The Loeb Boathouse opened its doors once again on Saturday, or at least part of it, following the extensive work that was done after it closed toward the end of last year. Crushed by skyrocketing costs for labor and goods, the restaurant closed down in Oct. 2022, with all 163 employees at the restaurant laid off. That’s when the city’s Park’s Department started looking for a new operator.

They found a familiar and homegrown company to take over operating the boathouse: Legends Hospitality, which does the concessions at Yankee Stadium, One World Observatory and other venues throughout the country. They committed more than $3 million to overhaul the 150-year-old property, saying that they wanted to “restore it to its natural grandeur.”

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One planned change coming with the 10-year deal: Legends said they will start offering advanced ticketing for boat rentals, and debit and credit will be accepted. Boat rentals are expected to return later in the summer.

For now, the Boathouse Café was the first portion to officially reopen. The restaurant’s main dining room and bar are slated to be ready to go in the fall.

According to the license agreement between the city and Legends, the new restaurant is set to offer brunch, lunch and dinner options at the dining room, as well as market options that are more geared toward grab-and-go items. The brunch would include standard staples (spinach and cheese omelet, brioche French toast, quiche, cinnamon bun, etc.) while the lunch menu featured sandwiches, burgers and salads, as well as few entrees.

The dinner menu featured a variety of different options, including lamb loin, duck ragout, USDA prime filet, grilled salmon, a pork chop, chicken, New York strip and a Chilean sea bass. There were also dessert items listed: honey buttermilk panna cotta, Dulcey blonde chocolate tart and black velvet cake.

The market would offer breakfast sandwiches in the morning, as well as pizzas and bowls in the afternoon, along with a kids menu.

The location, New York City’s only lakefront venue that has been home to countless dates and weddings, was immortalized in several big Hollywood films, including “When Harry Met Sally” and the 1962 political thriller “The Manchurian Candidate.”

Even New York City Mayor Eric Adams has a history with the boathouse.

“In my rookie years, I didn’t have a lot of money, and nothing was more romantic than being able to rent a boat,” he said at a press conference in February. “It has been a landmark for generations in New York City.”

The mayor the return of the restaurant would bring back 200 union jobs.

The $500 million building, the next-to-last element of the World Trade Center redevelopment to open following the 2001 terrorist attacks, announced its inaugural season Wednesday.

“Cats” will appear in June and July 2024 directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, with choreography by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles.

The musical will have reimagined staging set in Harlem’s drag Ballroom Culture. Bill Rauch, PAC’s artistic director, said Ballroom Culture will come across in the casting, staging and design.

“Certainly Ballroom beats will affect how some of the songs are orchestrated,” he said.

Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” closed on April 16 at the Majestic Theater after 13,981 performances, leaving the legendary composer with no shows on Broadway for the first time since 1979. The original “Cats” production ran for 7,485 performances from 1982-2000, and a revival in 2016-17 ran for 593.

The PAC, designed by Joshua Ramus of REX, is to open with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 13. A five-night opening called “A Concert Series to Welcome the World,” with pay-as-you-wish seating, begins Sept. 19 with “NYC Tapestry: Home as Refuge” that includes Laurie Anderson, Raven Chacon, Natalie Diaz and Angélique Kidjo, among others.

“Watch Night,” a multidisciplinary piece composed by Tamar-kali, co-conceived, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, runs from Nov. 3-18 and melds spirituals, opera and poetry. Luna Pearl Woolf’s “Number Our Days” a multimedia oratorio, runs from April 12-14. “An American Soldier,” the Huang Ruo opera that premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2014, gets its New York premiere from May 12-19.

Among theater options, Laurence Fishburne premieres a one-man show “Like They Do in The Movies” from March 10-31. An evening with Brian Stokes Mitchell is scheduled for Oct. 5 and Anthony Roth Costanzo has a cabaret show Dec. 20.

The PAC is clad in translucent, veined Portuguese marble that creates amber light in the day and glows at night. It features three performance spaces that can be used separately or combined: the John E. Zuccotti Theater (seating 450), the Mike Nichols Theater (250), and the Doris Duke Foundation Theater (99).

With proscenium, thrust and in-the-round formations, there are 60 stage-audience arrangements of 90-950 seats. The space, launched with a $75 million gift from Ronald Perelman in 2016, includes a restaurant led by chef Marcus Samuelsson and designed by David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group. A lobby stage is open to the public for free performances.

The flexible space is similar but different from The Shed, which opened in 2019 at the Hudson Yards Development, and the Park Avenue Armory, which has presented arts programming since 2007.

“The Shed and the Armory work perfectly for big things,” said PAC chairman Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, who contributed $130 million. “This, the scale is different. You can have a 20-person audience and a 20-person performance, and you can do that here. Number two, it is to some extent a different audience. This is downtown, that’s midtown. Lots of places to go midtown. Love ‘em all. Supported them all, probably. Visited them all. Go to them all. But downtown has never really had a lot of that. And if you think about it, you’ve got the Staten Island Ferry, you’ve got subways from four boroughs coming over, you’ve got the PATH tube from New Jersey. People can get here.”

The last building of the redevelopment, 2 World Trade Center, is projected to open in 2027.

The Hollywood writers’ strike has left much of Sunday’s telecast with unknowns. There will be performances from the nominated musicals, pre-recorded montages of the plays and acceptance speeches. Everything else seems up in the air.

Striking members of the Writers Guild of America have agreed not to picket but won’t allow its writers to work on the Tonys, leaving Broadway’s biggest night without an established script. Any banter will have to be impromptu.

But if any group of people are best equipped to handle the stress from a live event, it’s the Broadway community. Going on without a net just doesn’t scare them.

“I think the theatrical community is the one artistic community that is absolutely capable of pulling off a show like this and not having it feel like, ‘Oh, I’m so scared and nervous!’” says Wayne Brady, who has been on Broadway in “Kinky Boots” and “Chicago” and will be leading a new “The Wiz.” It’s like, ‘No, this is what we do. This is what we do.’ And I can’t wait to see it.”

Ariana DeBose’s second stint as host is likely to be far different from last year. The Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee will be tasked with gluing it all together.

There’s plenty of time to eat up: A 2 1/2-hour pre-show on Pluto TV from 6:30-8 p.m. EDT hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin, and then the three-hour main event led by DeBose on CBS and Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT.

Performances are slated from the nominated casts of “Camelot,” “Into the Woods,” “& Juliet,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “New York, New York,” “Parade,” “Shucked,” “Some Like It Hot” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

In addition, Joaquina Kalukango, the winner of last year’s Tony for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, will sing, as well as casts from “A Beautiful Noise” and “Funny Girl.” That means there’ll be plenty of star power, from Josh Groban to Lea Michele.

A total of 26 Tony Awards will be handed out for a season that had 40 new productions — 15 musicals, 24 plays and one special engagement. It was the first full season since Broadway returned from the COVID-19 shutdown.

“Some Like It Hot,” a musical adaptation of the cross-dressing movie comedy that starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, goes into the night with a leading 13 Tony Award nominations.

Broadway shows rely on the Tony Award telecast for exposure, and this year the need is even heightened, with a drop in tourism leaving many shows lighter at the box office than usual.

Stark Sands, who has twice been nominated and will attend this year as part of the musical “& Juliet,” calls the telecast “an annual national commercial for Broadway.”

“We know how much it means in ticket sales even if you don’t win — just the performance on national television in front of that 3 or 4 million people that are watching,” he says.

“I’m bummed that it’s not going to be the Tonys that we know, but I’m grateful that they got it over the line and that we will have those very clickable moments of the performances.”

Even the location this year — the United Palace Theatre, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan — is a new one for the ceremony, many miles from Times Square and the theater district. A morning telecast rehearsal — usually open to the public — has been nixed. The red carpet will be photos only and a list of presenters has not been released.

The strike has darkened late-night TV shows like “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert “and “Saturday Night Live” and delayed the making of scripted TV shows.

The big first awards show during the current strike was the MTV Movie & TV Awards, which had no host and relied on recycled clips and a smattering of pre-recorded acceptance speeches. The strike has also disrupted the PEN America Gala and the Peabody Awards.

Producers may take tips from the 1988 awards, which were also broadcast during a Writers Guild of America walkout. Host Angela Lansbury started the show with an impromptu personal story that connected many of that season’s shows as dancers from them appeared behind her.

Among the stars appearing that night were Bernadette Peters, Matthew Broderick, Joel Grey, Gregory Hines, Madonna, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mandy Patinkin, Chita Rivera and Kathleen Turner. Performances included songs from “Anything Goes,” Sarafina“ and “Into the Woods” and a salute to director and choreographer Michael Bennett, who had died the year before.

The performances were longer than time allotted in recent years and the presenters or winners didn’t use prompters. There was a rawness to the telecast, with presenters talking over each other and some poorly framed shots. “The Phantom of the Opera” won best new musical.

There are connections to that night 35 years ago. On Sunday, “Into the Woods” is a nominee, Grey will be honored with a special Tony for lifetime achievement, and audiences this season said goodbye to “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Nicholas A.B. Gray died at the age of 86, his family said in a statement Wednesday.

“It is with heavy hearts and great sadness that we announce the passing of a New York icon and  our fearless founder Nicholas A. B. Gray. An immigrant who opened Gray’s Papaya in 1973 and the sweetest, funniest, most eccentric boss, father, husband, brother, husband, uncle, grandfather and friend,” read the statement from Tessa Gray, his daughter. “Thank you for the countless lives you brightened one Recession Special at a time.”

In a tweet, NYC Mayor Eric Adams called Gray’s Papaya “a New York City institution and a beacon for Polite New Yorkers thanks to Nicholas Gray.”

The restaurant chain has had multiple locations throughout the years and currently has just one, its flagship on the Upper West Side.

Gray was a former partner of Papaya King, another NYC staple, when he founded his own stand in 1973. Since starting his own franchise, Gray’s Papaya has consistently been named among the best hot dogs in the city.

In addition to its namesake drink, Gray’s became famous for its low prices on its hot dogs, once selling them for 50 cents. They are now sold at $2.95.

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If you’re in the mood for a good burger, New York City has you covered. And just in time for National Hamburger Day on Sunday.

Yelp generated a list of the “Top 100 Burger Spots” in the country, and the Big Apple is home to eight of those spots, including the runner-up.

The number two spot went to Minetta Tavern, a French restaurant in Greenwich Village. They cook up the “Black Label Burger which has a selection of prime dry aged beef cuts and is served with caramelized onions and pommes frites.”

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Here are the other top NYC burgers on the list:

#21 Xian Famous Foods: The Upper East Side location of this chain made the ranks thanks to the Stewed Pork Burger and Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger on the menu.

#23 Five Napkin Burger: In Midtown West, you can take a bite of their classic 5 Napkin Burger made with 10 oz. of All Natural Beef and stacked with Imported Gruyere Cheese, Caramelized Onions and Rosemary-Garlic Aioli.

#30 Burger Joint: This Midtown joint offers both classic hamburgers and cheeseburgers with “the works” or their plant-based versions. There are also locations in the Moynihan Food Hall and in Brooklyn’s Industry City.

#36 Shake Shack: While this restaurant is a popular chain, their Midtown West venue makes the Top 100 list.

#37 Ruby’s Cafe: Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood is home to this gem, who offers a variety of burger creations with untraditional toppings such as pineapple and beet.

#47 Vesuvio Bakery This SoHo spot features several types of fresh breads; however, the focus of the lunch menu appeared to be sandwiches rather than traditional burgers.

