Sloppy. That's the one word I would best use to describe this painting company. I hired Ben and his crew to paint my apartment last December, and ultimately I wish I had gone with a different painting crew. The problems were myriad, including:

1) A shoddy paint job showing a lack of attention to detail. As you can see from my attached photos, there were large splotches of mismatched colored walls in my closet, and a doorframe to one of my closets was obviously not painted carefully as evidenced by the poor finished product. Dried speckles of paint were sprinkled literally all throughout my apartment's floors. I spent well over 8 hours cleaning off all of the dried paint that these guys left behind on my apartment's floors, so they quite clearly do not cover the floors with any protective layer, nor do they demonstrate any care when doing the actual painting.

2) Garbage left in my sinks, and dried paint left behind all over my sinks and bath tubs. Totally understandable that these guys would wash their equipment in my apartment, but totally unacceptable for them to leave a mess of dried paint caked all over my sinks and bath tubs that I had to clean myself.

3) Poor communication and lack of follow up when these problems were brought to their attention. I sent numerous emails to Ben about these problems and gave him multiple opportunities to fix them, but he simply stopped returning the emails. Clearly, Ben and his company show little concern or care for ensuring customer satisfaction.

All in all, I would absolutely NOT recommend hiring Ben and his crew for your next paint job. While they are definitely not the most expensive paint crew, the old adage 'you get what you pay for' is quite evident here. The shoddy craftsmanship, piss poor communication, general carelessness and inattention to detail, and disregard for customer satisfaction all add up to money that is most definitely not well spent here, and I would highly recommend NOT hiring Ben and his crew to paint your next project.

It took something as epic as the opening of Dominique Ansel Kitchen for me to come out of my Yelp review-writing hibernation, but here I am with my first review in almost a year. Dominique Ansel is probably one of the most creative chefs in the country, and his new location (sans Cronut lines, thankfully) demonstrates an array of pastries and confections which capture his innovation and whimsy. The menu highlights the items that are finished, assembled, or made to order. When I went on opening day, there was a bit of a line to get into the bakery, as the staff was only permitting about 5-8 people to enter at a time to avoid overcrowding the store. Once placing my order, it only took about 5 minutes for my order, including the made-to-order items, to come out. Here's a brief rundown of my bounty:

1) Pain au Chocolat 2.0 ($5.50) - damn was this good. Dominique isn't messing around when he says that he wants this thing to have more chocolate than the typical pain au chocolat. There were literally two or three layers of chocolate shards in every bite. There's a really strong hit of salt from the Maldon sea salt that's flecked over the chocolate shards, and it actually verges on being too salty, but the orange butter that is brushed liberally over the croissant kinda helps to balance some of the saltiness. I'd say that this is a must order.

2) Extra Fluff Mille Feuille ($7.75) - holy crap, this thing is huge (TWSS). It is about 3 or 4 times larger than the average single serving size of mille feuille and must weigh more than a pound. As this dessert is assembled to order, the puff pastry is extremely crisp and doesn't get soggy from the pastry cream. The flavors and textures for this dessert are on point, but it's quite a mess to eat -- the forks and knives provided are pretty inadequate for cutting this thing, and the cream just goes everywhere (again, TWSS). This is something that should be shared between 3 or 4 people, especially if you are getting other pastries.

3) Coffee Caramel Pull Apart Eclair ($6.00) - this actually reminds me a lot of a Paris-Brest that I had from a patisserie in Paris called La Pâtisserie des Rêves (http://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/KdXu8SsdSwix94BKHZQjvQ/o.jpg). Essentially, it's little balls of choux pastry filled with coffee pastry cream and caramel. This actually might have been the best thing that I ordered. Order this.

4) Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding with Creme Fraiche ($6.50) - this was actually given to me compliments of the house. It's made to order and served warm (duh), but I didn't get a chance to eat this until later in the day because I was kinda hyperglycemic already from all of the other stuff that I had ordered. This dessert comes bundled up and tied at the ends, with a slit made on the top from the creme fraiche. Sweet, sticky, and satisfying. Not as good as the other stuff that I tried, but still really good.

Prices are a bit on the higher side for a bakery but are reasonable given the quality of the ingredients and workmanship involved with creating desserts and pastries that are finished to order. I'll definitely be back to try the rest of the menu and to check out the dessert tasting menu that's slated to roll out soon.

From the guys behind Death & Co. and Nitecap comes 151, a cocktail bar that is the reincarnation of what had previously been known as Rivington 151. I'm not sure what's so alluring about incorporating the address into the business' name, but in any case, 151 is now being run by people who obviously know a thing or two about cocktails. While jaded New Yorkers will bemoan the opening of another new cocktail lounge in an era when speakeasies and cocktail lounges seem to be opening up at a dizzying rate, 151 isn't your average cocktail lounge. I came by here last week during the soft opening, and I can confirm that the cocktails did indeed meet my expectations. While the specialty drinks menu is pretty short, the two drinks that I sampled were both pretty delicious, with the Negroni Gone Way Wrong (gin, campari, sweet vermouth, lemon sorbet, prosecco) in particular winning me over after just one sip.

For those of you who had visited 151 in its previous incarnations, you are probably aware that this subterranean space isn't the most roomy, but the renovated décor, with dark wood paneling and low lighting, gives it a pretty intimate ambiance. Prices ($12 for specialty drinks, $8-10 for most other drinks) are comparable to what you'd find at your average NYC speakeasy or cocktail lounge. There is also a menu of bar snacks and sandwiches, though I did not get around to trying any food.

I imagine that I'll be coming back to 151 for dates (my new go-to Coffee Meets Bagel first date spot? Shhhh don't blow up my spot) or for a chance to sip on a nice cocktail without having to deal with the throngs of people and hour-plus wait times associated with the more established cocktail lounges. Can't wait to come back for some more Negronis.

The newest outpost of the ever-expanding Maison Kayser chain is located about 13 blocks up Third Avenue from the first café, which opened in 2012 down by 74th Street. I swung by this location today to grab a baguette on the way home from work, and it's every bit as delicious as I remember it being from the other sites. Now that I'll be walking by Maison Kayser on the way to and from work every day, I foresee many more baguettes, breads, and pastries finding their way into my stomach.