Is that Tito Puente I hear in the distance?

It’s hard to tell, what with neo-classical shred violinist Michael Shulman just down the corridor, in black leather pants, loudly noodling to an instrumental track of Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean."  read more »

"CAN AH GETTA SHAIKH-ALLUJAH?!?!"

No, Astor Place isn't getting another Starbucks. Yet.

Actually, the Reverend Billy and his "Church of Stop Shopping" choir were rallying yesterday in support of a retailer: the longstanding Thompson Newsstand near the corner of Thompson and West 3rd streets.  read more »

Unlike the action on the ice, there’s plenty of elbow room, as this reporter gracefully glides through aisles of t-shirts, hoodies, jerseys -- even hats emblazoned with the defunct Winnipeg Jets logo! -- at the brand-spanking new N.H.L. store in midtown.

No referee here would dare call “too many men on the ice.” Maybe 25 people at 1 p.m. -- tops! -- were strolling the spacious 6,700-square-foot retail space where a chandelier constructed of hanging hockey sticks dangles ominously above the register like the samurai swords at Jeffrey Chodorow’s Kobe Club.

Last week’s grand opening of the new hockey hub generated about as much buzz as the new N.H.L. season. “What? Hockey season already?,” you‘re probably thinking. “Isn’t the N.H.L. on strike?” Not exactly.

The beleaguered league’s odd-man rush into the danger zone of Manhattan retail is just another part of N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman’s dubious campaign to Americanize Canada’s national past-time -- borrowing, as he tends to do, yet another tactic from the N.B.A. playbook.

Perhaps fittingly for the second-tier sport, the N.H.L. has no vanity Fifth Avenue address, like the N.B.A. does, but rather sits one block over on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 47th Street. (The league’s new headquarters is upstairs.)

In addition to plenty of pricey team-themed paraphernalia, the venue also features a wall made of real ice, where customers can scratch their own messages. We went with the obligatory Rangers slogan: “Potvin sucks!“

The shop also includes its own hockey-themed Starbucks! “SCORE A ‘HAT TRICK’ WITH OUR BEVERAGE TRIO!,” according to the sign.

Sadly, though, no mullet-chopping hair salon.  read more »

"FAR EAST WIRELESS" isn’t a very appetizing name for an eatery.

So this reporter was quite curious when he recently stumbled across that handle while scanning through a list of local restaurants.  read more »

Want to suck up to your landlord? Name a menu item in his honor.

Consider the "Vornado," the greasy, chewy, rather sauceless and entirely too cheesy 11-inch, thin-crust personal pizza served up at Joe O's--the hallowed Hotel Pennsylvania's downstairs bar and restaurant, located along West 33rd Street.

The entire building, built in 1919, is presently owned by real-estate behemoth Vornado Realty Trust.

How has Vornado responded to its $13 tomato, pepperoni and mozzarella memorial?  read more »