#97 Parker & Quinn: Midtown South is home to this restaurant in the Refinery Hotel, with options including a Lamb Burger with peperonata, goat cheese, and harissa aioli.

Yelp says that some popular trends among those ranking the restaurants were large portions, various meats such as salmon and lamb, and creative buns. They also found that Barbeque options are well-liked among “Yelpers.”

The Queens Chamber of Commerce crowned the winner of its first-ever “Queens’ Best Empanada Competition” on Monday night, bestowing the coveted honor upon the family-owned Empanadas Cafe on Van Doren and 108th.

According to PIX 11, Empanadas Cafe is co-owned by Patricia Bernard and Luz Helena Bermudez. The two have been in business together for two decades. They have a mouth-watering menu — and a heck of a story, too.

People were invited to submit restaurant names across Queens for the top empanada prize — and hundreds of nominations came in. A 10-day voting period was held this month to determine the champion.

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“This is an honor to be here for 20 years and have the commitment to quality,” Bernard told PIX 11. “We hear it all the time and thank customers for the vote. This is for them.”

Along with bragging rights, Empanadas Cafe wins a complimentary membership to the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

What’s up next for “best of” in Queens? That’s to be determined. In February, Rocco’s of Roc Beach won best pizza slice.

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The al fresco dining areas were allowed on an emergency basis during the COVID-19 pandemic. So for years now, restaurants have wondered “What’s the long-term plan?” But they didn’t get much in terms of a clear answer.

At last, it now appears there is one. A plan has been formulated by the city to keep outdoor dining around for years to come.

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A proposed bill would allow sidewalk dining year-round. That involves seating that is not located inside dining sheds taking up room on city streets, but rather areas on sidewalks only.

The same bill would allow “streeteries” — aka the dining sheds on the streets — to stay up from April through November each year.

“We’ve got to move from the emergency program and really standardize and make it more sustainable and I think this is a big step forward,” said NYC Hospitality Alliance Executive Director Andrew Rigie, who said the bill is a good compromise. “We’ve been waiting a long time but I think it’s an historic agreement. We’re gonna cut red tape so they can get outdoor dining licenses faster.”

While all the details are not quite clear yet, restaurants would be required to get a license and pay a fee for their outdoor dining plan. But Rigie says the process will be easier and cheaper than it was before the pandemic.

“It’s going to significantly cut the fees, it’s going to be permitted for thousands of restaurants that were restricted,” he said.

While diners seemed on board with the plan, some restaurants worry about the cost and hassle of taking down their structures in the winter.

“You have to think of long term: Do I really want to keep it? Because once you take it down one time, you don’t know if you want to keep doing that,” said Jose Mendoza, an employee at El Mil Sabores on Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen.

Mendoza said that at his restaurant, customers use the streetery all year long. He thinks that in the end, many restaurants will be forced to weigh the costs.

“They won’t want to keep hiring someone to do it for them and then they got to do it themselves. They’re gonna get tired of doing that as well,” he said.

This bill has the approval of Mayor Eric Adams, through it still needs to be finalized and voted on next month. If passed, the permitting process would start but it wouldn’t go into effect for restaurants until November 2024.

The Malibu Barbie Cafe: New York City will kick off on Wednesday, May 17 and run through Sept. 15, according to the Bucket Listers website.

The pop-up comes in time for the highly anticipated “Barbie” movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

The café will transport guests to 1970s Malibu, California, complete with a Barbie-esque color scheme, beach motifs and retro décor. There will be immersive spaces and photo ops inspired the icon herself, Malibu Barbie. There will even be a life-size Barbie Box to show off your best pose in a Instagramable-worthy photo.

In a press release, Julie Freeland, the Senior Director of Location Based Entertainment at Mattel said, “At Mattel we are always looking for exciting, new ways to bring the Barbie experience to life. From the beach-loving décor to the menu, every detail has been thoughtfully designed to celebrate the iconic Barbie style, with nostalgic details fans will love.”

The cafe itself will be a fast-casual, family-friendly restaurant experience featuring, among other menu choices, Pacific Paradise Pancakes, West Coast Wave Wedge Salad and a California Dreamin’ Club Sandwich. Desserts and a variety of drinks will also be available.

Prices will start at $35 for kids, $50 for adults — with every ticket purchase including a reserved seat, guaranteed window of time to dine, and choice of entree and side item.

Those in Chicago can also experience a Malibu Barbie Café of their own. The restaurant there opens on June 7 and will be open seven days a week.

To purchase tickets for the Malibu Barbie Cafe experience, click here.

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The actor who plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession” has signed on to play a man who tries to expose water contamination in a Norwegian spa town in Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play “An Enemy of the People.”

The play — with a rewrite from Amy Herzog, whose adaptation of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” just won a Tony nomination — will premiere on Broadway in early 2024 at a theater to be revealed later, producers said. The rest of the cast will be announced later. Sam Gold, who won a Tony directing “Fun Home,” will helm the revival.

It will be Strong’s second time on Broadway. He was in “A Man for All Seasons” in 2008 with Frank Langella and Patrick Page. Since then, his work on “Succession” has earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Strong will play a public-minded doctor in a small town who discovers the water supply for the public spa is contaminated and may have made tourists — the community’s economic lifeblood — ill. But his efforts to clean up the mess pit his ethics against political cowards and the media, leaving his family suffering.

The Hollywood Reporter says the Writers Guild of America denied the production a waiver that would have allowed the show to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ amid the ongoing writers’ strike.

A meeting is reportedly scheduled by the Tony Awards Management Committee for Monday to discuss possible next steps forward.

The waiver decision follows two weeks of a writers’ strike throughout much of the entertainment industry as members of the guild seek better pay and advancement opportunities, among other issues, from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

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There are two options reportedly being discussed among the show’s producers: hold a non-televised ceremony on the same date or postpone the show until the strike ends.

The Tony Awards is now the second live awards show impacted by the writers’ strike. On Sunday, the MTV Movie Awards shifted to a pre-taped format and host Drew Barrymore opted to skip her duties in solidarity with the writers.

Traditionally held in Radio City Music Hall, this year’s Tony Awards was set to take place at the United Palace in Washington Heights. Ariana DeBose would return as host.

Well, look no further. You won’t find anything quite like this.

At Momoya SoHo, they have created what has been called “The Most Complicated Dessert in New York.” It is the Haru Ranman spring parfait.

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While it looks like a work of art, yes you can actually eat it. The Nolita restaurant’s dessert translates to “Spring into Bloom,” and is part of their seasonal parfait rotation, which is curated by Executive Pastry Chef Norie Uematsu at the start of each season.

The parfait was initially intended as a palette cleanser after an omakase seating, but its growing popularity actually inspired the pastry chef to make a special dessert omakase series as well. The series launched May 1 and takes place on the first Monday of each month. The five-course presentation costs $85 per person, with only six guests allowed per seating.

So what exactly goes into the Haru Ranman? If you were thinking of trying to make it at home,…well, let’s hope you have an extensive kitchen collection. There are 16 components that go into the parfait, most of which aren’t found in the standard pantry.

Here’s what goes into the $28 parfait:

• Lychee lemon sakura jelly
• Strawberry compote
• Sakura leaf foam
• Vanilla cumble
• Amazake ganache whip
• Strawberry tonka sorbet
• Condensed milk ice cream
• Butter cookie
• Guava red shiso mousse
• Coconut tuile
• Strawberry (hey, there’s a chance you at least have that ingredient!)
• Sakura mochi — Kansai style and Kanto style
• Yomogi kinako macarron
• Hanami Dango
• Sakura powder

So yea, a little more complicated than the typical parfait of yogurt, granola and fruit.

In case that doesn’t really piqué your interest, Momoya SoHo has a few other, simpler desserts on the menu as well: Mille-feuille aux banana (described as “layers of puff pastry with caramelized banana cream and hoji-cha rum raisin ice cream”), jasmine tea brûlée (with grapefruit and mint ice cream), or coupe glacee (two scoops of ice cream with gyuhi mochi and tuile).

The annual list, sponsored by Perrier, of the 50 Best Bars for the continent was announced Thursday, and a Manhattan bar earned the top spot.

Double Chicken Please, a small bar near the intersection of Delancey Street and Allen Street on the Lower East Side, was crowned the best bar in North America for 2023. The bar describes itself as being “inspired by exploration and experimentation of traditional drinks and dishes.”

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The bar is divided into two sections, the front room and the back room. The front room’s menu includes 13 different cocktails on tap, along with a selection of shots and other spirits.

The back room, which is described as “a vintage-inspired coop…shaking up craft cocktails that have been deconstructed and reimaged into a whimsical, culinary-driven experience through the process of hacking design.” The spirit and cocktail list is much more extensive. All cocktails in the back room (which do not come on tap, but rather are made by bartenders) appear to be named after different foods, like the French toast, the red eye gravy, the cold pizza and the key lime pie.

The craft cocktail bar is credited by many as helping start the nationwide trend of upscale restaurants starting to use food (like produce, meats or cheese) in their drinks, and more so than just simple garnishes or lighter infusions.

As for actual food, the menu for both the front and back room includes a variety of chicken, including hot honey, salted egg yolk, Bolognese grilled cheese and a spicy mochi donut. It also has a small list of appetizer-style foods and a pair of dessert options.

But Double Chicken Please wasn’t the only NYC bar to make an appearance high on the list. After Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy came in at #2, the third spot was award to Katana Kitten. The West Village bar has a wide selection of Japanese whiskeys and signature cocktails, as well as sandwiches and small bites.

Dante, which has two locations in the West Village and Greenwich Village, was rated sixth-best bar in North America. Lower Manhattan’s Overstory was the highest climber on the list, jumping 27 spots to No. 7 on the list. The winner for 2022, Attaboy, in the Lower East Side, was rated at No. 13 on the 2023 list, just ahead of fellow Manhattan bars Employees Only (No. 14 – West Village) and Mace (No. 18 – Greenwich Village).

New to the list was Gramercy Park bar Martiny’s, at No. 29. Maison Premiere (No. 39 – Williamsburg) and Clover Club (No. 46 – Carroll Gardens) were the only NYC bars to make the list that aren’t located in Manhattan, with both located in Brooklyn.

The Dead Rabbit in lower Manhattan came in at No. 44 on the list, while another newcomer to the list, Milady’s, in SoHo, rounded out the list at No. 50.

Manhatta, a 60th-floor bar on Liberty Street in lower Manhattan, was awarded as the Campari One To Watch, distinguishing it as a bar that didn’t make the list of top 50, but has the ability to make the rankings in future lists.

The list features 28 U.S. bars, 14 from Mexico, seven from Canada and one based in the Caribbean (La Factoria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was ranked No. 24 on the list and was named the best bar in the Caribbean).

The American cuisine spot on East 21st Street in the Flatiron District is planting a tree for every mimosa that patrons sip at brunch this Saturday.

Their website lists four types of brunch mimosas offered, including classic and grapefruit.

The trees will be planted through the non-profit, One Tree Planted. The Vermont-based organization plants a tree for every $1 donated.

Harding’s also shared on Twitter that they will donate one tree for each of their first 50 retweets.

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From Sunday, April 23, to Sunday, April 30, more than 140 participating restaurants are offering up unique two-course lunches for $22, and/or three-course prix fixe for $27, $37 or $44 daily except Saturdays, when deals cap at 7 p.m. Not sure where to go or how to make sense of the different price offerings? There’s a map for that (below).

