Chinatown: Stop letting the other ’hoods use me. If they don’t want to meet for dim sum during the day, then they can take their club beats elsewhere at night. And tell Nolita to quit invading my space.Photo by Christopher Schoenbohm

Look at you, New York! I hardly recognize this group of non-smoking, exercising, healthy-eating and organized individuals. What happened? You used to be fun. Interesting, at least.

The truth is, if everyone in New York sticks to their resolutions, it could throw off the balance of this entire city, country and world at large. Grocery stores will sell out of fresh produce, and SeamlessWeb will go under faster than it can send a confirmation email. Gyms will become so overcrowded that citywide riots will break out in a moment of elliptical desperation. Cigarette companies will—er, bad example.

Countless livelihoods depend on your laziness, unhealthy habits and destructive behaviors. Think of the artisan baker who relies on your sweet tooth to pay the bills. Don’t you believe in supporting small businesses? Don’t you want to stimulate the economy? Or how about the bartender who depends on your liquored-up generosity to support his true passion? Thanks to your selfish resolution to drink less, you may be robbing the world of his future Oscar-winning documentary exposing the slaughter of bonobos in the Congo. Maybe that film would have started a worldwide movement to save the bonobos from extinction. Perhaps even inspired an end to the Congo’s years of devastating warfare in the process. Don’t you want to end violence in the Congo? Don’t you think bonobos are cute?

So go ahead and smoke your first cigarette of 2013. Bite that hangnail. Fall so hard off the donut wagon that you might have broken something if not for their—and your—pillowy softness to cushion the landing. It’s the least you can do.

Our neighborhoods, however, are another story. They could use a few resolutions, and from the look of things, they have their work cut out for them in 2013:

Meatpacking: Drink lesssss [hiccup]. And learn Italian.

Chelsea: Stop making fun of MiMa. He didn’t make it up.

West Village: Start growing vegetables on the roofs of my restaurants. Oh wait, that was last year’s.

Midtown: Separate my work from my social life. Leave my Blackberry at—sorry, gotta take this … What? Now? I’m just finishing a scorpion bowl with my boys at BroJim’s. I’ll be at the office in 10.

East Village: Keep my beard clean.

Tribeca: Stop letting myself be defined by my friends. Tell De Niro I need some space. Again.

Nolita: Stop giving all the other neighborhoods adorably personalized gifts from my shops. When did anyone ever give me a necklace made of gilded flower petals in the shape of my name?

Little Italy: Go gluten-free.

Murray Hill (hers): Stop wearing my Kappa Delta Phi butt pants to unlimited champagne brunch.

Murray Hill (his): Stop hitting on girls wearing Kappa Delta Phi butt pants at unlimited champagne brunch.

Times Square: Meditate more. Like, all the time.

An offshoot of Occupy Wall Street is raising money to help alleviate consumer debt.

By Caroline Lewis

“Whoa, did you see that?” asked Annie Spencer, a professor at Hunter College and a member of the Occupy group Strike Debt. “The live ticker on the Rolling Jubilee website just crossed $200,000 being raised.” That was enough to purchase and abolish more than $4 million of debt.

It was hours before “The People’s Bailout,” a live fundraising extravaganza that would kick off the Rolling Jubilee at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village last Thursday, with help from a slew of comedians and alternative music icons.

Thanks, in part, to some unlikely praise from mainstream financial commentators, Strike Debt had already far surpassed their initial goal of raising $50,000.

The Rolling Jubilee is a project designed to put Occupiers in the same speculative secondary debt market as professional debt collectors. They will buy debt from banks for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolish it.

By Monday, the ticker on the group’s website counted more than $350,000 in donations, all of which will go toward reducing the amount owed by some unsuspecting debt-strapped Americans.
Slate’s Matthew Yglesias briefly wonders, “Why is this a better idea than just giving money to poor people?” before admitting that “almost all charitable undertakings are organized around some kind of gimmick.”

