More than 260 restaurants participate in NYC Restaurant Week, making it the City's largest dining program to date since it began in 1992. The two-week event will run from January 25 to February 28. Prices will remain $24.07 for three-course prix-fixe lunches and $35 for three-course prix-fixe dinners (excluding beverages, tax and gratuity) and do not include Saturdays (nor February 14); restaurants have the option to offer the deal on Sundays. Added elements to the dining program this season include exclusive benefits for American Express Cardmembers. Cardmembers who dine out three or more times at any participating restaurants during NYC Restaurant Week and use any registered American Express® Card can receive a $15 statement credit. Food enthusiasts also will be able to enter sweepstakes from Coca-Cola and JetBlue. Returning favorites this winter include The Sea Grill, City Hall Restaurant, db Bistro Moderne, Delmonico’s Steakhouse and Tribeca Grill (an NYC Restaurant Week participant since the program's first year). Newcomers this season include The Breslin Bar & Dining Room, SD26 Restaurant & Wine Bar, Todd English's Olives New York, Zé Café and The Libertine. NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2010 is produced by NYC & Company and supported by Founding Sponsor American Express and Participating Sponsors Coca-Cola and JetBlue Airways. NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2010 also will feature the Coca-Cola® Loves NYC Sweepstakes for a chance to win the grand prize of two tickets to a concert at Madison Square Garden®. Other prizes include dinner for two at the James Beard House and a table for four to see a show at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. For the second time, in partnership with NYC & Company, JetBlue Airways will offer a special NYC Restaurant Week promotion, JetBlue More to Love NYC Sweepstakes. Consumers can enter to win an NYC weekend for two: airfare for two, two nights in a luxury hotel and a meal at one of New York City’s fine dining establishments. For more details on how to enter and to view the complete set of rules on these offers from American Express, Coca-Cola and JetBlue Airways, visit nycgo.com/restaurantweek. Visit nycgo.com/restaurantweek to view the complete list of NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2010 participants and make reservations online.

The 81st Annual Feast of San Gennaro, New York City’s oldest, biggest and most famous religious street festival, will be celebrated in 2008 started on Thursday, September 11 and continuing for 11 days through Sunday, September 21.

Presented annually since 1996 by Figli di San Gennaro, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, this year’s Feast will again attract more than 1-million people to the streets of historic Little Italy in the annual salute to the Patron Saint of Naples – San Gennaro. The street festivities – including religious processions with the statue of San Gennaro, parades. Free entertainment, food stands and a cannoli and a cannoli eating contest – are capped on Friday, September 19 – the Official Feast Day -- with a celebratory Mass honoring San Gennaro, followed by a candlelit procession as the Statue of San Gennaro is carried from its permanent home in Most Precious Blood Church on Mulberry Street through the streets of Little Italy.

 

“Each year the beloved Feast of San Gennaro brings the world to Little Italy, and Little Italy to the world,” said Joseph Mattone, President of Figli di San Gennaro, Inc. “The Feast is a time for remembrance and reconciliation, and a time for celebration. The excellent food, the free musical entertainment and the excitement will all be there again this year, bigger and better than ever. On behalf of Figli di San Gennaro, I invite people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to join us in September in New York City’s Little Italy to help celebrate Italian culture and heritage.”

So you haven’t managed to get away for the Labor Day Weekend or you are visiting NYC this holiday weekend. If you are going further north of NYC, you might want to check out The NY Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo (www.recfair.com/NY) and if you way up north of NYC, The NY State Festival of Balloons in Dansville (www.nysfob.com) is happening this weekend. So if you are in the city or out of the city, regardless, NY has loads of events and fun-filled activities happening such as baseball games and special events, activities at major attractions, museums exhibits, night club themes and shopping stores with holiday and back-to-school sales as well as other discounts in other types of stores throughout the city. Restaurant week is still happening in NYC, check out www.nycvisit.com/RestaurantWeek/ as well as other restaurants that will have discounts to offer. Coney Island will have loads of activities and events along the boardwalk and within Astroland Amusement Park. Check out www.coneyisland.com for further details. Shakespeare in the park (www.publictheater.org) is still happening and it’s perfect for having a bbq picnic or sun bathing or playing sports in Central Park before seeing the show. Also, there are two major parades in the city that will keep you going this holiday weekend. Have a great holiday weekend. Here is information on the main parades:

Brazilian Day Festival – August 31^st

The event is celebrating its 24th anniversary in 2008, always taking place at 46th St., near Time Square, also known as Little Brazil. Presently, the crowd takes as much as 25 blocks surrounding Little Brazil.