First, two things everyone asks:

1. Are tips included in the fixed price? Nope, but Long Island Restaurant Week recommends 20% for good service, especially during this busy week.
2. What about drinks? Sorry, those aren’t included either. The promotion covers appetizer, main and dessert

Have another pressing question? More FAQs here.

Long Island Restaurant Week color codes participating restaurants by those offering deals at each of the four price points mentioned above. The map also highlights which eateries have options for both lunch and dinner.

Alternatively, scroll to the bottom of this page for the full list of locations by Long Island county.

Interested in top restaurants within the five boroughs? Renowned New York Times food critic Pete Wells put out his top 100 this week. And we’ve got a by-borough breakdown.

The Long Island Restaurant Week campaigns, which span 118 miles from Garden City to Montauk, boast nearly 250 participants each fall and more than 160 during the winter. A portion of the proceeds is used to help fight food insecurity via the Island Harvest Food Bank, organizers say.

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New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells breaks down his take on the top 100 spots in the city.

Borough Breakdown

So which borough has the most restaurants to keep an eye on, according to Wells? Manhattan tops the list, with 65 of the 100 restaurants located along the island.

Brooklyn and Queens tied for second, each claiming 19 spots on the list. The Bronx and Staten Island are also represented, with four and two restaurants making the cut, respectively.

For those of you who did the math, the number of restaurants adds up to over 100 because some on the list have a set-up in multiple boroughs.

Eight of the top ten belong to Manhattan. Queens has two representatives in that tier of the list (one of which also has a Manhattan location), with the Bronx claiming one.

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The Prices

There’s no doubt some city dining comes with a hefty receipt, but this top 100 list includes options with a variety of price ranges. 

Locations are divided on a scale from $ to $$$$. Twenty of the restaurants are on the most expensive end of the scale, with 18 on the other, far cheaper end.

The rest fall into the middle of the affordability scale, with 39 marked as $$ and 23 labeled as $$$.

Top Spots

This list gives the title of best restaurant in the city to Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi. It has American, Caribbean and Creole cuisine and is situated near Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side.

Its runner-up is also in Manhattan. A Korean joint with a “tasting-menu format,” Atomix can be found in Kips Bay on East 30th Street.

But what about the other boroughs? Here’s where Wells thinks you can find the best dishes and dining outside of Manhattan:

The Bronx: #5 La Piraña Lechonera (Puerto Rican)

Brooklyn: #16 Aska (Scandinavian)

Queens: #8 CheLi (Chinese)

Staten Island: #80 Ayat (Palestinian)

The most expensive category makes up the top three restaurants on the list, but the cheapest tier includes both the aforementioned #5 La Piraña Lechonera as well as #9 Queens Night Market.

“Summer for the City” kicked off for the first time last year, offering dozens of free, live performances and family events for New Yorkers to engage in. This year, the festival is back for round 2 to celebrate the city’s communities through multi-cultural art.

Starting this June, Lincoln Center will transform its entire campus for three months under the Visual Director Clint Ramos, infusing the outdoor spaces with botanical inspiration, al fresco dining, neon lights and a vibrant art installation with 200 flamingos near the Paul Milstein Reflecting Pool. Nearby the pool, the giant 10-foot disco ball returns from last summer’s silent disco under the moonlight.

According to Lincoln Center, the inaugural season welcomed over 300,000 audience members — more than 75% of whom had never before attended a presentation at the venue.

“We were thrilled to welcome so many New Yorkers and audiences new to campus last summer with hundreds of free shows, and we are doubling down on that welcome with this year’s programming and schedule,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, to NBC New York.

With a city as diverse as New York, there is something for everyone to enjoy with genres like K-pop, jazz, salsa, merengue, Broadway and more, including a rendition of Company entirely performed by actors using American Sign Language.

The campus plans to honor Hip-Hop’s 50th Anniversary by celebrating the cultural influence of the genre, including a live mixtape with Brooklyn DJ J.PERIOD performed with artists Rakim and Big Daddy Kane.

“This summer, we have a real understanding of how all our spaces work at full capacity and we’ve programmed multiple evenings throughout the summer that have simultaneous, overlapping shows—whether on The Dance Floor, in Damrosch Park, in the new David Geffen Hall, or in The Underground—bringing all of these different New Yorkers together in the same space,” said Thake.

In addition to the music and dance segments, couples are invited to celebrate love, relive their wedding day or get hitched during a ceremony brought together by Tony, Grammy, and Olivier award-winning director Scott Wittman.

While most of the performances will be free, select indoor options will have Choose-What-You-Pay tickets built from last season’s model with a $5 minimum. There is a Fast Track line to give those who register early for shows priority access to events before general admission, which is first-come, first-serve.

“Phantom” ends its historic 35-year run on Sunday on a high note: the musical has been the highest grossing show on Broadway for the past 12 weeks. Tickets for its final performances went for as much as $4,000.

Initially, the beloved musical was set to take its final bow on Feb.18, soon after celebrating its 35th anniversary, but producers managed to extend the run for an additional eight weeks to April 16.

The longest-running show in Broadway history, “Phantom” opened at the Majestic Theatre on 44th Street in January 1988 and has played more than 13,000 performances to date. The closing performance will be No. 13,981.

Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, producers say the musical has been seen by 20 million people and grossed more than $1.4 billion.

Two days before the final curtain call, Andrew Lloyd Webber was awarded a key to the City of New York City by Mayor Eric Adams.

“I think it’s very, very rare in a musical, very, very rare, for all of the ingredients to come together in the same way that Phantom did. The production, the lighting, the choreography.” Webber told NBC’s Lester Holt.

The legendary composer said the show costs about $1 million a week to run, which, combined with dwindling ticket sales, contributed to its closing.

It’s estimated the production created 6,500 jobs in New York City, including those of 400 actors, some of which have been in the musical since opening night.

The final cast for Sunday’s performance includes Ben Crawford (The Phantom), Emilie Kouatchou (Christine) and John Riddle (Raoul), with Nehal Joshi (Monsieur André), Craig Bennett (Monsieur Firmin), Raquel Suarez Groen (Carlotta), Maree Johnson (Madame Giry), Carlton Moe (Piangi), Sara Esty (Meg Giry) and Julia Udine (Christine at certain performances).

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The season for outdoor socializing has arrived once again, and the Big Apple’s collection of rooftop destinations make for some picture-perfect spots to enjoy these record-high temps.

Several sources have published lists detailing some of the best places to plan your visit.

Gothamist shares five options, including two in the Williamsburg area, while Secret NYC breaks down 46 locations by location across the city.

Meanwhile TimeOut ranks 33 bars and The Rooftop Guide has a 68-location list.

But what makes some of these bars stand out from the rest? 

We’ll highlight a few spots from the lists based on their views, their drinks and their prices.

The Views

Bar 54 is one of the city’s most elevated rooftop bars, and wins the height-contest among all the others in Times Square. From this location at the Hyatt Centric Times Square, you can see the Chrysler building as well as lower Manhattan.

Over in Brooklyn Heights, the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is home to Harriet’s Rooftop. At this bar, you can enjoy views of the Brooklyn Bridge and of Manhattan in the distance.

The Panorama Room on Roosevelt Island is another scenery-filled spot. As its name suggests, you’ll have a 360-degree view of the area. It’s located on the 18th floor of New York’s Graduate Hotel.

The Drinks

Of course, another important piece of a great rooftop bar is what you’ll order once you arrive.

The menu at Daintree Rooftop and Lounge includes a host of specialized martinis. Among other drink selections, guests can enjoy martinis such as the Garden Party or the Tropic Thunder. 

Meanwhile, The Glass Ceiling Nomad gives you a chance to test your taste buds while music from across the globe plays in the background. Some of these cocktails include the Tokyo Mule Sake or Cucumber Champagne Mojito. 

The Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge also offers a variety of non-traditional cocktails to enjoy, including an alcoholic “Pink Hot Chocolate,” called an Aprés Ski, a Double Pink Diamond, and a Mr. Pink to fit with their pink theme and design.

The Prices

Many city rooftop bars are paired with a hefty price tag, but affordable gems and deals can certainly be found. 

The Ready Rooftop Bar is a more casual establishment, where their beverages are primarily served canned — even the wine. They host happy hours with $9 margaritas alongside $1 tacos.

Alma Lounge is another affordable option. The specialty drinks listed on their online menu are currently priced at $10-14, with happy hour deals for a selection of drinks at an even lower price point.

Looking for an excuse to try out your taste-testing skills? You don’t need one.

The Queens Chamber of Commerce rolled out the inaugural “Queens’ Best Empanada Competition” over the weekend.

People can nominate their favorite spot in the borough to grab this Latin American treat until the end of April. 

From May 4-14, people can vote for the champion.

“Queens undoubtedly has some of the best Latin American cuisine in the world, with various eateries throughout the borough serving up the delicious stuffed treats… I look forward to visiting the winning restaurant, and trying some of their offerings,” said Tom Grech, President and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

So, what’s in store for the winner?

The restaurant with the most votes will get the bragging rights that come with making Queens’ Best Empanada, along with “complimentary membership to the Queens Chamber of Commerce.” 

They’ll be awarded on Monday, May 22.

Popeyes has announced that they will be adding a new sweet treat to their menu this month, putting a new spin on an old favorite: Strawberry biscuits with a creamy icing on top.

It will be a combination of sweet and savory, as the traditional biscuits that fans of the fried chicken franchise have come to know and love will now come filled with strawberry bits, according to the company.

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The new item has been available since Monday, and will be on menus for a limited time. Each of the dessert treats costs $1.79, two for $2.99 or four for $5.39.

“We are thrilled to introduce the latest culinary creation to our dessert menu, the irresistible Strawberry Biscuits,” said Amy Alarcon, Vice President of Culinary Innovation. “The perfect combination of our classic, buttery biscuits and the flavor of ripe, fruity strawberries, Strawberry Biscuits offer a delicious touch of sweetness to any meal.”

For some, the new addition may be seen as borderline blasphemy. Popeyes biscuits have been loved for years, so why fix it if it ain’t broke? But perhaps after a taste test and ending their meal with the treat that is very reminiscent of spring time (it’s basically a version of strawberry shortcake, really), even those hesitant of the new option will come around.

Or not, and this limited time offering won’t be around for very long.

The new addition comes as Popeyes brings two new deals to their menu as well: The Family Feast (a $30 meal including six pieces of fried chicken, two sandwiches, two large sides and four biscuits) and the Big Box (a $7 meal comprising of either eight pieces of chicken nuggets or two pieces of fried chicken, plus two regular sides and a biscuit).

Famed NYC pizzeria 2 Bros. Pizza, with a slew of locations throughout the city appealing to cash-strapped young people, is no longer offering the deal it was perhaps best known for: the $1 dollar slice.

At its original East Village location, the cost of a slice is now $1.50, according to local news blog EV Grieve. The site also said that the cost for two slices and a can of soda — a staple lunch special of many slice stations across the five boroughs — is now $4 at the St. Mark’s shop, up a dollar from before.

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“Over the past few years, we had done everything in our power to keep the cheese slices at $1 while refusing to compromise on our quality,” co-owner Eli Halali told the New York Post. He told the outlet that the restaurant was no longer able to break even, and pinned at least some of the blame on the rising costs of cheese.

It wasn’t clear whether every 2 Bros. location would see a price increase, though some already had bumped up prices well before Tuesday.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, however, as pizza inflation is very real. NBC New York spoke with freelance journalist Liam Quigley earlier this year about his findings after he tracked the price of every pizza slice he’s eaten since 2014.

