Hill Country’s Pit-Smoked Easter; Commerce Bartender No FoolEast Village: The dishes in Rhong-Tiam’s spice challenge (the prize for finishing the tasting menu is free dinner at a different Thai restaurant) aren’t as unbearably spicy as you’d expect, and the chef will give you a beer when you’re finished. [Gothamist]
Flatiron: Hill Country’s serving up a pit-smoked Easter dinner this Sunday. [Strong Buzz]
Fort Greene: A boatload of restaurants in the neighborhood are offering prix fixe dinners for $23 next week for Dine in Brooklyn, including Chez Oskar, Olea, and Scopello. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Harlem: A reader feels that Slice NY severely underrates Patsy’s. [Slice NY]
West Village: Commerce’s bartender deals adeptly with douche bags. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Neighborhood Watch
Chelsea Mourns the Loss of Chinese Vegetable Burritosstrong>Bronx: Ditri Coffee Shop has sold coffee and work boots for 28 years; it’s amazing this business model doesn’t seem to have been duplicated. [Lost City]
Chelsea: There’s a makeshift memorial set outside Bright Food Shop, which has closed along with sister-restaurant Kitchen/Market thanks to high rents. [Crazy Fingers by way of Blog Chelsea] Tasty Korean takeout near FIT. [Gothamist]
Clinton Hill: A bake sale gets frisky with a Middle Eastern dance performance this Sunday at 289 Grand Avenue. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Dumbo: Chestnut, Olea, and Sweet Melissa Patisserie are all participating in Tuesday’s tasting event at powerHouse Arena to benefit the American Cancer Society. [Dumbo NYC]
East Village: Bowery Whole Foods unveils plans to start serving brunch. [Down by the Hipster]
West Village: Murray’s Cheese is hosting a sparkling-wine course that includes cheese pairings on June 5th at 6:30 p.m. [Gothamist]
Neighborhood Watch
Alain Ducasse Has Designs on LCB’s Midtown West SpaceAstoria: Sai’s Organics health-food store will open a new location that incorporates a wellness center, and they’re hiring. [Joey in Astoria]
Bensonhurst: Do Carluccio’s heroes have a right to be famous? Has anyone heard of them? [Brooklyn Record]
East Village: A sake retailer is moving in on East 9th Street. [Down by the Hipster]
Flatiron: Charlie Palmer shuts down Kitchen 22. [Eater]
Fort Greene: Pequeña chef and co-owner Johannes Sanzin, who also partners in Olea and Maggie Brown, is developing a space on Fulton and Clinton Avenue for an unknown restaurant. [VV]
Midtown West: Our Insatiable Critic’s new blog breaks news that Alain Ducasse cohorts claim to have secured the low-rent space of Department of Health–shuttered Brasserie LCB. [Bite]
Upper East Side: There’s apparently something sacred about staring at bodega workers just trying to have dinner in peace. [The Upper East Side Informer]
Williamsburg: An Austro-Hungarian biergarten — huge, with a restaurant — is in progress on North 3rd Street! [A Test of Will]
The New York Diet
Comedian Michael Showalter Loves Pickles, Milk, and CookiesBefore the cult success of his television shows with Michael Ian Black — MTV’s The State and Comedy Central’s Stella — comedian Michael Showalter shoplifted bologna from Key Foods (or so his bio says). These days, the Fort Greene resident and writer-director-star of The Baxter, who performs at Southpaw tomorrow night, is never short on olives, pickles, and Tate’s cookies (“the best you can buy at a deli”). Given that his Ten Commandments of Sandwich Making decree that “everything is in play,” we thought the card-carrying “burger boy” might have noshed on some interesting things this week.