Holiday Food

The Blasphemist's Christmas

A Wylie Dufresne Christmas dinner fit for a mad scientist, including smoked mashed potatoes and candy-cane-coated lamb.

The Hedonist’s New Year’s Brunch

Haute-cuisine hangover cures from Anthony Bourdain.

The Fanatic's Grocery List

Shopping advice for the pickiest gourmet, including where to buy foodie-grade caviar, oysters, turkey, ham, beef, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and everything you could possibly use in a holiday pie.

Features

Remain Calm

The city has prepared an �all hazards� approach to combating avian flu, dirty bombs, earthquakes, zombie attacks, and other nuisances of the coming end of the world.

When Bad Things Happen

A case-by-case guide to what to do when disaster strikes; also, the mad scramble for the avian-flu vaccine, a map of where disaster would strike.

Mary, Mary, Less Contrary

Early in her career, Mary Gaitskill relied on her own chaotic experiences to fuel her searing fiction. But she couldn’t possibly keep that up forever. Her latest novel, nominated for a National Book Award, is a shrewd reckoning of her old life and her much more ordinary new one.

The Voice from Beyond the Grave

Reacting to changes with predictions of doom is a hallowed Village Voice tradition�until now. When the paper announced its pending merger with an empire-builder from the Sun Belt, the old lefties were too worn out to cause a fuss. But this brash outsider may have just the stuff to get them all riled up again.

Intelligencer

Italian Playboy Takes Laight St. Bait

Lachlan ties up real-estate loose ends; what’s going to become of Nolita mansion?

Morgenthau Gets Witchy About Leslie Crocker Snyder

Seems like feisty 86-year-old Robert Morgenthau,the inevitably reelected Manhattan D.A., still hasn’t forgiven primary challenger Leslie Crocker Snyder.

Teetotaling Hotel on Times Square?

Bad dream for Chatwal.

Johnny Depp: Suburbanite?

Weston, ho!

The $80,000 Pasta Bible

Jackpot for unemployed slot-machine engineer and heretic.

It Happened Last Week

Thankfully the week provided a few nonpartisan, non-apocalyptic distractions, at least for those New Yorkers not fretting about their star rating in the Michelin guide.

Remember the �Alamo’?

After eight months in rehab in Connecticut, the cube is coming home to Astor Place.

Shame On You!

It’s sweeps month! How low can local TV news go?

Mayoral-Campaign Countdown

The election looks like a blowout. See you in four!

The Parking-Spot Whisperer

After years of lonely study, Erik Feder knows all the ticketers’ tricks. Is he a menace to the city�or a hero?

The New Yorker’s Guide to Surviving Alito

How Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito might reshape the law, and how to protect yourself.

Columns

The Imperial City

A tale of two second terms�why Bush’s has been disastrous and Bloomberg’s looks rosy.

The City Politic

Bloomberg’s shot at historical greatness is all riding on what he does at ground zero.

Strategist

Best Bets

An alluring postage stamp, delivery-ready firewood, and more.

Shop News

Store openings this week.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Jamie Gray of Matter.

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

Look Book

A high-school junior who loves David Bowie and tight-fitting clothes.

Closet in the Sky

A closet to die for on Fifth Avenue.

Real Estate

Is Malcolm moving to the middle of Astor Place?

Cuckoo for Cocoa

It’ll make you forget that mysterious, sweet maple-syrup smell: The annual Chocolate Show returns this week.

Anniversary Specials

The common restaurant trick of reverting to �original prices� to mark a birthday is worth celebrating�and this week, you can do it twice.

The Culture Pages

Last Exit to Baghdad

Soldiers’ memoirs and George Packer’s substantive history show how the Iraq War is different from all the others.

Movie Review

Keira Knightley is a great lead; it’s too bad her male counterpart isn’t Colin Firth.

Theater Review

A jubilant week for perversity and the American musical.

Book Review

A comic-book series about a superhero who quits the world-saving business to take on a more difficult job: being mayor of New York.

Art Review

The sweet complexity of the Met’s Fra Angelico exhibit.

Auctions

In the hot contemporary market, Phillips de Pury more than holds it own.

The Approval Matrix

Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies.

Departments

Letters to the Editor