NYC NOW - Midday News: Former Adams Advisor Faces New Charges, More Controversy Around Carriage Horses, and the Best Pancakes in New York City

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

A former top adviser to Mayor Adams is facing new corruption charges. Plus, The controversy over Central Park's carriage horses is back in the political fray after one of them died in Midtown earlier this month. And finally, where to get the best pancakes in New York City.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. Here's the midday news from Veronica DeValle. A former top advisor to Mayor Adams is facing new corruption charges. Manhattan prosecutors accuse Ingrid Lewis Martin of taking more than $75,000 in bribes from people who sought her help navigating city bureaucracy. Prosecutors say the bribes were tied to hot-button issues involving suburbies. City Hall, including migrant shelters, the controversial redesign of McGinnis Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and development projects. Louis Martin's son and several other co-conspirators are also facing charges. Louis Martin denies any wrongdoing. The controversy over Central Park's carriage

horses is back in the political fray after one of them died in Midtown earlier this month. WN.RIC's Liam Quigley has more. Adida Burncrant is the director of Animal Rights Group Nyclas. She says the city's carriage horse industry abuses animals. It's worse than ever, I would say, for the horses, for the amount of neglect and sick, injured horses being worked, spooking, dropping dead. On the other side is TWU Local 100 President John Trello. He represents the carriage horse drivers. The Central Park horses are loved and well cared for.

The drivers spend more time with the horses than they do with their own families. The future of the industry is likely to be. be decided by the next mayor. But for now, the two leading candidates, Zeramam Dhani and Andrew Cuomo, are not taking a stance on the issue. Weather outside right now, absolutely dreary, 67 and cloudy. And a coastal flooding threat is available tonight and into tomorrow. Today, a high of 73 and still cloudy. Stay tuned for more after the break. In the past, our friends at Eder, New York, have joined us to highlight the best pizza, dumplings, fried chicken, and bagels in New York City. Today, the humble

pancake takes center stage. And whether you see that stack of blueberry pancakes as a breakfast staple or perhaps more of a dessert, Eat at New York editor, Melissa McCart, is here to point us to some of the best in the city. Melissa, welcome back. Thank you so much for having me, David. You published your best pancakes list, and, you know, it's one thing if you're sampling pizzas or sushi, but pancakes strike me as a uniquely filling food. How did you handle this task? How do you stay fresh for each pancake experience? My longtime partner always calls pancakes the sweatpants of breakfast. And so we always wear like our leisure pants at some point. So pancakes are sort of the same. Like all year round, I'm going to try people's pancakes. And it's just part of the

of my rotation. So when it comes time to update the pancake map, I have a plethora of tried and true ones as well as new ones. Well, help us get ready for sweatpants. What makes a good pancake? To me, a good pancake has a light and fluffy aspect to it and the edges might be a little bit crisp. I'm a big fan of some kind of blueberry or bananas inside of it, but some people don't like that. Honestly, make or break is real maple syrup versus the fake stuff. Okay. Well, take us to pancake nirvana. Where are we heading first?

Okay. So there's a restaurant that's been around for a bit, but TikTok last year re-invigorated it, and that's Golden Diner in the two bridges area, 123 Madison Street. These pancakes are honey butter pancakes, and they literally glibly. listen when they come to the table. It's almost like a cartoon with like sparkles around it. You can get them all the time. There's always a line. That's the only problem. Hmm. And they're delicious. They're delicious. Thick and fluffy, crisp outside. Just the, the presentation is Instagram perfect. This is Golden Diner near Chinatown in Manhattan?

Yes. It's a two bridges area. It's a small enough place that you could walk right by it except for the line. Okay, so watch for the line. Got it. Well, one of the places you highlight in your current list features a sourdough pancake. This could be a controversial choice. Tell us about this one. Okay. The thing about a sourdough pancake is it's going to be a little bit like bread, and that it's going to have a little bit of a tang to it. And especially if you were in on that baking trend during the pandemic, that might be something that you gravitate towards. This is Vinegar Hill House, which is a long-time neighborhood restaurant in the Dumbo area slash Vinegar Hill. They're fantastic.

It's just a single flapjack. It's fluffy yet crispy. You can get a bit of blueberry. Sometimes they'll have other alternatives for fruit depending on the time of year. But this is what I would say is probably a gourmet pancake. We can have pancakes whenever we want, right? What if we want pancakes for dinner? Oh, that is a special occasion, I would say.

That is a sweatpants occasion. Exactly, exactly. In that case, I would, well, there are two places I go do. One is on the Lower East Side, and that's Clinton Street baking company, which often has a line, but is less likely to have one at night. The pancakes are made with egg whites, so they're lighter and fluffier. You have a choice of berries inside and on top, banana walnut or chocolate chunk. The second option is Bubbies, and Bubbies is great for kids. That's at 120 Hudson Street in the West Village.

The unbelievable thing about Bubbies is you can get a pancake flight, caramelized banana and toasted walnuts, blueberries, Nutella, and a mixed berry compost with whipped cream. A tasting menu of pancakes there. Yes, it is true. It's not cheap. It's $27, but there's a lot of love that goes into. it and it's like breakfast slash almost like a giant Sunday.

Melissa McCart. Thanks again. Thanks for having me. Always a good time. Thanks for listening. 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 podcast.