What’s the NYC FoodBuzz?

In the city that never sleeps… or stops eating, get up-to date with the recent culinary happenings throughout this foodie haven. From Restaurant Week to a toxic canal to who’s serving beaver for dinner, and More, we’ll bring you into the the know on New York City’s gastronomical finds.

Restaurant Week Extended

Grab your fork… or rather just your wallet, because NYC Restaurant Week has been extended until Sunday, February 27th. The prices and menus remain the same but due to the large amount of snow NYC has been hit with, the city decided to extend this culinary delight. Find out our top 10 eco eatery picks.

Gowanus Canal Toxic… Duh!

Normally the word canal would have you thinking of the Grand Canal in Venice but New Yorkers follow Gowanus with an “elch.” This forgotten waterway was just confirmed by the EPA to be rife with cancer-causing chemicals and toxins from old gas plants that can harm people, animals and the environment. Tell us something we don’t know. So if you ever had any doubt before, listen now! Don’t drink the water, eat fish or crabs from it, or wade in it. A $500-million clean-up project looms in the future but it probably still won’t be clean enough for drinking, eating or swimming.

Game Meat Takes on New Definition

Justin Fornal, creator of the TV show “Bronx Flavor,” threw an elite 30-guest dinner party that promised the most exclusive secret dining event of the new year. So what was on the menu… trapped meat from the Adirondacks (at least it’s local) like beaver, raccoon, otter, opossum, fisher, squirrel and muskrat. Guests dined on Muskrat au Vin, roasted DeKalb Beaver, Mexican-style opossum, and even a beaver schnapps digestif. Wowza!

TriBeCa Has the Most Eateries Per Person

The home of the TriBeCa film festival is also home to the most restaurants per resident than any other neighborhood in the country. The 10013 zip that is TriBeCa and SoHo has .018 eateries for every person that lives there. It currently has 27,356 residents, 360 fast-food restaurants and 136 full-service restaurants.

Making the Grade… Except Le Cirque and Gramercy Tavern

The NYC Health Department just finished the first round of grading and the results are in: 57 percent got As and 30 percent got Bs. So far the HD visited 10,000 restaurants and hopes to get to all 24,000 by the end of the year. Of the 30 percent that got Bs, 44 percent improved to an A on the second visit and 72 percent of restaurants that scored a C got an A or B on the second go around. What’s more shocking though is that claimed restaurants Le Cirque and Gramercy Tavern got a C! Time to step up, fellas and ladies. Want to see what your fave grub spot got? Find out here.

Image by marc.cappelletti

Brianne Hogan is a Canadian writer, currently based in Prince Edward Island. A self-proclaimed "wellness freak," she has a... More about Brianne Hogan

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