In case you haven't yet heard the good news, the Red Hook vendors have gotten their permit extended through through October 21, which is when they traditionally end their season. Go and grab some pupusas. Can you live off the land in your own backyard? In Brooklyn? Without torturing your family? Unclear. Manhattan User's Guide gives us their latest hot list, including newcomers Tailor and Market Table. Andrew Carmellini admits to smuggling $12,000 worth of......

Manhattan User's Guide offers up suggestions for budget-priced bubbly. Restaurant Girl is probably celebrating with a glass of bubbly about her new gig as the Daily News restaurant critic, but will her lack of anonymity make for special treatment? Only time will tell. Midtown Lunch serves up an installment of Downtown Lunch, courtesy of the Feisty Foodie. Grub Street is making us panic about the future of the Red Hook Vendors. Aaaack! Vegansexual? Seriously? Got......

Okay, so slaving in the kitchen for hours on end isn't for everyone. If you want to leave the entire Thanksgiving planning, shopping, prep, cooking, and cleanup to someone else, or if the thought of eating aunt Irma's dried out excuse for a bird throws you right over the edge, dining out might be for you. Grab the family and a few friends for good measure and instead of making a turkey or a pumpkin......

Manhattan User's Guide is a constant source of interesting tidbids. Take for instance some miscellaneous facts they dug up about our fair city: Number of Waterfront Miles in NYC: 578 Number of Deaths from AIDS in 2004: 1,384, an 80% decrease since the peak in 1994. Number of Movies and TV Shows Shot in NYC Last Year: Over 250 studio and independent films, over 100 television productions, and over 1,050 commercials. Top NYC Baby Names:......

Whether you want to go out: * Manhattan User's Guide * Open Table * New York Magazine * Strong Buzz Order in: * New York Magazine * Fresh Direct Cook yourself: * Epicurious Or can't decide: * Citysearch There's a Thanksgiving roundup for you. Gothamist is heading off to spend the holiday with family, and we're bummed that we're not getting to town early enough to help with cooking for the big day. We will,......

With Thanksgiving just over a week away, Ask Gothamist is still getting a lot of questions from people whose tiny apartments can't handle hosting such a big meal. If you can't cook so much as Stove Stop stuffing in your closet-sized kitchen, today's Manhattan User's Guide offers a handy list of restaurants still accepting reservations for the holiday dinner. Cafe Luxembourg on the Upper West Side and Thor on the Lower East Side are among......

The NY Post goes after the Michelin Guide for its glaring mistakes, sort of the way Manhattan User's Guide nailed the 2006 Zagat guide a few weeks ago. The Post's restaurant critic, Steve Cuozzo, goes after Michelin, wondering if their highly trained inspectors even went to some restaurants and calls some of the advice "inane." Plus: The guide tells readers to take the "Metro," not the subway, to restaurants, mentions Le Bernadin's a la carte......

Charlie Suisman over at Manhattan User's Guide broke the French omerta on the New York City restaurants Michelin guide and listed the restaurants receiving 1, 2 or 3 stars. Only thirty-nine restaurants were reviewed. Here's a quick analysis: - Parlez francais: Frenchmen/French-themed restaurants take three of the four 3-star slots (Alain Ducasse, Jean-Georges, Le Bernadin); the fourth is American-born Per Se (lucky for punch bowl owners) - Time Warner Center sweep: Per Se, Masa (2......

- DMX was sentenced to jail! Imagine the inmates yelling "What's my name!" - The New York Rowing Association is looking for volunteers to help look for missing rower Jim Runsdorf - Manhattan User's Guide has an awesome list of murals around the city - get thee to the 21 Club! - Frustration with subway delays goes to whole new level, via Overheard in New York - New York Giants owner Wellington Mara died this......

- The Morning News has a great interview with photographer Douglas Levere, as well as a gallery of his New York City photographs - A Queens man tried to kidnap a Queens woman yesterday; police do not think it is the same man who raped a 13 year-old - The NJ boy who ran away from home because he was afraid his parents would be angry over his poor report card was found under a......

- The two teenage girls who died on East Houston Street a week and a half ago died of heroin-and-cocaine overdoses - Goldman Sachs may be leasing at Ground Zero, but they won't paying any rent until the NYPD agrees on security - The missing grandmother with Alzheimer's had actually been at a hospital for two days...but no one contacted her family even though she had a medical ID bracelet - The stealing-from-celebrities housekeeper claims......

Here at Gothamist, we're fans of Charlie Suisman's Manhattan User's Guide, but today we saw something for the first time: A marriage proposal via MUG's advertising. It looks like Tony Tsai loves Stephanie Huang. Our only question is how will we know if she says yes? Is Stephanie going to take out an ad on MUG to respond?? Don't leave us hanging Stephanie!STEPHANIE HUANG: From first time I met you, I knew that there was......

With the sultry weather upon us, reader Kathy asked us if we knew about any definitive guides about which pools or beaches were the best. Sure, there are a few nice guides (see below) that tell you about some pools or beaches, but what do people who have actually been there think? So, Gothamist opens up the question to you: Post your suggestions and comments about beaches and pools in the city, and if......

Even though it's Friday and our head hurts from the week and a nagging bout of sinusitis, Gothamist is testing our NYC knowledge with this month's Manhattan User's Guide Quiz. There are questions about NYC ("Q: The MetroCard is introduced in...") and other ephemera. We think we're about 6 for 10 without the aid of Google. Try to see if you can figure out the answers before they are posted at MUG after 3PM. Our......

