New York’s Most Important Foods, Pig Bleecker Opening, Line Schmoozers, and More Intel

— Missy Robbins of Lilia, Janine Booth of Root & Bone, and the crew at Thrillist list their 100 most important foods in New York.

— Chef and partner at Pig Beach in Gowanus and eight-year alum of Del Posto, Matt Abdoo will open a new restaurant in Greenwich Village in January, a “more refined,” version of what he was doing at his barbecue restaurant, FloFab reports. Pig Bleecker will serve, “silky cod cheeks with crispy country ham and vinegar peppers, smoked duck confit with a sweet-and-sour glaze, a tomahawk chop and that must-have at cocktail events, pigs in blankets.”

— Making eye contact and conversation are two skills required of Fritz the Schmoozer, the host at Breads Bakery in Union Square, whose job it is to make potential customers feel welcome as they wait in line.

— Irving Farm Coffee Roasters has signed a lease for its eighth location in New York in Midtown East. That makes for eight locations in the city for the company that started in the mid-90s on Irving Place. The newest location will open Jan 23.

— Ex-judge helps a suspected mobster because he likes the food at his restaurant, Pasquale’s Rigoletto on Arthur Ave. Restaurant owner Pasquale Parrello is charged in a racketeering conspiracy and has been awaiting trial. Daily News reports retired judge, Anthony Fiorella, had been a regular for years. “‘The food has always been good,’ Fiorella said. ‘The restaurant is very nice, the people are all great. The employees they have a good attitude and they are very helpful.’”

— Speaking of the law and Italian restaurants, every month in the back room at Forlini’s off Canal Street, members of the Society of Professional Investigators meet for dinner, “practically every one of them seems to have walked out of the pages of a hardboiled-detective paperback.” Check out The New Yorker Presents video.

—”Tables for Two” visits Curry Hill Hakka spot, Spice Symphony, where “... a fusion restaurant,” where “it can sometimes pay to gamble on dishes that appear dubious.” “Bar Tab” steps inside The Rabbit House from sake sommelier/owner Yoshiko Sakuma a space that “has been created with intense care and an idiosyncratic sensibility. . . . “

— Diners are encouraged to Facebook Live an entire visit to Live on Air, a new Cajun restaurant in Prospect Heights with a menu of fried green tomato salad, chicken and waffles, and beignets. Owner Joe Barbour told DNAInfo he wanted The Truman Show as a restaurant.

— What does $18,000 worth of groceries at the Park Slope Food Coop look like? That’s how much two members stole over 2016.

— And finally, find calm this morning at this tucked-away tea house above Union Square.