Free Brazilian Pool Party Returns to Times SquareClinton Hill: “Seder in a Box” prayer kit available for $1 at St. Joseph’s College. Bring it to one of the nontraditional Seder meals we recently recommended! [Clinton Hill Blog]
Lower East Side: MySpace pages offer insight into why Falai Panetteria waitresses are so bitchy. [Gawker]
Midtown East: No longer keeping their chin up: I-Chin has closed. [NYT] A Burger King on Fifth Avenue sues its landlord over rats, who were probably seeking a new food source after Hunan Fifth got shuttered. [NYS]
Red Hook The beloved El Huipil is no more, but the new owners of the space will also serve Mexican food — made by a “hot chef.” [Eat for Victory/VV]
Times Square: “Reality dining” comes to Broadway when Spotlight Live opens on April 6. [NYT] The free Brazilian pool party at Hotel QT returns this Thursday, promising live music, cachaça specials, and skinny-dipping-themed pickup lines. [NewYorkology]
Tribeca: Oh, dom: Dominic closes. [NYT]
Turtle Bay: The U.N.’s all-you-can-eat Malaysian buffet kicks off in mid-April! [NewYorkology]
Union Square: Union Square Café name sold to Tokyo group. Related: Tokyo has a Union Square? [NYT]
Upper West Side: Ollie’s Noodle Shop workers follow Saigon Grill deliverymen. [Eater]
Mediavore
Activists to Have It Their Way at Burger King; Classic Kitchen PranksBurger King swears off cage eggs and inhumanely treated pork — although it will be a while before its suppliers can catch up with the new policy. [NYT]
New York molecular gastronomy alert: Spanish neurologist-scientist-chef Dr. Miguel Sanchez Romera is scoping out NYC locations — must have greenhouse. [NYP]
Cafe Fonduta’s ordeal with the Department of Health highlights the overall klutziness of the system. [NYO]
In the Magazine
What Shall We Eat Now That It’s Cold?The rib-sticking cuisine of central Europe, with its spaetzles and schnitzels, comes into its own, of course, when the cold weather arrives. This week, Rob and Robin suggest five restaurants that will sustain you over the winter. About Trestle on Tenth, they write: “Start with the pork-shoulder crepinettes, and proceed directly to the roast lamb saddle with bacon sauce.” Done and done!
R&R also round up four new restaurants on East 50th Street that are giving midtown some much-needed “multicultural flair”: Dos Caminos Third, Gyu-Kaku, I-Chin, and Tunisia Restaurant.
Schlag Is Optional [NYM]
Eats 50th [NYM]
The Other Critics
Critics Hone In on the Bone-InSteak and ssäms continue to rule the reviews — with a white truffle thrown in for good measure.
• Saving Lonesome Dove for the blog, Bruni checks into another meatery, Harry’s Steak. The bone-in steak “spoke to the timeless glories of aged prime beef,” but the menu’s saddled with “clever tweaks.” [NYT]
• Andrea Strong checks in on Lonesome Dove (again) and is way more impressed with the kangaroo nachos than her boy at the Post was. [Strong Buzz]
• At STK, Alan Richman eyes the hotties “who look like they’re barely past puberty” and shares in our fascination with the restrooms. “If only the food — admittedly great-looking — were as flavorsome as the customers.” [Bloomberg]
• Dana Bowen visits Momofuku Ssäm Bar, and after raving about the late-night menu we first reported, hints that it may see the light of day. [NYT]
• As if Danny Meyer was starving for publicity, Moira Hodgson reassures us that Tabla is “one of the city’s great restaurants.” Something to do with chef Floyd Cardoz’s new cookbook? [NYO]
• Paul Adams schools upwardly mobile I-Chin: “Going upscale involves more than buying buff-colored cloth napkins and hiring servers to assiduously refold them at every opportunity.” [NYS]
• Augie splurges on a white truffle at Gotham — presumably not as pricey as Morimoto’s $10,500 highbrow-despicable truffle. [Augieland]