Innholdsfortegnelse for December 29, 2025-January 11, 2026 i New York Magazine

1 New York’s annual “Reasons to Love New York” issue (December 15–28) catalogued 39 things to cherish about the city right now. On Instagram, Daisy_ste_ and_me lamented, “I left nyc for a long weekend and regret it.” For the four covers, we photographed pairs of celebrity New Yorkers sharing wired headphones on the subway. Saying there was “something very sweet” about this choice, editor-at-large Erik Maza explained on The Brian Lehrer Show, “Obviously, it was a challenging year for everyone, and we wanted to capture a sense of community, a sense of New Yorkers embracing each other.” Lizgalante007 said of the covers on Instagram, “I’ve sat next to people on those trains who I later realized were considered ‘famous.’ In that moment, none of that mattered. Same seats. Same ride.…

ESTABLISHMENT LIEUTENANTS AND BILLIONAIRE WHISPERERS Zohran Mamdani is relying on a handful of experienced fixers with deep knowledge about the overlapping worlds of politics, business, finance, and city bureaucracy. ON THE TEAM DEAN FULEIHAN First deputy mayor Old-school New York politico who will manage the day-to-day operations of city government and work with Albany to push through Mamdani’s campaign promises. PATRICK GASPARD Volunteer adviser Former David Dinkins campaign staffer, DNC executive director, and Obama aide who has helped broker meetings for Mamdani with Cardinal Dolan and President Trump. JESSICA TISCH Police commissioner Billionaire heiress who oversaw Sanitation, then the NYPD under Mayor Adams; Mamdani’s decision to keep her on was an early olive branch to moderate Democrats. OUTSIDE ALLIES ROBERT WOLF Former CEO of UBS Americas Fox News contributor and…

THE PLANTS AT Takata Nursery— a small greenhouse on the roof of founder Taryne Messer’s apartment building in Ridgewood—have a homespun, almost wise presence to them. That’s the distinct character Messer was seeking after years of working in floristry: “Cut flowers are basically marching toward death, whereas a plant, it’s alive.” She cultivates houseplants like the lacy-looking Pelargonium denticulatum and the spindly Adenia glauca, which often sell out quickly in small drops. Messer is also crafty with her sourcing. “I buy weird clippings off eBay, then I propagate them. I’ve had friends give me a cactus from New Mexico and three years go by and it has 20 limbs on it,” she says. That aging and replanting process is what gives Messer’s plants, which range in price from $50 to…

THE ZEPPELIN is blasting once more at Babbo. Though the restaurant closed for renovations only in early 2025, it feels as if it’s been gone for years. Babbo—Italian for “Daddy”—had been, from its opening in 1998 right up until co-founder Mario Batali’s downfall in 2017, a city-defining (and Batali-defining) icon. Then it wasn’t. But Stephen Starr, the megarestaurateur who has been offering distressed establishments a spiffed-up second life (see also Keith McNally’s Pastis), judged it worthy and salvageable. Encore performances are tough. Babbo is inevitably saddled with the baggage of Batali, even though he no longer owns it or cooks here. “Daddy” was intended sweetly in this case—at the time of opening, both Batali and co-founder Joe Bastianich were new parents—but it carries an unfortunate suggestion of “come to daddy”…

TELEVISION Mansions, the ER, and Fiji await. ➽ The Pitt, Season Two (HBO Max, January 8) Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) leads another grueling day inside Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s ER. This time, all the action takes place over Fourth of July weekend. ➽ The Traitors, Season Four (Peacock, January 8) Alan Cumming welcomes reality stars, a couple of actors, an Olympic figure-skating duo, and Jason and Travis Kelce’s mom into his castle in the Scottish Highlands for the next season of the best new reality show in ages. ➽ A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max, January 18) George R.R. Martin’s third series, based on his Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, is basically a Westeros buddy comedy: It follows hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter…

For more culture coverage and streaming recommendations, see vulture.com. THEATER 1. See Picnic at Hanging Rock Where did they go? Greenwich House Theater, through January 17. In Hilary Bell and Greta Gertler Gold’s new musical adaptation of the novel made famous by Peter Weir’s 1975 film, three teenage girls disappear during a school picnic in rural Australia, igniting mourning and mystery in the local community. SARA HOLDREN BOOKS 2. Go to The Poetry Project’s New Year’s Day Marathon Begin with verse. St. Mark’s Church, January 1. After the mania of New Year’s Eve, there’s nothing quite like this torrent of a poetry reading. The program runs from 1 p.m. to midnight, and each speaker brings fresh energy to the church sanctuary. It can fill to capacity, so buy your ticket…

IT WAS A COOL AND MISTY Mother’s Day in 1974, and in a shady corner of Prospect Park, a group of women handed out flyers and chanted slogans: “They say it is love. We say it is unwaged work.” “They call it frigidity. We call it absenteeism.” “Every miscarriage is a work accident.” They were targeting mothers walking from the laundromat or to the grocery store, and they had a message to deliver: “All women are unwaged workers. We work from morning to night, but at the end of the week, we have no money to show for it.” It was the early days of the International Wages for Housework Campaign, a small but mighty movement with a simple demand: Pay women for domestic work, including caring for children. Led…

PART I THE FAMILY WOULD CELEBRATE AT BEAR LAKE— that was the plan. The morning Anna learned her 14-year-old son abused her 3-year-old daughter, they were supposed to be in their Toyota Sienna: Anna, David, and their five children driving into the Wasatch Mountains to celebrate David, her husband, turning 44. Instead, Anna and David locked their son in his laundry-and-LEGO-strewn bedroom while they tried to figure out what to do. Anna, already in a swimsuit and shorts, muttered what, at eight o’clock on that summer morning, seemed like the only response: “I’m gonna kill him.” David called his mother to see if Owen could come live with her for a week. A month? Until he turned 18? “Anna, give him a hug and tell him you love him,” David…