The festival began to celebrate Brazil's Independence Day, which is on September 7. Since 1984, that small celebration has only grown, up to the point of attracting over 1.5 million people in 2007, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

 

The flock is drawn from as close as Connecticut and as far as California. Perfectly bonding with the diverse population of New York City, people also come from Europe, Asia and Africa to join the festivities. Some travel in groups, by bus; some fly in; and others simply drive hundreds of miles. No one wants to be left out this party, which is now considered the world's biggest Brazilian event outside Brazil and the Big Apple's most respected ethnical event. In this way, the Brazilian Day festival is not simply a party celebration; it has transformed in a big opportunity to reach out for the huge Brazilian community in the United States. On that day, Brazilians join each other from all parts of the world-many come from Brazil just to attend the festival-and they show their pride, advertise their culture and live their nostalgic and anonymous feeling of being an immigrant away from home. Furthermore, they consolidate their presence in the United States bringing the Brazilian popular warmth, rich music heritage and other assimilations that unite the Americas' two largest nations.

West Indian Carnival Festival – September 1^st

 

 

41^st Annual

 

Labor Day Carnival Parade on Eastern Parkway - 9/1/08 - 8am-6pm

For the 41^st year in a row, Carnival lovers and revelers from across the United States, and abroad will converge in Brooklyn, New York in celebration of the West Indian Carnival Festival & Parade. The annual Brooklyn celebration begins Thursday, August 28^th with events and concerts on the Brooklyn Museum grounds, and culminates on Monday, September 1^st with the renowned Labor Day Carnival Parade on Eastern Parkway. This year’s theme “One Caribbean, Many Cultures” embodies the beauty and unity of the Caribbean and its’ people.

 

Kicking off the weekend’s events will be the Ladies Night concert featuring Trinidad & Tobago’s 2008 Road March Queen, Fayann Lyons, artists Nadia Batson and Antiguan Road March Queen, Tizzy. Also slated for the jam-packed weekend are performances by soca stars Shurwayne Winchester & the Big Band Traffik, Barbados’ Edwin Yearwood & Krosfyah, Kerwin Dubois, Grenada’s Road March King, Berbice and Hunter with the Dil-E-Nadan Orchestra. Calypso veterans - David Rudder, Scrunter, Barron, Swallow and Crazy will also perform.

 

The Labor Day Carnival Parade showcases the unique, vibrant and energetic Caribbean cultural heritage in New York City. Grand Marshals for the Carnival Parade include Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson, Dr. Elizabeth Nunez, Provost –Medgar Evers College and Les Slater, Folklorist. The Grand Marshals will lead the festivities alongside Honorary Grand Marshals, Congressman Rangel and Comptroller Thompson. WIADCA president, Yolanda Lezama-Clark will join the Mayor & Governor to kick-off the festivities by cutting a ribbon at Utica Ave & Eastern Parkway at 11am. The line-up includes hundreds of VIP’s, Sponsors, over 70 Floats and thousands of colorful masqueraders depicting spectacular and breathtaking creations.

 

Over 3 million people are expected to attend again this year. Visitors from all across the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and other international locations attend the weekend celebration as part of their vacation holidays. Last year, an estimated 100,000 individuals attended the events during the five day weekend and millions of revelers are expected to celebrate during the Carnival celebration on Labor Day. Originating in Trinidad and Tobago, Carnival is a time of jubilation and wild abandon – its magnetism drawing greater audiences each year as people naturally gravitate to this happy and joyful occasion.

