Results tagged “manhattan”

This week Frank Bruni at the Times reviews Meatpacking District hotspot Spice Market, where chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's menu is inspired by Asian street food. Interim dining critic Amanda Hesser gave it three out of four stars in 2004, but the paper was forced to issue a statement acknowledging that Hesser should have disclosed the glowing jacket blurb Vongerichten wrote for her book.

              

Click on the film stills above for more on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which also include Year One, The Proposal, Under Our Skin, The End of the Line, $9.99, Dead Snow, The Windmill Movie, Top Gun, The New York Asian Film Festival, BAMcinemaFEST, DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation, Killer's Kiss, and Splash.

Now that the American Apparel mess is behind him, Woody Allen can get back to talking about what he loves: movies and New York City. USA Today and Tribeca Film have interviews with the director, who says he's getting priced out of Manhattan! He told them, "I wish I could afford to be here all the time, but it's a very expensive city to work in. It's gotten worse for me. It's gotten better in that they give you tax breaks. But everything (else) has gone up. I work on a very limited budget." He noted that it would cost about an extra $3 million to film in New York in comparison to overseas.

According to police, a man has been mugging elderly people in broad daylight. WABC 7 reports that all muggings took place in Manhattan: "In each incident the suspect grabs the victims and forcefully removes their wallets. The suspect then flees the location on foot. Minor injuries have been sustained in each of the incidents." The first was on May 25, when a 77-year-old man was attacked in the lobby of 447 East 14th. Four days later, a 91-year-old man was mugged at 1:40 p.m. in the elevator at 247 West 12th Street. And this past sunday, a 62-year-old was robbed in the lobby of 440 East 23rd Street at 3:10 p.m. WABC 7 says, "The suspect is described as a man in his 40s, bald, 5'5"-5'8" tall, and 200 pounds." Police are asking anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers 800-577-TIPS, to visit the CrimeStoppers website or to text info to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

              

Click on the images above for details on 13 other sweet spots for al fresco drinking, including the Extreme WOW (Presidential) Suites in Midtown East, Ortine in Prospect Heights, Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg, T.B.D. in Greenpoint, Studio Square in Long Island City, The Diamond in Greenpoint, LIC Bar in Long Island City, Nita Nita in Williamsburg, Huckleberry Bar in East Williamsburg, The Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District, Vutera in Williamsburg, 5 Ninth in the Meatpacking District, and The Brooklyn Ice House in Red Hook.

           

Click on the film stills above for more details and reviews of this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which also include Drag Me to Hell, Departures, What Goes Up, Munyurangabo, Pressure Cooker, Call Center, The Breakfast Club, The Lost Boys, L’Enfant, and Rashomon.

A Brooklyn woman who is a Harvard University senior has been barred from graduation next month due to her connection to the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man in a university dorm last week. Police have arrested Manhattan resident Jabrai Jordan Copney, 20, for the murder of Justin Cosby; police said Copney, whose girlfriend is a senior at Harvard, and two other men intended to rob Cosby of marijuana and money. Two (unidentified) female Harvard students are described as "the nexus between Cosby and Copney." A lawyer for the Harvard senior told the Boston Globe, "This is a highly educated, independent young woman who has literally been cared for since she was a teenager by Harvard - and now they have terminated her right to be on campus. There is no justification for it. She may have known the people involved, but you know, it's not guilt by association in this country." The student was also kicked out of her dorm, Kirkland House, which is where the shooting took place; a previous report said that Copney's girlfriend's "gave Copney her dorm hall access card, which allowed him to float in and out of Harvard dorms."

              

Click on the stills above for more on this weekend's new releases and repertory screenings, which also include Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Burma VJ, The Girlfriend Experience, Dance Flick, O'Horten, Milton Glaser; To Inform and Delight, Kabei, The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story, New World Order, Ghosts of the Heartland, Easy Virtue, Eyes Wide Shut, and Warriors.