For Cleaning Up the Mess of a Home Renovation HOME SOLUTIONS BY DAFNY JIMENEZ, 347-859-1824; homesolutionsbydafny.com → THE AFTERMATH OF a house project can be just as daunting as the construction itself, which is why Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum, owners of the Brownstone Boys, a Brooklyn-based renovation team focusing on historic homes, bring in Home Solutions by Dafny Jimenez to make their job sites look and feel client-ready. Slocum has worked with the team for four years. When he hired them after a bathroom renovation, “they went well beyond surface cleaning,” he recalls: The cleaners removed fine dust from the original moldings, woodwork, and plaster detailing and also polished newly installed finishes and scrubbed and sealed the floors. (From $200, residential; from $400, deep cleaning; from $1,500, post-construction.) For…

KELANG 715 Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint kelangnyc.com The cinematic space—red banquettes, jade-green tables, moody low lighting—is expected (co-owner and executive chef Chris Low is a cinematographer). The excellence of Low’s chewy, stir-fried broad rice noodles with smoked clams less so. L’APÉRO BY L’APPARTEMENT 4F 115 Montague St., Brooklyn Heights lappartement4f.com If you refuse to fight a crowd for the croissants (we do), go at night when the bakery turns into a snack bar. Sip rosé and graze on house sourdough for an evening out when you’re not in the mood for a full restaurant. GERTIE 602 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights; gertie.nyc Like its hip-millennial target audience, Gertie has grown up and moved from Williamsburg to Prospect Heights. Pastrami, egg, and cheese is still a must-order, and a “latke bar” has been…

SINCE BURSTING onto the city’s Koreanfood scene in 2023 as a semi-clandestine Sunnyside delivery service for raw marinated crab, Rice Thief (39-37 30th St., Long Island City; instagram.com/ricethief.nyc) has grown to become a 38-seat stand-alone establishment. Anyone who has eaten at any New York restaurant over the past couple of years can tell you that a grand plateau of raw-bar specialties is practically de rigueur right now, and Rice Thief is no exception. But the various spreads of fruits de mer can be disappointingly familiar, which is why owner Richard Jang wanted to channel a sense of Korean American extravagance. What makes his $179 tower stand out—aside from the soybean soup, steamed egg, and abalone congee served alongside—is the nearly 50-ingredient soy marinade Jang uses to impart depth and nuance to…

There’s Under the Radar, a festival of new and experimental performance; Prototype, a program of envelope-pushing opera and musical theater; and Exponential, celebrating the scrappy, risky, and weird, along with PhysFest, Out-FRONT!, the Fire This Time Festival, and the start of the Fringe Encore Series. Here, a few highlights: Friday Night Rat Catchers UNDER THE RADAR The experimental dancer-choreographers Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein bring to life a glittering, sinister 1970s game show where, amid shrimp cocktails and blinding disco lights, the rules keep changing. (1/14–1/17) What to Wear PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL The late Richard Foreman’s sharply comedic “post-rock opera,” written with Michael Gordon, is reconstructed by Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar of Big Dance Theater, featuring a special appearance by St. Vincent. (1/15–1/18) I’m Going to Take My Pants Off…

IT WAS A LITTLE MORE than 24 hours after Zohran Mamdani had declared victory in a thunderous speech at the Brooklyn Paramount—one in which he mocked Andrew Cuomo and lit into Donald Trump and all the forces of reaction that had kept New Yorkers paying too much for too little and in which he declared himself a proud Muslim, a proud immigrant, and a proud democratic socialist; quoted Eugene V. Debs and Jawaharlal Nehru; and spoke untranslated Arabic—that the newly minted mayor-elect was found wedged into an economy-class window seat on the 10:30 a.m. JetBlue flight from JFK to San Juan. Around him were Elle Bisgaard-Church, his closest aide, and two beefy members of his security detail. ¶ The plane was filled with lobbyists, operatives, members of the City Council,…

AMBER MARTIN Singer, Hell’s Kitchen What brings you to Café Carlyle today? I’m here to see my friend Rufus! We’ve been friends for about 18 years. He’s on my album, and we sing a duet on a song he wrote for my record, which I brought tonight on vinyl to give to him. But he doesn’t know it yet. Can you tell me about your outfit? I don’t mean to be a name-dropper, but I’m friends with Parker Posey. I was at her house upstate visiting and she goes, “I got something for you. Come upstairs.” And so I ran upstairs. We’re both southern girls and we’re both just a couple years apart and we’re both Scorpios, so she’s like my sis. She throws this caftan at me and goes,…

DANIEL LOPATIN, better known as the musician and film composer Oneohtrix Point Never, used to make music for advertisements. “The consulting firm that hired me was always like, ‘You’re the man, do whatever.’ I’d be like, ‘Okay, cool.’ They’d ask me to be myself. And then the brand would go, ‘What is this? This is insane,’ ” he says, comparing the unconventional jingles he created to the surrealist short films David Lynch made for luxury fragrances and midsize sedans between movies. “They’d ask me for a revision, and I’d be pissed and dejected and make joke music—music for clown cars. Then I’d never hear from them again. That’s usually how it went.” Since his debut album, 2007’s Betrayed in the Octagon, which reimagined the supposedly cheesy synthesizer sounds of 1980s…