“We don’t like the idea of framing the debtor as someone who needs charity,” said Spencer, whose red felt square pinned to her clothing identified her as a member of the movement. “The reality is that three quarters of Americans are in debt of some kind, and increasing numbers of people go into debt for meeting basic needs.”

Praises for the Rolling Jubilee have rightly been qualified by the observation that this endeavor probably won’t make a dent in America’s $11 trillion of debt.

In fact, the group can’t even promise to erase an entire family’s debt.

“This first debt purchase of over $100,000 of medical debt [constitutes] roughly 80 different people,” said Thomas Gokey, who helped execute the group’s successful test run.

That’s because debt is purchased in bundles of defaulted accounts from banks for a fraction of what is owed. The professionals then aggressively seek payment for the full amount from individual debtors. Those in the red don’t have to pay back much for debt collectors to turn a profit.

So what has this foray into the debt market revealed so far? For one thing, there’s a lot more than money at stake. “You’re not just buying their debt,” said Gokey of the accounts purchased. “You’re buying their social security number.”

The social security number comes with the debtor’s last known address and a handful of other information.

“It’s not a lot in the context of debt collection, because they’re not getting any of the documentation that would support their claim that this is how much is owed and it’s for this account and it’s with this company,” said Susan Chin, a staff attorney with the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP).

Chin said debtors are often unaware that they can request verification on claims from debt collectors, and that collectors must stop seeking payment on accounts that cannot be verified.
“In general, there’s not a lot of oversight right now of the debt buyer industry,” Chin said. This may change starting next year. Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced plans to police debt collection agencies starting in January 2013.

Some have pointed out the peculiarities of the debt market as limitations of the Rolling Jubilee. For instance, certain kinds of debt—such as mortgages and student debt—are more difficult to abolish due to government protections.

The group’s website counters, “These peculiarities are part of the scandal that we are trying to highlight.”

By Caroline Lewis

A “postmodern grassroots variety show” may sound like just another one of the dismissive names people have been lobbing at Occupy ever since it cropped up in Zuccotti Park last September. But that’s what activist Laura Hanna promises in the fundraising extravaganza the Occupy group Strike Debt is putting on tonight at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village.

"The art collective Not an Alternative sets up giant props they made for the event. Photo by Caroline Lewis

For some, this will be a quirky variety show, but for alternative music and comedy fans, this will be a star-studded event. Comedians like Janeane Garofolo and David Rees will entertain along with members of Neutral Milk Hotel, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and Das Racist (OK, there will be magicians, jugglers, and real live Occupiers as well).

What brings them all together? It’s the kickoff of the Rolling Jubilee. The Rolling Jubilee is an ongoing “project of Strike Debt that buys debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolishes it,” explains the group’s website.

And thanks to some very kind words from mainstream commentators hailing from all over the political spectrum, the group far surpassed their goal for tonight’s fundraiser before it even started.

“Whoa, did you see that?” asked Annie Spencer, a member of Strike Debt. “The live ticker on the Rolling Jubilee website just crossed $200,000 being raised.” That’s enough to buy and abolish more than $4 million worth of debt.

Praises being sung of the Rolling Jubilee are rightly qualified by the observation that this is a nice thought, but probably won’t make a dent in America’s $11 trillion of debt. In fact, the group can’t even promise to erase an entire family’s debt.

“This first debt purchase of over $100,000 of medical debt is roughly 80 different people,” said Thomas Gokey, who helped execute the group’s successful test run.

Gokey said that certain kinds of debt, like mortgage debt and student debt, are also more difficult to erase. “As we learn more about the industry and talk to more people with expertise who are willing to help us, we may learn that there are additional things possible.”

But if nothing else, the Rolling Jubilee is educating people about the rules of the debt game by letting them join in.

The fundraiser will be interactive as well. “I think what makes us different is we don’t actually have telephones that are ringing in,” said Hanna. “But we have a social media booth that we’re going to set up so we can interact with people who are watching the LiveStream.”

