Caffe Marchio, a new Roman-style stand-up coffee bar in the Redbury Hotel, is opening on Monday.

Like Union Square Cafe’s sister, Daily Provisions, Caffe Marchio is a counter-service operation that’s steps away from its full-service sibling restaurant Marta, the three-year-old Roman pizzeria in the hotel. Its entrance is separate from Marta, with a door at 30 East 30th Street near Madison Avenue. Here, chef Joe Tarasco wants to be able to “feed the masses” for breakfast and lunch, particularly people in the neighborhood, he says.

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School’s back today for New York City kids, and a lunchtime surprise is awaiting them: Public schools citywide will now offer free lunches to every single student.

Thanks to a federal program, meals won’t cost even a penny for the 1.1 million students in America’s largest school system. Right now, about 75 percent of them qualify for free lunches. Officials stressed that this new program shouldn’t cost taxpayers more money, either.

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McDonald’s expansion of its McCafé line isn’t just limited to the company’s 14,000 U.S. restaurants. It starts serving grocery stores with a line of ready-to-drink McCafé Frappé beverages in three flavors: Caramel, Vanilla and Mocha.

The drinks come as a result of an expanded deal with the beverage maker Coca-Cola Company. The drinks will join the whole bean, ground and single-serve McDonald’s coffee available in retail stores nationwide.

The new retail beverages come as the company officially announced its planned expansion of its McCafé line of drinks on Wednesday, with Caramel Macchiato, Cappuccino and Americano. The drinks were available in McDonald’s locations last week. Executives promised more to come.

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The Zabar family plans to expend its father-son empire by opening a second location of its craft beer bar Eli’s Night Shift in Chinatown. The new Eli’s Night Shift would be located at 54 Mulberry Street, according to Bowery Boogie. It’s a follow-up from the Upper East Side original outpost that Eli, 73, and son Oliver Zabar, 25, opened in 2015.

Followed by the craft beer bar,news also reports that the father-son duo are planning an all-day bakery and cafe in Nolita at 192 Mott Street that will pivot to a bar at night.

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Manhattanites will no longer have to endure the L to struggle through Smorgasburg’s packed crowd, long lines, and scarce seating: The outdoor food market opens in Hudson Square/Soho/Tribeca on August 19. Dubbed Smorg Square, founders Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler have taken over the 23,000 square-feet at the corner of Varick and Canal Streets for the viral novelty foods for which the market has become known.

For a full list of the vendors click here

In the last year, politicians in Manhattan have been trying to reduce the number of businesses that have to pay the commercial rent tax, or CRT. It’s a provision from the 1960s that adds a 3.9 percent surcharge to any business below 96th street paying more than $250,000 a year in rent, which, as turns out, is a pretty easy threshold to meet.

The New York Hospitality Alliance, a trade group representing restaurants and bars, has been trying to change the tax for years. It was originally intended to target big businesses, but with how crazy rents have gotten in Manhattan, it’s now impacting lots of mom-and-pops, too.

More than 40 of the 51 City Council members have signed on to the bill that would raise that $250,000 threshold to $500,000, reducing the number of businesses (including restaurants) that would have to pay by some 40 percent.

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Popular Italian pasta shop,Rosemary’s owner, Carlos Saurez has teamed up with chef Wade Moises to open a pizzeria in November.

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Danny Meyer’s new fast casual pizza restaurant will open later this month in the East Village. The team has begun testing the pizza oven, and they plan to have capacity for producing about 90 pizzas an hour.

Chef Julian Medina, with his popular neighborhood taco restaurants, plans to open two new restaurants.  One will be on 205 Thompson St, and the other will be in Harlem.

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The iconic River Cafe has turned 40. The restaurant has withstood many neighborhood transitions and new chefs, never losing it’s way.

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