Travelzoo to MSG

Travelzoo drops a tip to go see the Knicks for $11 per ticket (including food from the concession!) You can buy 2 tickets for $22 for games on February 4th vs. the Clippers and February 6th vs. the Pacers.
If you're a bigger fan, there are packs of 4 tickets (also including food as well as knicks yearbooks and cheerstix) for $99.

Valentine's Day for Restaurant Girl

Danyelle Freeman, the Restaurant Girl, dishes her top choices for this year's valentines days. (yes guys its coming up and if you don't have reservations, you better get on it!) Most are fairly expensive, so if I were you I'd take an unnamed friend's advice and reschedule it for the weekend when you can get the same food at half the price.

Burgers in Heaven

Time Out New York updates its Best of Burgers list from 2004. The list follows:

Market Table (its worth noting they also sell the raw patties to make at home here)
Telepan
Prune
Back Forty
Shortys.32
67 Burger
BLT Burger
Primehouse
Resto
Stand

Sadly I can only vouch personally for one of these, Resto, but I will say that is definitely one of the most delicious burgers in the city. I will be trying out a few of these places however over the next few weeks and will be sure to update you.

Goings On About Town

OK kids, I know you’re bored, I know you’ve missed me, so here’s a little something to keep you busy. some fun and interesting stuff going on around town…

One Step Beyond Party Friday, Jan 25- at the planetarium… always fun an interesting venue for music and drinking.

Idiotarod Sat, Jan 26- What can I say about a race where costumed fools drag a dressed up shopping cart through Brooklyn? There is a reason "idiot" is in the name. If you want to participate, register here.

Sartorialist Photography Exhibition, Thru Feb 23- Scott Schuman, the photographer and proprietor of website The Sartorialist , displays photographs of the impecabbly dressed from around the world who he stops on the streets. at Danziger Projects.

Houdini talk Thurs, Feb 7- Three magicians and the Pulitzer prize-winning author of a biography on Houdini demonstrate some of his tricks and put his legacy into perspective.

Beckett plays (Happy days thru Feb 2 and Endgame, April 25-May 18) at BAM. Probably Beckett's two second most famous plays (after Waiting for Godot), these plays will help (or hurt) you ponder existence. Endgame will be starring John Turturro so buy tickets early as it will probably sell out.

Be Kind Rewind Feb 16-March 22- The Science of Sleep film director Michel Gondry's new art exhibit at Deitch Projects creating an installation based on his upcoming movie, “Be Kind Rewind”. Should be an interactive experience.

Brainwave Festival A festival running from January to June at various museums and institutions around town that “asks how at, music, and meditation affect the brain.”

Magnolia II

Eater reports, the new Magnolia Bakery is opening up TOMORROW on the upper West Side!

Conveyor Belt Sushi

Midtown Lunch has the scoop on the new Singaporian sushi conveyor belt chain, Sakae Sushi that's popped up in midtown (43rd between lex and 3rd). You can pick up sushi off the conveyor belt, or if that doesn't appeal to you place an order via the tableside computers.

Urban Daddy's take, Thrillist's take, Metromix's take

Taschen Warehouse Sale

Taschen, the publisher of big pretty coffee table books is having their warehouse sale at their Soho Store on Friday (1/18) and Saturday (1/19). Art and design books will be up to 75% off.

Taschen Store
107 Greene (btwn Prince and Spring)
212-226-2212

Chinatown Adventure

This past weekend, I headed down to Chinatown with my friends Hing, Ali, and Rob to get some dim sum. The day turned into a full on adventure tapping a lot of Chinatown's hidden resources.



We began at Jing Fong Restaurant. We searched Elizabeth St. for the restaurants storefront, but were surprised to find out that the "storefront" was actually a giant escalator into a nondescript building when Rob arrived. On the second floor the elevator let out to a huge grand ballroom filled with round tables and servers wheeling carts full of dim sum trays weaving through them. See a slideshow here. The place was enormous but almost completely packed. In addition to the many delicious treats offered on the carts there was an area where you could pick up food buffet style. This site has some pretty good descriptions of typical dim sum dishes (thanks Hing). After literally stuffing ourselves on some of the best dim sum I've had and consuming 18 plates among the 4 of us, I was shocked to see our bill had only come to $51 in total.



After lunch, we headed over to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. While I was too stuffed to have any, I was impressed with the selection of exotic flavors they offered here. We then hit the Ten Ren Tea store down the block to pick up some loose tea.



Next we went to Aji Ichiban which specializes in dried fruits and treats. I picked up some delicious dried strawberries and plum flavored dried ginger, which has a sweet and spicy taste.



Finally, we went to a supermarket that also had a subterranean kitchen supply store. Prices were amazing and we decided to pick up some chicken buns that we had tried at dim sum to make at home.