 

The West Indian-American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA) is a not-for-profit, tax exempt organization established in 1967, and has been the driving force behind the West Indian Carnival Parade in Brooklyn. While WIADCA is most known for the affectionately named, "Labor Day Parade,” The main focus of the organization is to develop, teach and promote Caribbean arts and culture in the New York Metropolitan Area. WIADCA is the organizer and registered property owner of the West Indian American Day Carnival in New York City. The organization offers (3) Scholarship Funds: Arts & Culture, Medicine, Law & Business, benefiting more than 90 College student recipients to date.

All concerts are held at the Brooklyn Museum grounds,

 

900 Washington Ave, Brooklyn.

 

For other info, go to www.wiadca.org

NYC & Company has decided to extend their infamous event of the NYC Summer Restaurant Week until the Labor Day Weekend. Locals and tourists alike can dine at over 130 restaurants that are participating in this program. You can dine in one of NY's finest restaurants for a fraction of the usual cost. Restaurants are offering three course pre-fixe meals such as a three course Lunch will be fixed at $24.07 and a three course dinner will be fixed at $35. Beverages, tax & gratuity is not included. It is recommended that you make a reservation in advance to take advantage of this event. Some restaurants have limitations on the amount of reservations that can be made in a day. To find out more information or to make a reservation at a restaurant, please visit www.nycvisit.com/restaurantweek/

 

New York, NY (July 2, 2008) — Heartland Brewery announces the introduction of The Beer Goddess®*, a three-liter hand-blown Pilsner glass (that’s 6.3 pints, 101.4 ounces, or 8.5 cans) custom-made for Heartland by Rastal of Germany. Heartland Brewery believes that when filled with one of its locally brewed craft beers, the glass may be “The Largest Glass of Beer Commercially Available” (that is, served in a bar or restaurant), and has applied to the Guinness World Records to have it designated as such.

I’ve heard and seen the romantic movie "Serendipity" before I came to New York. And Nowadays, this restaurant has become one of the top places to visit in New York. Serendipity 3 has a unique interior design. When I saw the inside of the restaurant at first, I thought that is a little complicated because it looked like a store. But then I realized that there is a restaurant. There was harmonious atmosphere in the appearance of the restaurant. To me the place is very trendy and there is a sense of history. So I decided to sit down at the restaurant and try the food. I didn't realize that they have a lot of specialty food on their menu. Can you imagine a FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE? This is what they are known for. It is the most popular specialty on the menu. When I heard about that name at first, I thought that it dosen’t make sense. But I decided to try it and the taste was so rich and delicious. I think I know now why everyone likes this. I highly recommend you to try it. I also decided to try something else that was so amazing. I truly recommend that you should try the Forbidden Broadway Sundae. Wow! I’ve never seen sundae likes this size. It was huge and yet the shape was beautiful, but the taste was to die for! I was so full and I still couldn’t stop eating the dessert. It was wonderful! Everything about Serendipity 3 from the desserts and the service to the interior design to even the little gift shop, everything was awesome. I will definitely come back again before I leave New York. If you are visiting New York, even if it's for a short time, you shouldn't miss visiting Serendipity 3. I highly recommend it as a priority place to go to!!

Photo & Written by Sekwan Chung (Korea)

For those visiting New York and not aware of NY's street fairs that happen in various locations and throughout the weekend. Here's a bit of information for you. This Saturday, May 10th street fair will be held on Park Avenue South from 17th - 23rd Street. Within these fairs you will find anything unique and antiquities to modern and hip artifacts such as jewelry, clothes, home furnishings, music, food and much more on the streets of New York. Most of the time the fairs start around 11am or noon and go on until about 6pm. So if the weather is right and you are in the mood for affordable shopping or trying a different NY scenery then definitely browse the flea markets this weekend.

We just can't seem to get enough of Ice Cream this week. Another ice cream event is held this time by Baskin Robbins on Wednesday, April 30th. So instead of waiting and wasting your lunch hour on line for a free cone, this is now after work hours of waiting on line and getting a scoop for only 31 cents. The proceeds will be donated to your local America's Firefighter Charities. So donate your spare change and enjoy ice cream for the lowest price of the year.

