On The Square, by Ade in New York at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired by police at Blake and Vermont in Brooklyn, an escaped prisoner at East 112th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan, and a person under a train at Central Park West and 60th St. in Manhattan. Hassan Askari was invited to the State of the Union Address as the guest of Queens Congressman Rep. Joseph Crowley. Askari came......

The story around the possible hate crime attack on a Q train the other night seems to be made for the season. Not only does it come while subway violence is a big topic, it also involves a group of Jewish subway riders being called "dirty Jews" and "Jew bitches" and attacked by people who cried, "Happy Hanukkah, that's when the Jews killed Jesus." And here's the kicker: The only person who stepped in......

Attention Pacific Northwest: New Yorkers don't care about your cuisine. None of Jeffrey Chodorow's blogging, full page ads in the Times or other theatrics could save Wild Salmon from its imminent closure. After Eater circulated news of its potential doom, Chodorow issued a statement, published on Grub Street, "Regrettably, we will be closing Wild Salmon after the new year. We were excited about bringing the food and wine of the Pacific Northwest to New York,......

FESTIVITIES: Forget about that big shiny show-off in Rockefeller Center. Tonight the menorah and Christmas tree in Washington Square Park will be illuminated for all. Come bask in the glow of holiday, people. 6pm // Washington Square Park [W 4th St to Waverly Pl between MacDougal and University] // Free FILM: In a week-long tribute to Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini (pictured), tonight The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be screening Notes for an......

Chanukah may not be the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar, but we don't think eating pork products is allowed. Still, NancyKay Shapiro found that Balducci's is touting the deliciousness of various hams for the Festival of Lights. She writes that the gesture seems to be from the "the Monumental Cluelessness, Well-Meaning Division." If you're celebrating Chanukah, what are you eating? We're planning on eating pounds of greasy latkes with equal amounts of......

Crave on 42nd: Top Chef Season One's Dave "I'm not your bitch, bitch!" Martin has found a home in New York serving comfort-driven American bistro fare. He reprises one of his Top Chef dishes -- the Black Truffle Mac ‘n’ Cheese, with black truffles, brandy and fontina slow cooked with fresh thyme and oregano, and the menu offers wood grilled pizzas, burgers, and hearty entrees, like "Sassy Sea Bass," farm raised bass, dry rubbed and......

Time to dress up and play "I have my own food television show!" If you've ever thought you had it in you, now's the time. Epicurious.com is hosting a contest for the best video on holiday food and entertaining. Submit your entry by January 2, 2008 and have a chance to win prizes including Michael Chiarello cookware and Epicurious.com editors' favorite cookbooks. And if you're quick about it, the first 25 people to submit videos......

Bowery Snags Some Big Bands For Small Shows Earlier this week, Interpol (who if you haven't noticed is suddenly on the verge of massive international superstardom) played a local, intimate show at Bowery Ballroom to a select group of friends, label people and fans lucky enough to snag tickets when they quietly went on sale last week. The show was excellent and the band certainly proved that they've got the chops to push it to......

THEATER: Should we be trying to protect our children from the man in red? That’s the premise of Jeff Goode’s much-performed The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, in which Santa’s vices are exposed by those on the receiving end of his lash. A scandal erupts when Vixen accuses Santa of sexual harassment; in the subsequent media frenzy, the other members of the sleigh team demand to share their perspectives, and a sordid tale of corruption comes to......

It's time to celebrate Chanukah! (Someone got the Adam Sandler song stuck in our head -- now we're passing that "gift" on to you). Part of the Chanukah tradition involves cooking foods in oil. To many, this means latkes. We're rounded up some great latke posts and recipes for you: - Food and Wine magazine features recipes for a Latke and vodka party (Smitten Kitchen takes a stab at some of the menu); -......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: Identity (WNBC 4 Monday, 9:00 p.m., Tuesday-Friday 8:00 p.m.) Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller hosts this 21st century remix of What's My Line. Yet another of NBC-Universal's NBC 2.0 budget saving measures, which focus on cheap bad programming like this. Ten years ago NBC was promoting the quality shows they had; now it is this retread schlock. NBC would do better by putting MSNBC's Countdown with......

- Just in time for Chanukah, The Food Section breaks latkes out of the archive. - Augie goes 2000 words deep at Gordon Ramsay’s new place. - Another beaut from Waiter Rant, enjoy. - Attention fans of Spanish cured meats. Alex from Despana tells us that the Salchichon Bellota is back in stock as of today. Head down (maybe call first to confirm, you know customs) and grab a sandwich if you are in the......

The Holidays have fallen upon us like a pack of ferocious ice weasels, so we'd feel appropriately guilty if we didn’t suggest some relevant theater options. Of course, if you’re seeking a diversion for out-of-town visitors, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is (literally) a no-brainer, provided they’ve got deep pockets: Tickets to the glorified burlesque show can cost up to $250 - per rube. You could also take the kids to the new Broadway production......

You may recognize Jon Glaser from his appearances on Conan, Wonder Showzen, or Cheap Seats. You may have even heard his track on the Invite Them Up CD compilation, where he reads a series of letters written by his recently deceased father to the band ZZ Top. By the track's end, one thing is certain: Jon Glaser is a comedic genius. What are your earliest memories of seeing or hearing things that made you laugh?......

December 24: Bûche de Noël Tasting at Payard Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro will be hosting a Christmas Eve lunch with a Bûche de Noël tasting. Warm Maine crab with oakwood shiitake, Kalijira rice galette and mushroom broth will begin the meal followed by roasted pheasant breast with leg confit, Hokkaido squash, baby brussel sprouts, apples, sage and black truffle jus. Then, it's on to the Bûches de Noël -- in more than one variety! You......

Oh, MUG, you remind us of a good point. We're smack in the middle of the holiday season. A time for diners and delis to play constant Christmas jingles (if we never hear about a reindeer again it will be too soon), a time to feel guilty about not being able to get friends/family the Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice gift you know they would want (or worse, not having the slightest idea what they'd want). But that's......

This kind of weather makes us want to do one thing, and one thing only: walk through the snow filled streets with a hot chocolate in one hand and John Cusack in the other. Mmm...serendipitous. Reality, however, will leave us with wet jean cuffs as we trudge through dirty (and oft yellow) snow. But at least we'll be on the way to something fun. Here are some suggestions to get you out of the house......

There are so many holiday theatre offerings right now, many of them closing when Christmas is still a week or more away, so we are going to be ornery and focus on non-seasonal stuff, of which there is plenty, as usual. One show that just caught our eye is Under a Montana Moon, performed by the mime Bill Bowers. We get a lot of puppetry on stages here, but miming, not so much, and Bowers......

Tonight is the start of Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. While it's not the most holy of the Jewish holidays, it's hard not to hear about it. Especially since they play Adam Sandler's song over and over on the radio. That song, along with the dreidel song embeds Chanukah in Gothamist's head right up until Christmas songs start. During the holiday, fried foods are traditionally consumed because oil plays an important role in the......