Overall the day was a blast and I left stuffed and with treats and kitchen gadgets to take home. I would highly recommend anyone with a curious appetite and open mind to head down to Chinatown to try out some of these places themselves for both new flavors and good deals. Though I will say I was very glad to have 3 fantastic tour guides to show me around, as Chinatown isn't always as user-friendly an experience to the uninitiated.

A Weekend at the Library

The New York Times covers all of the fun activities and interesting things to do at New York's Public Libraries. (thanks Mary-Kate!)

Three Queens

Three Queen cruise ships are set to rendezvous in NYC on Sunday night. Should be quite a sight with the Statue of Liberty in the background and fireworks. (thanks Hing!)

No Pants on the Subway

Tomorrow's the annual No Pants! Subway Ride, but be warned last year a few participants were arrested. details below:

When: Saturday, January 12 at 3:00 PM, Sharp! (Over by around 5:30)Where: Meet at Foley Square at the black sculpture/fountain. It’s near the Brooklyn Bridge 6 train stop, between Centre and Lafayette, just north of Duane.Bring: A backpack and a metro card.Do not bring: A camera (don’t worry we are taking pictures)Wear: Normal winter clothes (hat, gloves, etc)

Keep it Real Estate Listings

Hysterical New York real estate spoof in the New Yorker

Pay Potty

The city's first new public toilet (previously posted about) opened today in Madison Square Park and received a big description in the times including a short history of pay toilets in the city. Sounds a little cold and antiseptic, but that's probably a good thing.

Beard Papa Returns to Village

Beard Papa, that maker of delicious cream puffs is returning to the village and bringing with it a new cookie crunch puff.

More Lists

Restaurant Girl's top dishes from 2007
A fantastic Year in Bruni from Eater

Romance, Tragedy, Grace

Goldstar events is offering half-price tickets to New York City Ballet's Romeo + Juliet. We went last year and the ballet is beautiful and moving. I would definitely recommend it. For even cheaper seats, the Fourth Ring seats are only $20. At that height you may miss some of the nuances of the dancing, but will get a better feel for the blocking.

Free Skating

Gothamist reports that now you can get free rental skates in addition to the free skating offered at Bryant Park. The free skates are offered to the first people to get over to The Pond each Wednesday from 6:00-7:30pm.

Squashed in Grand Central

The Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions squash tournament is coming to grand central with their slick all glass court next week. The tournament runs from January 10th-16th and tickets can be purchased here, but you can typically watch for a bit just by standing behind the court.

Making Cheese

Artisanal, the french bistro specializing in cheese and boasting the only cheese cave in new york is offering a mozzarella making class on January 22nd. The class is $95, so I'd recommend doing as Carrie and I did this past weekend and buying this cheese making kit (instructions with pictures here) and using this locally produced milk to do it yourself. The instructions were clear and easy, and we had a delicious ball of fresh mozzarella in less than an hour.

The Boat Show

In addition to the pro bullriding tour, the International Boat Show is in NYC this weekend (through January 6th) at the Javitz center.

Bull Riding Update

from Gothamist, possibly bulls on the streets of new york!

If you've been riding the mechanical bull at Johnny Utah's and want to see the real deal, head over to the outside of Madison Square Garden at noon to catch the action. The press release promises that "for the first time in history, New Yorkers will be able to witness the fearlessness of the PBR bull riders as they mount the backs of some of the rankest bucking bulls." This whole extravaganza is a prequel to the invitational at MSG starting tomorrow. Currently the trucks are hauling in tons of dirt to create a live bucking bull arena on the SE corner of 33rd Street and 8th Avenue. We'll keep you updated as there's sure to be some sort of mishap with all of this.

Bull Riding in New York?

The Professional Bullriders Versus International tour comes to Madison Square Garden this weekend. Get tix here. If you're inspired by the event, or desperate for tickets, you could get a chance to win VIP tickets at Johnny Utah's. They are having a mechanical bull riding contest Thursday January 3rd at 10pm. Last year we found the actual bull riders hanging out at Rodeo Bar before the competition began.

New York City a Country Place for the Wealthy

Jim Cramer of Mad Money predicts NYC will become a “country place for the wealthy elite of the world” in 2108.
pretty hysterical:

If I’m a guy sitting on top of $200- or $300-a-barrel oil, how can I not own a borough? “Hey, what borough do you own? I got this Queens borough. They even throw in a bridge.”
We have a few guys who will be able to step up. Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, just got $70 million; that’s definitely two-bedroom material. And Dick Fuld of Lehman — count him in.
The rest of us can live in Schenectady or Plattsburgh. We can come here on the weekends and stay at a nice hotel in Astoria. I’m telling you, New York will be an amazing place to visit.

The New Year!

Recaps:
Grub Street 10 moments to remember in 2007
Time out Magazine Best Things Eaten and Drank in 2007
Gothamist 2007 in food

Looking Forward:
NY Mag where to eat in 2008
Food and Wine 100 things to eat in 2008
Gael Greene's 2008 food predictions