His findings? The average plain slice of pizza now costs $3 — and you can trust his numbers: He’s eaten more than 460 slices and spent more than $1,200 on pizza during that time.

That average cost would do away with the so-called “pizza principle,” which stated that the cost of a slice would stay equal to the cost of a subway ride. But with subway fares still frozen at $2.75 (for now), it appears that theory may not hold true for long.

136 teams are gearing up for the Big Dance after the NCAA released the brackets for both the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments Sunday night.

The tri-state collectively has five teams in the men’s pool, with the University of Connecticut (No. 4 seed) as the only squad of the group to receive a top-5 seed and be favored to win their matchup (they will be squaring off against fellow tri-state area representative Iona in a round of 64 matchup in Albany).

But whether you’re cheering for a local team or eyeing your bracket bets, we’ll break down how to watch these games, both in-person and on TV.

Looking to be close to the court? Madison Square Garden is hosting the finals for the East Regional of the men’s tournament on March 23 and March 25. The four top teams in the East will face off in MSG, where tickets and suites can be purchased to view the match-ups.

If you’re on the hunt for hoops-watching spots without catching the action in-person, several sites have you covered with lists and rankings of bars and restaurants around New York City.

Downtown Alliance crowd-sourced the top bars in lower Manhattan through a bracket-based competition on Twitter.

The two top choices according to this competition’s voters were Mudville 9 and Stout NYC, with the latter being crowned the champion. 

The west-side Mudville 9 on Chambers Street is a family-owned American restaurant that is open for reservations throughout the March Madness season. Stout NYC has four different locations around the city and has packages available for viewing parties during the tournament season.

Secret NYC produced a list of 15 sports bars across the five boroughs, from Break Bar & Billiards in Astoria to Smithfield Hall NYC in Chelsea.

6sqft also introduced 28 bars that are great viewing spots for the games. Although some overlap from the other lists mentioned, they also give insight into other options. For example, East Village recently became home to Downtown Social, a venue equipped with frequent live music and specials throughout the week.

The city has no shortage of spots for tournament entertainment, as the first pair of games kicks off March 14 and 15.

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From sweet pies to savory ones (the best seller is their signature pie, which has apples, peaches, and blueberries), the Park Slope bakery along Fifth Avenue offers tasty treats with a nod to the past.

“Miss American Pie, the song from the ’60s, it feels like a very nostalgic throwback to when people sat around the table and ate meals together every night,” said Lindsey Hill, the owner of the Miss American Pie shop.

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When she left her career in fashion, Hill knew her future was in the kitchen. She says pie is a “food that brings people together.”

While that may be true, she couldn’t have picked a worse time to open her business: right before the COVID pandemic hit. Hill said business was “very slow and we had to close down.”

With no customers, there was little in terms of revenue — but the debt piled up. Especially in rent.

“Usually I’ll give the check and it will be two-thirds of my rent, and they text me [saying] we’re gonna sue you,” Hill told NBC New York.

Owing thousands upon thousands of dollars in back rent, Hill told customers of her struggles in a social media post earlier in the week.

“I just made a post, like “you guys, I don’t know what to do, I’m at my end here. I’m running out of money and I don’t know if I’m going to stay open,'” she said.

Ever since that post, business has been booming.

“All these people started coming in, [saying] ‘I saw your post and posted it on a Facebook group,’ and all these pople started coming in and buying pies,” said Hill.

A woman who identified herself as the property manager told News 4 over the phone that Hill owes “a lot a money,” and that while she understands Hill’s difficulty, the landlord also has bills to pay.

Hill is considering moving the business, or getting a loan to pay down her debt. Meanwhile, the renewed customer push has renewed her hope in her business.

“Like two days and I’ve seen an uptick in sales and more people coming in,” she said.

All of that fueling the community she had always hoped her little pie shop would create.

“It’s almost like it’s supposed to be this way, because you can see the community coming together and helping out,” said Hill.

A survey in 2022 by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce said that 70 percent of businesses are still struggling, experiencing sales numbers that remain lower than those from pre-pandemic.

But customers of the small shop are left hoping this won’t be the day the music (or in this case, the pie) dies.

Yes, the oldest cheese shop in New York City — considered the oldest in America — was forced to close its doors for good at its Little Italy location. But there are plans to give it a new life across the Hudson River.

After financial struggles and court battles, Alleva Dairy shuttered the only location it has known in its 130-year history, at the corner of Mulberry Street and Grand Street.

People were stopping by throughout the day to buy the remaining cheeses. But the signs were all down, and the store pretty much entirely packed up — though the legacy will be kept alive.

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Owner Karen King and her husband bought Alleva Dairy a decade ago.

“My husband was born and raised in Little Italy, his name was Cha Cha and he was the unofficial mayor of Little Italy,” King told NBC New York in February.

When Cha Cha died in 2015, King made it her mission to keep Alleva going. But then the pandemic hit, and businesses in the tourist-centric area were hit hard by the shutdowns.

Business had slowly been getting back on track for the neighborhood staple known for its fresh cheeses (like the mozzarella made fresh every day) and massive sandwiches — especially after having expanded to become a café, offering things like arancini. They tried selling ready-made meals and grocery items to stay afloat.

“It helped but it didn’t bring in the money that I needed for the rent,” King said previously.

But the shop fell two years behind on rent payments and filed for bankruptcy. A months-long legal battle with the building’s landlord over $500,000 in back rent ensued, as that landlord refused to honor the remainder of the company’s 10-year lease.

In April 2022, King said she was willing to pay the money, but just wanted time in order to do so. But the landlord was demanding the money, and Alleva recently received its final deal: The store will be forgiven its debt, but must leave the building.

King last spoke with NBC New York in February, and her story reached a real estate developer named Jack Morris. He stepped in with plans to pack up Alleva and move it to a bigger location in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

“He’s taking me to places that I have wanted to go my whole life and I’m taking my little cheese store with me,” said King. “It’s a miracle on Mulberry Street!”

While it won’t be the same as the landmark shop where they have been selling cheese since 1892, the end of this era will usher in a new one.

The new location in Lyndhurst is being built, and they’re planning to open in August. Some of the original signage and ceramic work will be coming with them, honoring the traditions from their longtime and beloved Little Italy location.

“I painted my dressing room pink so that it’s a very bright and warm and joyful place to be, so that I can leave what happens on the stage on the stage,” he says.

Platt deserves all the joy he can grab while playing the doomed lead anti-hero in the musical “Parade,” adapted from a true story that took place in Atlanta just before World War I.

He plays Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-born Jewish factory manager falsely accused of murdering a young girl. He is tried and convicted, has his death sentence commuted but then is lynched by a Southern mob who dislikes his religion and Northern values.

“It’s really a human story about how people — because of the traumas of their past — can’t escape the prejudice of their present,” says the show’s director, Michael Arden.

The musical is being revived on Broadway just as the nation endures another wave of anti-Semitism, which has brought darkness even to the theater’s front door. The show’s first preview was marred by a few neo-Nazi protesters outside.

That has only proven to Platt and the rest of the “Parade” team that bringing this musical back in front of an audience is the right thing to do in the face of bigotry and bullying.

“I think both in terms of specifically anti-Semitism and in terms of just the horrors of social media and online mob mentality, it feels all too contemporary,” Platt says. “I think everybody could feel very palpably that this was the piece for right in this very moment and that there was really a reason to be doing it.”

This is Platt’s first return to Broadway since his star-making turn in “Dear Evan Hansen,” which earned him a Tony and a Grammy and propelled his career to TV shows like “The Politician” and a record deal with Atlantic Records. The new musical opens March 16 at at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

Platt calls “Parade” a “hidden gem” in musical theater and grew up listening to its songs. It was mostly well-received by critics in 1998 when it first arrived — and later won Tonys for best book and score — but closed within a few months, despite a story by “Driving Miss Daisy” writer Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by multiple Tony-winner Jason Robert Brown. Platt says it was ahead of its time.

“I think maybe people just weren’t ready to hear it at that point,” he says. “There’s a lot of gray in the show, and it’s also a piece that holds racism and anti-Semitism in the same conversation and highlights that they are both products, particularly in America, of the same system of white supremacy.”

Behind the legal drama, there is a second — the story of two people, Frank and his wife, Lucille, whose relationship gets stronger as their lives get more difficult. Micaela Diamond stars here as Lucille, and it is the first time Jewish actors have led a professional production of “Parade” of this scale.

“I’m hopeful that this will be an opportunity for those who didn’t already appreciate it, to find it and for it to get some of the due that it maybe should have gotten in the first place,” Platt says.

What viewers will find is a complex portrayal of Frank, a fussy, often unpleasant man who dislikes the South and who complains about the food when he is first thrown in jail. That challenge attracted Platt.

“There’s some moral challenge and ambiguity,” says Platt. “I think it’s an important message when you’re representing anyone who’s been oppressed or victimized, let alone a real person, to say that just because somebody isn’t perfect and entirely virtuous, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t deserving of justice and truth.”

Arden grew up in Midland, Texas, listening to Broadway cast albums and was “just transported by the score” of “Parade.” He watched a video capture of the original show and saw a version mounted by the Donmar Warehouse in 2007.

“It is rare when we get an opportunity to go to the theater and truly be challenged to reflect on our own shortcomings in this way and kind of stir up the darkness of our past,” he says. “We must reexamine our past or else we repeat it.”

Arden hopes his direction has focuses on the intimacy of the marriage, and he has stripped the musical down, without a lot of set design and without a heavy hand.

“We’re sort of presenting this play as evidence for an audience to make up their own minds about something, as opposed to trying to necessarily fully paint the picture in a way that a film could or perhaps the original production attempted to,” he says.

It is a challenging, often wrenching show and Platt gets into character each night in his pink dressing room with some key items: A framed photo of Leo and Lucille Frank taken at their happiest.

“I think it helps me to remember that the main purpose here is to honor them and to show the love between them and the humanity between them as much, if not more, than the tragedy that befell them,” he says.

There’s also a photo of him and his fiance, Noah Galvin, and of his family, including one from his brother’s bar mitzvah. He calls them “reminders of where I come from and what I get to go home to, that Leo didn’t get to go home to.”

“As traumatic and and dark as this particular story is, my greatest joy in life is to be in the theater,” he adds. “Even going through something like this and emotionally finding my way through it, I do go home with such a fulfillment and satisfaction because this is really my dream.”

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Producers and the star of “Parade” are condemning antisemitism after a group of neo-Nazi protesters harassed theatergoers as they were lined up ahead of the show Tuesday. Someone who tried to video the protesters reportedly had their phone yanked away and thrown on to the street.  

A member of the audience posted a video the hate-filled demonstration outside the Bernard Jacobs Theater on West 45th Street and described the moments of fear.

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“I know they have the right to protest but I can still be bothered by it,” said Elena Kaplan.

Those who demonstrated yelled, carried banners and handed out fliers that claim the show glorifies pedophilia.

The protesters were targeting “Parade,” a musical about the true story of Leo Frank — a Jewish man lynched in 1915 after he was wrongfully convicted for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl. Later legal review confirmed that Frank had been wrongfully charged.

“The irony should not be lost on anyone that these antisemitic extremists decided to protest a play that details the true story of the lynching of an innocent Jewish man by an antisemitic mob and used it as an opportunity to spread conspiracy theories and hate,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.

For one woman, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, the protesters gave her even more reason to support the production.

“I was going to get them anyway but it’s also my form of protest to say you don’t get to push me out of my own country,” said Nina Mogilnik. “It’s a hard thing to digest.”

