A great meal comes in many shapes and sizes at Ootoya When the Tokyo chain sometimes called the Denny’s of Japan for its sheer ubiquity (somewhat unfairly, as what, then, are we supposed to call the many Dennyses—yes, the Denny’s—that also thrive there?) announced it was opening its first U.S. branch on a side street 
There’s hope yet for the wayward meal at JoeDoe Brunch stinks. The franken-meal manages to drag through the mud two of our most venerable dining concepts: breakfast foods and the noble art of daydrinking—perverting the latter with baby-strength mimosas and tepid bloody marys and drowning the former in a tidal wave of mediocre egg dishes 
The new year won’t be complete until you hit our hand-picked dining spots By Regan Hofmann We’re ready to declare 2012 the year of the death of the meal, and we couldn’t be happier about it. As more and more chefs embraced versatile dining, adding snacks to their menus, scaling down dishes or doing away 
Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar is too flashy and doesn’t have much heart. The arrival at 220 W. 44th St. of Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar, aka The Guy Fieri Restaurant, was for some the final nail in the coffin of the old Times Square, that halcyon place of peep shows and slashers, flashers and 
The dubious feminizing of self-defense products Pink dresses, pink razors, pink tasers—oh my! It’s every woman’s dream come true. Now she can defend herself and look feminine at the same time. Because nothing says “Get back!” like a cute hot-pink can of pepper spray. Self-defense is no longer only a precaution, but increasingly a fashion 
A chicken in every pot—for every budget There is nothing more basic than a chicken dinner. Once a sign of prosperity (“Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” anyone?) and stability, it has over the years been downgraded to the most basic unit of protein, good for not much more than adding bulk to a Caesar salad 
Northern Spy Food Co. sounds like one of a thousand similar restaurants, but it’s on another playing field altogether It’s almost embarrassing trying to explain Northern Spy Food Co. to friends. “I found this fantastic little restaurant in the East Village,” you start. Already you can see their eyes start to glaze over, but they 
One of the best parts of the Olympic Games is the way network TV covers the host city. No matter where it is, pre-Games coverage includes a breathless narrative of the country’s proud traditions, its friendly people and its position for a stronger tomorrow over gauzy shot after gauzy shot of sweeping vistas and laughing 
While many applauded Mayor Bloomberg’s implementation of the restaurant letter grading system to bring transparency to a Byzantine health inspection process, it’s never held much sway for me; everyone knows the best restaurants are the ones most likely to inspire, at best, a grudging C grade and a passing glare from daintier patrons. 
