New York City

.main-img img { border: 1px solid #CCC; padding: 5px; background: #FFF; margin-bottom: 20px; } Click here to view with the old Gallery. The very definition of “just what the doctor ordered” on a Monday morning. Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Photo via Freshome · Kirk Douglas's old Bev Hills house for sale with crazy price. [Curbed LA] · Storybook charm without mildew: Germantown Gothic asks $565K. [Curbed Philly] · Never-altered JR Davidson modern in Pac Pal to be demolished. [Curbed LA] · Alanis Morissette to play modernist Eileen Gray's lover. [Flavorwire] · A Greenwich, Conn., home with cutting age style. [Architectural Digest] · Fancy NYC eats provider Eli Zabar inside his Carnegie Hill town house. [NYT] · Musician Mark Foster buys mini ranch in Hollywood Hills. [The Real Estalker] · Architizer's Arrested Development Week starts Monday, May 20. [Architizer] · A delightful writers studio and guest house in Lakeside, Mich. [Freshome] · See a Maine house with a $240 annual energy bill. [Houzz]

[The bar at The Odeon by Krieger] · Cafe Katja Opens Next Door Annex [BB] · Williamsburg Urban Outfitters Location Applying for Liquor License [BP] · Watch Danny Meyer & Michael Romano Talk Family Table [~EN~] · Trendlet: Fusion Falafel and the New Israeli Cuisine [GS/NYM] · Faye Dunaway Stood Up the Royal Family of Brunei at Serendipity 3 [NYP] · Scenes From the Manhattan Cocktail Classic Gala [Gothamist] · Cops Bust 7-Eleven Donut Thief [NYP] · 100 Montaditos Withdraws Application for 177 Ludlow [BB] · Madonna and Daughter Lourdes Dine at Scarpetta [NYP] · Opposition to The Living Room Moving to East Second Street [EV Grieve] · Chili's Fires Server Over Her Anti-Police Facebook Post [~EN~]

**** STAR STYLE **** Taylor Swift Shania Twain Miley Cyrus Jenny McCarthy Jennifer Lopez Hayden Panettiere Emmy Rossum Alyssa Milano The stars came out in force for the 2013 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada last night. Photos By: RD/ Kabik/ Retna Digital

The MTA announced how Metro-North commuters between Bridgeport and New Haven will be able to get to New York City after Friday night's collision left twisted rails. The investigation into the crash is also continuing, with the MTA starting the process of basically rebuilding tracks. [ more › ]

On the occasion of their big move from one corner of Orchard and Delancey to the other, Moscot invited me to spend some time touring the shop and talking with the owner... In the optical store that his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father ran throughout the 20th century, fourth-generation owner Dr. Harvey Moscot recalls being put to work at six years old. His job was to install screws into eyeglass frames. He quotes his father, saying, “I’m a graduate of DelChard University,” DelChard referring to the corner of Delancey and Orchard Streets.After standing on the northeast corner of those streets for the past 77 years, its giant Eckleburgian spectacles keeping watch over the Lower East Side, the great Sol Moscot is moving. It won’t be the first time. Birthed from a moveable pushcart, they went brick and mortar on Rivington Street in 1915, later moved to 119 Orchard, then to their current spot in 1936. After this next move, they’ll still be on the corner of Orchard and Delancey, just not this corner. This corner is being demolished to make room for a 13-story condo tower.“I learned this street when it was a tough neighborhood,” Moscot says. “Back when people from the methadone clinic nearby would come up to the get their eyes examined. Back in the Starsky and Hutch days when we’d jump across the counter to chase after people who lifted frames.”The neighborhood has changed dramatically since then, and more so in recent years. Once a pedestrian mall crammed with bargain shoppers and merchants hawking cut-rate wares, Orchard Street is becoming a high-end destination for art collectors, foodies, and well-heeled consumers seeking designer boutiques. Luxury condos are rising left and right. If scruffy rockers like Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia used to shop at Moscot, now it’s Johnny Depp and Kanye West. But Harvey doesn’t like to name drop. “Every customer is equal to a celebrity here,” he says. “We treat everyone the same.”Customers flow in and out, some old, some new. An elderly African-American woman pushing a shopping cart is greeted by her first name. A pair of European hipsters in straw boater hats browse the frames. When photographer and hipster icon Terry Richardson enters the store with an entourage of cameramen, there’s a murmur of curiosity. He’s trying on the Terry, the oversized frames that bear his name and signature style. But on closer inspection, it isn’t Terry Richardson at all. It’s an Italian look-alike who calls himself “Fake Terry Richardson.” Fake Terry puts on the Terry frames and poses with a photo of real Terry, also in the Terry frames. You get the feeling that things like this happen every day at Moscot.While many customers have been coming to the store for generations, young people have seized on Moscot as a way to enhance their style.Harvey explains, “The younger generation appreciates a 100-year-old business. We’re not virtual. We’re authentic. To be real is an asset. People want something with a true history that’s not conjured up by venture capitalists with a shelf-life of five years. People long for the real thing. It gives them a sense of security in an insecure world.”Many of Moscot’s frames are archival, made from the original designs. They also have real rivets and true hinges. Harvey inspects a non-Moscot frame. “See these here,” he says, pointing to the chrome dots at the end pieces of the non-Moscot, “these are just decorative. They have no function. They’re not real rivets. See? They don’t connect to anything.” He pulls the Lemtosh from his own face, and says with excitement and pride, “Now look at this. This is a real rivet. It’s connected to the hinge. It’s not just decoration, it has a purpose.”Harvey’s passion for rivets and hinges goes back to his boyhood days of installing screws, watching the older men conduct business. “I had the privilege of working with Sol Moscot on Saturdays and Sundays. He loved to adjust frames and remind people to come back for tune-ups. Even after the sa

