Features

Fishing With Howell

Ousted from the newsroom, ex�Times editor Howell Raines now practices his brand of erudite freethinking in midstream.

The Sayings of Chairman Chow

Generations come and go, but the glow around Mr. Chow’s restaurant empire never dims. Cataloguing the celebrity-charming wisdom of a man who’s been in and around the limelight since the day he was born to glamorous, doomed parents in Shanghai.

Intelligencer

The Dad Who Fell to Earth

David Bowie sneaks into the movies.

Wall Street Shorts the GOP

In 2005, the Democrats outraised Republicans in the securities-and-investment industry for the first time since 1994.

Après L’affaire Plame

Wilson gloats about Rove.

Estonia’s Landlord Gets Sued

All that wasted kroon.

Lit Scenester Predicts Apocalypse

Quetzalcoatl told him!

Fantasy Islands

In retrospect, it seems like such a simple plan: Assassinate Bill Gates, steal nuclear material from Area 51 in Nevada, and blow up the bridges leading to and from America’s commercial capital�Staten Island.

The Life Aquatic

What happens when the city�s top aquarium man is hired by David Blaine? Either the fish die or Blaine dies. (Or, no fish.)

Ms. Jacobs's Neighborhood

Life continues (only with celebrities) on Jane Jacobs's model block.

Celibate and Lovin� It

Deep inside the forbidding opus dei citadel in midtown, young numeraries hold sing-alongs.

Good Times

Just out: the collected works of the former Times public editor, complete with footnotes and lingering feuds.

Strategist

Best Bets

An industrial-strength ice crusher, some bourbon from a Revolutionary War�era distillery, and more.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Liza Corsillo of YoyaMart.

Shop News

Store openings this week.

Look Book

A Barcelonan actress who steals from her cousin’s closet.

Map

Hidden secrets of the Lower�Lower East Side (and that’s not a misprint).

The Restaurant Review

A Voce is a conventional Italian restaurant, which is (mostly) a good thing.

In Season

A grilled leeks recipe from a Savoy chef.

Insatiable Critic

I worry that the drive to reinvent the octopus has dizzied Michael Psilakis, the inspired young chef-owner of the Upper West Side’s Onera, since Donatella Arpaia lured him east to co-reign at her new, handsomely outfitted Dona.

Restaurant Openings & Buzz

Week of May 1, 2006: Gribouille, Craftsteak, Ditch Plains, and Parea.

Tyler Florence

The Food Network star and People magazine’s onetime sexiest chef talks about his new show, his mysterious New York restaurant project, and how not to treat a Cocoa Puff.

In Good Taste

Danny Meyer’s charity of choice throws its annual do-gooder ball.

Gastro Grub

Where to tuck into beans on toast or a spot of tea after the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s �AngloMania� exhibition opens on May 3.

Travel

Culinary adventures in Basque country.

Real Estate

The glut of glitzy new developments turns some buyers back to prewar charm.

Movers

After months of searching downtown, Jamie-Lynn Sigler has gone into contract on a multilevel two-bedroom, two-bath loft for under $3 million in Tribeca.

Same Space, Different Place

An extra 60 square feet and a spare closet can’t explain why these studios, only a block apart in upper Gramercy Park, are priced $80,000 apart.

The Culture Pages

The Approval Matrix: Week of May 8, 2006

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

Seriously, Folks

David Schwimmer expresses his inner yearning for justice on Broadway.

The Movie Review

In making the most expensive Chinese movie ever, martial-arts auteur Chen Kaige put his money to good use.

King Con: John Malkovich

Q&A with the Art School Confidential and Colour Me Kubrick star.

The Theater Review

Anne Rice loses to Adam Sandler in the musical-adaptation game.

Landscape of the Body

John Guare mixes his experience of Beame-era Greenwich Village with the day’s seedier headlines to give the old moving-to-the-big-city story a distinct 1977 flavor.

Art Review

Renzo Piano’s Morgan Library takes an up-to-the-minute approach to the display of ancient treasures.

Show and Tell: Margarita Cabrera

Goofy-looking though it may be, Margarita Cabrera’s life-size Hummer H2 is hardly more ridiculous than the vehicle that inspired it.

The Classical Review

Deborah Voigt disappoints in Tosca.

The Book Review

Even a small novel from Philip Roth is filled with more bleak insights than others can manage.

Show and Tell: Harvey Pekar

Harvey Pekar is setting his sights on stories told by others, beginning with his new book, Ego & Hubris.

The Pop Music Review

A weirdly great 9/11 song from the reclusive Scott Walker.

Influences: Gnarls Barkley

St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley's debut, is an unclassifiable mix of psychedelic rock, hip-hop, and electronic music, all topped by Cee-Lo’s classic soul vocals.

Columns

Cityside

The Orthodox Jews of the Satmar brace for a brother-on-brother civil war over who will succeed their late rebbe.

The Week

Rooms for Argument

Smart talk about two superhot issues.

Vital Drama

The Drama League Directors Project and Vital Theatre Company celebrate their alumni, as four graduates direct short plays.

The British Are Coming

Highlights from the annual Brits Off Broadway festival, returning to 59E59 Theaters in May with a new group of shows from across the pond.

Art Alfresco

Free outdoor exhibitions�in case, by some chance, the warm weather decides to stick around for real.

The Next Generation

As opera season winds down, unique new vocal music blossoms.

All That Jazz

Two experimental-music icons come to the Stone, the East Village’s premier jazz spot.

Departments

Letters to the Editor