Tony Award winner Ben Platt stars in the production and said in a video shared on Instagram “it was definitely very ugly and scary but a wonderful reminder of why we are telling this story and how powerful art and theater can be.”

Producers of the show went on to say that “if there is any remaining doubt out there about the urgency of telling this story in this moment in history, the vileness on display (Tuesday night) should put it to rest.”

NYPD officers were on the scene Tuesday night, but it was not clear if they would have special patrols again on Wednesday.

The target date for the Loeb Boathouse, home to countless dates and weddings, is for summer 2023. The location, New York City’s only lakefront venue, has been immortalized in several big Hollywood films, including “When Harry Met Sally” and the 1962 political thriller “The Manchurian Candidate.”

Even New York City Mayor Eric Adams has a history with the boathouse.

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“In my rookie years, I didn’t have a lot of money, and nothing was more romantic than being able to rent a boat,” he said at a press conference Thursday. “It has been a landmark for generations in New York City.”

Crushed by skyrocketing costs for labor and goods, the Loeb Boathouse closed down in Oct. 2022, with all 163 employees at the restaurant laid off. That’s when the city’s Park’s Department started looking for a new operator.

“We knew that the work that needed to be done, had to be done quickly, so this great attraction wouldn’t be closed for long,” said Parks Deputy Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa.

They found a familiar and homegrown company to take over operating the boathouse: Legends Hospitality, which does the concessions at Yankee Stadium, One World Observatory and other venues throughout the country. They have committed more than $3 million to overhaul the property.

“Our approach is to restore it to its natural grandeur,” said Richard Porteus of Legends Hospitality.

One planned change: Legends says they will start offering advanced ticketing for boat rentals, and debit and credit will be accepted.

“We’ll work on the boat rental program and provide a complete refresh of all menus and all concepts throughout the property,” said Porteus. “As a lifelong New Yorker, I’ve been here many times and can’t wait to restore this iconic property.”

According to the license agreement between the city and Legends, the new restaurant would offer brunch, lunch and dinner options at the dining room, as well as market options that are more geared toward grab-and-go items. The brunch would include standard staples (spinach and cheese omelet, brioche French toast, quiche, cinnamon bun, etc.) while the lunch menu featured sandwiches, burgers and salads, as well as few entrees.

The dinner menu featured a variety of different options, including lamb loin, duck ragout, USDA prime filet, grilled salmon, a pork chop, chicken, New York strip and a Chilean sea bass. There were also dessert items listed: honey buttermilk panna cotta, Dulcey blonde chocolate tart and black velvet cake.

The market would offer breakfast sandwiches in the morning, as well as pizzas and bowls in the afternoon, along with a kids menu.

The mayor the return of the restaurant would bring back 200 union jobs. The city still has to rubber stamp the agreement on a 10-year-lease.

New York City alone now has more than 65,000 food delivery workers, and one major fast food chain is partnering up with its New York operators to improve those workers’ daily lives.

Chick-fil-A says it will open The Brake Room, a limited-time experience on the Upper East Side (1477 Third Ave., between E. 83rd St. and E. 84th St.) to the entire delivery community.

No borough saw higher numbers of Chick-fil-A deliveries in the winter months of 2022, the company says, which is why it opted to put The Brake Room where data shows it’s needed most. It opens Thursday, Feb. 16, and stays open through Thursday, April 13.

Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Access is free. All food delivery workers have to do is to show proof of at least one Chick-fil-A delivery in the last week on their driver profiles for DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, Postmates, Caviar or Seamless, the company says.

The rest hub will offer bathrooms, bike storage, outlets for phone chargers, comfortable seating, Wi-Fi and beverages.

“In metro areas like New York City, we see the same food delivery workers come through nearly every day of the week, several times a day, and how taking an extra second to warm-up between deliveries or offering a glass of water helps to fuel them on for their shift,” Jared Caldwell, a Chick-fil-A restaurant owner and operator in NYC, said in a statement.

“The food delivery community helps to power our businesses, and this is just our small way of showing appreciation for all they do,” he added. Learn more here.

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This is a decision that is sure to stir up some controversy.

A popular restaurant in New Jersey has implemented a new rule: No kids are allowed. And the policy shift has gotten people fired up, on both sides of the debate.

Nettie’s House of Spaghetti is in hot water with some of its customers after posting on its social media pages that children under the age of 10 would no longer be permitted to dine at the Tinton Falls restaurant.

Nettie’s did not respond to a request for comment, but they explained on their social media posts that they “love kids” but there were reasons behind their decision — related to customer experience or even liability concerns.

“Lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children at Nettie’s. Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation,” the post from the restaurant reads, adding that “recent events have pushed” them to make the call.

“We know that this is going to make some of you very upset, especially those of you with very well-behaved kids, but we believe this is the right decision for our business moving forward,” the restaurant stated, thanking customers for their understanding.

Some did indeed understand the decision, saying they “support [them] 100%. Good food deserves a good atmosphere.” Others were not quite on board. One commenter said it was “really sad to hear” such a rule be implemented.

Those who were outside the fine dining eatery — which was once ranked among New Jersey’s best restaurants — said they agree with the move.

“People don’t care what their kids do so they just let them run around,” said one patron. “I guess they don’t want to pay for a babysitter so they just bring them with them.”

Another man said that the children can sometimes be “disruptive” to the meal.

Customer Lionel Eugene, said the new rule “would definitely challenge me and I might not go if I know my kids are not allowed there.”

Manager Paolo Palumbo has been at Attilio’s for more than 30 years and says he simply can’t imagine a restaurant without kids.

“I would love to see people come in with family, with the kids and enjoy,” he said.

Some say the move by Nettie’s now offers diners more options: kid-friendly and kid-free. The new policy takes effect on March 8th, when the restaurant reopens after winter break.

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First, it was the skyrocketing price of eggs that hit record highs since they started going up by late 2022. Now it may be another breakfast staple that could be impacted: maple syrup.

While egg prices can partly be attributed to scores of bird flu cases that swept across the U.S., there’s a very different natural phenomenon impacting maple syrup production. The warm, mild winter many have been enjoying is actually not good for maple farms.

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New York is second only to Vermont in maple syrup production, and February is typically harvest time. At White Oak Farm in Yorktown, the southernmost commercial maple syrup farm in the state, the unseasonably warm weather (which saw temperatures reach the 60s on Friday) is pouring cold water on their production.

“As soon as we see the tree budding out and flowering, that’s a sign to us that the maple season is over,” said owner Bri Hart, who has run the farm for 40 years.

He said that his 2,400 trees need freezing temperatures overnight to tap into stored sugars. But that’s not been happening nearly as often as usual — meaning that the maple syrup season that typically lasts several weeks won’t get anywhere close to that.

“If we only have a three- or four-day season or a week, two weeks, we might cut that in half,” Hart said.

It takes 80 gallons of sap to make some of the larger bottles produced on the farm. So as the taps run dry, could prices go up?

“It’s a little too early to say right now,” Hart said.

Producers in Upstate New York and Vermont started production early, hoping to have enough supply on shelves and celebrate “Maple Weekend” at the end of March.

The farm is hoping Mother Nature will cooperate over the next few weeks in order to get as much syrup from the trees as possible, so the festival is a success.

After financial struggles and court battles, Alleva Dairy has less than a month to leave the only location it has known in its 130-year history, at the corner of Mulberry Street and Grand Street.

“We’re supposed to be out by March 5th,” said owner Karen King — meaning it could be less than 30 days before the end of an era.

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King and her husband bought Alleva Dairy a decade ago.

“My husband was born and raised in Little Italy, his name was Cha Cha and he was the unofficial mayor of Little Italy,” said King.

When Cha Cha died in 2015, King made it her mission to keep Alleva going. But then the pandemic hit, and businesses in the tourist-centric area were hit hard by the shutdowns.

“There was literally like no one on the streets but we decided that we had to do something,” she said.

Business had slowly been getting back on track for the neighborhood staple known for its fresh cheeses (like the mozzarella made fresh every day) and massive sandwiches — especially after having expanded to become a café, offering things like arancini. They tried selling ready-made meals and grocery items to stay afloat.

“It helped but it didn’t bring in the money that I needed for the rent,” King said.

But the shop fell two years behind on rent payments and filed for bankruptcy. A months-long legal battle with the building’s landlord over $500,000 in back rent ensued, as that landlord refused to honor the remainder of the company’s 10-year lease.

In April 2022, King said she was willing to pay the money, but just wanted time in order to do so. But the landlord was demanding the money, and Alleva recently received its final deal: The store will be forgiven its debt, but must leave the building.

“I’m heartbroken. My heart is broken but I’m a fighter,” King said — adding that she’s still holding out hope that something could help save the store. Not only for the customers, but for her late husband, who loved Alleva as much as she does.

“In a way, losing Alleva dairy is like losing him all over again. Isn’t that ridiculous? But that’s how I feel. And I don’t want to cry because I’m going to fight,” said King.

The landlord did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

King hopes to be able to open Alleva Dairy somewhere else. She wasn’t quite sure what that would look like, but knows no matter what, it won’t be the same as the landmark shop where the shop has been selling cheese since 1892.

“We may be losing the location and you never know maybe we’ll have a miracle but the quality of what we present here and the food that we make and what people come to us for, I’m taking that with me.”

But not according to Tripadvisor. In fact, NYC just barely cracked the top 20!

Before you get too angry, there are more than a few understandable locations that beat out the five boroughs. At the top of the list is Rome — a designation many would agree with, or at least understand.

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Following after that are Crete, Greece; Hanoi, Vietnam; Florence, Italy; and Paris, France. Again, all world-renown destinations that feature incredible cuisines.

But New York wasn’t even ranked the first city in the U.S. somehow. It was beat out by New Orleans (which, while debatable, is again at least understandable).

Coming in second for the U.S. was Charleston, South Carolina. No disrespect to the fine city that it is, but putting Charleston ahead of NYC on a “Best Food” ranking seeming harder to buy into.

Southern cooking is incredible (no arguments here), but the sheer scope of different cuisines available in the Big Apple (not to mention more Michelin-starred restaurants than most people will go to in a lifetime) would have many New Yorkers argue that the city deserves a higher ranking on the list.

Here’s the full list of Tripadvisor’s top 20:

1. Rome, Italy
2. Crete, Greece
3. Hanoi, Vietnam
4. Florence, Italy
5. Paris, France
6. Barcelona, Spain
7. Lisbon, Portugal
8. Naples, Italy
9. New Orleans, Louisiana
10. Jamaica
11. Charleston, South Carolina
12. Mexico City, Mexico
13. Bangkok, Thailand
14. Buenos Aires, Argentina
15. Cuba
16. Cape Town Central, South Africa
17. San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain
18. Lyon, France
19. New York City, New York
20. Vancouver, British Columbia

No, not President’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day (though it’s related to the latter). It’s the return of the iconic Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s.

The much-beloved frozen treat debuted nationally back in 1970. And the Golden Arches’ signature mint shake will return with a partner in crime deliciousness once again this year.

The Oreo Shamrock McFlurry comes blended with crushed Oreo cookies, for those looking to mix things up a bit in their holiday traditions. The OREO twist isn’t the first time the Shamrock Shake got a makeover. In 1980, McDonald’s introduced the Shamrock Sundae.

Both will be coming to coming back to U.S. menus on Feb. 20 (which, coincidentally, is President’s Day) and will be available for a limited time, the fast food giant said.

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The iconic green shake was first created in 1967 by Hal Rosen, a McDonald’s owner and operator in Connecticut, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Three years later, the Shamrock Shake debuted in stores nationwide.

