Boi Sandwich: This is latest outpost in a growing Vietnamese food empire, which now includes Bôi to Go and Bôi restaurant . And boy oh bôi is Midtown Lunch excited ! “It may take awhile, but I think I may have to eat through the entire menu…Unlike its sister restaurant Bôi to Go, which has some seating, the new sandwich place is take out only (and cash only for the time being). I know a lot of you refuse to pay $7.50 for a banh mi, but it’s all we’ve got (and now one ave closer to Midtown proper!) In addition to the banh mi, which appear to be the same as Boi to Go, they are also offering noodle bowls, rice bowls, Asian burritos (hello!), and salads ($7 to $8).” 708 Third Avenue, (212) 681-6541 La Barra: This cozy cevicheria on the Lower East Side is the new venture from chef Allan Feldman (Veritas). The emphasis, according to NY Mag , is on seafood, with half a dozen varieties of flash-cured fish, ranging from red snapper to octopus. Feldman’s also doing entrees like Spicy Shrimp Over Stones for Peeling and Beef Empanadas with Chimichurri. There’s a raw bar, and a selection of Latin American beer and wine completes the scene

The much-maligned Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is in the news again with charges from the Post that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has turned it into “his own multimillion-dollar piggy bank.” The LMDC is the Ground Zero rebuilding agency whose closing has been called upon at various points by former Governors Pataki and Spitzer and most recently by Mayor Bloomberg this summer . While funding for the agency has gone down overall, the amount of grants that have gone out to groups supported by Silver has allegedly tripled in the last two years. One anonymous critic tells the paper, “The allocations look more like [Silver's] ‘member items’ these days.” Spokesmen for both Silver and the LMDC defend the grants as all going to groups vital in the rebuilding process and wh have all been approved by a board of directors put in place by Bloomberg and Spitzer.

It’s hard to guess how the Giants will play their game on Sunday against Minnesota, but last year’s season finale offers some clues. In that game the Giants had nothing to play for, having clinched a playoff spot the previous week, yet went toe-to-toe with the undefeated Patriots. Though they lost 38-35, most people see that game as the spark the impetus for their Super Bowl win. New York faces a similar situation this week. They have wrapped up the #1 seed and know they will be off until the weekend of January 10th. But, if they lose this game they will also enter the playoffs having lost three of their last four games and there will be questions about how ready they are.

Two men were shot in the head and found dead just after midnight on Christmas in front of the apartment of one of the victims in the Jamaica section of Queens. Police are still investigating and have not revealed any motive behind the shootings of 42-year-old Andre Stokes and 34-year-old Jamel Griffin, both of whom the Daily News notes “had troubled pasts with numerous arrests.” Griffin left behind a young son and was expecting another. Murders and shootings have risen in Jamaica this year. Griffin’s grandmother, who previously lost a 15-year-old son to a shooting said, “There is nothing worse than losing your child to a gun.”

If you thought your Christmas was depressing, the Burg (with some help from the All-For-Nots) are here to share your pain. Non-trust fund hipster bread lines, depression, hand-made garbage gifts, suicide threats…Happy Holidays from the Burg! Depression and recession looks are going to be so in this season (deprecession chic?). Or maybe The City will put an end to that.