You can learn more about debt and the Rolling Jubilee by checking out the resources on their website or watching the LiveStream of tonight’s fundraiser, which will be complete with “speed lectures” on a variety of debt-related issues. And jugglers – don’t forget the jugglers.

The theme of the annual Village Halloween parade this year was to have been a 2012 Mayan countdown. With the streets of downtown Manhattan already dark and apocalyptic in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the parade was cancelled for the first time in its venerated 39-year history.

But on Wednesday night, more than a hundred determined revelers whooped and danced through the Village anyway, brightening the darkened streets with costumes fashioned out of blinking lights and glowsticks. More people joined as the parade wound a zigzagging route up from Prince Street, past 14^th and toward the brightly lit buildings uptown.

Photo by Emily Johnson

“Well apparently [the parade] is rescheduled, but the only time to come out for Halloween is Halloween night,” said Christopher Hardwick, whose white coattails and top hat were decked out with blue lights.

“You can’t come out the Saturday before or the night before, its always Halloween where it’s rocking,” Hardwick said. “And there were a lot of people in the neighborhood without power with cabin fever. I walked here from the East Village, which has absolutely no power, down fourteen flights of stairs.”

Hardwick, who belongs to a group of costume enthusiasts known as Kostume Kult, was one of the organizers of the informal event. He regularly emcees the group’s float in the annual parade.

Police accompanied the parade through the streets, and for much of the way, the flashing lights on the NYPD vehicles were the main source of visibility. On Christopher Street, the crowd spilled into the middle of the road and officers had to hem them in with megaphones. Some of the marchers pitched in to restore order.

“Onto the sidewalk, darlings, everybody onto the sidewalk,” trilled an imposing figure dressed as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Some people on the event’s Facebook page had expressed worry that even a small, unofficial parade would be an unnecessary distraction for the beleaguered city. Jim Glazer, another organizer dressed as a red dragon, acknowledged these concerns.

“We had a mixed reaction,” said Glazer, more commonly known as Costume Jim. “Some people didn’t like the idea because they thought it would take away resources. But the people who really get art, I think, understand that helping people’s morale is a very important aspect of aid for downtown.”

It seemed to be working. Smiling faces appeared at windows lit by candlelight, peering down at the street and beckoning more people to come and look. Motorists stopped their cars on the street to take pictures. “Halloween is not dead!” one man yelled from a passing cab, eliciting cheers from the marchers. And occasionally the parade came upon unsuspecting, delighted costume-wearing people who joined in, swelling the size of the crowd as it marched on.

A small band featuring a large tuba-like instrument, akin to something out of a Dr. Suess story, provided the soundtrack for the parade. Cyclists rode alongside, speakers blasting Lady Gaga songs and the theme from “Ghostbusters.”

For fashion designer Megan Bielli, 24, the mob of light and noise was a welcome relief after days of quiet darkness in her East Village apartment, where she and her boyfriend had been steadily working their way through all of their perishable food.

“It’s been really dark and dreary going outside, walking around my neighborhood,” she said, a pair of glowstick ears perched on top of her head. “It was nice to go to work today where there’s electricity and charge my phone, check the internet. That’s where I found out about this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it.”

She said she intended to join the others in walking up to where the power was back on.

“The whole point is not to be a nuisance,” she said. “It’s Just to shine a little light on a dark time.”

The Village Halloween Parade, a 39-year tradition, is just another check on the list of Hurricane Sandy’s victims, which includes the destruction of much of Atlantic City, Long Island, Downtown Manhattan and the New York City mass transit system.

“For the first time in our 39 year history, the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management and the NYPD have CANCELLED the Parade,” read the official website of the Village Halloween Parade, which was scheduled for Halloween night.

Serra Hirsch started piecing together her costume Sunday evening, moving the tree and the bear around to see where she wanted them. Photo by Sophia Rosenbaum

Instead of intricate costumes and mobs of people taking over 6th Avenue in the Village, clean-up crews will be working to remove fallen trees and bring power back to the millions in the dark since Monday’s super storm.

