Neighborhood Watch

Riverpark Begins Brunch Service; Best Sommelier Competition this Weekend

Bedford-Stuyvesant: BK Farmyards’ Chicken Workshop series starts tomorrow with free workshops on keeping chickens in the city, at Fort Hen in Imani Garden on Dean Street and Schenectady. [Grub Street]


East Village: Sean Scotese and Mike Hill are throwing three more Hot Pot Parties at Je’Bon to promote their new restaurant, Ghost Street. Tomorrow night, April 28, and May 12, a $15 cover buys passed hot-pot skewers, desserts, and sake from 8 p.m. to midnight. [Grub Street]


Astor president Andrew Fisher will teach an advanced wine and food pairing class on April 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Astor Center. Tickets are $75. [Grub Street]

Gramercy: Riverpark begins weekend brunch service (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) on April 24. [Grub Street]


Hell’s Kitchen: Bai Cha at 710 Ninth Avenue closed after only nine months. [Midtown Lunch]


Meatpacking District: Beaumarchais will host a $100 four-course whiskey-pairing dinner party with whiskey master Spike McClure on April 25 at 7p.m. [Grub Street]


Midtown West: The Best Sommelier in America competition is this weekend at the Jumeirah Essex House. Tickets are on sale: $50 to attend the final round on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; $500 for the gala dinner and awards ceremony. Le Bernardin won the American Sommelier Association’s first ever “Art of Service Award,” which will be presented at the gala dinner. [Grub Street]


Laurent Tourondel plans to open an American brasserie this summer in the new Cassa Hotel and Residences at 70 West 45th Street. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]


Park Slope Ice-cream shop Sky Ice and Culture: An American Yogurt Company are now both open on Fifth Avenue. [Fork in the Road/VV]

Riverpark Begins Brunch Service; Best Sommelier Competition this Weekend