The official website for all things to do here, NYC & Co, has released details about the upcoming summer edition of Restaurant Week beginning 12 July and running until 26 July.

With over 275 eateries participating there is definitely something for everyone. Three-course prix-fixe lunches will remain at $24.07 and the three-course dinners will be $35.07 with  great options.  If you find yourself an eater on-the-go or can’t get a reservation one day, there will also be the NYC Restaurant Week Food Truck with two locations: one at 50th and Broadway and the other at 18th St and Fifth Ave. Although it’s warmer than usual outside, some notable locales such as Megu, db Bistro Moderne, and SD26 will be selling $6 soups from these trucks.

With all of the great restaurants to choose from it can be overwhelming, so if you need a recommendation, see below my for my personal picks:

• a voce columbus (lunch only)
• Asia de Cuba
• Bar Boulud
• Bar Stuzzichini
• Brasserie Ruhlmann
• Capsouto Frères
• db Bistro Moderne (lunch only)
• Del Posto (lunch only)
• Dos Caminos
• i Trulli
• Kellari Taverna
• SD26 (lunch only)
• Sofrito
• Victor’s Cuban Cafe
• Zengo

Click this link to see a list of all the participating restaurants and their menus.

Check out this latest piece from NY1.com which was just published this afternoon with video.  Over six months ago it was proposed here in the Five Boroughs to make all parks and beaches smoke-free, and although it seemed the tax legislation issue took over, it’s back on the table–this time including boardwalks.

Read this carefully and notice this is only addressing cigarettes and mentions nothing of cigar smokers because us cigar smokers are not the ones causing the drama.  Not that I believe that making public property smoke-free is the way to go, but I would love to see just once a news story or piece of legislation that explains all of these issues with tobacco we face lately are really targeting the cigarette community and not the cigar & pipe community.

If you care for your civil liberties at all, make your voice be heard.  If we lose the ability to enjoy a cigar on the beach or strolling through the park, then the next measure will be to turn New York City into Burbank, CA and make it illegal to smoke on the street as well.  This has gone too far….

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Health advocates gathered on the Coney Island boardwalk today to propose extending the city’s tobacco ban to all Parks Department properties, which would include beaches, boardwalks and parks.

The Coalition for a Smoke-Free City says smoking creates a litter problem and a health hazard.

“The smoke is an asthma trigger,” said Joanne Koldare of the NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City. “If anyone has any kind of lung or heart disease, it can also be a trigger. And we have the whole waste problem. If you’re a smoker and you want to smoke and it’s your right, then why use the beach as an ash tray?”

To illustrate their point, advocates spent the morning picking cigarette butts out of the sand.

But not everyone is supporting the proposal.

“You can’t take that away from people,” said one Brooklynite. “If someone’s smoking, the smoke dissipates in the air.”

“What do we have cigarette police? We’ve got everything else. What’s going on here?” asked another. “It’s nonsense.”

Advocates say a ban could be imposed by the Parks Department alone, but it is more likely that they will seek legislative approval from the City Council or the mayor.

While Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a champion of the non-smoking cause, he would not commit today to backing this plan.

“If you want to do something that’s injurious to your health, you have a right to do it,” said the mayor. “I don’t think it’s very intelligent to do. But there are a lot of things people do that don’t make a lot of sense, but the issue is are you hurting somebody else. And that’s the issue with smoking, the second-hand smoking.”

Anti-smoking advocates say that more than half the counties in New York State already have smoke-free parks and 10 counties in New York State have already implemented smoke-free beaches.

Nat Sherman

Presents

The 2010 Cigar Masters Event Series

With the New York launch of the new

La Gloria Cubana

Artesanos de Tabaqueros

Thursday May 13th

6 – 9pm

Nat Sherman International

12 East 42nd Street at Fifth Ave.

Be the first to experience this new creation from

la Gloria Cubana

Nat Sherman will be hosting the official New York Launch of the new Artesanos de Tabaqueros cigar, from La Gloria Cubana.  Blended with two different wrappers, from two distinct countries, this new addition to the La Gloria portfolio is a true opportunity to taste first hand the best of what the Dominican Republic and Honduras have to offer.