Destruction around the metropolitan area evoked images of doomsday. A spooky coincidence, perhaps, but this year’s Halloween parade featured an end-of-the-world theme: “Tick! Tock!,” a poke at the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the end of the world in 2012.

Jeanne Fleming, the producing director of the parade, sent an email Tuesday evening to participants and media alerting them to the cancelation of the parade after Mayor Michael Bloomberg made it official on Tuesday afternoon.

Fleming is working diligently to reschedule the parade, but said it is only possible if the organization’s small budget allows for it.

“It seems at the moment as if we cannot afford to do it a week later,” she said.

Meanwhile, Serra Hirsch, a puppeteer who has been active in the parade since 1994, remained hopeful Tuesday evening that the parade will be rescheduled sometime next week.

Hirsch said the cancellation was a “huge bummer” for her, but said mass transit is crucial to the return of pre-Hurricane Sandy New York City.

“We can’t return to normal until the subway returns,” she said. “The city is crippled with no subway, and the police, sanitation, and other services aren’t really available to make the parade run smoothly and safely.”

Hirsch said she understands the decision to cancel the parade, as safety is an issue to begin with because people’s costumes cause obstructed views, and drunk audience members sometimes become aggressive.

“I don’t think they had a choice,” she said. “The light’s are out still throughout the parade route. It’s just not safe.”

Jennifer Weidenbaum, 34, has gone to the parade with Hirsch for five years and started working on her ski-costume in August. She attempted to get into the city Tuesday from her home in Jersey City, but said too many roads were closed. On her drive home, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

“I was actually happy when I was listening to the radio in the car when they said the parade was cancelled,” Weidenbaum said. “I don’t want any of the city’s resources to be directed towards a parade when there’s so many other important things going on.”

Sunday afternoon, Hirsch was busy at work on her elaborate campfire costume scene of two girl scouts at a campfire roasting marshmallows with a bear lurking behind them. Hirsch’s plan was to act as the head of one of the girls and said she planned on pretending she had no idea there was a bear behind her.

While Hirsch is working on her costume at a much more relaxed pace now, she is still set to appear on Kelly and Michael’s live Halloween show, which was moved to November 5 due to the storm. If she wins the costume contest, she could win a $10,000 gift card to Home Goods.

Weidenbaum is still planning on celebrating Halloween this evening in her Jersey City neighborhood. Her costume of an Olympic skier racing down a mountain to the finish line is almost complete, and she plans to use it for next year’s Halloweenparade in the West Village.

“I’ll have a leg up next year,” she said. “I’ll put it in storage.”

Photo Courtesy of WIki Commons

by Alissa Fleck

Seventy-four-year-old Pearl Grossberg was recently evicted from her W. 12th St. rent-stabilized apartment, and has been couch-surfing ever since, reports Gothamist. Six years ago Grossberg got caught retiling her apartment—a violation of her rent stabilization contract—which resulted in a series of legal actions by her landlord that eventually got her thrown out. Grossberg had lived in the apartment for 44 years.

The apartment, for which Grossberg was paying less than $1,000, was re-sectioned into a two-bedroom for $3,800, according to Gothamist. “It’s all about money and greed,” said the resentful Grossberg. She has been couch-surfing at friends’ places since January, and sees no easy resolution for her predicament.

This is not the first time Grossberg, a longtime NYC resident, has known fame. She’s a “self-proclaimed Beatnik,” Gothamist reports, and was formerly a figure on the New York jazz scene. She had various affairs with notable musicians over the years, including Les McCan. “Nothing about me is traditional,” she told the weblog. After beating breast cancer in 1997, she became something of a fitness guru. Now, financial troubles keep her from aspiring to the former lifestyle and frequenting some of the old haunts.

Situations like Grossberg’s are not unusual, as landlords around the city are often eager to do away with rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants, many of whom are holdovers from the early 70s when such laws were instituted to keep prices from spiking in post-war buildings. They were meant to protect the working class, explains Gothamist, but today many of these apartments house the elderly around the city. There are currently 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, and 40,000 rent-controlled apartments in NYC.

