Jaunted

Tags: Food Travel / Restaurants / Jury Duty / Cheesecake / → All Tags

Dining in Downtown Brooklyn: It's Always 1977 in Junior's

For the past two weeks, I've sat on a grand jury in Brooklyn Supreme Court, indicting or dismissing charges against defendants accused of some of the most heinous crimes in New York. Unfortunately, it would be illegal for me to divulge the details of the evidence presented to me and my 22 fellow jurors, but what I can do is tell you about some of the restaurants I visited during my one-hour lunch period every day.

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Tags: Bears / Wild Animal Travel / Camping / Gadgets / → All Tags

New York Bears Prove Smarter than Average, Learn to Open High-Tech Pic-A-Nic Baskets

The bears of California are never going to hear the end of this one. The New York Times is reporting that a group of bears in the Adirondack Mountains has figured out how to open the BearVault 500, a high-tech, supposedly bear-proof container that campers use to safeguard their food in the wilderness. The double-tabbed lid of the BearVault functions like a child-proof top to a medicine bottle, requiring a certain amount of dexterity and intelligence to figure out. It's the latest thinking in bear country food protection, as the old "hang your food high in a tree using a rope" trick is no match for a crafty bear. But New York bears, being mentally superior to other bears, have cracked the BearVault code, which has stymied bears elsewhere in the country.

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Tags: Celeb Travel / New York City / Jumeirah Essex House / Jon and Kate Plus Eight / Jon Gosselin / Kate Gosselin / → All Tags

Jon Gosselin's Moving On and Moving Up To Manhattan's West Side

Jon Gosselin isn't wasting any time making the most of his new bachelor pad in The Alexandria on New York's upper west side. According to People, The Alexandria is a "luxury building, complete with a 24-hour doorman and concierge ... small gym, a pool, hot tub – and a small playroom. The building also takes security seriously: Residents have have to scan their index finger to get into the gym area."

We wonder if residents' guests have to scan their index fingers too. That might get a little complicated for Jon, who is currently juggling two women and eight kids. On Saturday night he was spotted out with Kate Major, a reporter for Star Magazine, at the upper East Side eatery Accademia di Vino. Kate met Jon while she was working on a story about him for the tabloid but sources tell The New York Daily News she has a tendency to blur the lines between work and friendship, and now she's in the tabloids as well.

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Tags: Jaunted On Location / Gossip Girl / Gramercy Park Hotel / New York City / Jaunted-On-Location / → All Tags

'Gossip Girl' Holds The Key To NYC's Private Gramercy Park

Even though we still have more than two months before the gang on Gossip Girl starts "college," the show begins filming the new season today amidst rumors that a new cast member will show up. Apparently, Joanna Garcia, star of the now defunct Privileged, has booked a four-episode arc as Nate’s love interest. We can’t wait to see what Vanessa has to say about the new girl who is “a slightly evil Miss America-type from a conservative Southern family.”

We also hear filming permit signs are posted all around Gramercy Park, including a few in front of the Gramercy Park Hotel for today's shoot. GPH, being one of the hot luxe hotel of the city, has a price to match their poshness, but the Gramercy does offer a few special package deals to help out those of us who didn't grow up on the Upper East Side.

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Tags: Rental Cars / Carsharing / Mint / Zipcar / New York City / → All Tags

Mint Undercuts Zipcar in NYC, Brings Smarts to the Masses

Now that car sharing giant Zipcar has merged with Flexcar and partnered with ridesharing site Zimride, it's looking pretty dominant on the short-term rental scene. There are still a couple of regional upstarts out there however, and one very affordable, very cute New York service has caught our eye.

Mint, which has a fleet of cars in Manhattan and just expanded with a couple of rides in Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope, appears to be positioning itself as the BoltBus to Zipcar's Megabus. What we mean by that is it's an underdog with a bit of a sleek touch—they've got everything from Smart Cars to Mercedes C300s—that reels you in with almost unbelievably low starter prices.

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Tags: Google Maps / Maps / → All Tags

Google Maps Hates Staten Island, Sends Drivers to Schenectady Instead

Wait till the Wu Tang Clan hears about this one. A software glitch on Google Maps is confusing a neighborhood in Staten Island with the upstate town of Schenectady, sending Great Kills-bound drivers on a three-hour, 170-mile odyssey in the wrong direction. As the Daily News points out, the 10308 zip code is coming up in searches as Schenectady, and those looking for directions to the Shaolin hamlet will instead find themselves rolling up the New York State Thruway if they're not paying attention. Staten Island Councilman Councilman Vince Ignizio doesn't think Google is dissing his borough like so many others have before, but he hopes the glitch is fixed nonetheless. After all, Staten Island needs all the visitors it can get.

[Photo: Daily News]

Related Stories:
· Software Glitch Sends Staten Island Google Maps Users on a Major Detour [New York Daily News]
· Google Maps Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Manhattan Restaurants / Restaurants / Food Travel / Franchises / T.G.I. Friday's / → All Tags

Drinking and Dining in Penn Station: The T.G.I. Friday's Experience

I'll cop to being a bit of a restaurant snob, but it's pretty much impossible to live in New York and not be one. With so many excellent eateries around town, the idea of dining or drinking at a franchise joint like Applebee's, the Olive Garden, or the Outback Steakhouse just doesn't make sense. Those places are for the corn-fed tourists in Times Square who don't know any better, right? Well, there was one franchise place that I always wanted to check out, and last week I did exactly that. My choice was a doozy: the T.G.I. Friday's in Penn Station. I wanted to find out for myself if it was as lousy as I had imagined, or if I needed to get over my little superiority complex and enjoy an experience that the rest of America seems to have no problem with.

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Tags: Swimming / Summer Travel / Dangerous Travel / → All Tags

Be Careful Out There: Rip Currents Claim Seven From New York Beaches

Unusually strong rip currents in the waters off several New York beaches this weekend have left seven people dead or missing, marking one of the worst spates of drownings in recent history. Officials are pointing to a confluence of factors for the unforgiving seas off Coney Island and the south shore of Long Island, including the encroachment of Tropical Storm Cristobal, which has been creeping up the coast for several days.

The tragedies serve to underscore the importance staying safe in the open water. A day at the beach is nothing if not carefree, but it only takes a moment to get pulled into a situation that can quickly get out of control. First and foremost, you need to be a strong swimmer if you're going to venture out into the waves. You might think you know how to swim, but there's a big difference between splashing around in a backyard pool and plunging into the Atlantic Ocean.

If you never learned how to swim, consider taking lessons at your local pool. The 92nd Street Y in New York, for example, offers private and semi-private lessons to people of all ages and abilities. And when you feel ready to hit the open water, an outfit called SBR Multisports is offering an Open Water 101 course at Lake Sebago in Harriman State Park in New York (a great park, by the way: the Appalachian Trail runs through it), while more advanced courses are taught in Fairfield, Connecticut.

But the smartest thing to do is to pay attention to the conditions and never swim without a lifeguard nearby. And most of all, don't fight the rip! If you get caught in a rip, swim parallel to the shoreline until you're out of the current, then make your way back to dry land and enjoy the rest of your day at the beach.

Related Stories:
· Deadly Weekend for New York Swimmers [All Headline News]
· Private Swim Instruction [92nd Street Y]
· Open Water Swim Clinic [SBR]
· Complete Swimming Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: U.S. Open Water Swimming Connection]