Spotted Pig and Freemans Owners Getting Cozy in the West VillageAstoria: Sparrow bar at 24-01 29th Street has outdoor seating. [Joey in Astoria] And Fresh Start health-food store finally opens its back patio — only to jack it up with distastefully painted bricks. [Joey in Astoria]
Dumbo: Paella’s the main event at Rice today from noon to 11 p.m. [Dumbo NYC]
Red Hook: A new blog, Save Soccer Tacos, tries to get the little guys as involved in saving Red Hook Park’s vendors as the food-world celebrities who’ve recently united. [The Gowanus Lounge]
Prospect Park: The park is one of the few in the city that actually encourage public barbecues, with seven designated areas and three permanent grills. [Gridskipper]
West Village: Freemans owners to pair with the Spotted Pig’s Ken Friedman to redo the former West space — that, or to open a chain restaurant banking on little people serving drinks in pig costumes. [Eater]
The New York Diet
Actor Josh Hamilton Plays a Clam Digger, Doesn’t Eat Shellfish
Josh Hamilton has appeared in everything from indie classics such as Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming to studio flicks such as The Bourne Supremacy to TV shows such as Sex and the City. In Diggers, out today, he plays a Long Island clam harvester. Ironically, Hamilton wasn’t eating any shellfish at the premiere party, since he’s a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell vegetarian”: “I’m sure I eat chicken stock sometimes,” he says, “because I just don’t bother to ask. I know that must sound wildly hedonistic.” As it turns out, Hamilton’s latest week of eating was rather indulgent — even as he was performing in Tom Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia, he somehow found time to hit more restaurants than most of us do in a month.
Three Blocks
Lower–Murray Hill LunchesNobody wants to walk more than three blocks for lunch during the workday. We comb the city’s micro-micro-neighborhoods in search of affordable spots for dining with co-workers, eating solo, or just getting takeout.
Today: The area around the intersection of 27th Street and Third Avenue.