The differences between rent control and rent stabilization are convoluted, but involve a maximum rent versus a cap on rate of change, respectively.

Last Fourth of July, Meghan McCain brought Michael Ian Black home to Arizona to meet her parents. McCain, 27, a single Republican, and Black, 40, a married Democrat, decided to tour the country together to see how the two political camps can get along. They survived surprisingly well and lived to tell the tale in America, You Sexy Bitch.

When I met Meghan, I was struck by how down to earth she is, despite the fact that if her father had won the election in 2008, I would have been talking to the daughter of the President. Never adverse to speaking her mind, we discussed the media’s criticism of her, her brutal honesty, and her hope to make changes within the Republican Party.

What was going through your mind when Michael asked you to write a book with him?

I thought it sounded fun and interesting to write a book with a liberal. I’ve never done anything like that. It sounded crazy and provocative, and it included politics which is right up my alley.

Michael is so funny. Were you constantly laughing during your trip?

Yes. At first I didn’t understand his style of humor, because it’s a little dry and dark. But once you tune into it, he’s hilarious. I think I made him laugh a lot too. I’m pretty funny.

You said that Michael is the first man you brought home during Fourth of July weekend.

He was the first guy I ever brought home to meet my family, period. A married comedian with kids! Which is very pathetic on my part and shows the kind of dating life I have [laughs].

Have you ever dated a liberal?

Not a hardcore liberal, but I’ve dated independents. I don’t think I could—at that point I think there’s too much that’s different. There’s a difference between writing a book with one dating one.

Your memoir is titled Dirty Sexy Politics; your new book is called America, You Sexy Bitch. Are you trying to promote politics as being sexy?

I think on some level, but it was not purposeful to have the word “sexy” in both. If I ever write another book, I promise that word won’t be in the title! I came up with the title for my first book when I was talking about what I wanted politics to be for young people. “I want it to be dirty, sexy, and provocative,” I spouted off to a friend of mine. She said, “That’s the title of your book!” And this new one, the title came from a story that happened when Michael and I were touring the Capitol.

When you were co-hosting The View, you said that your father did not appreciate the title America, You Sexy Bitch. Is this still the case?

No, he hated it when he first heard about it. I very rarely fight with my father, but he wanted to change it. He has since come around.

You were very honest in your memoir Dirty Sexy Politics, which was nice to read.

That book and the whole experience [of the 2008 campaign] feel like two lifetimes ago. I believe that I’m open and honest almost to a fault. In America in 2012, if there’s one thing I know people respond to—it’s organic personalities. I have this theory, because America is going through such a difficult time with the recession, it’s no longer interesting to watch or listen to anybody who proclaims to be a perfect person with a perfect family. People have responded to me for being honest about things, even when those things are sometimes embarrassing or complicated. Every time I’ve shown my scars and how difficult the world of politics can be, people have really responded.

You have said that your life’s mission is to change things within the Republican Party. How do you plan on doing that?

I’ll keep speaking out, writing, blogging, and working at MSNBC. At some point, I would love to help get a woman elected in some capacity. I would love to work for a female candidate running for President as a Republican. My biggest dream in my lifetime is to see a woman President.

Would you ever consider running for office?

I don’t think that I could get elected since I’ve lived my life so openly. I grew up in the public eye, so there are many things documented about me, and they aren’t always pretty and glamorous. Unfortunately, to run for office in this country, you have to have this perfect narrative, which I sway so far from. In this book, I admit to smoking weed. Is that something voters would vote for? I don’t know. We demand such perfection from our politicians, which is why I think they ultimately become quite boring. Perfection is boring.

Besides your father, who are your favorite politicians?

