Clinton Hill: Tamboril's hosting a post-fireworks party on Friday with live music and D.J.'s. [Clinton Hill Blog]
East Village: Artichoke Pizza was actually open by 12:30 p.m. today. Maybe the cousins found a Manhattan apartment? [Eater]
Lower East Side: When Freemans opened, it was "looking for an accessible brown cocktail that worked with our fall menu." The resulting mix of rye, orange bitters, and pomegranate has become the spot's house cocktail. [Down by the Hipster]
Prospect Heights: A 55-year-old klepto was collared by police outside a supermarket on Washington Avenue after she swiped some packaged roast beef, but, alas, the fuzz was one step behind: "The sandwich meat was not recovered intact." [Brooklyn Paper]
Tribeca: The Knitting Factory building has sold for $12 million, but the venue hasn't decided where it's moving yet. [Real Deal]
Upper East Side: James Beard Rising-Star Chef Gavid Kaysen, of Café Boulud, was once "a certified sandwich artist for Subway.…I even had a really cool tricolored shirt!" [Restaurant Girl]

Astoria: It's reassuring to know that even new restaurants in the hood are still "gimmicky with Mediterranean tchotkes and cheesy lighting." [Foodista]
Cobble Hill: The former Red Deli space has finally been reopened as Ted & Honey by a resident who "learned her trade at a Danny Meyer Manhattan restaurant." Mysterious. [Bergen Carroll]
East Village: Thankfully, this close-up of Artichoke Pizza's new crab-dip slice looks better than it sounded, though the taster admitted, "It's gross." [Slice]
Greenwich Village: Mario Batali worked in the kitchen of Rocco's on Thompson Street, but on recent nights "oldsters helped people the place." [Eater] Il Mulino has taken a moment from its daily rounds to share its recipe for pappardelle with tomato and basil. [Restaurant Girl]
Meatpacking District: Former Times food critic Mimi Sheraton not only likes Merkato 55 and the flavors it's introducing to modern tastes, she believes "Marcus Samuelsson may well go down in gastronomic history as the father of the new African cuisine in America." [Word of Mouth via Eater]

Astoria: Vine Wine, at 12-09 Jackson Avenue, is having a Kosher-wine tasting on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. [Joey in Astoria]
East Village: Artichoke opens at 3:30 p.m. today. Hopefully, the cousins are getting closer to finding an apartment. [Eater]
Midtown East: After a long, sunny day spent indoors, "you deserve a treat, a salty, sour, and sweet treat that comes in a glass as big as your head and can knock you on your ass." Zarela, on Second Avenue, might make the best margarita, according to this roundup, but there are eight other spots here where you can take that cute "co-worker who just so happens to love tequila." [Gridskipper]
Park Slope: A wine bar will open on Seventh Avenue to replace short-lived coffee shop Café Eleven. [Brooklyn Paper]
West Village: April Bloomfield admits that people might think her using condensed milk at the Spotted Pig is "kind of hokey…until you boil it for four hours, and then it becomes sex in a tin!" [Diner's Journal/NYT]
Mi Cocina has transformed its front dining room into a tequila bar with 80 brands of the spirit and specialty cocktails like the Besame Mucho, which combines tequila with the Mexican fertility flower damiana, and the less-dangerous Que Curvas, a simple mix of tequila, mango, and lime. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]

Coney Island: You can get a mozzarepa here, all year long. [Lost City]
Boerum Hill: Southerner blogger Nichelle Stephens once only considered "whoopie" to be a "euphemism for sex used only by contestants on the old television show The Newlywed Game," but with help from Northeast bakeries like One Girl Cookies, she discovered how good a real whoopie could be.
East Village: Chang dog was apparently spotted at the new Artichoke pizza welcoming the owners, complimenting their fritters, and introducing himself. However, they weren't familiar with this "Momofuku" he spoke of. [Eating in Translation]
Danyelle Freeman lays out a list of her favorite cookies, and she's included Panya's mini green-tea butter cookies. We concur. [Restaurant Girl]
Harlem: There's a "Coffee Bark" with refreshments for dog owners (or sitters) this Saturday at St. Nicholas Park between 136th and 137th Streets. [Uptown Flavor]
West Chelsea: Suzy Wong gives out lewd fortune cookies. [Down by the Hipster]

Astoria: A new Greek called Akti Seafood Restaurant has opened at 34-19 30th Avenue. [Foodista]
Chelsea: If you can't get a reservation at Momofuku Ko, you could spend about the same price you would for dinner there on a single burger from the Old Homestead. But it comes with tasty-looking tater tots. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Cobble Hill: The Moxie Spot is a two-story spot aimed at families, where "Foosball, board games, music, and arts and crafts are served along with grass-fed hanger steak sandwiches, spaghetti Bolognese, and house-roasted Chinese duck" care of consulting chef Josh Eden from Shorty's 32. [Strong Buzz]
East Village: New spot Artichoke is trying to become the Di Fara of Manhattan, but as "being deemed the new Di Fara is the food equivalent of being deemed 'the new Dylan' in singer-songwriter circles," they have their work cut out for them. [Slice]
Fort Greene: Paper covering the windows at June indicate the southern restaurant may be closed, again. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Spanish Harlem: Tips from the Insatiable Critic for how, as a civilian, you can get into Rao's: You can't. Well, you could stop in during Thanksgiving in person, and you might get a table for 2009. [Insatiable Critic]