Gothamist loves the whole blog scene- mainly because its the only place we can find pictures of pandas, kittens, and Paris Hilton's coochie all in one place. However, when it comes to straight information, its hard to beat the utility of an old-school internet mailing list. Here are a few that we rely on to keep us plugged in every week- can you think of anymore to add to this list? 1. Nonsense-NYC 2.......

Today's Manhattan User's Guide lists their favorite food blogs, and Gothamist Food made the list! Hooray! They also give shout-outs to our own Vittles Vamp and Gothamist's source for all pizza-related info, Slice. Their list includes a wide variety of blogs and sites, including Chowhound (great for opinions and gossip), Andrea Strong (she always knows the inside scoop on who's cooking where), and A Full Belly (all the weekly NYC reviews collected in one convenient......

The 2005 edition of the Zagat New York City Restaurant Guide is out today, and no, per se didn't blow everyone else out of the water -- at least not yet. Although it earned 29 out of 30 points in all three categories -- food, decor, and service -- it was too new to qualify for this year's guide. This year's most popular restaurants were Gramercy Tavern, which swapped spots with Union Square Cafe, followed......

Terminal Five, the art exhibit at JFK Airport's Terminal Five that opened to fanfare last week, was shut down by the Port Authority, due to concerns, it seems, from the terminal's future tenant, Jet Blue. Today, Manhattan User's Guide writes: A shocker. Terminal Five, which we wrote recently was sure to be the "coolest art exhibit of the year" has been shut down by the Port Authority – yes, the same Port Authority that......

Gothamist was at Gracious Home the other weekend and we saw a pre-made Go Bag. Yes, an orange backpack filled with packs of water, flashlight, poncho (we think), etc., so in case of an emergency event, you'll be ready to go. It retailed for somewhere around $30, and we must admit, we were tempted for a few moments. Then we realized that we could make our own! Manhattan User's Guide thoughtfully listed what you need......

Everyone's excited about Blue Hill at Stone Barns. It was highlighted in today's Manhattan User's Guide and reviewed in New York Magazine. From the Blue Hill at Stone Barns website: Blue Hill at Stone Barns marks the second incarnation of family proprietors Dan, David and Laureen Barber. The original Blue Hill restaurant, located in Greenwich Village, New York City, opened in 2000 and was named after the former Berkshire home of David and Dan's grandmother.......

Our dear Rachelle, who co-edits Chicagoist, can be heard between 11AM and 12PM today on Chicago Public Radio (there's streaming audio), discussing using service websites, blogs, and chatrooms to find out where to eat in Chicago. Go, Rachelle. And Gothamist's favorite stops for food information include Menupages, Chowhound, eGullet, NYCEats, The Food Section, Curbed's food section, she loves new york, and Manhattan User's Guide.......

- Katy Sparks has left Compass! It was just a few months ago that she joined the Upper West Side restaurant. Sparks is going to be writing a book, which Gothamist will look forward to, but we are going to miss her. Related: Manhattan User's Guide stood up for Katy in the midst of the Amanda Hesser reviewing reing at the Times. - There might also be an article about ice cream sundaes in the......

There's nothing like using craigslist for multiple purposes: Night in the Big City's Jill reveals how ingenious girls use the online resource to find some cheap labor:They find four postings for painters. They book all four painters for "interviews." You know, so they can attempt to discern which one is most capable/least likely to steal things. What they really do is determine which of the hipster boys is most attractive. Because today he will be......

Ever since reading about it in Manhattan User's Guide, Gothamist has come to love Manhattan Waiter, a blog devoted to the server's life. Paul Thacker tends to start each post with a pithy quote from a fellow waiter/waitress (we like, in particular, this one from a waiter at Craft: "The average sheep, restaurant patron doesn't know what goes on behind the scenes. I do, and that gives me the ability to see in different dimensions,......

- The most boring Oscars ever ever ever, commentaried - Your beloved Brooklyn restaurant instution turns into a...T.G.I. Friday's - We hate when sweeps week TV teasers promise to reveal a secret and then it turns out that it's just having Fabio as an ex-boyfriend, like on Average Joe - How you get out of a trapped subway - New Yorkers want big, gay marriages, but, as yet, it's illegal - Two new additions to......

Manhattan User's Guide asked eight New York bloggers what their 10 favorites things are in the city, and the lists give nice notice to what makes the city their beloved home: • The Morning News' Andrew Womack picks St. Helen Cafe in Williamsburg, "Recommended if you like: elk in your artwork. And I do." • Remy Stern of New Yorkish likes "All the fantastic coffee outlets not affiliated with multi-national corporations bent on world dominance"......

The Post comes up with a few ideas for Oscar drinking games during the ceremony: • An award winner forgets to thank his or her significant other. • An award winner says the words "blessed," "humbling" or "my agent." • The orchestra cuts off an acceptance speech. • Host Billy Crystal makes a Mel Gibson joke. • A camera cuts to Jack Nicholson. Gothamist would like to add someone saying "Oh my God" (we want......

In the case of a Brooklyn shopkeeper who was issued a misdemeanor for selling beer between 3AM and noon on a Sunday, a judge found the law unconstitutional. How? The ban is based on religious beliefs, and is therefore a mixture of church and state. The Times reports that Judge Charles A. Posner of Criminal Court wrote, "In the case at hand, there is no secular reason why beer cannot be sold on Sunday morning......

Charlie Suisman...

Shoppers descended onto the Time Warner Center shops like vultures to a rotting carcass or fashionistas to a sample sale. Forgoing Gothamist's idea of slapping a glass roof over SoHo and calling it a mall (Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, Coach), developers at the Time Warner Center decided that walking around in circles indoors around well-known stores was better than walking on the city streets and discovering new shops. One city dwelling shopper told the Post,......