Greenwich Village residents have been complaining about rising crime in their neighborhood in the wake of two violent assaults during the past week, and now the Post reports that they're not just imagining things: NYPD data shows that incidents of violent crime reported to the 6th Precinct, which includes the Village, are up almost 43 percent so far this year, compared with the same period in 2008. (There have been 40 assaults in the area so far this year, up from 28.) And violent crime rates have soared throughout downtown, with the East Village and the Lower East Side also seeing a big spike in street crime. Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne blames the boom on the neighborhoods' nightlife, which attracts large numbers of revelers who become targets and predators after enough drinks. G. Simon Chafik, a female photographer who has lived in Manhattan for 15 years, tells the Post, "I've never seen it like this before—never, ever. I'm a big New Yorker. New York is one of the safest cities. [But] I'm beginning to question that."

Police are searching for a man suspected of groping at least three women in a two-hour period this past Wednesday. According to WABC 7: "The suspect first accosted a woman at a Rite-Aid drugstore on Second Avenue at East 30th Street at around 6:15 p.m. He allegedly put his hand up the woman's skirt, grabbed her crotch and buttocks and ran out of the store. Next, he did the same thing to a woman in the lobby of her building on Second Avenue near East 36th Street at around 7 p.m... He then allegedly assaulted a 27-year-old woman in the elevator of her building on East 56th Street near Third Avenue at 8:15 p.m." Police say the suspect is around 5'10" and 200-240 pounds, in his 30s or 40s with long black hair (he may be Native American). And an East Side resident told WCBS 2, "It's scary. I have a 6-year-old daughter. Can you imagine some man comes up from behind and grabs you? Scary."

             

Click on the stills above for more on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which also include Summer Hours, The Brothers Bloom, Revue, Big Man Japan, Alcatraz, The Big Shot-Caller, Anaglyph Tom (Tom With Puffy Cheeks), Jerichow, Management, Manhattan, Full Metal Jacket, and a benefit sneak preview of Sam Mendes's Away We Go, co-written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.

Hudson Terrace: After operating as a private event space last year, this gorgeous bi-level aerie with the commanding Hudson River views opens to the public for the first time tonight with a Cinco de Mayo bash. Tented on rainy nights and featuring a heated floor to ward off any early-season chills, Hudson Terrace will now be doing happy hour parties on Tuesdays through Fridays, as well as Sunday brunch (from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.) with a menu from Vintage Irving's executive chef Jason Bunin. The happy hour deal is good for 2-for-1 specialty cocktails, and an extensive nightly appetizer menu includes duck confit quesadillas, crab and artichoke croquettes, and smoked salmon nachos. A rooftop BBQ grill will also round out the edible options (tempura chicken skewers, anyone?), while beverages run the gamut from wine and sangrias to margaritas, mojitos, and caipirinhas. Or just get two Jim Beams and Coke for the price of one and savor the sunset. 621 West 46th Street, (212) 315-9400

If it's Thursday, it means more "Oh, crap, the real estate bubble is bursting" stories!

Good morning, two pedestrians died in separate hit-and-run accidents last night, adding to a mini-wave of crash-and-dash fatalities this week. The first horrible incident took place on the so-called Boulevard of Death—Queens Boulevard—in Forest Hills around 9 p.m. An unidentified woman in her mid-20s was hit by a car at the intersection and was pronounced DOA at Elmhurst Hospital; police tell CBS 2 they have no description of the vehicle. Just an hour later, in Hell's Kitchen, a second unidentified woman in her mid-50s was struck by a car at the intersection of 40th Street and 9th Avenue. Again, she was pronounced DOA at St. Vincent's, and cops have no description of the vehicle. And police are still searching for the driver of a dark colored van that killed 71-year-old Virginia Montalvo in Woodhaven Monday night; she was out on her nightly stroll collecting recyclables to raise money to charity when she died. Here's a website that sells reflective safety vests and wristbands, and they'll ship directly to you so you won't have to tempt fate by leaving your apartment.

