The release of version 2.4 of Williamsburger Maps includes a few functional enhancements, as well as the usage of a significant number of new JavaScript patterns. These patterns have unfortunately brought a memory leak / performance problem with them which I hope to address in the very near future.

Functional Changes

• Add the ability to preference certain restaurants/businesses over others. Using sorting and filtering in the JavaScript tier, the maps are able to display businesses based on their rating, and the businesses list in the side panel is sorted based on various criteria (presence of a review, rating, presence of an online menu, etc.) All buttons, including the new Ratings section, are still being generated in PHP.
• Add review icons to the side panel description.
• For space conservation, pre-collapse the Types button panel.
• Add an admin interface page for managing the ratings scheme.

2″ thick bottom round steak strawberries (8-10) cilantro (6 or 7 stalks) garlic (3 cloves) cracked white pepper sea salt balsamic vinegar olive oil red cabbage bleu cheese dressing

1. Finely chop strawberries, cilantro, and garlic.
2. Mix with balsamic, oil, pepper, salt, and a little water to add a bit more volume to cover the steak.
3. Marinate steak in marinade for about 5-6 hours.
4. Pour marinade into small saucepan over medium heat.
5. Bring marinade to a rolling boil for 3-4 minutes, then decrease heat to low, and allow to reduce. (Note: marinades aren’t safe to eat without first boiling them for a while to kill off whatever bacteria have grown in them during the marinating process.)
6. Preheat broiler.
7. Broil steak about 20 minutes on each side, until internal temperature reads 145.
8. Remove from oven, wrap in aluminium foil to allow temperature to rise to 150-155.
9. Slice steak into about 1/4 inch thick slices, top with sauce made from marinade.
10. Chop cabbage into wedges, serve with bleu cheese dressing.

Version 2.3 of Williamsburger Maps contains more smoothly-functioning div collapse/expand functionality, as well as an increased use of AJAX patterns to pull XML data from the server as needed, as opposed to prepopulating javascript properties from the PHP scripts. There aren’t any user-facing functional changes here.

The current maps are: Bedford Ave, Williamsburg Lorimer St, Williamsburg Fifth Ave, Park Slope East Village Chinatown

A welcome addition to the already restaurant-laden triangle of Kenmare, Lafayette, and Cleveland/Centre, La Esquina Taqueria is a Mexican eatery with quality ingredients. La Esquina (”The Corner”) encompasses a narrow wedge of space along the southern edge of the triangle, with a row of barstool seating along the window, and an open kitchen. All but one wall is glass, affording a nice view of the One Kenmare Square construction scaffolding across the street, and the ample natural light makes the restaurant feel bigger than it is. The minimal decor focuses around luchador masks and posters, and the take-out bags are a brilliant parody of the “I heart NY” logo, with an iconic red luchador mask in the place of the heart.

For a quick, no-frills meal, La Esquina is a choice destination, but don’t expect your usual bargain-basement NYC taqueria prices. The prices here ($3 for a small 6″ taco, $7-$8 for a torta) reflect the effort put into location, design, and food, to the detriment of portion size.

Today, it came to my attention there’s both a Futurama direct-to-DVD movie in the works (no release date yet), as well as a Family Guy direct-to-DVD movie, Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story, coming out in late September. Given the high quality of both shows, and their current constant presence on late-night Cartoon Network, early-evening TBS, and (in the Family Guy’s case, Sunday night Fox), I’m assuming they’ll get a whole lot of promotion and do pretty well for themselves.