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The Nets did something the Knicks couldn't the other night, win on the road in Cleveland. New Jersey won 99-96 thanks to big performances from key players. Deron Williams had 27 points and 10 assists. Anthony Morrow added 22 points while Kris Humphries added 18 points and 11 rebounds. [ more › ]

Because Beyonce 101 is now a real thing, check out today's end-of-day links: Chicken McBites are coming, The Nanny's alien abduction, the saddest Trekkie ever, and Nicolas Cage remains awesome. 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 › ]

You probably weren't the only one who didn't notice that there were hardly any celebrities out dining in New York City this week. Apparently every mild-to-super-famous person decided to dine outside of the five boroughs because they were doing their whole "working" thing at that whole "film festival" thing in Utah called "Sundance." (Our invite was evidently lost in the mail. Harrumph.)Thankfully, a few famous folks — like Ricky Martin taking his beautiful children out to dinner — managed to grace the city with their presence. So take that, Brad and Angelina! We're livin' la vida loca without you! This and more celebrity sightings, straight ahead.

Double Seven: Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber enjoyed some time together in a quiet booth and talked about, well, who knows, so let's make it up. Naomi: "Your eyes are amazing." Liev: "Thanks!" Oh yeah, then Mick Jagger showed up, but didn't really say much to anybody (not that anyone would understand him anyway! Zing!). [People] Midtown: Anne Hathaway went out to lunch with her fiancé, Adam Shulman, in midtown this week, but nobody is quite sure where. Regardless, she's playing Catwoman in this little movie called The Dark Knight Rises, you know, if you haven't heard of it. [Just Jared] Nello: Ricky Martin took his two beautiful twin boys, Matteo and Valentino, out to lunch earlier this week. Unfortunately, there was no dancing involved (as far as we know). [Just Jared] SushiSamba: Hugh Jackman stepped out in jeans and a hoodie with his family this past week for dinner and ordered a selection of sushi rolls, as well as miso soup and pork belly lettuce wraps. But apparently everybody drank water, which is really disappointing considering Hugh Jackman and his family chanting "sake sake sake BOMB!" and pounding their fists on the table is one of the funnier images we've conjured up in awhile. [People]

Filed Under: celebrity settings,

After students were caught smuggling in contraband items like cellphones into class, a Pennsylvania middle school has banned Uggs—or other "outdoor, open top boots." The Pottstown Mercury reports, 'In a letter sent home with students Wednesday, Principal Gail Cooper announced the ban, saying “we have been experiencing problems with some students wearing open top boots and carrying items in their boots that are prohibited in school.'" [ more › ]

East Village: Modern Thai newcomer Ngam will host its first monthly cooking class, "Thai For Your Loved Ones," on February 12 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Only $90! [Grub Street] East Village: Sad news as Holiday Cocktail Lounge — a place once rumored to be a favorite of the likes of W. H. Auden, Leon Trotsky, and Allen Ginsberg — closes its doors after 47 years of service, and patrons raise a glass. [East Village Local/NYT]

Financial District: The sky-high Subway at the World Trade Center has closed its doors after poor financial performance. It had been rising along with the steel at 1 World Trade Center since 2010. [Crain's New York Business] Gramercy: Bistro Lamazou is now offering unlimited Champagne cocktails with Saturday and Sunday brunch for $17.75 on top of food costs. And yes, we said unlimited. [Grub Street] Lower East Side: Brown Cafe now offers a wine bar and tapas menu (featuring the likes of crab cakes or pepper-wrapped green beans) on Fridays from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. [Grub Street] Soho: For those of you with green blood who love to party, New York's first ecofriendly nightclub, Greenhouse, reopens its doors on Monday, January 30. [Grub Street] NYC-based chef and contestant on this year's Top Chef Texas Ty-Lör Boring comes to City Grit from February 6 to 11. He'll prepare a five-course French and Asian meal, and tickets are $75, available here. Upper West Side: On January 31, Whole Foods Market on the Upper West Side will pair with Veggiecation to host nutrition and education events for Choices Count Kids’ Healthy Wellness Day. Bring the whippersnappers by from 4 to 6 p.m. [Grub Street]

Filed Under: neighborhood watch,

The real 2012 election is still months away (even considering the 24 or so Republican primary jibberjabbers-to-the-death), and already our greatest thinkers are turning their attention to 2016. While speaking about his directorial debut—the documentary "Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap"—at the Sundance Film Festival, Ice-T endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. "She did the Secretary of State job, she was a G, she held it down, she didn't cry...Obama will support her, and she'll be the first woman president." Well of course Ice-T would support her—Coco loves her! [ more › ]

Denise Rich, the songwriter, philanthropist and Clinton Presidential Library donor, is putting her Fifth Avenue duplex on the market for $65 million, which makes it the most expensive co-op ever. [ more › ]

Starting February 5th and running through May 20th, the Queens Museum of Art will be showing off the work of photographer Frank Oscar Larson, who documented the streets of New York in the 1950s. They're in possession of "several thousand historic negatives hidden from sight for 55 years," and will bring 65 of them in print form to their "1950s New York Street Stories" installation. Larson was a Queens banker who had a "lifelong passion for photography" and yielded a tremendous images of everyday life in 1950s New York.   [ more › ]

A major part of the reasoning behind the proposal to ban food on the subway currently in the State Senate is that your leftovers are many rats main courses. So what better time to sit back and watch some videos of rats hanging out in subway stations, chilling out and taking their people food for a stroll? [ more › ]

You're better off ordering the fun stuff, though.