Chris Christie, Marco Rubio. Michele Bachmann, which I know will surprise people because she’s quite conservative. I met her in person and interviewed her recently and really respect her. Hillary Clinton, because I love a strong woman in politics even though I don’t agree with her. Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham; love them. Nikki Haley and what she did for Mitt Romney. Obviously Mitt Romney—I’ll give him a big shout out as well.

It’s known that Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh have criticized you. How do you deal with the media’s criticism?

It’s become such a part of my life starting from when I was very young. My second column I ever wrote was after Laura Ingraham basically called me fat on national television. I opened up about how hard it is to be called fat, ugly, and a slut when you speak out in politics. I have a great support group of friends, family, and a lot of young people on the internet. I get many amazing tweets and comments on my blog and personal website. Anytime I’m feeling sad, I concentrate on the positive. It’s not easy; I don’t think you ever really get used to or get over criticism.

You studied at Columbia University and now live in the West Village. Do people recognize you in the city?

If I come from MSNBC and am all done up with hair and makeup and wearing a dress or suit, people will. I have two wardrobes in my closet. One is politics Meghan, which I wear on TV or to give speeches. The other is punk Meghan, when I wear concert t shirts and dress casual. I barely wear makeup on my off time.

In your memoir, you said that you’ve been at every Republican Convention since your mother was pregnant with you at Reagan’s in 1984. Will you be at this year’s?

I think I will! My mom is hosting a party and I’m going to help her with it. Hopefully I will be covering it either for The Daily Beast or MSNBC.

You have said that people come up to you and say, “Things would be so different if your father was President.”

People say that a lot and I don’t know if people are nostalgic of what could have been because things are still not going well and unemployment is at 8.4 percent. I don’t know how many times they actually mean it, or they are just trying to come up with something to say. I reply, “Thank you, I appreciate your support.” There’s not really much else to say.

Join Meghan and Michael at the Bryant Park Reading Room on Wednesday, July 11^th at 12:30 pm for a talk and singing as part of Word for Word Author series.

Obama knows how to attract star power. Though his opponents accuse him of spending more time as a celebrity than a politician, the President continues to enjoy the limelight as the guest of honor at super high profile fundraisers organized for him by some of America’s most famous.

In February actor George Clooney welcomed Obama to his home, and tonight “Sex in the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and singer Mariah Carey will entertain him in New York City. Parker and Wintour are hosting a 50-person, $40, 000-per-guest dinner at Parker’s West Village place to support the Obama campaign, and Carey is performing in a second benefit dinner at the Plaza Hotel at Fifth Avenue, this one with 250 people at $10,000 a ticket.

You may not have $50K piled in your bathtub to swim in on lonely days like tonight’s guests, but here are five ways you still might be able to slip by the tough looking security guys in suits and sunglasses who stand between an average Thursday night and waking up tomorrow with a hangover and pictures on your phone of you trying to make out with Mariah Carey:

1.Walk in on the arm of a celebrity

There’s no way the security guards know every face on the guest list, so just hide right around the corner from the entrance and latch on to the first free famous arm that passes. You can explain once you’re in. Oh, I’m sorry, beautiful famous lady, I mistook you for my equally beautiful and also famous girlfriend.

2. Connect with one of the guards on a personal / spiritual level

It worked on bouncers all the time when you were younger, right? You forgot your ID at home and look about 15, but the big, burly secret service guy at the door is suddenly your best friend after you share a cigarette and realize that you both love Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3. Dress up weird and say you’re Lady Gaga

You never know what this pop superstar will show up wearing at big events, and neither do security guards. Wear jet black make up, put a cardboard box on your head, cover yourself entirely in McDonald’s cheeseburgers – do whatever, just make sure that no one can really see your face and that you call whatever you’re doing fashion. (N.B. You might want to check to see if Lady Gaga is actually on the guest list.)

4. Pretend you’re part of the catering staff

This one’s easy because it’s in the movies. Pull some unsuspecting event staffer into a hidden room, make a lot of crashing and bonking sounds, throw in some cartoon smoke and lightning effects for comedy, and walk out 30 seconds later perfectly attired in the staffer’s clothes. Grab a tray of oeurs d’oeuvres and proceed to famous person mingling.

