cityrag

mmmm burgers
as we count down the hours until the Shake Shack reopens this coming Monday, it seems like a good time to follow-up on Epstein's Bar, the burger joint/bar that opened on the corner of Allen and Stanton a couple months ago. and we're happy to report Epstein's serves a dam good burger!...

the meat is very flavorful and has that juicy, melt in your mouth quality. comes with nice pile of lettuce, tomato and onion (and fries.) AND they toast/brown the bun on the grill! (one of the secrets to an outstanding burger! a very important touch also done by Shack Shake.) the fries aren’t anything special and service there can be so-so (we usually order ahead and then pick em up to take out, while we walk Buddy) but the burgers are always great!

to the good life
cityrag loves stories of rescued animals in happy new homes...

here's a little of Bessie's great story from her wonderful owner Erika...
"I too have a formerly orphaned dog. Her name is Bessie and she is some kind of a corgi mix as well. She is such an amazing and strange dog. I found her when I was visiting a friend in Puerto Rico. She would have been euthanized there since she had contracted heartworm disease. Now she is cured, living with me in Brooklyn and being the nuttiest dog ever."

healthy insanity
more from the cool site rock on lock (that Tiger Lilly introduced us to.) this is freakin' fabulous!... some dam funny stuff that's had us laughing all morning. here's a couple of our favorites from 19 ways to maintain a healthy level of insanity...
- At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
- Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
- Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.
- Sing Along At The Opera.
- Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.
- When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

and don't miss this!

hey K-Smokes - step away from the pregnant lady
while the world tries to figure out if Britney Spears is pregnant (and it's looking like a yes)... we'll jump ahead to the next question: is Kevin Federline going to make a good Dad?... and we gotta say, all signs point to NO...

picked this idea up from LilLaaady of the JJB board, here's her sweet note: "I hope she's not pregnant if he's just going to smoke in front of her. Second hand smoke could be just as damaging for a baby."

check out PinksTheNewBlog for some great pics and commentary about Kev's recent trip to Vegas and what might be going on in this photo and the rest of the series (let's just say lots of apologizing.)

and via Gawker: Brit opens a can of whoop-ass on "false tabloids"

production companies love messin' with the locals

seems like every week there's a new movie being filmed in our neighborhood. last week Lindsay Lohan's Just My Luck had many blocks well covered. caught a crazy rain scene being filmed while out walking Buddy. it can be kinda fun, but sometimes it sucks. like, we own a car and they take up all the parking! we try to take it all in stride but this pissed us off... flyers for the film Love Monkey, that are all over the LES today, say they're filming Thursday, 3/30. Um, today is 3/30 and it's Wed!! dam you production companies. it's bad enough you come in and take over the place, at least tell us the right fucking day! (and for anyone that wants to stalk the filming - we called and it's filming tomorrow 3/31)

demise of the LES: Pomeranc's Allen St. Fuckover begins
the Lower East Side has put up with a lot of crappy gentrification, but this seriously scares us. work has begun on a new hotel Jason Pomeranc is building on Allen St. (between Houston and Stanton)...

we read Curbed religiously to keep an eye on what's being developed in the LES, but had been turning a blind eye to this story. today it smacked us upside the head so we dug in, and what we found is very ugly. the articles below speaks for themselves, but the bottomline is: Jason Pomeranc is determined to change the landscape of our hood. if you care about or live in the LES or EV, these are must reads...

Good News for People Who Love Luxury Boutique Hotels

just when one may have feared the boutique hotel craze had peaked, comes word from Deborah Schoeneman that 60 Thompson owner Jason Pomeranc plans to open two new hotels next year, one at 6 Columbus Circle, and one on the Lower East Side. Of the LES hotel, which will feature 32 luxury condos, plus a spa, swimming pool, and all the other requisite trappings of hell, Pomeranc notes, "Allen Street is an overlooked and neglected frontier."

Pomeranc's Allen Street Hotel: Domination!

Perhaps nothing, though, will change the face of Allen like the proposed new hotel, still unnamed, which will tower over the street and certainly raise objections from those who frequently oppose out-of-scale projects... The hotel is also supposed to have bars, restaurants and an outdoor pool and will have two entrances, one on Orchard Street and the other on Allen, which Michael Pomeranc, the developer, calls a ''boulevard in the raw.''...

Hotels are replacing hipsters on changing Lower East Side

Jason Pomeranc was quoted last July as saying of the Thompson group’s 18-story plus project, “We were presented with the opportunity to not only impact the skyline but to begin creating it.” Whether or not other developers will follow suit in “creating” the Lower East Side skyline remains unknown, but depending on zoning restrictions, the look of the neighborhood could change drastically in the near future

Know Your Hoteliers, Part 4: Jason Pomeranc

The Hotness of Jason Pomeranc

it also looks to us like this building may be the real culprit that moved Kush and several other store fronts on Orchard St. a Curbed reader speculated that it was due to an apartment development, but the Allen St hotel demolition looks like it's breaking right through the block. and when we walked around to Orchard, the area that formerly housed Kush is EXACTLY behind the Allen St construction and has been recently boarded up (see Destruction on the LES: Where Will the Hipsters Play? )

cool cat
Mister Gato is one of the coolest cats on the web. just look at that face, those love eyes, that nose, and the attitude. he's simply purrrr-fect! check out his Pop's site for some great candid shots and captions, and get to know this handsome little guy. he's got more personality than most people we know...

(photo credit: enrevanche)

a little of this and that
from around blogland...

- NewYorkology has info on the rise in iPod thefts in NYC

- we're psyched to rent this! Linsayism on Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle... "I am shocked and devastated that I have the kind of friends who would see that movie and not tell me that it's the best comedy in the past five years and possibly ever."

- Buddy loved this story from the Gothamist on dog treat dispensers

- Forgotten-NY's fascinating photo-walk that captures 53rd St. end to end

- Test of Will has some very colorful truck graffiti

- lots of good NYC food reviews and photos at a Year in Food

- this looks kinda fun - building catilevered structures with pennies

- the Brazilian Muse blog turns one!

- mmmmm, summer cocktailzzz