••• “When I was walking home from soccer practice at Pier 40 [the other night], I saw a head bobbing up and down in the Hudson River,” emailed Alex K., age 11. “At first I was overcome with fear of thinking it was a dog, but as I watched the head I then thought it was an otter. However, then it occurred to me that it was much to big to be an otter. Have sea creatures returned to the Hudson? If so, where did they come from and why? Hope it was a seal!” I hope so, too! I reached out to the River Project to see what they think.

••• “Le Pain Quotidien at the Riverhouse is closed until 3/29 for renovation,” reports D. Maybe they’ll fix the coffee while they’re at it.

••• Two years ago, I posted about El Internacional, the “art restaurant” that preceded El Teddy’s on W. Broadway. Co-founder Antoni Miralda was putting together a book about the restaurant, which really was something—as you can see from a website I just came across, with even more photos (including many wonderful ones, such as the one below, by Peter Aaron). It says the book is coming out at the end of this year, and I miss funky New York.

••• Ari Hest is playing City Winery on June 19.