Kenmare pic via Gothamist.com

Because I keep getting the question, “What’s a sceney new restaurant where I can take my hip client/my friends from out of town/the model who consented to go out with me,” here’s a short-list of Sceney New Places in NYC. I’m not necessarily ready to vouch for any or all of [...]

Ancient Roman ruins…right on the edge of downtown Beirut.

Remember Downtown Beirut, the East Village bar? It closed a million years ago—so what does it have to do with anything? Just that, starting in late summer, I’ll be living there, in the real Beirut, Lebanon, for a year. I spent my childhood in Beirut, and I’m [...]

If you’ve been dropping by Salmaland regularly, you’ve probably noticed a “Where to Drink” section show up, on the sly, just below “Where to Eat” (on the left). Over the past weeks I’ve been building that bars section slowly, when time permits and the mood strikes. Now that there’s a healthy-ish number of places on [...]

What started out as a botched morning turned into the best one of the week. I was planning to meet a friend for breakfast at Joseph Leonard, but she called at the last minute unable to get out of bed (sounded sick, but I hope her real reasons were more scintillating). I needed to be [...]

Tortas at Xoco

A supernaturally gorgeous week in NYC, and where was I? In Chicago. But it was outrageously sunny and springy there too, totally unseasonal and not at all what I’d envisioned in my midwestern-winter-fearing wimpiness. In lieu of the usual news and notes on NYC restaurants, I offer here a quick rundown of [...]

ForbesLife has a fantastic new look in its March issue, thanks to new editor-in-chief Richard Nalley. My favorite part of the March issue? It would have to be the Bookmarks: Tips from Local Insiders section (page 55). This month’s column focuses on New York City, and the restaurant tip in the column comes from…Salmaland. The [...]

There’s something delightfully anachronistic about Torrisi Italian Specialties on Mulberry Street. The tiny new 16-seat cafe, with antique wooden furniture and cured meats hanging in the window and antipasti displayed in small bowls on the counter, looks like a place that would’ve existed in Nolita some years back when I first moved to the neighborhood. [...]

Confession: Yesterday I shamelessly stood in the long line at K! Pizzacone on its first official day of business. Around me in line were hordes of midtown office workers, curious passersby, and people who seem to receive their daily eating instructions from Eater/Grub Street/Feast/et al. And of course there were the obligatory food bloggers. God [...]

Choptank pic via Metromix.com

“Surprise” is a slippery word. When you’re 10 years old, “surprise!” means a happy circumstance—say, a visit from a cash-dispensing grandparent—is about to enter your life. By the time you hit adulthood, “surprise” tends to mean something ominous is about to rock your day, your week, your life. Unless you’re that [...]