When family comes to visit in New York, there are three governing factors in choosing a hotel:

· 1. They will constantly bring up price differences between New York and their hometown, so the hotel has to be running a deal.
· 2. Walking more than four blocks is considered extraneous exercise; the hotel needs to be next to or on top of a subway station.
· 3. If you don't take them to visit the World Trade Center site, you will be disowned.

More than fulfilling all three criteria, the Financial District's Millenium Hilton proved just right to satiate temperamental Midwesterners, especially since it boasts an indoor swimming pool.

We listed Brooklyn's Nu Hotel as one of the top five hotels in Brooklyn and ever since it opened, we have felt like it could be a place we wouldn't mind stashing our visiting parents, whether we lived in Manhattan or right around the corner.

Since our parents (or friends) haven't had a chance to check it out for themselves -- hammocks in the rooms and all -- we dropped into TripAdvisor to see what reviewers had to say.

Feedback was mostly positive -- a couple "teething problems," but nothing out of the ordinary for any recently-opened hotel. But what really jumped out to us were the number of reviewers who commented on

Her appearances on "The Hills" this season, apart from one memorable episode, have mostly been limited to asking LC about her drama. Now Whitney Port cashes in with her own series set in New York with herself in the spotlight.

Rumors about Whitney getting her own show have been running rampant for a few seasons--ever since she went to New York and tangled with SuperIntern Emily, really--but the blonde buddy Lauren met while interning at Teen Vogue a century ago finally confirmed the news. She'll be living in NYC and working for Diane von Furstenberg, whose show she was spotted at last month during Fashion Week.

We were hoping MTV would call the show something like, "The Skyscrapers" or "The Rivers" or "The New Jersey," but they've already allegedly decided on the name of the show and it's "The City."

Related Stories:
· It's Official: Whitney Port Gets Reality Show! [US Magazine]
· Post-Super Bowl Travel: Whitney Doesn't Take Sides [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

It's been a bit since we've heard anything out of the "Real World: Brooklyn" kids, but that doesn't mean they've stopped kicking around their nabe. City-centric blog NewYorkology spied the cast at Red Hook's landmark grocery store:

"Real World: Brooklyn" kids filming in the Fairway parking lot... in the backseat of a car.

There you have it: Even when laying low, reality stars are trashy.

Related Stories:
· "Real World: Brooklyn" Spotted Again in Red Hook [Jaunted]
· Chasing "Real World: Brooklyn" Map [Jaunted]

[Photo of Fairway: Live Search]

Are you excited to win a stay in this room?

Chris Shott over at the NY Observer has blogged about some contest that MTV is sponsoring with Marky Mark's new movie, Max Payne. The contest offers winners an NYPD-themed trip to Manhattan that includes a two-night stay at the "luxurious Hotel Pennsylvania." Those are MTV's words, not ours or Shott's.

This is yet another sign that MTV is totally out of touch. Why, they could have put the winners up at the Roommate Grace Hotel, formerly Hotel QT. It's got tiny boutique-style rooms but at least it's a heck of a lot cooler that the Penn. It also has some crazy pool parties and a location

Fall is harvest time in America's farmland, and, if you look closely enough, in the cities too. Brooklyn, which probably isn't the first place that comes to mind when you think "harvest," has a fall food festival of its own this weekend.

The Gowanus Harvest Festival will bring locally-grown veggies, potato sack races, pony rides and other down-home excitement to the banks of the (not-so) scenic Gowanus Canal. Of course, this is still Brooklyn, so there will be live indie rock and local microwbrews on hand as well. Obviously.

The festival, which takes place Saturday, October 11, will be held at outdoor performance space The Yard.

Related Stories:
· The Yard [Official Site]
· Fall Festivals coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Gowanus Harvest Festival]

New York's Tribeca Grand Hotel may have the debate parties, but The Muse and the W New York have got the cocktails to guzzle for when John McCain says things like "that one" and Barack Obama shows utter disregard for Tom Brokaw.

The Muse has concocted candidate-themed cocktails, such as the Cuppa Joe Biden (with vodka, Baileys, whiskey, coffee, crème and--suspiciously, or not?--a little brown sugar) and the McCandy Cane (peppermint Schnapps, white creme de cacao, grenadine, half-n-half and a candy-cane garnish).

There's also the Pom Pom Palin (vodka, Cointreau, Pom juice, champagne and a red sugar "lipstick" rim) and last but not least, the On the Baracks (citrus vodka, blue curacao, lime juice

Global economic collapse only means one important thing to alcohol fiends: Lose the martini lounges; bring back the dive bars.

That's why the New York media world is still mourning the lose of Siberia Bar, the absolutely-no-frills Midtown watering hole where in the old New York, you could sit down for shots with New York Times editors, transvestites and 90-year-old barflies on any given weeknight.

Celeb-chef Anthony Bourdain waxed poetic about Siberia Bar in his poor-chef-in-seedy-Manhattan memoir Kitchen Confidential. Now that the Travel Channel star is back in NYC for the upcoming New York City Wine & Food Festival, the New York Post asked him where he's drinking away his riches these days.

New York has an annoying tendency to take every rustic ethnic cuisine and turn it into a high-end eating experience. Sometimes it's completely unwanted--do we really need $1000 paella?--but sometimes it works.

On the "it works" front: Naya a "futuristic" Lebanese restaurant just opened in Midtown East. The shimmery white-and silver design is so nightclub-y that you're forgiven for being skeptical of their food credentials.

But the menu makes it clear that the East Side is ready for Lebanese. Look for pan-seared halloumi cheese seasoned with pomegranate sauce, tomatoes and olives; Lebanese-style steak tartar with bulgur, onion and mint; and Lebanese milk pudding flavored with orange blossom water.

Related Stories:
· Naya [Thrillist]
· New New York Restaurants: Inside Park [Jaunted]

[Photo: Naya]

Luxist did an interview with young Gregory Peck, the hotelier behind the it's-never-gonna-open, wait-maybe-it-is, oh-wait-no-it's-not Cooper Square Hotel.

In the interview, he talks mostly about how he feels about the state of the hotel industry and not so much about the Manhattan property specifically. But our fave quote was definitely this one:

We spend a lot of time developing a unique concept and a narrative for what we want the hotel to be and then we execute it, painstakingly focusing on ever detail of the process.

"A lot of time" indeed. "Painstaking" is an adjective we'd use to describe what this construction process at CS has seemed like, too.

While the interview didn't