Athan's Bakery: Colorful Cakes for your Springtime Table

Just inside the door of Athan's European Bakery in Washington Square is a brilliant carnivale of color.  Sunlight fractures through dozens of pastel cellophane bags, filled with springtime goodies.  A freezer case full of gelato reminds me of a painter's palate, from its bright, glistening purple blackcurrant and the deep mauve of raspberry, to rich browns and beiges with undertones of cocoa or nuts.  From the shelves beckon little chocolate pyramids and hearts and bars wrapped in fine gold foil.  The urge to run around touching everything, to plunge my hands into the bins of cookies like a kid in a toy store, hits me hard.
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Osaka Japanese Sushi and Steakhouse: Hibachi-Style Grill, at its Finest

It's eight-thirty on a Saturday evening, and the baseline of noise is high in Osaka Japanese Sushi and Steakhouse. Cheers erupt from the corner as one surprisingly sober diner catches a bite of grilled chicken in his mouth, slung across the grill by a chortling chef; from the next table comes a gasp of delight as four-foot high flames swoosh off of the grill.

Meanwhile, across the dining room, a chef armed with a squirt bottle squeezes a thin arc of sake into the mouth of one grinning diner. Diners at the table take up the fist-pounding count of "One! Two! Three!" until, somewhere around "Eighteen!" the drinker begs off, wiping a wet dribble of sake from the corner of his mouth.
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