The "A Good Time to Visit Chinatown" Edition

Cuomo's petty tricks, cherry blossoms, a guide to outdoor tables, the fight over rezoning SoHo, and more

Today - Low: 44˚ High: 59˚
Partly cloudy throughout the day.

Queen Andrea’s mural on Richmond Ave in Staten Island (photo by me). Send your photo to be featured to thebriefly@gmail.com

• Is the speakeasy inside the 28th St subway station a "secret" if there's a Time Out story about it? Let's keep this secret between you, me, the thousands of readers of the Briefly, and everyone who looks at Time Out. (Anna Ben Yehuda for Time Out)

• Apartment Lust: A $5.75 million classic seven at the El Dorado on Central Park West. If you're unsure what a "classic seven" is, the apartment featured in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was a classic six, so the seven has an additional room. This one has four bedrooms, a full view of Central Park, a den/library, three bathrooms, and more. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)

• The Westminster Dog Show is coming back to MSG next year. (NY1)

• With Governors Island's reopening on May 1, there will be two Brooklyn ferries on the weekends, one from Red Hook and another from Brooklyn Bridge Park. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft)

• Hay Hay Roasted gets high marks for its roasted meats from Gothamist, but as Scott Lynch points out, this is the absolute perfect time to make your way to Chinatown. The tourists haven't come back and all the businesses are open. (Scott Lynch for Gothamist)

• Photos: Take a look inside Talea, the city's first woman-owned brewery and taproom. (Shaye Weaver with photos by Sydney Butler Photography for Time Out)

• Expect the mayor to change the "two-case" rule this week. Currently, a school closes for ten days after two unrelated Covid-19 cases are discovered. The rule has been long-criticized and appears to be headed out the door. (Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech for amNewyork Metro)

• The city hit a new one-day record for vaccinations, jabbing 93,000 arms on Thursday. The number includes state, city, and federal programs. This was after anyone 30 or over became eligible last week and ahead of this coming week where anyone 16 or over is eligible. (Jen Chung, David Crus, and Nsikan Akpan for Gothamist)

The Briefly - Your NYC News Digest @TheBrieflyNYC

Do you know anyone who still says IRT, IND, BMT, or BRT instead of Subway?

• 12 mushroom dishes worth foraging for in the city. That was Eater's pun, not mine. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)

• Costa Constantinides is quitting City Council effective April 9. Constantinides represents Astoria. He claims the reason is that Covid-19 hit his family hard, but also has a new job lined up already as the CEO of the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Long Island City. Because he's resigning with 90 days of an election, the seat on the council will remain empty. (Michael Gannon for Queens Chronicle)

• The Brooklyn Botanical Garden's cherry trees are starting to bloom. (Jen Chung for Gothamist)

• It's across the entire city, as the bloom is happening in Astoria too. (It's happening everywhere, but these are the places that are getting written about). (Marie Siracusa for Give Me Astoria)

• This is a good summation of the fight over rezoning that's happening in SoHo and how this fight is happening in cities across the country. (Jazmine Hughes for NY Times)

• New details about Governor Cuomo's behind-the-scenes power plays early in the pandemic are pure dirtbag moves, including paying for polls comparing his leadership to Dr. Fauci, the mayor, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden. My favorite petty detail from this is that the governor used state-issued computers to print early drafts of his book. (David Cruz for Gothamist)

• The Queens DA office announced that it was dropping charges against an NYPD officer captured on video kneeling on a Black man's neck during an arrest. The DA's office cited "insufficient evidence" of the use of an illegal chokehold. (Sophia Chang for Gothamist)

• Photos: Inside the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom. (Anna Ben Yehuda for Time Out)

• Interview: Stacey Prussman discusses her run for mayor (Ben Max for Gotham Gazette)

• SoHo Grifter Anna Sorokin was taken into ICE custody two days after tweeting "Can't fuck with the new me." Turns out she's overstayed her visa and appears to be headed for deportation. (Jen Chung for Gothamist)

• A guide to the best outdoor tables in NYC. (Emily Wilson for RESY)

Featured Pet: Dumpling!

Thanks to reader Michele for sending in this photo of Dumpling, bird watching, taunting her little sister Elly, and draping herself theatrically across the furniture. Same, Dumpling, same. Send a photo of your pet or bodega cat to be featured to thebriefly@gmail.com