In 1974, sales from the popular seasonal drink helped build the very first Ronald McDonald House, which helps families with children who need medical care.

Justin David Sullivan declined eligibility, according to Playbill, refusing to be categorized as male or female.

Sullivan, who identifies as non-binary, stars in “& Juliet” at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and plays a non-binary character.

“I was told that I had to choose [the category in which] I felt comfortable, and in that process, I struggled a lot,” Sullivan told Playbill. “I felt like I couldn’t choose. I didn’t feel right being in either category because it didn’t resonate with me. I decided the only thing that felt right to me would be to abstain from nomination consideration.”

Sullivan said part of the rationale for the decision was to empower other non-binary people and performers.

The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing, who put on the Tony Awards, said in a statement that they are discussing how to make the awards categories more inclusive, but that it was too late to make any changes for this year's awards.

“We recognize that the current acting categories are not fully inclusive, and we are currently in discussion about how to best adjust them to address this,” the groups said. “Unfortunately, we are still in process on this and our rules do not allow us to make changes once a season has begun. We are working thoughtfully to ensure that no member of our community feel excluded.”

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Four restaurants in the New York City area landed on OpenTable’s list of the 100 most romantic dining experiences in the nation.

Two of the restaurants are located in Manhattan: Gallagher’s Steakhouse in midtown, and RH Rooftop in the Meatpacking District.

Right across the river, in Weehawken, the Chart House Restaurant also made the annual list. A little further south, in Freehold, the restaurant 618 also earned honors. Two restaurants down in Cape May were also mentioned, The Washington Inn and Tisha’s.

The OpenTable list is influenced by more than 13 million diner reviews.

A word to the wise: In past years, the restaurants on the list booked up by Feb. 1 — which is Tuesday.

WARNING: We’re halfway through New York City Restaurant Week 2023 (the winter one) already.

That means you’ve got just two weeks to enjoy more for less at nearly 500 restaurants across the five boroughs as part of the annual seasonal winter foodie special. Two-course lunch for under $30? Three-course dinner for $60?

We’re in. This year’s winter restaurant week wraps on Feb. 12 (because, of course, Valentine’s Day crowds spend big). NYC Broadway Week ends the same day. Did all the restaurants and shows already? How about NYC Must-See Week?

Here are the delectable details. (And don’t worry, NYC Restaurant Week 2023 continues over the summer. We’ll have more on that as we get closer, but for now, get the next two weeks of your life straightened out.(

NYC Restaurant Week 2023

NYC Restaurant Week offers prix-fixe two-course lunches and three-course dinners for $30, $45 and $60 at nearly 500 restaurants across all five boroughs. It’s easy to sort your searches, filtering by location, cuisine and “weeks participating,” since the latter might vary by location.

You can also search by “meals offered,” “accessibility” and “ownership.” If thematics are your thing, there are a number of those as well: “James Beard Honorees,” “Wine Spectator Winners,” “NYC Restaurant Week Classics” and “Best of the Boroughs,” among other lists. See all participating restaurants right here. You can also book reservations now.

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NYC Broadway Week 2023

Which theater-goers don’t love a two-fer? Actually, who doesn’t love a two-fer of any kind?

NYC Broadway Week also kicked off Jan. 17, offering 2-for-1 tickets to 22 shows. New shows added this year include the following: & Juliet; A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical; Between Riverside and Crazy; Collaboration; Hamilton; Kimberly Akimbo; Pictures from Home; Some Like It Hot and Take Me Out.

Returning shows for 2023 include Aladdin, Chicago, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Leopoldstadt, MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Six the Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Piano Lesson and Wicked.

Score your 2-for-1s right here. Not sure what you want to see? Sort by comedy, drama, kid-friendly and more here.

Remember, it’s your last chance to see a host of shows before the curtains close this month. See the list.

NYC Must-See Week

This program offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, performing arts venues and tours. Participants include Carnegie Hall, Citi Field Tours, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kings County Distillery, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Botanical Garden, Summit One Vanderbilt, The Metropolitan Opera and more. Details here.

NYC Hotel Week

NYC hotel week offers 23% off standard retail rates through Feb. 12 at more than 140 hotels across all five boroughs. New hotels on offer for 2023 include Hard Rock Hotel New York and Le Méridien New York, Fifth Avenue. Returning properties include The Hoxton, Williamsburg; Lotte New York Palace; The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel; The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue; New York Marriott Marquis; The William Vale; The Opera House Hotel; The Rockaway Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn New York/Staten Island; and more. More information here.

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Skai Nzeuton, 16, is a senior at Stuyvesant High School who launched the Food Security Club last year after seeing the impacts of the COVID pandemic mixed with inflation. Nzeuton noticed the number of meals left behind in the school cafeteria and felt compelled not to let these products get scrapped.

“I was seeing the same people on the train asking for food every day, and I felt really guilty not being able to help them, not having money because I am a student. At the same time, I was seeing a ton of food waste with perfectly good food being thrown away at school,” Nzeuton told NBC New York during a group interview on the Upper East Side at NYCHA Holmes Towers.

This teen first got the idea to stock pantries from a history teacher who recommended working with community fridges, a public space that houses a variety of “take what you need” groceries, such as bread, produce and canned goods.

The club began its first donation on the Lower East Side at the Loisaida Community Fridge, and since then, has gained up to 50 student members traveling across the city handing out upwards of 3,000 pounds of rescued food from Stuyvesant High School.

“It’s about delivering fresh produce because low-income families usually can’t afford these necessities, so we’re not only feeding the families but promoting a healthy life,” said 18-year-old Stuyvesant senior Ben Pan.

These Stuyvesant students wish to lead by example, inspiring other city peers to do the same with their school surplus.

“We have over 1,700 public schools in New York City. If every single public school could have a club like this, we would be able to feel so many more people and then donate over a million pounds of food each year,” noted Nzeuton.

Nzeuton and the team got in touch with Daniel Zauderer, a former South Bronx middle school teacher turned founder of the nonprofit Grassroots Grocery, which helps transport fresh food to over 30 distribution sites and six NYC-based community fridges.

Zauderer takes pride in the fact his organization is based on a “neighbors helping neighbors” approach when it comes to filling its fridges, not solely relying on government response or big business contributions.

Residents can simply take what they need and leave donations when feasible, no questions asked. Any donations are encouraged to be pre-packaged in a transparent container and properly labeled, including the date of preparation and potential allergens.

“We try as best as we can at Grassroots Grocery to eliminate this sort of hierarchy that exists in many food access solutions where it’s people who have are giving to those who don’t. We try to level the playing field where you can give back but, other days, you might have to take,” Zauderer told News 4.

On top of the food sharing, visiting these community fridges provides a space for residents to connect on a personal level, an aspect that Sandra Pérez, president of the tenant association at NYCHA Holmes Towers, added is vital for her community.

This was the first time Emmy winners Amy Pohler and Maya Rudolph have ever co-hosted a show together. 

The premiere episode of the second season was a holiday special that featured a number of celebrities, such as Fred Armisen and Kristen Bell, that got to “cele-bake” for charity.

On the second episode, viewers were introduced to the pairs that would be competing on this season of “Baking it.”  Some of the season’s standout moments came from a married couple out of Queens, New York: George and Agnes Molina.

Their love for each other was palpable, and it made for some of the show’s most heartfelt moments. Even Rudolph could feel the emotion and told George, “Don’t you cry on my show!”

The couple made it to the fourth episode before getting voted off by the judges for their take on a Ham and Mozzarella Mofongo.  Their journey on the show was impressive, especially considering their non-traditional path they took becoming bakers.

Agnes “Aggie” Molina began her business dipping chocolate treats like pretzels and cake pops when her first son was born eight years ago. 

She was looking for a way to make extra money for her family and when the pandemic hit, her husband George lost his job as a car salesman, so this additional income became more crucial than ever before.

George suggested that Aggie begin baking and selling cakes.

“I was like no way I don’t know how to make a cake. I don’t even know how to put a cake together,” said Aggie.

Aggie said she began looking online at Youtube videos and when she decided to bake a cake, she found success in her first attempt. It was not long after that she started selling these cakes to the public to support her family.

In the first episode, Amy Poehler even proclaimed to them that “Baking kept your family together.”

The couple was flown to Los Angeles for ten days and sequestered in a hotel with the other contestants.

“We have a group message. It’s called prison break because we were stuck in the hotel and couldn’t leave… We are definitely in touch with every person on the cast, we became family,” said George

The Molinas have five kids and said being away from them for so long was tough but well worth it.

“They were so excited… I filmed all my kids in the living room when they saw us on TV.  They were jumping for joy,” said Aggie.

As her business continues to grow, George says that he is her biggest supporter but also her biggest critique.

“I was honest with her… doing a cake over is not something bakers ever want to hear,” said George.

He says his goal is to help put his wife through culinary school, and the couple said their dream is to open a bakery in the future.

“Having all the kids and everything, I think we have more than enough hands to run a store,” said George.

Aggie says that she would like to open up this bake shop for her kids and pass on the family business to them in future.

We all love discounts on our favorite things — and assuming food is one of those for you, we’ve got good news.

New York City Restaurant Week 2023 kicked off Tuesday, offering bargain prix-fixe dining deals for lunch and dinner at nearly 500 restaurants across the five boroughs.

Broadway Week also kicked off Jan. 17, featuring 2-for-1 theater tickets to nearly two dozen of the Great White Way’s greatest shows, including newbies “Take Me Out” and “A Beautiful Noise” and older favorites like “Wicked” and “The Lion King.”

And if that’s not enough, we’ve also got NYC Must-See Week, which offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, tours and performing arts venues, like Carnegie Hall, citywide. The official programs run through Feb. 12.

There’s a Hotel Week, too, that is already underway.

Here are the delectable details.

NYC Restaurant Week 2023

NYC Restaurant Week offers prix-fixe two-course lunches and three-course dinners for $30, $45 and $60 at nearly 500 restaurants across all five boroughs. It’s easy to sort your searches, filtering by location, cuisine and “weeks participating,” since the latter might vary by location.

You can also search by “meals offered,” “accessibility” and “ownership.” If thematics are your thing, there are a number of those as well: “James Beard Honorees,” “Wine Spectator Winners,” “NYC Restaurant Week Classics” and “Best of the Boroughs,” among other lists. See all participating restaurants right here. You can also book reservations now.

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NYC Broadway Week 2023

Which theater-goers don’t love a two-fer? Actually, who doesn’t love a two-fer of any kind?

NYC Broadway Week also kicks off Jan. 17, offering 2-for-1 tickets to 22 shows. New shows added this year include the following: & Juliet; A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical; Between Riverside and Crazy; Collaboration; Hamilton; Kimberly Akimbo; Pictures from Home; Some Like It Hot and Take Me Out.

Returning shows for 2023 include Aladdin, Chicago, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Leopoldstadt, MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Six the Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Piano Lesson and Wicked.

Score your 2-for-1s right here. Not sure what you want to see? Sort by comedy, drama, kid-friendly and more here.

Remember, it’s your last chance to see a host of shows before the curtains close this month. See the list.

NYC Must-See Week

This program offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, performing arts and tours. Participants include Carnegie Hall, Citi Field Tours, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kings County Distillery, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Botanical Garden, Summit One Vanderbilt, The Metropolitan Opera and more. Details here.

