Features

Oldfellas

A tiny clue in a dormant Brooklyn murder case reignited old suspicions that two NYPD detectives spent the eighties moonlighting as mob killers. Now those cops are at the center of a legal circus�bloody allegations, backstabbing kingpins, Jimmy Breslin, defense lawyers shouting �This is an outrage!��of the kind not seen since Gotti’s heyday. Welcome to the last great Mafia hoedown.

Mr. Times and His Knights of the Square Table

At the Mott Hall School, a new generation of brilliant, street-smart ethnic strivers (hailing from Albania, China, Mexico, the Dominican Republic . . . ) play world-class chess under the guidance of a Harlem-born-and-raised guru named Jerald Times. Following the ultimate New York team in its long-shot quest for a national title.

Intelligencer

Intelligencer Gossip

Warner Music to snag Irv Gotti? ... Martha’s house-buyer on her domestic neglect.

It Happened Last Week

It was a week crowded with culture, some of it elevated, some not.

An Illicit Yoga Love Story

Is adultery un-yogic? Two gurus speak out about their infamous affair.

Vive La Laziness!

Frenchwoman to New Yorkers: Embrace laziness.

Strategist

Best Bets

Scented soap from a top perfumer, super-smooth tequila, and more.

Economy of One

Architect Enrique Norten spends an imaginary $100,000.

Look Book

An apartment-hunting artist.

Great Room

An exquisitely airy summer cottage.

Shop News

Store openings this week.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Michelle Weaver of Vivienne Tam.

Sales & Bargains:
This week's hottest sales & bargains.

Market Research

Beach Chairs.

The Restaurant Review

Yumcha gets Asian fusion right.

In Season

Rhubarb.

Restaurant Openings & Buzz

Week of May 16, 2005: Sette Enoteca e Cucina, Frederick's, and Habana Outpost: Brooklyn. Plus, a preview of Bouley Bakery, and a classy hot dog-eating contest.

Ask Gael

Omakase is my middle name.

Better Bitters

In pre-Prohibition days, a cocktail, by definition, was not a cocktail if it didn’t contain bitters.

Sky High

For drinking and dining al fresco, few places beat the roof.

Feed the Kids

Three May benefits to help develop the budding gourmet’s taste buds.

Mating

The straight girl date.

Beauty

A red lipstick how-to.

The Culture Pages

We're All Nerds Now

Star Wars and the triumph of nerd culture.

Movie Review

The best thing about the last Star Wars movie is that it’s the last Star Wars movie.

Theater Review

Christina Applegate and Sweet Charity are pleasantly adequate; a critic bids farewell after 36 years.

Show and Tell

Stars on stage.

Pop Music Review

The new Weezer album occasionally recalls the band’s best work.

Influences: Moby

If Flannery O’Connor had been 20 when I was 20, I probably would have proposed to her.

Art Review

Jack Goldstein and Gregory Crewdson: a painter who makes the sublime banal and a photographer who makes the banal mysterious.

Neo Ranch: Renegaten Reviewed

Neo Rauch has made old-school Socialist Realism accessible, and even palatable, to Western curators and collectors.

Show and Tell: Sophie Von Hellermann

"I did several paintings where I just replaced time with space."

TV Review

Showtime’s priest-scandal drama has plenty of facts but not much heart.

Reality-TV Index

A recurring guide to which shows are on the rise and which are about to crash.

HBO overacts

Someone might want to tell HBO that the business of acting is disproportionately interesting to actors themselves.

Columnists

The Imperial City

The first ground-zero design was hasty, cheap political symbolism. Let’s not make the same mistake again.

The Home Front

Terrorism simulations aim to prepare responders for New York’s peculiar logistics.

The Week

New on DVD.

Departments

Letters to the Editor