NYC NOW - Midday News: Bronx Casino Bid Advances, Police Seek Suspects in Queens Fatal Shooting, Hochul Warns of Inflation Refund Scams, and Navigating the Food Scene on MacDougal Street

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

A state advisory committee has approved Bally’s $4 billion Bronx casino proposal in a 5-1 vote, moving the project into the final licensing round. Meanwhile, police are searching for three suspects in connection to a fatal shooting in Forest Hills on Sunday night. Also, Governor Kathy Hochul is warning New Yorkers about scams targeting state inflation refund checks. Finally, food critic Robert Sietsema joins us to break down how to tackle the restaurant packed MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, it's Monday, September 29th. Here's the midday news. I'm Jene Pierre. A key advisory committee has approved a bid to bring full-scale casino gambling to the Bronx. The Bally's Bronx proposal was okay just minutes ago in a five-to-one vote and now moves on to a final round of scrutiny. The $4 billion project was dead in the war. water last summer when the city council voted against a required rezoning, but Mayor Eric Adams

vetoed the council action and put the and put the Bronx bit back into play. The state gaming facility location board is scheduled to award up to three downstate gaming licenses by the end of this year. Police say they're looking for three people in connection with the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old in Queen Sunday night. They say it happened around 740, near 64th Road in the Grand Central Parkway in Forest Hills. Police say they found Gene Rio shot in his chest and unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. Authorities say the three suspects fled on foot and were also on a moped. The NYPD says it hasn't made any arrest yet as it explores a possible motive for the shooting. This comes less than a week after a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed elsewhere in Queens.

A 16-year-old boy is being charged with murder in that case. Governor Kathy Hokel is warning New Yorkers about scams targeting the state's inflation refund checks. Here's WMYC's Phil Corso. Scammers are texting, calling, and emailing people to trick them into handing over personal info, claiming it's required to get an inflation refund check. But the state says no action is needed. If you're eligible, your check will arrive by mail automatically. The checks range from $150 to $400 and started going out Friday.

They'll be delivered in batches. through November. To qualify, you must have filed a 2023 tax return, meet income limits, and not be claimed as a dependent. The air quality is moderate today due to particle pollution. Ozone levels are good, however. It's currently 73 degrees. It'll be partly sunny today with highs in the upper 70s and cloudy skies ahead tonight with lows around 65. Stay close. There's more after the break. When it comes to trying to pick a place to eat, New York City can be overwhelming. There are just so many great choices, and few places can seem as daunting for decision-makers

as McDougal Street and Greenwich Village. It is packed with so many restaurants, bars, ice cream shops, that it's hard to figure out what to even look at first. Food critic Robert Sietzima has been focusing on the street this month, and he's here now to help sort it out for us. Welcome back. David. So, Robert, you have a piece up on our new site, Gothamist, right now, on the 10 best places to eat on McDougal. They are all found on the one block between Bleaker and West Third Streets.

And just to be clear, you're not listing all of the restaurants. There are many more than 10 places on this block. Oh, gosh, yes. You know, the number changes by the day. As places disappear and new places move in, it is one of the best food streets. and food blocks in the city. I recently counted 36 restaurants between Bleaker Street and West Third Street. And even if you're not grabbing a bite, this is just a fun place to walk. It goes right up to NYU. It's filled with college students.

Give us a sense for this immediate neighborhood and the history here. Well, this is the heart of Greenwich Village. If you had to pick one quintessential block where everything comes together, this is it. Imagine walking down the street in the 60s and the 70s and seeing Bob Dylan and Jimmy Hendricks and even Eleanor Roosevelt. And this has been the center of bohemianism. And if you had to characterize the restaurants here, are they mostly places to grab a quick bite? What are we talking about? Well, in general, with a couple of notable exceptions, these are really cheap restaurants.

They're restaurants where you can eat well for around $10. sometimes even less. Nowhere will you find, except perhaps in Jackson Heights, will you find such a range, running from Syrian to Ethiopian to old-fashioned places that have been around 100 years. Okay, let's eat. Where should we go? You can't do better than going to Mamoons, which is the city's most famous falafel stand. There are iterations of it all over town and in Jersey now, But the fact of the matter is this was the original founded in 1972.

It introduced falafel to a wider audience. If you can imagine a city without falafel, that would be the city without mamoons. And a falafel is still like 650, which includes the sandwich and the roughage, the yogurt sauce and the hot sauce. It's just, it's a full gut bomb, you know, for a small amount of money. There's actually seating there. There's outdoor seating where you can watch the passing parade. It's an amazing place.

And it's a miracle. It's still there. Mamoons still there on McDougal. And we'll stay on the block. Where are we heading next? Well, just cross the street and you got Pome Freak, the city's foremost purveyor of Belgian-style French fries. And if you wonder what's different, they've been fried once at a certain temperature

to cook them and soften them up. And then they're fried again at a higher temperature to crisp them on the outside. And you want to dip them in fruit sauce, which is the Dutch mayonnaise, runny mayonnaise, just delicious. My favorite combination is the fruit sauce, ketchup, and raw onions, which they will give you for free. Or you can pay a dollar or two for a whole bunch of other off-the-wall sauces. You better be in the mood for fries because that's all they serve here, right? You are allowed to have a meal of fries, and I won't tell your primary care physician. All right.

We saved room for one more stop. Where should we finish? Well, what if you reach your hand in your pockets and you find one of those $100 bills, which are coming out of the cash machines ever more frequently these days, and you don't know what to do with them? Well, you can take it to Manetta Tavern where $100 will pay for a splendid meal. in a setting that dates to 1937 and is more famous for its literary connections than almost any other place. I mean, this is where Ernest Hemingway and E. Cummings and Joseph Mitchell ate.

So if you want to splurge on McDougal, this is the place to go? It's the place to go and it is lined with caricatures of celebrities that you won't recognize. Because they're from a previous era. Yes, exactly. What do you want to eat if you go here? Well, actually, my secret favorite is the black label burger, which is $38, and it's made with, like, prime meat. You know, most hamburgers are made out of, like, inferior cuts of meat. Well, this is maybe the best burger you've ever tasted in your life.

On the other hand, you've probably never paid $38 for a burger in your life before. But that includes fries. That includes fries. Oh, it comes with fries. It's a deal. All right. You don't have to run across the street to Palm Freak for your fries. Correct. Robert Seitzema's list of the 10 best places to eat on McDougal Street is up on our news site, Gothamist, right now. You can also check out his substack, Robert Seatsima's New York.

Robert, thanks again. As always, I had a great time, David. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.