Damascus (Syria)

Inescapable's Pre-Civil War Syria Seems Almost Quaint

Our 10 Best Middle Eastern Restaurants

New York City has a lot to offer when it comes to Middle Eastern cooking. If you know where to stop for a meal along the city's few Arab strips or even in fancy neighborhoods, you'll find a wide range of the region's typical cooking including grilled meats, honey-drenched pastries, savory flatbreads ... More >>

Za'atar Brings a Feast of the Middle East to the West Village

Greenwich Avenue has gotten a crop of new eateries recently. Whitehall, the new Brit-influenced spot from the team behind Highlands, is getting lots of buzz, but if it's cheap eats you're after, you're better off checking out new Middle Eastern spot Za'atar (50 Greenwich Avenue, 212-242-3451). The s ... More >>

NYFF: Life is (Alexander) Payne

Dennis Kucinich Praises Syrian Leader, Says He Was Mistranslated a Smidge

​Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich traveled to Syria this week and reportedly praised President Bashar al-Assad, the leader who has been accused of ordering attacks on pro-democratic supporters. Politico reports that Kucinich held a press conference in Damascus where he said, "President Bashar ... More >>

Tom MacMaster, a Straight Man in Scotland, Is the 'Gay Girl in Damascus' Hoax Blogger

The Amina Avatar​Amina Abdallah Arraf wrote a brave and dramatic blog about her life as a gay woman living in Syria until early last week when an entry from her cousin informed readers that she'd been arrested. Except, after every major news outlet in the world reported on the blog, called A G ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty Invents Charming Portmanteau; Filipino 18-Year-Old is World's Shortest Man

​Crazy person and Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty has come up with a totally inventive term for our current health care laws: "Obamneycare." Get it? Like Obama Romney. It's supposed to recall how Mitt Romney shamefully tried to help uninsured people with health problems as the gover ... More >>

Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, Kidnapped Gay Syrian Blogger, Might Be Made Up

Not her?!​The defiant lesbian blogger Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari (a.k.a. Amina Arraf or Amina Abdallah), who was reported kidnapped on her blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus" by a cousin this week, may not exist at all or otherwise has a lot of explaining to do. Her story circulated everywhere fro ... More >>

The Best Thing I Ate Yesterday

Welcome to The Best Thing I Ate Yesterday, where we endeavor to remember the very best thing we stuffed down our gullets over the past 24 hours. Why? Because the only thing better than enjoying a meal is wallowing in the memory of one savored in the recent past. Today's fond reminiscences ... Vict ... More >>

Damascus Bread & Pastry Shop's Whole-Wheat Spinach Pie

​In their desire to appeal to the more health-conscious and/or guilt-ridden among us, numerous bakers compromise their products with whole-wheat flour, and the result is often reminiscent of chew toys and arbitrary childhood punishments. But this is happily far from the case at Damascus Bread ... More >>

Things to Do in Rabat When You're Dead

The CinemaEast Film Festival reels in the latest crop of Middle East movie makers

'Six Days'

Horoscope

The Boys on the Side

Remembering anthropologist Tobias Schneebaum—and other members of an unconventional salon

Bush Talks About Evil Doers on C-Span 3

And now on another, more obscure channel, your president

The Gospel According to the Hold Steady

On their great new album, Brooklyn's best band explores why Catholic girls start much too early

Journey to Norwabia

A culinary trek through Bay Ridge

Restaurants

25 Places Where Two Can Eat for $25

In No One's Army

A West Coast Call for Civil Disobedience

French Fries and Fruit Flies

Not Yesterday Once More

Jordan's South Rises, Again

Talk of War in Iraq Lights a Regional Fire

Palestine 101

A Short Take on a Long History

Never Again?

The Great Second-Holocaust Debate

Occupied Territories

Letters

Nation

Rage Against the Caffeine

Reverend Billy Preaches the Anticorporate Gospel to Starbucks

Aimless in Gaza