Very Limited Special Offer:

Buy any box and receive a limited edition

la Gloria Cubana Lacquer Lighter

$250 Value

www.natsherman.com

(800) MYCIGAR

If you’re from New York and/or Jewish, bagels are downright sacred. There are so many places nowadays serving them–even supermarket chains make their own bagels–but I think I speak for all of us that when you find a place that cooks a bagel that truly makes you happy, you stick with that shop.  For me, that place is Town Bagel in Plainview on Long Island: I grew up literally across the street and as a kid have very fond memories of eating there every Saturday morning. Even though I don’t live on Long Island anymore, when I am in the area roughly once every five weeks I make time to stop in because you just can’t find anything as fabulous as their egg everything bagel.  The guys behind the counter always laugh at me because when I order because I ask them to literally put “a mountain of cream cheese” on the bagel, prefacing by saying, “once you think you’ve added too much, put more cream cheese on and give me some on the side.”  I’m not kidding…I have a love affair with cream cheese.

Just like bagels, there are a multitude of cream cheeses on the market besides the Philadelphia brand you see in every store. I know places that make their own cream cheese–which is great if you live near one of locales and they know what they’re doing–but for my money if I have to buy a major brand, it’s Temptee.  Unlike Philadelphia which is extremely dense, Temptee is whipped perfectly so the richness is in the taste and not with the consistency of a lead balloon.  Now my parents think I’m insane when I eat my bagel with nearly an entire tub of cream cheese on it (even moreso when I just grab a teaspoon and eat the cream cheese out of the tub!), but apparently we have a burgeoning trend here in New York, and that would be a bespoke bagel bakery.

According to the article below from the New York Times’ “Dining & Wine” section this week, Florence Fabricant paid a visit to Vic’s Bagel Bar, where all 17 varieties of bagels are hand-rolled on premises and your cream cheese can be customized with a number of add-ins. I think it’s fair to say that the customizable concept is rather Cold Stone Creamery-inspired, and while I’m intrigued by this, I’m also a little put off by it as well. While there are very few instances where I’m a staunch conservative, I’d have to say my cream cheese is one of them: it’s fabulous by itself, so why modify it?  As much as I loathe the poor grammar in this adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Once Passover ends and I can consume carbs without the religious guilt (there will always be diet guilt!), I’m going to have to give Vic’s Bagel Bar a shot to make sure I’m not missing out on something.  I will preface this with they have some whacky mix-ins like edamame and BBQ sauce, but I’m thinking that a whole wheat everything bagel with parsley-potato chip cream cheese could be an interesting culinary adventure in taste AND texture…

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At a Bespoke Bagel Shop, Cream Cheese Is Customized

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

The angle at Vic’s Bagel Bar is that the cream cheese to be slathered on any of 17 varieties of bagels, hand rolled on the premises, can be custom dressed, like ice cream, with an array of mix-ins. Blueberries, edamame, za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice blend), scallions, almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and, of course, smoked salmon are among the dozens of options. In addition to cream cheese, the spreads include hummus, Nutella and tuna, whitefish and egg salads. Given all these options, you could eat a different bagel sandwich every day for years.

Vic — Victoria Glazer, a recent graduate of Dartmouth — abandoned the notion of medical school and went to work at a bagel store to learn the craft. “I don’t make the bagels myself, but I think I’ve hired good people,” she said. The bagels are better than many you’ll find around town.

Vic’s Bagel Bar, 544 Third Avenue (36th Street), (212) 213-3900. Bagels are $1.10; a bagel with cream cheese is $2.50. Other spreads are $2, and mix-ins are 50 cents each, except for smoked salmon, $2. Salads, soups and dessert bagels are also available.

This article comes from one of my favourite series in the New York Times, “The Pour” by Eric Asimov.  Read below about what unique wine retailers are doing here in NYC with what I’m doing with cigars, except they’re involved with one of my other guilty pleasures!

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New Wine Shops in New York Put Patrons at Ease

IT’S Friday night at Alphabet City Wine Company on Avenue C, and the juice is flowing. Two customers lounge on well-worn black vinyl chairs in what could pass for a graduate-school living room. Four more stand in front of a makeshift bar. Music streams from vintage KLH speakers, and Keith Beavers, one of the owners, is deep into his spiel.