NYC Hotel Week

NYC hotel week offers 23% off standard retail rates now through February 12 at more than 140 hotels across all five boroughs. New hotels on offer for 2023 include Hard Rock Hotel New York and Le Méridien New York, Fifth Avenue. Returning properties include The Hoxton, Williamsburg; Lotte New York Palace; The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel; The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue; New York Marriott Marquis; The William Vale; The Opera House Hotel; The Rockaway Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn New York/Staten Island; and more. More information here.

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One New York City hotel is charging a high price tag for afternoon tea. And while it’s not shocking that such a posh experience in the city may cost a pretty penny, the cost is eye-popping even for the most ritzy among us.

The Baccarat Hotel New York recently launched The Crystal Tea, which is now the most expensive afternoon tea in the city. So just how much does it cost?

Tea for two will set you back $3,000. That’s almost enough for a down payment on a car.

But this is more than just a pot of tea and a few sandwiches. The menu, from a Micheline-starred chef, offers both sweets and savories — including caviar, white truffles, Kobe beef and lobster.

The Crystal Tea is served every day from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Grand Salon at the midtown hotel.

So does an intrepid freelance journalist, who brings it all right back home by contextualizing it in what might be the most relatable way possible to those who live and work in the New York City area.

He made it about pizza.

Liam Quigley, who has written for local outlets like Gothamist and AMNY, among others, according to his website, says he tracked the price of every New York City slice he ate for the last eight years. He started in 2014, he says, and now delivers findings based on a total of 464 pizza slices — plain, pepperoni and other — he consumed through 2022.

During those eight years, Quigley says he spent a total of $1244.22 on New York City pizza — $955.09 on plain, $202.28 on pepperoni, $51.76 on other and $35.09 on $1 slices (he left the latter out of his calculation on average cost). For research purposes, Quigley left $1 slices out of his average price calculation.

According to Quigley, the average price of a plain slice in the city jumped 19% in that span, from $2.52 in 2014 to $3.00 in 2022. Pepperoni lovers have it worse, with the average cost of those slices spiking 37.5%, from $3.33 in 2014 to $4.58 in 2022. The most expensive pepperoni slice he found? $6.53. Of that one’s caliber, Quigley says, “it was fine.”

See more on his calculations, including fun charts, where he thinks pizza has suffered the most and which New York City joints have the best slices on his website here. And check out his Instagram, which tracks his journey in photos.

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There’s an unusually large number of shows leaving in January, some due to limited engagements and others due to weak ticket sales.

Among the closing crop is “A Strange Loop,” which won over audiences and critics alike. The musical won a Pulitzer Prize and the Tony award for Best Musical. There are a handful of performances left before the show closes Jan. 15.

Audience favorite “Beetlejuice” ends its run on Broadway Jan. 8.

The show opened in 2019 at the Winter Garden Theatre, closed with the rest of Broadway after COVID-19 swept through New York City in 2020, and reopened at the Marquis Theatre last year.

A national tour of the show is going on now, with several international productions in the works.

Here are some of the productions closing in January:

• 1776 (1/8)
• Almost Famous (1/8)
• Beetlejuice (1/8)
• Into the Woods (1/8)
• Death of a Salesman (1/15)
• Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool (1/15)
• The Music Man (1/15)
• Ohio State Murders (1/15)
• A Strange Loop (1/15)
• Topdog/Underdog (1/15)
• The Piano Lesson (1/29)

Off-Broadway audiences are mourning a number of high-profile departures as well.

After a run that spanned four decades and probably hundreds of trash cans, “Stomp” plays its final show at the Orpheum Theatre on Jan. 8.

The percussion and dance show first opened in Feb. 1994, with a run that’s included around 12,000 performances. And while the off-Broadway production is closing, “Stomp” will continue to tour.

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Out with the old and in with the new: It’s time to get ahead of the hottest trends expected for the new year.

The crowd-sourced review app Yelp has released its 2023 Trend Forecast Report based on research from data scientists that looked at internet user searches and interests between 2021 and 2022 to make predictions about the upcoming year.

FOOD

Ever wanted to try having dinner with sharks? Well, it seems that 2023 will be the year to try experiential dining. Yelp says searches for underwater restaurants were up 263%.

Disney World and SeaWorld both offer aquarium dining reservations in Florida. The Aquarium Restaurant chain offers similar experience and has locations in Tennessee, Colorado and Texas.

The New York Times declared the Negroni Sbagliato the most popular cocktail of 2022. In 2023, we may be ordering it frozen.

Yelp says searches for slushies were up 77%. Both bars and restaurants are continuing expand their options for frozen drinks. Even Broadway has hopped on the trend with the New York City Lyric Theatre offering Frosé (frozen Rosé) for theatergoers.

With increasing studies about the damaging effects of alcohol on the brain, it is no surprise that mocktails and ‘dirty sodas’ are also in.

“Dirty sodas,” a drink that originated in Utah, are made by mixing soda, cream, and flavored syrup. These colorful sodas, along with mocktails, alcohol free cocktails, provide delicious alternative to alcoholic drinks and, of course, Instagram-worthy photo opportunities.

TikTok virality plays a major influence in these trends as accounts such as @mocktailgirlie and @swigdrink have amassed hundreds of thousands of likes and millions of views.

Yelp says searches for mocktails were up 59% and “dirty sodas” were up 40%.

HOME

Yelp has seen custom framing searches increase by 17% and says gallery walls that cluster photo frames together are a great way to add a touch of personal style.

Simplicity is in as more homes are turning to natural tones and earth tones and natural materials.

“For 2023, I’m excited to incorporate earth tones into this classic trend and beyond, using warm colors and textures in rusts, sage greens, and browns. Earth tones are definitely here to stay,” reality television personality and real estate agent Jojo Fletcher told Yelp.

Recycling and upcycling searches were up 50% as many look to sustainably source their home decor. Websites such as Freecycle allow you to both give away and get items for free within your community.

Limewash paint is another more environmentally friendly way to achieve unique look inside your home with natural pigments and a textured look.

Yelp says this paint made with crushed limestone saw a 79% increase in searches throughout the past year as increasing amounts of homeowners are seeking a cozy, lived-in aesthetic.

BEAUTY AND WELLNESS

Dubbed as “glazed donut nails,” pearly white nails with a shiny chrome powder finish may be your next go-to look.

With celebrities like Hailey Bieber popularizing the look, Yelp saw a spike over 125% for “donut nails” searches.

Perfecting your contour may give the illusion of a sharper, chiseled facial feature, more people are seeking to achieve a more permanent look with jawline filler. Lymphatic massage have long been a popular way to achieve this more naturally with beauty tools like Gua Sha stones being an influencer favorite. Yelp says searches for “refined jawlines’ are up 37%.

Celebrity Stylist Sunny Brooks coined the term “butterfly haircut” that emphasizes long layer with “wings” that frame the face. Searches for this hairstyle trend were up 55%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also ushered in some classic wellness pastimes such as a resurgence of tabletop board games as searches are up 106% since last year.

Yelp says its users are looking for board game bars and cafes to have fun while out on the town. Bingo has also jumped in popularity with searches up 199% as new variations of the game like “drag bingo” has found increasing popularity.

Pickleball also continues to rise in popularity as it an activity accessible for all ages, and “best pickleball court” searches were up 70%. The game incorporates qualities of both badminton and tennis.

As we have have seen with numerous other 2023 predictions, it is no surprise that athletes and celebrities like Lebron James have played a part in popularizing the sport by making headlines investing in the sport.

So sit back with a fresh set of donut nails and pour yourself a mocktail before you head to the pickleball courts because that may just be the way of 2023.

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However, 2022 has taken Advent calendars to an entirely new level. Cheese, wine, Chapstick and makeup are just a few of the things you can look to unbox during the month of December.

Aldi is known for its array of impressive, yet inexpensive, Advent calendars. The supermarket chain notoriously sells out almost instantly.

According to Aldi’s website, all of the Advent calendars that rolled out on Nov. 2 of this year are sold out. There are a few new varieties, such as a “crafting” advent calendar, that were released at the end of the month and in early December that are currently still available.

Wine, cheese, beer and hard seltzer calendars are some of the highlights of this year’s collection, and shoppers took to social media with excitement of their finds.

While Aldi may appeal to the average consumer, not all come at an affordable cost. High-end brands like Swarovski, Joe Malone and Tiffany & Co. have all jumped in on the trend with luxury advent calendars.

If you are looking to break the bank, Dior is offering its Trunk of Dreams advent for a whopping $3,500.

If lip balm is a winter essential for you, the Burt’s Bees or Chapstick advent calendar this may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Both Burt’s Bees and Chapstick have created Advent calendars featuring 12 days of flavored lip balms.

It can be hard to leave our furry friends out of the action, but luckily you don’t have to. There are a number of pet Advent calendars that contain treats and toys.

Some pet stores are even offering Advent calendars by popular brands like Kong.

One of the most popular themes of the season is the makeup and skincare Advent calendars.

Sephora, Kylie Cosmetics, bareMinerals and Bloomingdales all offer beautifully packaged calendars with a wide array of beauty products and perfumes to open in the days leading up to Christmas.

Videos that show unboxings of all sorts of advent calendars have been going viral for weeks and garnering millions of views on TikTok.

One TikTok influencer decided to do some real good with the products she got from her calendars. Courtney Cahoon (@courtneyycahoon) has made videos unboxing dozens of advent calendars and showcasing hundreds of different products to her 700,000+ followers.

On Dec. 8th, she posted a video explaining how she was on her way to donate all of the products she did not use from her Advent calendars to a woman’s shelter in Salt Lake City.

She called it a “humbling” experience, and it was a good reminder of what many would call the true spirit of the holidays.

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Instead, this season a pair of exciting new productions are lowering their stage curtains for the final time, only weeks after premiering on “The Great White Way.”

“KPOP,” the first Broadway musical featuring Korean pop songs, takes its final bow Sunday, exactly two weeks after its opening night at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Its cast will have completed 44 preview shows and 17 performances by the end of its run.

After weeks of low ticket sales and mixed reviews, the first-of-its-kind Broadway show shocked audiences when the announcement came days before the final performance. Its songwriter, Helen Park, was the first female Asian composer on Broadway.

“I think we are making history even though our show is short-lived,” Park said Saturday at a Broadway rally.

“It starts with the gatekeepers. It starts with who books the shows, who produces the shows, who backs the shows. So the whole system needs to support diverse stories,” said Lisa Gold, of the Asian American Arts Alliance.

Outside of the Gershwin Theater, performers from other productions and “KPOP” fans gathered to celebrate the cast and demand more diversity among shows.

“I know what we’ve achieved and I know what we’re going to have our future because of this whole community — look at this, this is crazy,” cast member Lina Rose Lee said.

“We need to make more space for shows like this,” “Almost Famous” performer Matthew Yee said.

Another Broadway show is abruptly closing: “Ain’t No Mo.” The provocative comedy poses the question — What would happen if the United States tried to end racism by offering to send Black Americans to Africa?

Jordan E. Cooper, the show’s playwright, took to Instagram on Friday sharing the news of the play’s “eviction notice.”

“People are coming, loving the show and calling it the best theatrical experience of their life, but traditional Broadway marketing doesn’t work for this kind of show,” Cooper, the youngest Black American playwright in Broadway’s history, said.

By the production’s close on Dec. 18, its cast will have completed 22 previews and 21 performances.

Cooper, the youngest Black American playwright in Broadway’s history, took to his personal Instagram page on Friday evening to share the news of the play’s “eviction notice.”

He also announced on his Instagram a surprise boost from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, who bought out an entire performance in an effort to get more fans to enjoy the play before it closes for good.