We tried, but we just couldn’t figure out The Marrow. After three different visits, we still couldn’t manage to crack the code on how to have an excellent meal here, even though we know deep down that it’s possible. Somewhere in that large, mysterious menu lies a key combination of dishes that will unlock Chef Harold Dieterle’s genius and reward the diner with the perfect experience, like a victorious Nicholas Cage in some movie that involves the Mayan calendar and a fighter jet. But despite our best efforts we still don’t know what that combination is. It seems simple enough, right? All you need to do is order the right stuff and you’ll end up having a great dinner? That’s the case with a lot of restaurants. But it’s not that simple. Not here. The Marrow is a challenge, and it’s one that many people lose. Just read most of the reviews. It’s a mixed bag to say the least. There are a few things that give The Marrow this unique ability to confuse people, but then main culprit is the menu. The offerings are split into two sections that read like a family tree with two branches. One side lists a whole bunch of Italian things that represent the chef’s Italian heritage from his mother’s side, and the other is a list of dishes reflecting his father’s German lineage. Between the two, there are about 30 different items on the menu at any given time, and many of them change from month to month. So basically, there are innumerable dinner permutations. Order blindly or take your waiter’s suggestions, and we’d say you’ll probably hit one incredible dish and three mediocre ones each time you visit. But this is a restaurant from the same guy that gave us Kin Shop and Perilla. There have to be at least three or four back-to-back home runs somewhere in that vast menu. But how to find them? Like I said, we’re not exactly sure. We ate a lot of stuff here, and the menu really is tough to decipher. It would be easier if we could tell you that one side tends to be better than the other, like “stick to the German stuff and you’ll walk away happy,” but that’s not the case. There are hits and misses on both sides. We can tell you is that the duck schnitzel is incredible. You want that in the mix no matter what. Same goes for the ginger stout cake. But from there, a meal at The Marrow is a high-stakes adventure. We liked the crab and tomato pasta a lot…but the giant roasted mushroom impressed us less than we hoped it would. The sea urchin and bone marrow is certainly rich, it’s just not all that satisfying. And the pretzel rolls are awesome, but the arctic char isn’t. After a while it starts to feel like Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, except (probably) nobody’s heart is getting ripped out. You must choose, but choose wisely. Food Rundown The Bone MarrowLet’s kick this off with the dish this place is named for. Two shanks are served to you topped with sea urchin and a lemon aioli. It’s a tasty dish, but not any more so than most marrow dishes out there. The uni adds less flavor than you wish it would. Housemade SpaghettiniThis one from the Italian side of the menu is most definitely one of the highlights. It’s a nice light pasta with peekytoe crab and tomato sauce. Make it part of your meal. Fiddlehead Fern GnudiA spring menu item, as evidenced by the fiddlehead ferns. The more we eat those things, the more we realize we dislike them. Here with the gundi they came out slimy and generally unappetizing. Lightly Cured Arctic CharThis cured char has some German in it, or at least it’s from that side of the menu. We found it to be a little bland. Pan-Fried Duck SchnitzelThe star of The Marrow. This big schnitzel-ized duck breast is delicious, and it comes on a bed of spaetzle which is also delicious. A must order. Roasted Whole Hen Of The Woods MushroomThis giant roasted mushroom