“Forget about the word ‘super-Tuscan,’ just try the wine,” he tells a couple at a rustic wood table as he pours a 2006 Montaperto from the Tuscan producer Carpineta Fontalpino into their glasses. He’s gesturing now as if he is at the pulpit, emoting to the masses, not just the six customers in his shop.

“The super-Tuscan idea is so misleading,” he said. “Now everybody thinks super-Tuscans are these big huge things, but this is smoky and smooth, with a subtlety and complexity.”

Sold!

Wherever interest in wine is rising, spirited voices in new shops like Mr. Beavers’s are preaching the pleasures of good bottles. Eric Ambel, a musician and record producer who shops regularly at Alphabet City, likened the staff there to the clerks at record stores he frequented in the 1980s. “They have the same knowing enthusiasm of the guys who tracked your penchant for Pacific Northwest garage rock or pre-CBS Telecaster hillbilly music,” he said.

Like those stores of old, these new wine shops sustain self-reliant souls burning to share their passion for wine. In the process they are extending and improving this country’s wine culture. They stimulate discussion, make more good bottles available to more people and, most important, offer by far the most useful resources for increasing the American public’s confidence in its often uneasy relationship with wine: attentive ears and friendly voices.

Americans today are bombarded with opportunities to learn about wine. New books approach the subject from every conceivable angle, culinary schools offer classes at all levels, and the Internet, well, it just won’t shut up. But the most influential voice many people will hear belongs to their local retailer.

Good wine merchants, like smart sommeliers, are part psychologist and part clairvoyant. They must listen carefully to translate the often inchoate desires of their customers into fulfilling wine experiences. Mr. Beavers puts it slightly differently.

“I’m just a wacko,” he said. “I love getting questions from customers, and I just try to bring wine down to a human level.”

The recent vintage of shops can be found in pockets of wine enthusiasm around the country, including DomaineLA in Los Angeles, Terroir Natural Wine Merchant in San Francisco and CoolVines in Princeton, N.J. But enthusiasm seems to burn hottest in New York City.

Some merchants, like Mr. Beavers, are bringing their messages to neighborhoods that have never enjoyed the benefits of a good shop. Brooklyn’s small fleet of boutique wine shops has grown in the last few years to include Dandelion Wine in Greenpoint, Thirst Wine Merchants in Fort Greene, T. B. Ackerson Wine Merchants in Ditmas Park and Juice Box Wine and Spirits in Windsor Terrace. In Dumbo, Blanc & Rouge opened in 2000, but in the last few years, under new ownership, it has significantly increased its selection and Web presence.

In Queens, Table Wine recently came to Jackson Heights while Long Island City has gained Vine Wine and Hunter’s Point Wines. And in Manhattan, by no means under-served by great wine shops, the armada has grown not only to include pioneering outposts like Frankly Wines in the triangle below Chambers Street, September Wines on the Lower East Side and Pasanella & Son near South Street Seaport, but shops devoted to single specialties, like Chilean wines at Puro on Grand Street, Spanish wines at Tinto Fino in the East Village, Italian wines at Enoteca Di Palo in Little Italy and California wines at California Wine Merchants in the financial district.

The proprietors of these shops believe it’s crucial to alleviate the anxiety of selecting a bottle. Lily Peachin, who opened Dandelion Wine in Greenpoint almost two years ago, called upon her years working as a bartender to help avoid the sterile atmosphere she finds in too many shops. At Dandelion, she went after a lived-in look, adding art and antiques, and placing a few barstools on the worn, crooked floor.

“I wanted to be kind of a non-wine shop wine shop,” she said. “There’s soul here. You can tell good times have been had in the shop. You get that in restaurants and bars, but a lot of wine stores lack that.”

It is important for her that her customers feel relaxed as they browse. As a bartender, she knew her customers’ names and what they drank, and the value of the buyback in inspiring loyalty. She hopes to create the same relationship with her customers at Dandelion.

Of course, décor rarely matters to the committed or even the novice wine drinker if the wines are not inspiring. Ms. Peachin offers some excellent selections at a price range she tries to keep low in deference to her neighborhood. She has terrific lambruscos from Lini and good California gamays from Edmunds St. John, and for the adventurous, Cheville de Fer from Les Vins Conté, a fine, funky côt, or malbec, from the Loire Valley.