Depending on which real estate brokerage's report you read, Manhattan home sales have fallen by either 47% or 58% during the first quarter of 2009. The NY Times, using the 58% number (from a Brown Harris Stevens & Halsted report), put the news in perspective this way: "The drop in sales was worse than the decline in the auto industry. In March, sales at General Motors were off 45 percent from March 2008."

Num Pang: Though it just opened Friday, this unpretentious Cambodian sandwich joint is already packing 'em in, as evinced by lines ten-deep stretching out the door. (It seems the place is closed today as the owners figure out how to keep up.) We popped in last week before the rush and were immediately won over by their hearty-but-not-too-filling coconut tiger shrimp sandwich with toasted coconut flakes ($7.50). We also hear the peppercorn catfish sandwich ($7.25) and the grilled duroc honey glazed pork ($6.75) sandwiches are worth the wait.

This daguerreotype by an unidentified photographer, likely taken in October 1848, can be yours for $70,000, give or take a few grand—at least, that's how much it's expected to go for when Sotheby's auctions it off on Monday. The image depicts a country estate somewhere around the equivalent of today's Upper West Side near Bloomingdale Road, 'a continuation of Broadway' which, after 60th Street, wound northwestward through farmland by the Hudson River.

       

Yargh, this town needs more nautical theme restaurants, if only so that we can fantasize we're sailing away to a tropical isle where the bill will never find us. Right now there's Oceana, the midtown seafood restaurant shaped like an ocean liner, The Rusty Knot, the nautical pub-and-grub dive by the West Side Highway, and, opening Monday by popular demand, Harbour, seen here docked in West SoHo.

Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City has been a popular hang-out in recent summers, with visitors flocking to the sand pit on weekends for beer, barbecue, and volleyball (but no swimming). Because of that success, the company is planning to expand with at least two more "beaches" this summer. One location, just announced today, is destined for the north side of Governors Island. Like last year, Water Taxi will operate ferry service to the island from downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, and the beach will feature live music, basketball courts, a cafe, volleyball, and, like LIC, no swimming. And at least one other waterfront beach spot is rumored to be in the works for an undisclosed Manhattan location. But while many people swear by Water Taxi Beach, the absence of surf can make it feel less like a beach and more like a hot, crowded ashtray. Isn't sand something you sort of tolerate in order to get to the ocean, like tedious chitchat on a date?

         

Click on the images above for reviews and details on this week's new movies and repertory selections.

When the owners of dark and seductive Lower East Side restaurant Allen & Delancey announced they'd be filling the position abandoned by chef Neil Ferguson with one Kyle Bailey, the general reaction was, "Who?" But the 28-year-old chef hasn't shown any hesitation about stepping into Ferguson's big shoes; or, rather, replacing them with his own inventive kicks, which emphasize the good olde farm-to-table approach. The restaurant's new menu is almost entirely Bailey's creation, and includes such winners as Arctic Char with Spinach Purée, Baby Leeks, and Barigoule Fingerlings; and a surprisingly spectacular beet risotto with whipped goat cheese. (Peruse the full menu.)

A new study conducted in all five boroughs determined that 39% of drivers observed were traveling in excess of the 30 mph speed limit, some with fatal speeds of 60 mph and higher in school zones and other high-traffic pedestrian areas. Transportation Alternatives researchers recorded motorist speeds at 13 locations in 2008; the spots were chosen based on community complaints, as well as crash records compiled on Crashstat.

This week Frank Bruni at the Times bestows two stars on chef April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman (The Spotted Pig) for their new high-end seafood pub The John Dory (pictured), in the Meatpacking District: "In what is clearly a labor of not just love but also vivid (sometimes too vivid) imagination and real guts, [they] have fashioned a place that doesn’t look like any other and that doesn’t taste like any other, either...But experienced in aggregate, too many dishes are too blunt. The overall flavor spectrum is too narrow, a wallow in buttery, creamy and salty effects. I sometimes left feeling overwhelmed — maybe I should say capsized — in a way I seldom do." Still, Bloomfield's menu is full of "nervy surprises."