Metropolitan Diary: A brief moment with a lost shoe on the subway gave a young man a chance to re-enact a fairy tale.

Fireworks still won't be on the East River, an already-injured puppy escaped in Jersey, and Patrick Stewart's infinite abilities do not extend to bird-nursing. Also, don't forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here. [ more › ]

A glimpse inside one of the damaged Metro-North trains. (Photo via @KarenLeeWFSB) As Metro-North crews work to repair the twisted rails and investigators continue to probe Friday’s derailment/collision, the MTA is warning that commute woes could continue well into the coming week. The accident has snarled traffic throughout the Northeast Corridor, and it serves to underscore how fragile the region’s transportation is and how disjoined coordination across entities can be. The MTA and Connecticut’s Department of Transportation have put in place a plan for the 30,000 customers impacted by the 31-mile outage near the east end of the New Haven Line. On Monday morning, a shuttle train will run between New Haven and Bridgeport with express buses providing service to Stamford where trains to the city will be running. Local buses will operate to and from Bridgeport, Fairfield Metro, Fairfield and Westport, but no buses will serve Southport or Greens Farms. All in all, 120 buses from CT Transit, MTA Bus and other local companies will provide service. It won’t be enough. The MTA has a full list of service changes and advisories posted on its website but offers up some bullet points, a few more obvious than others, as well. Travel times will be significantly longer than normal and trains will be significantly crowded. New Haven Line Customers east of South Norwalk are encouraged to seek alternative ways to get to and from work or stagger their work schedule. If possible, customers are advised to use the Harlem Line as an alternative. New Haven Line rail tickets will be cross-honored. ConnDOT will cross-honor New Haven Line pre-paid rail tickets (as a temporary Bus/Rail uniticket) on I-95 Corridor Bus Service. Metro-North will cross-honor Amtrak tickets. Speaking of Amtrak, let’s how the nation’s rail carrier is handling it. On their alert page, they warn that service is suspended between New York and New Haven with limited service from New Haven to Boston. “There is no estimate on service restoration,” Amtrak warns. Their solution is to foist every alternative planning onto Metro-North’s shoulders. “Starting Monday, Metro-North Railroad will offer alternate transportation for passengers traveling between New Haven, Conn., and Grand Central Terminal via a train-bus-train connection,” Amtrak’s website advises. “Amtrak passengers using this option will need to arrange for transportation between Grand Central and New York Penn Station.” In Connecticut, the state is offering more free parking for commuters impacted by the service outages. As Chris O’Leary noted, this is likely to lead to more traffic and delays as buses are held up by drivers fighting for parking spots. It’s a transit armageddon, and I can’t even begin to imagine what I-95 will resemble come the morning. Meanwhile, the alternate routes are a bloody mess. Cap’n Transit has been retweeting choice complaints in his Twitter timeline, and Northeast Corridor riders are finally experiencing the ineptitude of bus companies. There are complaints about routes to Manhattan that go through surface streets in the Bronx and routes to New Haven from Port Authority via New Jersey. Lines are hours long, and the bus companies offering extra service or even acknowledging the problems. So we’re in a bad situation with no overall coordination. Two tracks are out of service due to scheduled track work while another set were heavily damaged by Friday’s collision, and no one has picked up the slack. Considering how many people are dependent upon this route for work, for life, for anything, this response is an indictment of the way we as a society view transit even in the most transit-accessible parts of the country.