Like almost all these shops, Dandelion emphasizes small producers rather than big brand names. It’s a little less mainstream than Table Wine in Jackson Heights, where the guiding principle is simple: every meal can be enhanced by a bottle of wine. And Dandelion is not so esoteric as Thirst Wine in Fort Greene, which sells only bottles that fit the philosophy of what it calls “slow wines,” made as naturally as possible.

None of these shops would dream of selling, say, Yellow Tail, the Australian mega-brand that has come to represent the sort of soulless mass-production bottles that people who care about wine are unlikely to find interesting.

“Our store is based on old-school human dialogue and developing trust,” said Jonathan Walton, who works at Thirst in Fort Greene. “If someone asks for Yellow Tail, we’re not judgmental about it. We ask which one they’re looking for and offer a few other options.”

Those options might include a few small French producers in the Rhone Valley or Languedoc. Michael Yarmark and Emilia Valencia, the couple who own Thirst, were inspired by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, the retail shop in Berkeley, Calif. The owner, Kermit Lynch, is the pioneering importer who specializes in small, independent French producers, and Thirst carries many of Mr. Lynch’s selections.

Like the record stores of yore, most of these shops treasure their independence, both in terms of tastes and in their distance from the large mass-market distributors. Almost all, for example, refuse to post shelf-talkers, those little marketing aides supplied by distributors that include a score and a blurb from some nationally known critic. Instead, they write their own. They are fiercely partial to their own taste while recognizing the realities of a difficult economy and the spectrum of public tastes. And, all things being equal, their sympathy for the underdog is palpable.

“I like to buy wine from people who actually grow the fruit and make and bottle the wine,” said Paul Huston, an owner of Hunter’s Point Wines and Spirits in Long Island City. “Over 90 percent of the stuff in here is actually grown by the people whose name is on the label.”

Mr. Huston, a restaurant veteran whose résumé as wine director includes Scalini Fedeli and the not-to-be-forgotten Arcadia, opened his shop in late 2006. While he recognizes that the public craves cheap wines, he has been unwilling to curtail a more ambitious vision. His front room is tightly packed with excellent inexpensive selections, but in the expansive rear of the shop he sells far more, including older vintages from France, California and Italy.

“Right now the lower end is crucial,” he said. “But if they don’t see that we really know what we’re talking about, that we offer a depth of vintages and a wild selection of spirits, then we can’t compete.”

Christy Frank, who opened Frankly Wines just over two years ago on West Broadway in Manhattan, was more interested in coexistence than competition. Just a few blocks away are well-established shops, including Tribeca Wine Merchants and one of the city’s leading stores, Chambers Street Wines.

Ms. Frank, who left her job with a wine distributor to spend more time with her husband and children, had visited hundreds of shops and had a precise image of how to fill her 320 square feet.

“I wanted a generalist shop, crammed with everything you might find in a good textbook on wine,” she said. She does not try to outdo Chambers Street in areas in which it excels, like Beaujolais and the Loire. But, textbook in mind, she offers excellent educational packages, like a case of wines that illustrate the different meanings of the term “dry.”

“We listen and ask questions, like, ‘Do you mean creamy, buttery dry or grapefruit dry,’ ” she said. “We take the time to help them understand what they really want so they can ask more definitively.”

Small shops like Ms. Frank’s are built on customer service, with the aim of encouraging return visits and, ultimately, building a cherished corps of regulars. This requires not just tolerance but an eagerness to discuss any aspect of wine, approached from any angle.

“I don’t consider any question stupid,” said Mr. Beavers of Alphabet City. “The anxiety of walking into a wine shop is uncalled for.”

Wine is, after all, about the pleasure it offers. Sometimes, it’s in the glass you’ve poured for yourself, but as any host will tell you, more often it’s what you have poured for your guests.

“What I find most fulfilling is not the big dollar sale but watching the incremental jumps that customers make as they elevate their interest,” said Mr. Huston of Hunter’s Point. “Sometimes you can make a small difference in somebody’s evening with the right bottle. I have no loftier ambition.”

