinkberry’s Le Klint-inspired hanging lamps, pebble floors and ghost chairs. At first we couldn't quite identify the boxy, gray, tubal contraption. Was it a kitchen gadget? An elephant? An intricate mouse trap? No, no and no. It was a MovinCool air conditioner! In late spring, when a friend asked about air conditioning, a staffer said it was broken. Several weeks later, a staffer again said that......

We've been hearing about a plan to increase security downtown by placing security cameras and license plate readers in Lower Manhattan, "ring of steel"-style for a while, but now the NY Times has word on when it'll happen. According to police officials, more than 100 cameras will be in place by the end of the year and if it's fully financed, over 3,000 private and public cameras will be up and running. From the......

Need to lose a few pounds? Try some pickles -- Drew Nieporent swears by them: "You should slice them the long way, so they last longer. I have lost 50 pounds in 100 days." [NY Daily News] Is your favorite chip on the list of those tested by the Times this week? Kettle Chips are the overall chip champ, but Ed Levine laments the omission of Cape Cod Dark Russets. [NYT; Serious Eats] In case......

A truly bizarre crime is reported in today's Post. Apparently a man took a passed-out woman from a subway platform and then tried to assault her in Nolita. A 21-year-old woman had been passed on a bench at the Brooklyn Bridge station's platform. Around 5AM, Jasiri Walloe allegedly kissed and fondled the woman until an uptown 6 train pulled in. He then took the woman on the train (carrying her) and got out at Spring......

Bruni visits the recently reopened Provence (now owned and run by Cookshop & Five Points’ Marc Meyer and Vicki Freeman), awards the restaurant one star. He likes the minimal changes they’ve made to the design; the food, not so much: “Provence’s is inconsistent and dull,” he says. He does like the wine and the cheese selection though. Also in the Times, ">Peter Meehan goes to Grand Sichuan East Village for $25 and Under. Says, “Of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: unstable scaffolding at Manhattan's 265 West 37th St., a police car multi-vehicle accident at Thomas S. Boyland St. and Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, and a suspicious package at East 161st St. and Grand Concourse in the Bronx. How could the McGreevey saga get any more strange? Maybe if Jim McGreevey decided to join the priesthood. He told WNBC that he is entering a seminary to become an Episcopal priest.......

FR.OG -- This sleek space in SoHo brings together Chef Didier Virot and his partner from Aix Brasserie, Philip Kirsh, in a tribute to parts of the world that had at one time been colonized by the French and influenced by French cuisine. The name stands for French Origin (it has nothing to do with amphibians), and the menu provides a global culinary romp with stops in Vietnam, Morocco, Lebanon and, of course, France.......

Summer's around the corner and the party invitations are beginning to roll in. If you want to get invited back to their share on the shore, the key is bringing a great hostess gift (and not puking off the balcony). You don’t need to deplete your bank account to make a good impression; in fact for only $20 bucks we found the perfect gift. The “IL” Party To-Go kit (around $19.99) contains two 750 ml.......

90-floor hotel at the Javits Center? That'll be great for the West Side Stadium - oh, wait Huh: Kean University hires former NJ Governor James McGreevey to teach ethics, law and leadership - we sort of understand it because they're just paying him $17,500, but STILL He's ready: Suspected sexual attacker Peter Braunstein was found mentally fit to stand trial Former Montessori school headmistress Lina Sinha's 14 year sentence for seducing a student is......

April 20-21: Wine Rave NYC Wine Rave NYC is an event designed to take away the stuffiness from wine events. There will be tastings galore, plus "Sips of Wisdom," brief presentations from experts, and the "Hip Sips Lounge," where you can talk to wine industry insiders. Friday, April 20 from 6 to 10 pm and Saturday, April 21 from 5 to 10 pm. $65 general admission, $100 VIP tickets, available online, by calling 212-352-9900 or......

It's no win for Donald Trump on two counts - and we bet Rosie O'Donnell is cackling. First, the Department of Buildings has rejected a permit for the Trump Soho Hotel- for the third time! Apparently Trump's contractors can't issue plans for the 40-floor tall hotel and residence that are compliant with zoning laws. It's unclear what the issue with the last set of plans was, but there have been claims that the property isn't......

The controversial proposal to turn the UPS lot on Spring Street and West Street into a place for 106 Sanitation trucks may align Donald Trump with critics of his planned Trump Soho Hotel. The Donald takes a break from blabbing about ladies of The View and tells the Post, "I don't like trucks, the fumes, the traffic from the standpoint of the community... If the community wanted help, I would certainly help." Still the Trump......

Even though many of you may have an 11 Spring Street hangover, if you didn't make it to NoLIta to see the fuss, here's a video from trevor. He tried to get in, but the line was crazy...so he filmed the line and wrote, "It took about 4.5 minutes to walk it as fast as i could without running.. or running over people." We mapped it on Google and it's about a 1/5th of......

We stopped by 11 Spring yesterday for a quick visit. Lines around the block, but everyone was polite and things seemed to be moving pretty fast. If you come on Saturday, please try to be patient-- and if you're in a hurry, get there early! The doors open at 11am. We've gotten several requests to put up more pix-- with the building so crowded it can be hard to get good shots. If you......

Click for full-size timelapse shot. The Wooster Collective 11 Spring Street project finally opens its doors tomorrow. It'll be open from 11-5 from Friday to Sunday, on the corner of Elizabeth and Spring. We've been spending a lot of time inside the building over the last few weeks, and speaking frankly, it's probably the best collection of international streetart and graffiti you'll ever see in one place. So if that's your bag, definitely stop......

The opening of the 11 Spring Street Wooster Collective project is still a couple of weeks away, but the building has already been transformed by artists from all over the world. Check out some of the stuff going up on the outside walls: There's tons of stuff happening inside as well-- Obey was painting a huge wall on the ground floor yesterday, and WK, Faile, Thundercut, and others have also been doing huge pieces. We've......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a police car MVA on the West Side Highway and Spring Street, a jumper down on Broadway and Havemeyer in Brooklyn, and car vs. building in Greenpoint. Scary: "About one hour ago I was walking down Washington Place and at the corner of Avenue of the Americas, an SUV pulled up onto the sidewalk right in front of me. Two guys jumped out, maybe three, I was kind of......

It looks like Donald Trump will get to build his 45-story Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium at 246 Spring Street. Though the city hasn't officially issued construction permits, the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation heard from city officials that the hotel would be allowed, and made its grievances known. The Trump SoHo would be part hotel, where owners only stay there for a certain number of days during the year and the apartments/rooms are......

Wooster Collective's 11 Spring Street project is in full swing. We went by yesterday, and they graciously allowed us to tour the empty warehouse. The place is amazing-- huge, empty floors surrounded by windows, with no interior beams. The roof has a 270 degree view of downtown and Nolita. While the interior of the building is off-limits to the public until next-month, if you're in Nolita today or anytime in the next few weeks,......

We're been covering the streetart renaissance at 11 Spring Street for the last couple of weeks-- new pieces are going up every day, and the new owners of the building seemed to be endorsing the work. Last night, we had a chance to catch up with Wooster Collective, the preeminent streetart website, and asked them what was going on. They told us that the new owners have asked them to curate the decoration of......

It's been a couple of months since we found out that the mysterious building at 11 Spring Street would be converted into condos. Graffiti fans around the world instantly went into mourning, as the walls of 11 Spring have long been considered one of the finest streetart galleries in the United States, and redevelopment indicated that they'd soon be erased. But not so fast! Wooster Collective seems to be sponsoring a new project at......