Hallo Berlin Express: A weird name and a weirder awning, but sometimes good food comes in weird packages (consider Masala Munch.) This new 30-seat joint on 9th Avenue near 50th Street is the sister of the bigger German eatery Hallo Berlin. Eating in Translation stuck his beak in when they opened this week, and walked away full of schnitzel, spaetzle, soup, and cucumber salad. There are also German fish sandwiches, and a German "single soul......

London mayor-elect Boris Johnson and Mayor Bloomberg have gift time Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with London's mayor-elect Boris Johnson yesterday, and the pair shared pleasantries and some gifts, one of which was maybe not so pleasant. Mayor Bloomberg gave Boris Johnson the standard Tiffany crystal apple (we suspect it's this $100 paperweight). In turn, Johnson, the Tory who beat Mayor Ken Livingstone by a sizable margin last month, gave the billionaire mayor a button-down......

When Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls start roaring on the East River and New York Harbor this June, cruises like Circle Line will be bringing passengers so close to the spray they’ll need to stock ponchos on board. Sure, you could just look at the falls from any number of points on the shore, but tour boat companies are betting that plenty of people will gladly pay for the Man-Made of the Mist experience. A press......

Photograph by Sacha Lecca, which Gothamist published in 2006. Today it’s on the cover of amNY. Flooding. Crowding. Filth. These are just a few of the “ten plagues” being visited daily upon New York commuters, according to transit activists at the Straphangers Campaign. Unlike the ten plagues that cursed the commute of ancient Egyptians, New Yorkers have – so far – been spared swarms of locusts on the L; though bed bugs have been......

Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg during a visit to Walworth Academy school in London by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Though a huge development project near and dear to his heart suffered a major blow, Mayor Bloomberg is rallying the city's fortunes by visiting Europe. Yesterday, the mayor was in Belfast, visiting the Titantic Quarter and mixing up City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's family history (he said her mother--when it was actually her grandmother--who survived the Titanic, which......

Photo courtesy Vidiot. Work on this summer’s NYC Waterfalls project seems to be flowing forward, as the photo above indicates. The $9-$10 million project will bring 4 man-made waterfalls, ranging 90 to 120 feet, to the East River and New York Harbor. Presented by The Public Art Fund, the waterfalls are the creation of Danish–Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who’s currently enjoying a retrospective at MoMA. The falls will be located under the Brooklyn Bridge, between......

For decades, residents of low-income neighborhoods under-served by supermarket chains have been getting their hands on produce the old fashioned way: By growing it in their own gardens. In recent years, outer-borough farmers have taken urban agriculture a step further by selling their mostly organic haul at well-organized community markets. An article in the Times Dining & Wine section notes that the trend is proving to be healthy and lucrative. Groups such as GreenThumb and......

Photo of weekend subway service chances courtesy Triborough. An international survey of metropolitan residents around the world has found that less than 10% of New Yorkers are happy with the city’s services – a far lower number than in cities abroad like Singapore, where 61% insist they’re satisfied. Also more satisfied is Madrid, with a 37% thumbs up rate, while 29% approve of Paris services and 22% of Londoners are satisfied. But does this......

Fish Market: This little bar and restaurant is a loving homage to the now closed Fulton Fish Market; photos of the market from the ‘30’s line the exposed brick walls, illuminated by nautical lamps under a vintage copper ceiling. Andrea Strong takes a glance at the new South Street restaurant, which also features an impressive view of the Brooklyn Bridge. She says Chef Eddie Montalvo’s menu is as ambitious as it is pricey; with standout......

NYC’s air quality has gotten substantially worse compared to other cities, according to the American Lung Association's annual "State of the Air" survey. Since last year the city jumped from 10th worst in the nation for ozone pollution (smog) to an eighth place ranking. And in the category of short-term particle pollution (soot), NYC nabbed 13th place after ranking 17th worst in the last study. (L.A., the undisputed smog heavyweight, coasted to 1st place again.)......

As many gamers play hooky so they can play Grand Theft Auto IV, critics of the video game are voicing their concerns. City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who spoke out against the violent game that's set in NYC doppelganger Liberty City last year, told WCBS 2, "This game plays to old stereotypes about New York City. Today we're the safest big city in America, with the best police force. This game, if it was......

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni hands down his verdict on Commerce (pictured), the trendy new inhabitant of 1911 West Village carriage house formerly occupied by Blue Mill Tavern, among others. Overall, he deems the new tenant fussy and cacophonous; chef Harold Moore’s “polyglot menu and intricately wrought dishes let him strut his stuff in a way that a more archetypal bill of fare might not. In doing so he creates a rankling dissonance, his......

Spring is when the days are longer, cherry blossoms are in bloom, and the Rent Guidelines Board discusses this year's round of rent hikes for rent-regulated apartments. And this year's talks should be another doozy, as the RGB found landlord operating costs have risen 7.8% over the past year. This year, landlords will be asking for 10% hikes for 1-year leases and 15% increases for 2-year leases. Last year, rents hikes were approved for 3%......

Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg uses the word unconscionable so much that the Times poured 969 other words into analyzing the verbal tic. According to the article, Bloomberg’s U-bombing is definitely excessive; he drops the heavy pejorative in situations that don’t merit it, like when a reporter dared ask him if his trip to Israel was calculated to woo Jewish voters. (“That’s unconscionable. You should be ashamed to ask that question,” he reportedly snapped.) And when a......

"About halfway through, I bit in and felt something hard and crunchy." That’s what NYU senior Benjamin Jarosch declared after eating part of a found muffin, and he wasn’t talking about a walnut: his innocuous-looking blueberry muffin was stuffed with three razorblades. Jarosch and his buddies had discovered the muffin, along with four others, wrapped in tin foil, upon arriving in the classroom. It seems they were left over from a previous class and were......