A Tour of Wine Shops Across Three Boroughs

Manhattan

ALPHABET CITY WINE COMPANY 100 Avenue C (Seventh Street), (212) 505-9463. Good inexpensive selection, sold with enthusiasm.

CALIFORNIA WINE MERCHANTS 15 Bridge Street (Whitehall), (212) 785-7285. Not quite all California, but almost.

ENOTECA DI PALO 200 Grand Street (Mott Street), (212) 680-0545. From all over Italy, with love.

FRANKLY WINES 66 West Broadway (Warren Street), (212) 346-9544. Tiny shop, packed with choices.

PASANELLA & SON 115 South Street (Peck Slip), (212) 233-8383. Excellent, wide-ranging options.

PURO 161 Grand Street (Centre Street) (212) 925-0090. Chile specialist: part wine, all promotion.

SEPTEMBER WINES 100 Stanton Street (Ludlow Street), (212) 388-0770. Small but excellent.

TINTO FINO 85 First Avenue (East Fifth Street), (212) 254-0850. Superb and all Spanish.

Brooklyn

BLANC & ROUGE 81 Washington Street (York Street), (718) 858-9463. Excellent, wide-ranging selection, high end to low.

DANDELION WINE 153 Franklin Street (India Street), (347) 689-4563. Warm, inviting Greenpoint spot with much to choose from.

JUICE BOX WINE AND SPIRITS 1289 Prospect Avenue (Greenwood Avenue), (718) 871-1110. Excellent resource for Windsor Terrace.

T. B. ACKERSON WINE MERCHANTS 1205 Cortelyou Road (East 12th Street), (718) 826-6600. Necessary addition to Ditmas Park.

THIRST WINE MERCHANTS 187 Dekalb Avenue (Carlton Avenue), (718) 596-7643. In Fort Greene, an inviting array of naturally made wines.

Queens

HUNTER’S POINT WINES AND SPIRITS 47-07 Vernon Boulevard (47th Avenue), (718) 472 9463. Manhattan-scale selection in Long Island City.

TABLE WINE 79-14 37th Avenue (79th Street), (718) 478-9463. Welcome, friendly addition to Jackson Heights.

This article comes to us courtesy of the New York Times, where our ever-so-diligent Mayor Bloomberg is once again taking things too far.

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City Tries to Shut Club It Says Flouts Smoking Ban

By DIANE CARDWELL

Published: March 14, 2010

The nightclub, the M2 UltraLounge on West 28th Street in Manhattan, went on trial last week at a special administrative court that the city uses when it seeks to take away property. If the case against the club succeeds, it would be the first time the city had closed a business solely for flouting a ban on smoking.

City officials have also moved to take several other clubs before the court, seeking to revoke their food and beverage licenses. It has been an open secret for years among the late-night set that there is a network of so-called smoke-easies throughout the city, from little neighborhood dives to glossy, exclusive boîtes, that let patrons smoke illegally.

Health department officials say that the vast majority of businesses comply with the 2002 law forbidding smoking in clubs and bars, but that inspectors have struggled to enforce it at a handful of high-end places that seem to market themselves as smoker-friendly, some even offering loose cigarettes for sale.

Generally, health officials have looked for signs of active tobacco use as part of their inspections concerning other rules, like those for food safety, and have cited clubs for violations that often result in fines of $200 to $2,000.

But they have had difficulty gaining access to the clubs when patrons are actually smoking.

“Some of the clubs where smoking is going on tend to be very, very cool clubs, and a bunch of guys showing up in jackets tend to be very, very uncool,” said Thomas Merrill, general counsel for the health department.

So in recent months, the department has deputized a team of inspectors — many of them younger and hipper-looking than the stereotypical bureaucrat — to work into the wee hours, posing as patrons and hunting for tolerance of smoking by clubs’ employees.

Because the inspectors found many instances of patrons smoking without being asked to stop, the department petitioned the administrative court, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, known as OATH, to recommend revoking the food and beverage licenses of 16 bars and clubs.

“We found places with repeated nights of smoking, with sort of flagrant violations — selling cigarettes, clearly creating an atmosphere in which smoking appeared to be tolerated or even welcomed,” said Daniel Kass, the acting deputy commissioner for environmental health. “Those places are clearly not responding to the idea that we’re going to fine them periodically for violations.”