5. Find an invisibility cloak

Rumored to be made from the hair of Demiguise, this magical cloak conceals whoever wears it from site. It only exists in Harry Potter. Sadly, it also is the only option on this list that might actually get you in.

(By the way, if you read this article for real advice, you might want to try contacting this couple.)

Don’t worry, she isn’t lost, she’s nonna Eugenia, the matriarch of Numero 28 and grandmother of the Biamonte clan, who run a few Numero 28 locations. When the matron isn’t fussing over guests and bringing them baskets of the restaurant’s fresh and warm foccocia, you can find her in the kitchen with chef Ramon Duran, whipping up her famous veal and pork meatballs ($9). The dense meatballs come three to plate coated in a light, sweet tomato sauce, the perfect mate for a hearty slice of the parmigiana di melanzane, the restaurant’s small plate version of eggplant parmesan ($9).

Also off the appetizer menu, try the cool and creamy bufala, a fresh buffalo mozzarella that comes with a pile of melty prosciutto ($18).  If you order the bruschetta ($8), be warned it’s a little different than usual; it was served on a large, rectangular pieces of flatbread cut in six pieces, laden high with your choice of either mouthwatering marinated mushrooms or a combination of large pieces of sweet artichoke, pesto and diced tomato.

The name Numero 28 comes from the restaurant’s first location at 28 Carmine St. in the West Village. Just like its sister restaurants, the latest venture cooks up an array of traditional pasta dishes and Neapolitan pies, bringing their cuisine to an area that, while rich in chains and pizza-by-the-slice shops, lacks a romantic, sit-down place to eat real Italian food.

Classic dishes include lasagna di carne ($16), your typical lasagna with béchamel and a homemade meat sauce; penne boschetto, which comes abound with mushrooms, truffle oil and smoky speck ($15); and freshly made ravioli with ricotta and spinach in a heavenly butter and sage sauce ($16).

While the appetizers and pasta proved worthwhile, the real star of Numero 28 is their pizza. You can order the pies in three sizes ($10-$37): the personal 14-inch, 18-inch, or the Roman-style slab of pizza that runs over two feet, at 29 inches.

We tried it with the signature numero 28, the francesina and the bianca del diavolo. The latter proved the heartiest of the bunch, loaded with mozzarella, fluffy ricotta, and thick disks of zesty pepperoni. On the francesina, they added brie to the mozzarella and speck combination, an odd concept at first that in the end worked to give more heft to the lighter cheese and cut the smokiness of the meat.

For a classic pie, try the plain cheese, which is actually a margarita—but as general manager and partner Luigi Porceddu explained in his heavy accent, the staff is so Italian that when people ordered “cheese pizza,” they got confused and instead made them their five formaggi, which comes with mozzarella, gorgonzola, fontina, parmesan and provolone.
Unlike the other Numero 28s, this one offers a full bar with innovative cocktails such as the Montenegroni, a fresh take on the negroni, and the Tartufone, a mixture of pear-infused vodka, grapefruit juice and white truffle oil. The dessert menu (all $7) is basic Italian fare, like semifreddo al pistachio and pannacotta, but even if you are completely full, you shouldn’t miss out on their light, silky tiramisu, which comes with coffee-saturated ladyfingers and will disappear before you know it.

How organic living expert and NYC mom Alexandra Zissu keeps her loft clean, cozy and eco-friendly

Eco expert and author Alexandra Zissu’s West Village loft that she shares with her 6-year-old daughter Aili and her partner Olli Chanoff lets off a cozy air amidst its über-green ambitions.

Olli Chanoff, Aili and Alexandra Zissu.

The walls are painted in soothing, muted shades, a mix of vintage and modern furniture is perfectly arranged for engaging adult conversation and piles of welcoming books are always within reach. But rather than pointing out the collection of retro prints and eclectic furnishings that she’s gathered from her childhood home, Zissu is most excited about the perfect amaryllis that’s in full bloom on her dinner table.