We already know that Thomas Keller is only more than happy to serve diners cereal at his restaurants (if that's what they really want), and it sounds like wd~50's Wylie Dufresne is taking a page from Keller's playbook. The chef tells Eater, "As a restaurant, you have to navigate the full spectrum of customer relations ... In my youth, I would have been like, 'Fuck those people with laptops at the table that don't want to experience what I'm up to. I spent a lot of time getting to this place.'" But he says he's softened that stance: "I mean, if ... four bankers come and enjoy their steak and red wine, odds are they'll spread good word of mouth." The one thing you really, really can't get is salad. Steamed veggies are apparently okay, though. We just want to know if Wylie's burger is available off-menu. [Eater]

Related: Thomas Keller Will Feed You Burnt Steak, a Bowl of Wheaties, or Gluten-Free Whatever

Read more posts by Alan Sytsma

Filed Under: customer service, wd-50, wylie dufresne

We know the Giants are officially the underdog heading into Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots—but considering how consistently they've been playing lately, considering how elite Eli Manning's Manningface has been, considering they've already beaten the Pats at Foxboro this year, and considering the psychological ramifications of a Super Bowl XLII rematch, the Giants certainly don't seem like underdogs. Which makes Smokin’ Al’s BBQ Joint's Super Bowl deal even crazier to us: “Pick up the food. You put it on a credit card, and if the Giants win, we rip up all the credit cards. We cancel them all out and the food is free on Smokin’ Al’s,” owner Al Horowitz told WCBS 880. [ more › ]

The two boys who nearly killed real estate broker and avid volunteer Marion Salmon Hedges last year by tossing a shopping cart from a fourth story walkway just before Halloween may get off without a stop in jail. Surely helping their fate is forgiveness on the part of Hedges. [ more › ]

Congressman Ron Paul is currently placing third in the Floria primary polls, behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (who is leading!) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but he got amused at last night's debate, when he said of Newt Gingrich's moon base idea, "I don't think we should go to the moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there." Less amusing is the Washington Post's report that Paul did in fact know that his newsletters contained racist content. [ more › ]

And the Paula Deen fallout continues! In addition to an internet angry over her diabetes "coverup", high blood pressure worries and local gyms making fun of her now the Food Network's Butter Queen has rumors of familial discord to deal with. [ more › ]

When it was Viceroy.

Sounds like the old Viceroy space in Chelsea, which closed last June after eighteen years in business, will very soon be home to a new full-service restaurant called Pounds and Ounces. Julian Hitchcock, a broker over at Kamenitzer Real Estate, tells us NYC restaurant veteran Etai Cinader — who's worked as wine director at Tao, as well as manager at Co. and Dos Caminos — has just inked the deal for the "American Eclectic" restaurant. Pounds and Ounces will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a late-night menu. Also in the works: a "wild brunch," outdoor seating, and a second P&O, which will be in West Hollywood. More details as we get 'em.

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: coming soon, etai cinader, pounds and ounces, viceroy

It's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze in a couple for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: Notable Italian.

A Voce Columbus (Menu) 212-823-2523 Two for eight? No Best available: 8:30 p.m.

Babbo (Menu) 212-777-0303 Two for eight? No Best available: Fully booked

Ciano (Menu) 212-982-8422 Two for eight? No Best available: Fully booked

Del Posto (Menu) 212-497-8090 Two for eight? No Best available: 10:45 p.m.

Locanda Verde (Menu) 212-925-3797 Two for eight? No Best available: Fully booked

Maialino (Menu) 212-777-2410 Two for eight? No Best available: Fully booked

Osteria Morini (Menu) 212-965-8777 Two for eight? No Best available: 11 p.m.

Porsena (Menu) 212-228-4923 Two for eight? No Best available: 9:30 p.m.

Scarpetta (Menu) 212-691-0555 Two for eight? No Best available: 9:30 p.m.

Sfoglia (Menu) 212-831-1402 Two for eight? No Best available: 10 p.m.

Filed Under: two for eight,

A joint investigation between the DEA and FBI culminated this morning with the arrest of five high-ranking members of the Bonanno crime family, officials announced. The five alleged gangsters include "made" Bonanno member Vincent Badalamenti, a.k.a. “Vinny TV, and Nicholas "Nicky Mouth" Santora, who previously did 15 years in prison after undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone—dubbed "Donnie Brasco"—infiltrated the family by posing as a gangster in the late 1970s. In the movie about that investigation, Santora (played by Bruno Kirby) was killed; in real life he was released from prison in 2009, and now it looks like he's going back. [ more › ]

Last time we checked in on Joseph Gordon-Levitt he was Occupying Wall Street and singing a tune with Zooey Deschanel—and now the multitalented actor has kindly requested that you no longer call him a "hipster," please. Which we're cool with, because then he goes a step beyond and actually defines the word "hipster" for us all. Someone that no one has been able to pinpoint since the first bearded man in Williamsburg was spotted with a PBR in his hand. Someone telegram this to the OED, post haste: [ more › ]

Cloudy  5°C

Wind: W 5 m/s Pressure: 1011 mbar Visibility: 19 km Humidity: 55% Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:52