Five of the clubs have settled with the city, typically agreeing to devise a plan for correction and to pay for any violations, health officials said.

In all but one of the cases, if inspectors find indications of continued smoking during the next year, they can immediately shut the club down and bring it to trial.

Two clubs closed for other reasons, and most of the rest, including the downtown spots Lit Lounge, the Box, Tenjune and Southside, are weighing possible settlements against a looming trial date, city officials said.

The M2 case has gone the furthest. The administrative law judge hearing the case, Alessandra F. Zorgniotti, will make a ruling that will serve as a recommendation to the health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley.

In the trial, which could end as early as Thursday, the city has introduced photos of people with cigarette packs on their tables or with burning cigarettes held aloft on the dance floor.

One inspector testified that a bouncer told her she could smoke in a back area near an exit door; another said he was able to buy a loose cigarette for $2 from a collection of items for sale in the men’s bathroom.

But lawyers for the club say the city’s case is flawed, arguing that the undercover inspectors could not know whether the staff had tried to get patrons to stop smoking. The club, which has been under new management since July, submitted reports showing that bouncers had ejected at least two patrons for smoking, and Robert Bookman, a lawyer representing M2, said it had fired the two employees who had been selling loose cigarettes in the bathroom.

“The law is being misconstrued by the health department purposely to make it sound like it’s an automatic violation for a club having a patron smoking on their premises,” Mr. Bookman said. “All the law says is that we have to make a good-faith effort to inform patrons that they were breaking the law, and not with a nod and a wink.”

He added that investigators had found only a few smokers on each of their visits to the club, which can hold thousands of people. “Not only do the numbers bear out that this is not a smoking lair,” he said, “but it shows that they are in fact doing what they’re supposed to do.”

Mr. Bookman also criticized the city for not going after the smokers themselves, saying that officials were accusing employees of doing what the inspectors do when they see smoking, “which is not doing anything.”

Health officials contend that their obligation is to ensure that the clubs they license follow the law, and that cracking down on the clubs is a more effective deterrent. “The entity is the repeat offender,” Mr. Kass said. “On any given night there might be one person, or 2 people or 10 people or even way more than that, who on their own are welcomed to smoke or allowed to smoke, but they’re not necessarily back the next night.”

Come one come all!!!!

Thanks to the power of social media and the large cigar-loving community out there in cyberspace, I am proud to announce to all of you the first of what will hopefully be many events: the 1st Cigar Tweet-Up in New York City!!! What better way is there to celebrate the coming of Spring and the final weekend of pre-season baseball than surrounded by fellow cigar enthusiasts?? And to top it off, I am proud to announce that this first tweet-up is sponsored by Camacho Cigars! Our friends at Camacho will be providing you with a special cigar to enjoy during the event, but what will it be? A Liberty, a 10th Anniversary??  You need to come down to Nat Sherman to find out and reap the rewards!!

As many of you know I work at Nat Sherman on 42nd St right in the heart of Manhattan and we have a lovely and large space that’s perfect for gatherings of cigar smokers.  On Saturday, 27 March 2010 I am pleased to be able to open our doors to anyone and everyone for a plethora of specials, deals, and unique opportunities to not only enjoy your favourite smokes in our store, but to also stock on up on your smoking needs without breaking the bank.

I will be announcing all of the unique aspects of this event in parts such as the special cigar that will be given away to sample and which cigar manufacturer will be making a special appearance during the day to smoke and hang out with everyone, but first comes first: all deals, box specials, etc will be available to EVERYONE whether you are in-store with us or not.  I know that some of you would love to come and enjoy spending the day with us but you live too far away, so if you still want to take advantage of the special offers all you have to do is call 1-800-MYCIGAR or e-mail me at lheller@natsherman.com!  And speaking of Spring Training and the impending baseball season, spend at least $75.00 during the Tweet-Up from 10a until 7p on 27 March and receive a limited edition Nat Sherman baseball cap (a $25.00 value) for FREE.

