Restaurants & Bars
NYC Restaurants: Grab A Taste Of This Week's Food News
Unappetizing lawsuits, a Paul Rudd-backed bagel shop, outdoor food crawls and more were on New York City's plate this week.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City's food news plate was (unsurprisingly) full for another week.
Foodies this past week saw big-name lawsuits, several servings of new restaurants, outdoor eating-friendly announcements and more.
Our tiny local Patch newsroom yet again stuffed as much from the restaurant scene as it could, but there was plenty left over.
Find out what's happening in New York Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
With that culinary caveat, here's the latest. We'll be back next week for another helping.
The legal system is generally pretty unappetizing, but it shows that New York City's restaurants and food purveyors have more going on than just in their kitchens.
Find out what's happening in New York Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A halal meat distributor in Queens — USA Halal Foods — settled with federal authorities after it sold food that wasn't properly inspected for five years
Goat, lamb, beef and chicken products from the company — which were sold in The Bronx and elsewhere — were misbranded and uninspected, authorities said.
The legal cookie also crumbled for Insomnia Cookies.
The popular late-night cookie chain faced a class action lawsuit in a New York federal court that argued minimum wage employees had their pay docked and tips stolen.
One employee in an Indiana store faced nightmarish retaliation for calling out wage theft, which included a manager placing plastic spiders inside her delivery bag, the lawsuit states.
- Queens Halal Food Company Settles After Breaking Inspection Laws: Feds
- Insomnia Cookies Failed To Pay Workers Minimum Wage, Lawsuit Claims
Not all worker-related news was flush with plastic spiders.
A worker-owned cocktail restaurant — Donna — is slated to soon open in the West Village.
The spot is a revival of Donna Brooklyn, which shuttered after nearly a decade in Williamsburg. The new spot is a worker-owned cooperative that will serve a pan-Latin menu with Mediterranean influences and a Filipino-inspired cocktail program.
Paul Rudd and bagels — that's what PopUp Bagels in Greenwich Village has to offer.
The actor is a major investor in the Connecticut-based pre-order bagel shop. The new shop opens this weekend.
And an Italian market in The Bronx's Little Italy is setting up a second outpost in Washington Heights.
Pace's Italian Market is set to open and likely will offer more than 100 types of cheese, meats, sauce, fruits, jams, vinegar, olive oil, snacks, and more, according to its social media posts.
- New Worker-Owned Cocktail Restaurant To Be Reborn In West Village
- Bagel Pop-Up Hit Comes from Greenwich, CT to Greenwich Village: Report
- Arthur Ave Italian Market Opening Washington Heights Location
Food and the outdoors — it's a combination that New Yorkers learned they loved over the pandemic.
A slew of outdoor-related food news came out last week as temperatures continued their upward climb.
A walk honoring writer and activist Jane Jacobs will take New Yorkers on a culinary tour of Astoria, in addition to more than 100 other treks from May to May 7.
Likewise, "Tastes of Brooklyn" plans to hold food and drink crawls across several neighborhoods. The first is Saturday in Bed-Stuy, followed by May 30 in Gowanus.
Tickets for "Tastes of Park Slope" scheduled for June 3 recently went on sale as well.
And a pair of popular outdoor cafes on the Upper West Side recently reopened.
Ellington in the Park and the Pier I Cafe came back to opposite sides of Riverside Park, giving uptown and slightly less uptown diners a chance to chow down outdoors.
- Jane's Walk 2023 Will Take New Yorkers On A Culinary Tour In Astoria
- 'Tastes Of Park Slope' Tickets Ready For Gourmands To Gobble Up
- Pair Of Popular UWS Outdoor Dining Cafes Reopen For The Season
Speaking of Uptown, a Harlem Peruvian eatery was named among the 100 best restaurants in New York City by the New York Times.
Contento ranked 82nd on the list.
Known for accommodating people with disabilities (its owners both use wheelchairs), the eatery has a long string of honors.
As always, not everything went well for New York City’s restaurants — or at least one of them.
A lone eatery was closed down by the city Department of Health. Find out more here:
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