Note to middle management: today’s the day workplace productivity takes its annual nosedive, as employees across America wait on interminable lines for handouts at Ben & Jerry’s. Free Cone Day – not to be confused with Free Clone Day – lasts until closing time at five participating Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops in Manhattan. Ben & Jerry's at 104th & Broadway (2722 Broadway), Ben & Jerry's at Macy’s Herald Square Food Court, Ben & Jerry's......

Wildwood: Pit master “Big Lou” Elrose has come a long way from his Ozone Park lunch wagon; the 6’4 Brooklyn-born behemoth has now transferred from Hill Country to this new Park Avenue South barbecue restaurant, part of the B.R. Guest empire. The atmosphere is urban industrial and reclaimed rustic, with high ceilings and a 50-foot-long bar. Big Lou’s famous ribs, pork brisket, pulled pork and smoked chicken can be paired with such sides as Cast......

The cost of rice has shot up dramatically in recent months, and some analysts say a domestic shortage is on the horizon. The price increase is part of an alarming trend that’s seen the cost of flour rise 13 percent, milk 10 percent, eggs 30 percent and soon – make sure you’re sitting down – beer 10-15 percent. According to the Daily News, Sam's Club and Costco are now limiting how much rice customers can......

Photograph of the Popemobile heading up Fifth Avenue by Louis Lanzano/AP Yesterday, thousands of people lined Fifth Avenue for a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI. After giving the first ever papal mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral--and having a private lunch with Cardinal Egan--Pope Benedict emerged in his Popemobile to cheering crowds. Before his only Popemobile trip, the pontiff asked the audience at St. Patrick's for greater unity in the Catholic church. One of many......

NYC has agreed to lower the water levels in some of its reservoirs that supply the city with its drinking water. The move came after pressure from Ed Rendell, the Gov. of Pennsylvania, who argued for reduced reservoir capacity to spare citizens of his state from the regular spring flooding along the Delaware River that results from New York keeping its reservoirs filled to the brim. When spring storms exceed the already-full reservoirs' ability to......

Pope Benedict is giving the first ever papal mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, after being greeted by cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns and others who flocked to Fifth Avenue to see the Holy Father. You can see the mass on local news stations or online (at the websites of WNBC, 7online, WCBS, MyFox). Mayor Bloomberg greeted the Pope and told the audience at St. Pat's, "This a historic day for New York." Pope Benedict made......

Photograph of Pope Benedict at Nationals Parks in Washington, DC by Gerald Herbert/AP Pope Benedict's trip the United States is already historic, but yesterday he did something that heightened the dramatic quotient of his journey: He privately met with five or six people who had been sexually abused by priests in the Boston area. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley also gave Pope Benedict a notebook with the names of almost 1,500 men and women, who......

Untitled, by nyer82 at flickr Who knows what the backstory is to this photograph, but it would be nice if New York City had more personnel in this capacity on the job.......

A pair of lawsuits from injured anti-war protesters have caused the NYPD to re-think its pro-active policing policies when it comes to crowd control. The suits, brought against the City by the New York Civil Liberties Union, ended in a settlement that included an agreement that cops would be a little more lenient with protesters. The Sun reports police will now "advise mounted police officers to warn people to disperse before using horses to break......

Prime Spot, by Foto Bocch at flickr New York City has a buoy helping it resist the receding economic tide: Tourists. In particular, foreign tourists who are relatively flush with currency that has strengthened against the American dollar. The city's marketing agency NYC & Company says tourism increased by one million visitors during the first quarter of 2008 versus the same period in 2007, and that 20% of those visitors arrived from abroad. And......

Photograph of security checking the chapel at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers by Julie Jacobson/AP In less than a week, it'll be all Pope Benedict, all the time. And right now, it practically seems that way already, with planners working overtime to make sure the Papal Visit goes off without a hitch. The NY Times has a great article about the logistics involved with the April 20 mass at Yankee Stadium: "How do 530......

Photograph of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, announcing congestion pricing was rejected, by Mike Groll/AP Mayor Bloomberg didn't appear in public after Assembly Leader Sheldon put a nail in congestion pricing's coffin. But Bloomberg did issue an angry press release. The full text is after the jump (and he does thank many politicians who helped), but here's where he lets loose, after noting that while Washington D.C. was willing to give NYC $354 in federal......

Totally Baked: Not for Atkins adherents, this sleek new Chelsea eatery is determined to put the baked potato back on top. Here the Yukon Golds are partially scooped out and piled sky high with a smorgasbord of inspired toppings, 18 in all, including wild mushrooms with shallots, creamed spinach with leeks, and pulled pork. Each potato comes with a side salad; what you see here is the “Sweet Spa Potato.” Those feeling flush will want......

Now that the MTA has selected Tishman Speyer to develop the West Side rail yards into Hudson Yards, a new period of public scrutiny will begin. The developer's plans will need to go through the city's public review process to rezone the western section, leaving plenty of time for potential modifications and opposition. One decided opponent of the plan is NY Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff. After being depressed by the five proposed designs, Ouroussoff lets......

Today Frank Bruni files a second review of Mas (pictured), the organic, locally-sourced West Village eatery he bestowed with one star four years ago. Today he bumps the cozy French-inflected restaurant up a star, noting that Mas isn’t “for diners with big, blunt appetites. It’s for those who revel in little surprises and unexpected nuances, like the smoked celery root purée that came with grilled turbot.” Meanwhile, Alex Witchel enlists cookbook author Arthur Schwartz in......