Did we say 'free'? Yes, we did. Everyone loves the word free especially in NYC when it can be one of the most expensive cities to visit. But this event isn't just happening in NYC, it's happening all throughout the U.S. Ben & Jerry's is having their annual "Free Cone Day" tomorrow April 29th. So get your free ice cream cone no matter where you are and what the weather is. I don't know about you but my favorite happens to be chocolate chip cookie dough and I can't wait to have some tomorrow. Enjoy your free ice cream!

"The classic "where should we go tonight" argument can be avoided here. Bamboo 52 has something for everyone which means everyone from smokers to picky friends will be happy. A bar up front serves frozen 'ritas and coladas, while a sushi bar at center square feeds the zen seekers in your party. Step into the rear lounge filled with leather ottomans for a more intimate vibe, and wave to the sun worshipers camped in the outdoor garden. The one thing that brings you all together, besides friendship of course? The daily happy hour from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m."

Neighborhood: Midtown West

344 W. 52nd St.

New York, NY 10019

212-315-2777

http://bamboo52nyc.com

Park Avenue Spring Restaurant that is! Chef Craig Koketsu will wow you with new dishes created just for Spring. "Elves worked diligently—over 48 hours—to morph Park Avenue Winter’s white wonder- land into a lush English garden, complete with brass wall panels, deep-green banquettes and a flora centerpiece. The chef has touched up the menu accordingly, with springtastic fare like cirtus-fruit tartare and grilled lamb chops with apricots and mint garden salad. Park Avenue Spring 100 E. 63rd St. at Park Ave. 212-644-1900

That's right, your name can earn you free drinks at No Idea.

When:

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays : 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.

No Idea

Neighborhood: Flatiron

30 E. 20th St.

New York, NY 10003

212-777-0100

"Every month, No Idea posts a calendar on their website with a new name featured each day. If the name happens to be yours, you're entitled to suck down as many drinks as you please from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.—completely free." You'd better come thirsty, the drinks are served in pint glasses.

Don't show up alone, the site clearly says so:

“The evolved human takes Name Night as an opportunity to arrive with friends and tip the bartender. The less erect think they actually deserve this and show up alone. You will not be eligible to receive free drinks if you show up alone.”

Happy Drinking! Save me some!

Would you like a side of burlesque with your lobster? Black Pearl restaurant, located at 37 W. 26th Street, gives you just that. Image provided by: diningfever.com For the amazing bargain price of $19.95, you not only got a one and a quarter pound fresh lobster, but a beautiful burlesque dancer delivers it with a flourish. This seafood haven, nominated for best seafood restaurant by Time Out New York, offers a full bar, wine bar, and complete raw bar to go with their sexy table side shows. On Tuesday nights, come experience what may be the closest you will ever get to a true fantasy realized. Call (212)532.9900 for further details or for reservations. Image provided by: imagecache2.allposters.com

Obivia

201 Lafayette St.

New York, NY 10012

212-226-4904

Fall into Obivia: the bar and drink until the wee hours of March 17th; for it is Saint Patrick’s Day. We all know how that goes! Lots of drinking, socializing, getting drunk…hey, let go…have some fun.

“Obivia’s making sure you get plenty of chances to celebrate the one-day event with a four-day special on Irish libations like $10 Nutty Irishmen (Frangelico and Irish Creme), $10 Car Bombs, $6.50 Guinness cans and more. Prepare to pair with tapas like Shepherd’s Pie, corn beef andcabbage paninis and potato pancake.”

Man-o-man, sounds like the place to be!

Well, just in case you were super bored and had nothing to do with yourself on Tuesdays or Fridays you can head over to: 487 Greenwich 5th floor New York, NY 10013 ..and watch the amateurs play with the pros. If you're an amateur, make sure you practice well, there will be tons of rich folks and models cheering you on. So, in case you wanted to make the pros look bad, you have no objections from me! Image by: www.robbinstabletennis.com $20 will get you unlimited vodka, red-bulls and beers! Can you ask for anything else?

When: Tuesdays : 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Fridays : 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Price: $20 admission, extra $10 to play

http://www.nakedpingpong.com