“Can you believe I planted that?” she said. “It was just a bulb with a tiny bit of green sticking out of the top.” The flower is a vibrant poppy red and is, unquestionably, a cheerful touch on a cold winter day inside this green guru’s abode. Without a doubt, Zissu has forever been a nature-minded Manhattanite. “I had always eaten super organically because I was raised eating whole foods,” she said. “I joined a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] in the late 1990s and turned very organic, learning a little bit more about the way food was raised.”

But it wasn’t until she started considering pregnancy that Zissu really jumped on the eco-friendly bandwagon. “I was talking to a friend who was also thinking about getting pregnant,” she recalled. “I started researching everything from paint to nail polish to cleaning products, which can affect growing children.”

As Zissu dove deep into the world of eco-conscious parenting, she reacted like most moms-to-be. “I started freaking out. It’s a house of horrors. What am I sitting on? What kind of foam is in here? Is it offgassing? What am I breathing? You get in the shower… there’s bleach residue getting up in your feet. The nail polish you’ve loved for years has hormone destructors! It’s going to do something unbelievably horrible!” she remembered with humor.

After methodically going through each aspect of her home and work life in an effort to make things greener, Zissu started to become fluent in the organic and natural lifestyle. Her next step, naturally, was writing The Complete Organic Pregnancy with Deirdre Dolan, the friend with whom she had shared that initial conversation.

And that was the beginning of her career. Six years and three more books later, Zissu fully embodies the environmentally responsible way of living and writes about it regularly on her blog at alexandrazissu.com. One of her biggest must-dos? Shared meals at the family table and purchasing food locally. “We spend Saturday afternoon at the farmer’s market at Abingdon Square. We can get apples, bread, fish, meat, eggs—everything. Then we usually head home for a farmer’s market lunch.” Back at the apartment, Zissu describes her living space as a “wholesome urban home setting.” While the loft is a good example of conscious design choices, like the sleek yet rustic dinner table, Zissu feels strongly that “it’s more about what’s green.”

The layout of the family’s living space is a testament to her commitment to clean and responsible living. The first floor features a central lounging area, including an antique table paired with new hardwood chairs. The office furniture is hand-me-downs—solid wood and classic in design—while Aili sleeps on her mother’s childhood bed frame, topped with a new organic mattress, of course. Toys are neatly stacked in non-plastic bins and rugs are made from natural fibers without backing. But Zissu is especially proud of her kitchen, most notably her glass container collection.

An entire cabinet filled with jars of all shapes and sizes provides an attractive and safe alternative for storing food. “Look…no plastic!” Zissu exclaimed. Aili goes to school with a stainless steel Japanese lunch box while her mom chooses to cook in enamel pans—never nonstick. “A good alternative is a cast iron pan. They cost about $25 and last forever.”

While committing to a green lifestyle may sound overwhelming, especially to a busy parent, there are some simple steps you can immediately take to improve conditions in your home. “Take off your shoes!” insisted Zissu. “It’s the public health equivalent of washing your hands. We all walk around in NYC and we know what we’re stepping on, and then we see our kids crawling around on the floor [at home]. You wouldn’t let your kids crawl around the street. Right there you minimize your exposure to pesticides, auto exhaust and even dog poop.” To make shoe removal easier for her own guests, Zissu has placed a charming bench with storage right next to her entryway.

When helping clients, she starts by finding the easy fixes. “It might not be easy to throw out your mattress, [so] change what’s already there…Look underneath your kitchen sink. What are you willing to give up? Take everything out and switch it with green products. Just doing this can result in a drastic reduction in inner air pollution.”

With an apartment that’s as pure as can be, Zissu now looks forward to cultivating a green thumb. “I would like to grow things. To experience that full circle…watching something grow from seed to corn.” Alexandra glances back at her amaryllis. “There’s something magical about growing things with a kid.”
For more tips on green living, read “Home, Green Home” at newyorkfamily.com