Our $20 Dinner Expert Tells Us What's What for This Year and Next

On a frigid New Year's Day, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was sworn into office, and Hell Gate was there to witness the whole inspiring spectacle (and lose feeling in our extremities). The gang breaks down the ceremony, discusses Mayor Mamdani's first executive orders, and lays out some of the last-minute booby traps that outgoing mayor Eric Adams laid for his successor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One thing we did a lot of in 2025 that we’ll probably keep up in 2026: eating. This week, social media sensation and generally great guy Scott Lynch—force behind our $20 dinner map—joins us to talk restaurants and food trends in NYC. Want to know what his favorite pick in the five boroughs is? What if you're looking to splurge, where's the best $40 dinner? What's with AI in restaurants? What in the world of food might 2026 bring? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A little hungover from the Hell Gate rager last night, the team assembles to discuss the last dregs of Adams’ efforts to govern, and the new mayor’s first big oopsie before starting in just a few days. Then, an update on casinos (not good) and the latest efforts to hold cops accountable (also not good). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week in NYC news: The UK is installing a new hypercapitalist project in the form of pods, or tubes, or maybe it is an airlock, or maybe a pneumatic network meant to shoot gymgoers onto ellipticals with the force of wads of cash. In any case Jessy and Chris explain how and why PureGym, formerly Blink Fitness, is forcing us into their mysterious tubes. Also, Brad Lander is running for congress. The vibe is Mr. Rogers. Will it work? Probably. Then—Katie attends a hearing featuring local celebrities Richard Kind, Matt Dillon, and Mark Ruffalo, who have unified in defense of their church-slash-pickleball court (that is turning into a pile of sand). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The team pulls an Eric Adams this week and leaves the city to go hang out somewhere quaint and European, but hotels are expensive and so are flights, so they end up in Atlantic City (the New York of New Jersey). It's bleak out there. It's giving post-apocalyptic preview of what New York can expect from the parade of casinos coming soon to the metropolitan area. It’s cold, and dad’s not coming home. And he took the dog, too. It’s making us wonder if this is actually the best way to fund the MTA, and why we’re not just taxing the fucking rich. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re here this holiday week to mull over NYC’s Thanksgiving highlights and consider the benefits of escaping to Sharlene’s for 5 small beers after your mom tells you “there’s never a ‘good’ time to have kids, you know.” Then, updates on Mamdani’s transition committees and some news about leadership in the city—and whether or not they’ll help Mamdani answer questions like “Where does the NYPD end and federal law enforcement begin?” Truly, kind of a tough one! Finally, Adlan tells us about the beautiful $1,800/month basement apartment he’s so grateful to be signing a lease for. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s going on Mamdani? Getting scared of doing what you said you’d do? Or is big bad Jessica Tisch giving you the creeps? The team is trying to make sense of what you’ve been saying and it’s not quite adding up to the same spunk we saw just a couple weeks back. And how was the meeting with Trump today? Did the fish filet go over ok? We’re betting yes. (Spoiler: Total Mamdani victory—listen to the end of the episode for us reacting to the Oval Office meetup that has everyone buzzing.)Meanwhile, our current mayor is somewhere out there, still burning taxpayer dollars for his eurorail gap year soul search. Does he know Andorra is not part of the EU? Does he know he can take PTO? Come home mayor Adams. We miss you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Max, Chris, and Nick (the boys) discuss the Mamdani transition so far—the incoming first deputy mayor knows where all the (metaphorical) bodies are buried in Albany, while the incoming chief-of-staff is hoping to keep the administration honest to its progressive ideals. Meanwhile, Cuomo’s campaign is transcending to higher and higher planes as they attempt to ret-con the plot of the general election. Then: Elizabeth Street Garden is a park now? And should we ban carriage horses? Both of these issues might be 2026 problems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zohran won! The sun rose this morning on a city with a democratic socialist, Muslim, immigrant, shockingly young mayor-elect. The team was up late covering the respective victory and concession parties, and this morning—a bit weary—they rolled out of bed to reflect on the evening and the mayoral race as it came, finally, to a close. What’s next for Zohran? And what does it look like when a progressive candidate doesn’t abandon the political apparatus that got them into office? Will we get to find out? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have whiz-man, superstar data boy, and mayoral poll vibe-checker Michael Lange to give us the block-by-block for this week’s election. How it’s looking from both the birds-eye and the street-level. Then, the team debriefs about Mamdani’s performance on the stage last week at the live taping of the Hell Gate Podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.