New York Restaurants

Meanwhile, in Long Island, a brawl broke out at a communion party at Rumors nightclub, stemming from an argument over whether a bathroom attendant should be tipped. According to Newsday, the assailaint wielded a camera tripod "like a baseball bat" (which apparently counts as a deadly weapon), though a police spokesperson says it's unclear whether she was for or against tipping the attendant. [Newsday via Gothamist]

1) Park Slope: A new taco spot called Loli's Taqueria opened last Sunday on a quiet stretch of Park Slope, reports Park Slope Stoop. The menu is filled with locally-sourced Mexican fare for pretty cheap—everything is below $11.50, with daily specials for under $10. The sangria is supposed to be pretty good. Status: Certified Open; 396 Sixth Ave., 718-715-0392. 2) Harlem: Harlem Condo Life has the scoop on Harlem Shake, the old-school diner now open up on 124th Street. It fully opened last Thursday, with shakes and burgers. Status: Certified Open; 100 W 124th St., 646-508-5657. 3) Midtown: The new Midtown location of Xi'an Famous Foods opened at the end of last month. This is the location with two kitchens, one for takeout and the other for customers dining in, in the former Karam space. Per Midtown Lunch, there's also a fairly spacious seating area in the back. Status: Certified Open; 24 West 45th St. 4) Hell's Kitchen: The newest location of Bareburger opened last Wednesday on West 46th Street at Ninth Avenue. It has the same menu of all-natural burgers, made with things like bison and ostrich in addition to the standard beef and turkey, as the other locations. It's open for lunch and dinner starting at 11 a.m. daily. Status: Certified Open; 366 West 46th St., 212-673-2273. 5) Midtown: Reichenbach Hall is a new drinking spot and German restaurant now open on West 37th between Fifth and Sixth avenues, per Midtown Lunch. In addition to beer (and German pop music), it's got a lengthy—but not inexpensive—of German standbys like spaetzle, sausage, and pretzels. Status: Certified Open; 5 West 37th St., 212-302-7744. 6) Upper East Side: DNAinfo reports on the newest location of Passaic, N.J.-based Mexican chain El Aguilo, which opened on Lexington Avenue earlier this year. This is the chain's fourth NYC area location, with more planned. Status: Certified Open; 1215 Lexington Ave. [Photo]

P.J. Hanley's, the 139-year-old Carroll Gardens bar now owned by South Brooklyn Pizza's embattled James McGowan, is getting set to reopen. A bankruptcy filing forced the bar to close just after St. Patrick's Day, with McGowan reportedly planning to reopen it as an as-yet-unnamed Belgian beer bar. Patch hears that's coming soon. [Patch]

Toad-in-the-hole, in the Slope. The nearly two-year-old Park Slope cheese shop Valley Shepherd Creamery, which sells the entire line of raw milk and cave-aged beauties Eran Wajswol produces on his 120-acre farm in Morris County, is set to open a Brooklyn branch of its Philadelphia-based grilled cheese shop Melt Kraft in the 9th Street space formerly occupied by Almondine. You may remember that the French bakery closed shortly after Hurricane Sandy destroyed Hervé Poussot's production kitchen in Dumbo last fall; he's since reopened on Water Street and is again producing great croissants, but he left a certain corner of Park Slope bereft of butter and carbs. Let's talk grilled cheese. There's no word on when Melt Kraft might open and start melting everything, but Wajswol has applied for a license to sell beer at the shop, which will presumably feature the same roster of eight or so cheese sandwiches sold in Philly, including the "Melter Skelter," made with Valley Shepherd's cheese of the same name, plus pickled green tomatoes, jalapeños, BBQ chips, and watercress. Earlier: Almondine in Park Slope Is for Rent Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: coming soon, grilled cheese, melt kraft, valley shepherd creamery

The urban explorers behind Wanderlust Projects really went for it with their latest effort, an invitation-only speakeasy constructed in a watertower on top of an abandoned building in the heart of Chelsea. The bar was named The Night Heron and operated for six weeks, with guests meeting on a street corner at the right hour and then going down a dark hallway, across from a fire escape into a building that is slated for redevelopment. The guests then climbed 12 flights of stairs and squeezed through a trap door to find a "candlelit wooden cylinder outfitted with a bar, drink tables, and chandelier, all made from upright piano parts." The construction took about two months to pull off, and the only way to get in was to be offered the pocket watches that the organizers used to control the event. No tweeting, no pictures, and a once in a lifetime chance to risk life and limb for a cocktail and a view. It seems pretty intense for a few cocktails but got rave reviews. Would you do it? · Into the Water Tower, With Flair [Atlantic Cities] · Night Heron Speakeasy [Official Site] · A New York City Water Tower Doubles As A Hidden Speakeasy [Curbed NY] · Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~] [Photo]