If you haven’t been to our newest location at 12 East 42nd St then now is the time to come by.  We have an amazing selection of cigars, cigarettes, pipes, tobacco, smoking accessories and a lovely collection of Tobacciana for those of you who want to see what it was like in the good ole’ days.  The Tweet-Up will take place all day on Saturday, 27 March from 10a until 7p and all deals are good from open to close.  If you’re in the area or wish to spend a great Spring weekend in NYC, c’mon down and meet all the great folks that you talk to on Twitter and the Cigar Message Boards. Sit down, relax, enjoy a quality cigar and make great friends!  I’ll be there all day along with my colleagues to answer any questions, help you pick out cigars, and in general do what we all do best: smoke cigars!

**Stay tuned for more details and a complete list of specials available only during this Tweet-Up event, including a special appearance by a well-known cigar maker. Plus, don’t forget to tweet to your followers & friends what you’ll be smoking with us with the #CigarTweetUp hashtag!**

This is a wonderful victory thus far for my fair city and all of us involved in CRA’s newly formed New York Tobacconist Association. Hopefully now this battle can be waged with logic and the lawmakers can understand that revenue-wise they are doing more harm than good.

**This article was written by Andrew Nagy and comes courtesy of CigarAficionado.com**

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New York City’s controversial flavored tobacco ban, which prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products within the city and was scheduled to go into effect February 26, has been delayed.

The ban, once it takes effect, would prohibit the sale of flavored cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco.

According to Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America, the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Manufacturing Company filed suit in federal court against the city on January 26, arguing that in the case of tobacco, federal law trumps local law.

In addition, the CAA wrote to the NYC Departments of Consumer Affairs and of Health and Mental Hygiene, the agencies charged with enforcing the ban, to point out that the law does not address how retailers and distributors are supposed to determine which products are legal to sell and which aren’t.

The city has responded by sending a letter to the district court judge who is presiding over the lawsuit that says the city is delaying enforcement of the ban until rules can be established, which likely won’t be before early April.

I’m not going to deny that there isn’t always something of interest going on here in New York, but many of us as residents look forward to specific weeks during the year, and with me being female I of course look forward to Fashion Week and Restaurant Week.  The Winter edition of Restaurant Week has just kicked off on Monday, 25 January and will run until 7 February with about 260 restaurants participating.

I know most major cities have adopted what we New Yorkers first did in 1992, but essentially some of the top eateries you might not get to eat at otherwise select dishes iconic to their respective menus and offer a three – course lunch or dinner at a ridiculously low price.  Happening every winter and summer, this year’s prices are $24.07 (lunch) and $35 (dinner) and allows the great majority of people to experience what food should really be like without having to be a celebrity to get a table or have a deep wallet.  For more information, please click here.  (**TIP: some of the participating restaurants will be allowing their Restaurant Week specials to continue through 28 February, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!)

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Now I could go on and on about some of the restaurants you’ll see by clicking on the above link, but I thought it might be better to highlight some of my personal favourites.

• Anthos: Great Greek food without the kitschy bouzouki music and greasy waiters offering you cheap ouzo. The Slow Braised Pork Shank on the menu will confuse you when you read about it, but will make your taste buds dance when you eat it.
• Brasserie Ruhlmann: I will go anywhere where Michael Ruhlmann is in charge.
• Capsouto Freres: Owned/operated by the Father & Uncles of a former coworker this is true French food. This restaurant has been in TriBeCa for two decades and was one of the few establishments to not go out of business after 9/11.
• Dos Caminos: There are three locations but I’m loyal to Third Ave. Actually authentic Mexican food with an emphasis on Yucatecan food, aka my favourite. The only place outside of the Yucatan I eat Cochinita Pibil.
• Osteria del Circo: Great truly Italian menu and they put the Wild Boar Stew with Soft Truffle Polenta on the menu for this, so ’nuff said. A dish like that is true Italian comfort food.
• Pershing Square: Great New American food, but I have to say I’m a bit biased because the Executive Chef is a friend and customer of mine, so if anything patronize this restaurant because he is a real cigar smoker!
• Victor’s Café: One of my favourite spots in NYC because it’s one of a handful of Cuban places left. Great atmosphere, decent wine list and you can’t go wrong with their Ropa Vieja en Nido de Plátanos.

Brought to you by my lovely friends at Thrillist (there will be a cigar bar, too):