Table of Contents

November 20, 2006 Issue

Cover Story

Best Hospitals 2006

Where would New York’s physicians seek refuge in a medical emergency? We asked over 1,000 of them and ranked the city’s best hospitals according to their preferences.
Plus: Where to go for specialties ranging from heart surgery to obstetrics, the doctors’ choice for best overall hospital, and Dr. Sandeep Jauhar on why bigger means better where medical care is concerned.

Features

The Death of (the Idea of) the Upper East Side

The favored stomping ground of Astors and Vanderbilts has lost its hold on the imaginations of all those who aspire to Astor- or Vanderbilt-level wealth. A letter mailed these days to the city’s most expensive Zip Code goes to Tribeca. Now, the decline of Park Avenue isn’t exactly a sob story, but was the segregation of downtown and Big Money really such a bad thing?

The Perfect Score

Ryan Leslie’s 1600 SATs and outstanding academic record got him, at age 15, into Harvard�where he spent his time messing around with drum machines and cultivating an image as a �thugged-out Lothario.� It paid off: As the producer of R&B’s sultry diva of the moment, he’s mastered the trick of breaking new artists in the MySpace era.

Intelligencer

Obama Absent as ’08 Hopefuls Hit Town

Candidates and donors must dance around Hillary.

Tom Ford No Fan of Soap

Stinky and proud.

Who Will Broadcast Al Jazeera?

There may be one taker.

The Responsibilities of Great Sexiness

Weighty, manly crown.

Transgender Not a Wedding Loophole

Not by a wig alone.

Plowshares

A week that commenced with swords drawn concluded with olive branches extended.

Swift-Boat Revenge

How one New Yorker beat Republicans at the attack-ad game.

Mmmm, Pork!

Federal wish list from our city’s reps.

Sold Short

The computerization of the Big Board is quickly turning the trading floor into a ghost town.

So Died the Golden Dream

The era when N.Y. Times�ers went Californicating at the L.A. Times is over.

Strategist

Best Bets

A fun-for-the-whole-family game that’s actually fun, and other aids to help you through Thanksgiving.

Ask a Shop Clerk

Jordan Silver of Selima Optique.

Shop News

Everything Must Go Opens in Harlem this week.

Look Book

A shoe designer who hires her employees based on their footwear.

Restaurant Review

Great artisanal meat served in a refreshingly traditional setting.

In Season

George W. Bush, as recently revealed, may like his scallops about as much as his dad likes broccoli, but perhaps that’s because he’s never had the pleasure of tucking into a plateful of the Peconic Bay variety.

Insatiable Critic

Metro Marché is a courageous gambit in a corner of the Port Authority bus station, turning out amazingly good brasserie dishes at astonishingly gentle prices.

Restaurant Openings

Week of November 13, 2006: Gordon Ramsey at the London, Pera Mediterranean Brasserie, Dean's Family Style Restaurant and Pizzeria.

Rooms With Booze

Suddenly restaurants are overflowing with new annexes for wine, ouzo, shochu�and as many private parties as they can book.

Taste Taste: Stuffing

A takeout-stuffing showdown.

Beyond Pickles and Matzo

With gentrification comes new and exciting things to eat�and not just for yuppies. Behold the latest in the Rivington Street corridor.

Talking Turkey

The hard sell from Butterball notwithstanding, Thanksgiving need not be an exercise in masochism�not when so many chefs make it easy to leave the carving and cleanup to someone else.

Great Room

The art of loft subdivision.

Breeding

The ghosts of your single past still haunt you even after you’ve had kids.

Real Estate

Downtown brownstones go open-air.

Boy From Oz Still Restless; Hilary and Chad Stuck Together

Has Hugh Jackman really spent an entire year looking for a new place to live?

Fame Slept Here

Every year, there’s a little less of the artist-friendly (as opposed to shopping-friendly) Soho of yore, and this Greene Street building is just about to make the transition.