Restaurant critic Tejal Rao announces her departure from the Village Voice today. This new comes just three days after veteran critic Robert Sietsema was unceremoniously shitcanned from the weekly. Ms. Rao started writing restaurant reviews and blogs posts for the Village Voice just over a year ago, and she earned a James Beard Award for her work earlier this month. Now the Voice has no resident restaurant critic, but the weekly is looking for more food writers ASAP. Tejal Rao has not announced any future plans yet. · @tejalrao [Twitter] · All Coverage of Tejal Rao [~ENY~]

Rao joined the foundering newspaper last April. The bad news just keeps coming for the Village Voice: After longtime critic Robert Sietsema, among others, was fired last week, current Voice critic Tejal Rao announced on Twitter today that she's leaving the paper as well. I've resigned from my post at the Voice. Thanks to the writers and editors who made working here a dream come true.— Tejal Rao (@tejalrao) May 20, 2013 Rao started as Voice restaurant critic in April 2012 and quickly made a name for herself: In December, Rao was named one of Forbes's "30 Under 30," and earlier this month she received the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review award from the James Beard Foundation. Of course, Voice Media, the parent company of the once-esteemed, now-beleaguered 58-year-old downtown newspaper, fired three of its longest-serving writers on Friday: legendary gossip columnist Michael Musto, influential theater critic Michael Feingold, and the venerated Sietsema, whose profound impact on the city's food culture in the last twenty years was immediately noted by fellow critics Adam Platt, Pete Wells, and more. Editor-in-chief Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig walked out of the foundering newspaper on May 9 after they were asked to fire five members of the editorial team. "When I was brought in here, I was explicitly told that the bloodletting had come to an end," Bourne told the Times. After Sietsema was fired, the paper announced a "restructuring," adding that former Denver Westword critic Laura Shunk, who's been working in restaurant PR for the last several months, had signed on to coordinate "an expansion and reinvigoration" of its food coverage — a task that looks even more improbable now that the paper has lost both of its critics in less than a week. Earlier: Village Voice Fires Twenty-Year Veteran Restaurant Critic Robert Sietsema Read more posts by Alan SytsmaFiled Under: critical move, james beard awards, restaurant critics, robert sietsema, tejal rao, village voice

VIEW SLIDESHOW: My Pie Monday: Ramps, Queso Fresco, Detroit-Style and More! It's a beautiful day for another round of My Pie Monday! Come on through for a look at this week's collection of brilliant homemade pizzas. If you're making your own pies, be sure to send us a photo for next week's My Pie Monday. Just take one snapshot of your homemade pizza, briefly describe your cooking method, and follow these instructions to get it to Slice HQ by 8pm EST on Thursday night. Please make sure to include your Serious Eats username! Looking for inspiration? Find dozens of recipes and home kitchen adaptations on our Pizza-Making Guide or peruse our collection of past My Pie Monday contributions. Even if you're not baking your own pies, we want to know about the ones you're eating. Submit to My Best Slice to help us spotlight the great pizza being enjoyed across the country. We don't care whether it's a super-simple corner slice or a fancy-pants pie, so long as its memorable. Send a photo and short description to pizz[at]seriouseats.com! About the author: Niki Achitoff-Gray is the editor of Slice and a part-time student at the Institute of Culinary Education. She's pretty big into pizza. Also, she likes offal. A lot.

Fitzcarraldo, a Ligurian-inspired restaurant from the owners of Rucola will open some time this summer in 3rd Ward, the community workspace education center in East Williamsburg. Grub Street has a first look at some of the items on the menu, as well as the space, which takes its cue from the "crumbling opera house in an overgrown jungle outpost" in the Werner Herzog movie the restaurant is named for. [GS]

You can buy a single piece of Love's Drumsticks for $4. Last year, Questlove challenged David Chang to a fried-chicken showdown. Chang won, but Questlove's fighting back by opening his own place in Chelsea Market with restaurateur Stephen Starr. The Hybird menu is broken down into three categories: Love's Drumsticks, which you can get with biscuits and honey butter; Dumplings, in variations like "Crème de la Crab," "Tofu Tofu," and "Curry Up Chicken"; and Questolicious Cupcakes. If anyone can save cupcakes, it's Questlove and his "Sexual Chocolate" and "Miso Ho-ney" flavors. Take a look at the food, space, and menu, straight ahead. Dumpling flavors include Mornay's Truffled Egg and Cheese & Chard.Photo: Melissa Hom Cupcakes are made with carrot-thai red curry icing, coconut-lemongrass kaffir lime, and miso buttercream.Photo: Melissa Hom You can add biscuits, honey butter, and a honey-ginger lemonade slushy to your chicken order.Photo: Melissa Hom The space.Photo: Melissa Hom Menu [PDF] Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Ave., between 15th and 16th Streets, (212)-989-3332 Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Read more posts by Sierra TishgartFiled Under: openings, chelsea market, hybird, questlove, stephen starr, what to eat