It may be hard to imagine what 4,000 pounds of frosting and 1,000 pounds of gingerbread looks like in person.  

Luckily, you can because it exists inside New York City’s Essex Market.

For over 25 years, Jon Lovitch has been building gingerbread house displays out of homemade edible ingredients.

Although it first started as a passion project, building gingerbread house displays has become this former professional chef’s full-time job since 2015, with Lovitch now teaching classes for the general public to learn his craft.

“My biggest piece of advice on these is make it Saturday, decorate it Sunday. If you try to decorate it the same day you make it, it is going to keep falling down over and over again,” he said.

Lovitch holds the Guinness World Record for the most number of gingerbread houses in a display: a whopping 1,251 houses. A record achieved in 2017.

“Guinness World Records is very detail oriented so when you go after the world record for number of houses, which is the one I have achieved numerous times, they want backup on every single house, all 1,251 houses. What you made it with, how you made it, video footage, pictures,” he said. For Lovitch, his world record meant investing 350 hours in administrative work detailing the design and work behind his gingerbread buildings.

For 2022, Lovtich was commissioned to make three different displays at the Essex Market in New York, The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures in Kansas City, Missouri and Leonardo Science Museum in Salt Lake City. He estimates the three villages total about 3,000 hours of work.

The New York City display contains over 700 houses and, when fully complete, Lovitch says the display will be about 65% of the size of his Guiness World Record village. 

Even though Lovitch invests countless hours into designing and constructing his displays, he says it is all worth it, particularly when he sees the joy it brings to visitors, noting that the New York City display draws major crowds on the weekends.

“It’s truly the best part,” he said of the public enjoying his work. “That’s the part that I enjoy the most. It’s the part I wait for the whole year and the part I can’t recreate until the actual exhibit is open.”

When the holiday season ends, Lovitch gives the houses inside Gingerbread Village out to the public to take home.  However, he is appalled when people’s first instinct is to eat these year-old houses.

“Everything in here is really old gingerbread and frosting… sometimes I’ll watch them and they’re licking and gnawing at it, and I’m just like, ‘Why?’” said Lovitch.

It takes all year to make these gingerbread villages and said he is already thinking about starting the ones for 2023.   

“You wouldn’t run a holiday business if you don’t enjoy it, or if you did, you’re doing it wrong.  For me, I love it and enjoy every minute of it,” said Lovitch.

Perhaps in an effort to capitalize on the “dirty soda” craze that went viral on TikTok earlier this year, Pepsi is trying to get people on board with a “surprising and naughty new twist” on St. Nick’s favorite snack of milk and cookies.

But instead of leaving out a nice glass of creamy milk, the soft drink company suggests combining that milk with some Pepsi.

Yes, you read that right. Milk and cola, in the same glass. We, too, have many questions.

For those uninformed on the “dirty soda” trend, imagine a cross between a Shirley Temple and an egg cream, or maybe a root beer float with melted ice cream. They’re concoctions made of a soda of your choosing, cream, sometimes fruit, and flavored syrups like vanilla or cranberry.

While admittedly we haven’t tried Pepsi’s carbonated lactose cocktail they’ve called “Pilk,” it certainly sounds like something that could land one on the naughty list if Kris Kringle isn’t a fan. But the company calls it a “must-have drink that combines the crispness of Pepsi with the subtly sweet and creamy taste of milk, traditionally topped with creamer.”

To get people on board (or at least give the drink a shot), Pepsi turned to none other than Lindsay Lohan to tout the beverage mix.

“As someone who loves the holiday season and embracing new traditions, I was thrilled to have a little bit of fun with Pepsi and their take on the dirty soda,” Lohan said in a press release. “For people learning about Pilk for the first time, I won’t lie to you when I say I was a bit skeptical when I first heard of this pairing, but after my first sip I was amazed at how delicious it was, so I’m very excited for the rest of the world to try it.”

And for those not only adventurous enough to give Pilk a chance, but are looking for more, Pepsi has a list of inventive variations to try out as well:

• The Naughty & Ice: For a pure milk taste that’s infused with notes of vanilla, measure and combine 1 cup of whole milk, 1 tbsp of heavy cream and 1 tbsp of vanilla creamer. From there, pour the mixture slowly into 1 cup of Pepsi – the brand’s hero product – and consume it alongside a chocolate chip cookie.
• The Chocolate Extreme: Blend 1/3 cup of chocolate milk and 2 tbsp of chocolate creamer together, transfer the mixture to 1 cup of smooth & creamy Pepsi Nitro to enjoy the richness of the flavor atop of a frothy foam head. This “Pilk” will satisfy the chocoholic in you, especially by pairing it with a double chocolate cookie.
• The Cherry on Top: A hint of cherry always sweetens the deal. Combine ½ cup of 2% milk, 2 tbsp of heavy cream and 2 tbsp of caramel creamer. To bring the complex flavors to life, place the mixture into 1 cup of Pepsi Wild Cherry while pairing the drink with a gingerbread cookie.
• The Snow Fl(oat): An oatmeal-based cookie loaded with raisins is sure to complement an oat milk “Pilk.” Start by taking ½ cup of oat milk and adding 4 tbsp of caramel creamer. Then, slowly pour the sweet mixture into a glass filled with 1 cup of Pepsi Zero Sugar.
• The Nutty Cracker: Combine ½ cup of almond milk and 4 tbsp of coconut creamer and place the mixture atop a pool of smooth & creamy Nitro Pepsi Vanilla. For true richness, pair with a coated peanut butter cookie.

Perhaps Pepsi is onto something and just found a new favorite holiday drink to rival egg nog. Or maybe the people aren’t quite ready for Pilk. Either way, cheers to a happy holiday season, no matter what you’re drinking.

“The Mousetrap,” from acclaimed mystery writer Agatha Christie, is headed to Broadway in 2023. The play’s producers announced plans to bring the longstanding production to New York City audiences in the new year.

The classic “whodunnit,” which has gone on to inspire countless works, is considered one of the world’s longest-running plays. After opening on the West End in 1952, the production has run for seven decades.

Producers behind the show have not revealed a cast list or opening date, but the Broadway run will only be for “a limited engagement.”

According to the show’s website, the Broadway production will borrow the last remaining prop from the original set: a mantelpiece clock.

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Draped in an archival cocoon cape and dragonfly printed bodysuit, Kylie Jenner paid homage to the late French designer Manfred Thierry Mugler and his revolutionary artistry, now on display at the Brooklyn Museum.

The traveling exhibit “Thierry Mugler: Couturissime” marked its fifth stop with a Tuesday night opening celebration in New York, where Mugler lived for 15 years. The famed French designer, notable for his structured corsets and jackets with dramatic shoulders, died in January at the age of 73.

In an ushering of the new guard, Mugler’s newest creative director Casey Cadwallader guided the youngest adult member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan as the pair gazed upon the complexities of Mugler’s futuristic superwoman designs. For Cadwallader, seeing the culmination of Mugler’s designs felt daunting.

“It makes me realize what I have to do,” he said. “I have big boots to fill.”

The museum crowd gathered around Jenner and Cadwallader as the two appreciated Mugler’s 1999 sheer gown that Jenner had only worn a week before at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards.

The Metamorphosis room was filled with Mugler pieces mimicking the natural world of bugs and undersea creatures. A pale green cape was curiously missing from the designs collected in the room — until Jenner, clad in the creation, took her place onstage alongside the other insect-inspired couture. She would later undergo a metamorphosis of her own, donning a corseted gown and bejeweled headpiece for photographers on the carpet.

Guests moved from each room of the exhibit in awe of the way the exhibit married the museum’s interactive and immersive installations with Mugler’s boundary pushing ready-to-wear and couture collections. Guests posed for photos and admired mannequins dressed in Mugler classics from his “derrière décolleté” dress and eyebrow-raising “piercing dress” to his nod to dominatrix style.

In the Mugler Lab room, guests could take in the scents of Mugler’s perfume collection, founded in 1992, before being greeted by Mugler’s intricately made “La Chimère” sheath gown in the next room. The gown — lined with scales and feathers is and straight out of a sci-fi fantasy world — is one of the exhibit’s showstoppers, with embroidery that reportedly took more than a thousand hours.

The fashion house has always embraced the power of celebrity: Mugler’s innovative creations have been worn by the likes of superstars David Bowie, Grace Jones and Madonna, and at the height of the ’90s supermodel moment, Mugler dubbed his models “glamazons” who embodied their prowess as they strutted down his theatrical runways.

Tuesday’s event was a continuation of that ethos. The brand’s evolution can be illustrated by tracing the starpower of the celebrities who wore Mugler’s designs in the ’80s and ’90s to the influencer elite in attendance at the Brooklyn Museum. The night was a spectacle of social media stars posing for pictures while sporting the brand’s statement spiral leggings.

Actor and it girl of the moment Julia Fox arrived at the event wearing a bolero suit jacket with the classic Mugler shoulders and a hip-hugging skirt.

“Mugler has been such an inspiration to me since forever,” she said. “It is a huge honor to be here and to be wearing his clothes.”

The exhibit opens to the public Friday and runs through May 7, 2023.

If you frequently fall for those puppy dog eyes, it’s a good idea to know what is safe and unsafe for your dog (or cat) to eat.

When serving your pet any type of meat or fish, it should be cooked and the bones removed. And even foods that we may associate as being safe may actually be harmful to them (grapes for dogs, milk for cats).

Here is a guide for what is safe and unsafe for your pets, according to the Nasa Pet Hospital, American Kennel Club, and Purina:

SAFE for Dogs:

• Chicken
• Turkey
• Pork
• Lean Beef
• Ham
• Bread
• Cheese
• Milk (caution — some dogs may be lactose intolerant)
• Cashews
• Peanut Butter
• Popcorn (unsalted and unbuttered)
• Quinoa
• Shrimp (cooked and shell removed)
• Tuna (small amounts)
• Plain Yogurt
• Coconut Oil and Coconut Meat (but not the fuzzy shell)
• Honey
• Cooked Salmon
• Cooked Eggs
• Corn (remove from the cob)
• Bananas
• Blueberries
• Apples
• Seedless Watermelon
• Tomatoes (limited amounts, as a treat)
• Pumpkin
• Carrots
• Sweet Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Broccoli
• Green Peas

UNSAFE for Dogs:

• Almonds
• Chocolate
• Cinnamon
• Garlic
• Raw Meats and Fish
• Ice Cream (avoid due to high sugar content)
• Macadamia Nuts (highly poisonous)
• Grapes and raisins
• Onions
• Avocados
• Lemons and Limes
• Coffee and Tea (nothing containing caffeine)
• Chewing Gum and Foods Containing Xylitol

SAFE for Cats:

• Beef
• Chicken
• Turkey
• Liver
• Lamb
• Fish
• Brown Rice
• Cooked Eggs
• Cucumber
• Steamed Broccoli
• Carrots
• Asparagus
• Peas
• Bananas
• Blueberries
• Cantaloupe
• Seedless Watermelon
• Peeled and Deseeded Apples
• Pumpkins

UNSAFE for Cats:

• Dairy (products like milk, cheese and yogurt can actually cause indigestion because most cats are lactose intolerant)
• Chocolate
• Nuts
• Grapes and Raisins
• Coffee and Tea (nothing that contains caffeine)
• Foods in the Allium Family: Garlic, Onions, Chives, Leeks, Shallots, Scallions
• Coconut Milk
• Chewing Gum and Foods Containing Xylitol
• Alcohol
• Seeds
• Raw Meats and Fish
• Cooked Bones