             

For more details and reviews on this weekend's movies, click on the film stills above.

   

Now that city investigators have closed the file on The Great Maple Syrup Smell Scare, maybe they can get cracking on the Mysterious Northern Lights that have been baffling and entrancing New Yorkers. A reader sent us some photos of the as-yet unexplained lights from his East Village apartment, telling us that they changed colors every ten seconds or so and lasted about fifteen minutes. Then, in the comments section of yesterday's post, he goes all Fox Mulder WITH THE CAPS:

THERE IS NO WAY THIS WAS FROM YANKEE STADIUM OR SHEA. THE PICS WILL SETTLE THAT, BUT WILL DEFINITELY RAISE QUESTIONS AS TO WHAT PRODUCED THE LIGHT, WHICH WAS VERY COOL LOOKING, IT CHANGED EVERY 10 SEC OR SO AND WAS SOMETIMES RED, BLUE, PURPLE, WHITE, AND GREEN. IT CONTINUED FOR MAYBE 15 MIN AND LOOKED TO BE SHINING VERTICALLY DOWN RATHER THAN UP. IT WAS ALSO SUPER HIGH IN THE SKY.

Yesterday, residents at East 95th Street apartment building The Highgate got a super annoyance as they tried to tune into Super Bowl coverage: Their cable service from RCN conked out. One resident told WCBS 2, "I called them around 1 when the picture was going in and out every few minutes, and they told me it would clear up within two hours." But when 6 p.m. rolled around, his "reception was completely shot, with pixelated video cutting out or pausing practically every three seconds." Another neighbor lamented her failed party, "I'm filled with the rage of a thousand suns, actually. It ruined my party and I made chili and everyone I know came over and now they left and I think I might not have friends anymore." RCN told them they might not have a technician to the building until Wednesday, so they'll have to stick to DVDs in the meantime.

          

Click on the images above for more details and reviews of this weekend's movies.

Internet guru and Videogum blogger Gabriel Delahaye is rightfully pissed that the AMC Empire 25 multiplex in Times Square is screening The Dark Knight re-release in IMAX on a rather dainty screen: "The Times Square IMAX is just a regular movie screen, except that there’s an illuminated IMAX sign hanging above the door to the theater. Perfect. And you only want 6 extra dollars for the privilege of seeing a movie here?" An IMAX rep tells us the screen there is 29 feet high by 58 feet wide, which is dwarfed by the 80 feet high screen at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square IMAX. To clarify, a movie can be projected in IMAX onto various-sized screens, and other local multiplexes such as Kips Bay will soon get the IMAX "experience" on smaller screens. (The largest IMAX screen is in Sydney, Australia: 96.5 feet high and 117 feet wide.) So know before you go; if you want to see The Dark Knight in all its large-scale glory, 1998 Broadway at 68th Street is the place to be. And that concludes today's Geek Report!

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, who cares? Oh right, millions of people. Okay then, we aim to please, so for those in need of a place to enjoy the big corporate diversion in a public setting with food and booze, here are some appealing options. (And if watching men in tights wrestle each other to the ground isn't your thing, it's always a great day to go skiing or snowboarding. There's also the Astor Center's "taste-experience" class exploring what a Japanese scientist named Kikunae Ikeda called the fifth taste, or "umami.")

Hey, maybe Times Square isn't so Disneyfied after all; millions of travelers on Trip Advisor have voted Hotel Carter on West 43rd Street the #1 filthiest place to stay in America. Comments on Trip Advisor range from revolting ("I don't know where to begin... Roaches, rats, mice, horrible smells, dirty sheets, horrifying bathrooms, outlets that hang out of walls... But the worst part about it was that at 4 a.m. I woke up to a bunch of guys breaking into our hotel room while we were sleeping!!") to panicked ("It's like a HORROR movie in real life, it's so bad that its just not for real. Barack Obama, please shut it down!").