Your Week Untapped: Best Events for March 11-17

Our curated events picks for this week: E.L. Doctorow reading at MCNY, No Longer Empty + Local Roots 5 course fundraising dinner, Chinatown Restaurant Week.

MONDAY, MARCH 11: “We stood in the shadow of the Trylon and Preisphere, and I felt these familiar forms, huge and white, granted some sort of beneficence to my shoulders.” So says the narrator of World’s Fair: A Novel, the 1986 National Book Award Winner by celebrated novelist E.L. Doctorow, which recreates the magic of the 1939 New York World’s Fair as seen through the eyes of a young boy. Join Mr. Doctorow as he reads excerpts from his novel, followed by a discussion with the audience. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s. 6:30pm at MCNY, 1220 5th Avenue. Reservations required. $6 Museum members / $8 students & seniors / $12 general admission. RSVP here.

Also on Monday: General Assembly + InsideHook present Eat Your Heart Out. Enter for a chance to win an exclusive dinner with critically-acclaimed chef Andy Ricker at his award-winning Pok Pok restaurant. Two lucky winners and their respective plus-ones will receive: An all-expenses-paid dinner with Andy Ricker and Amy Cao (Creator, Stupidly Simple Snacks) at Andy’s award-winning restaurant, Pok Pok NY. A private in-person viewing of Andy’s live stream at General Assembly on March 14th at 4pm, prior to dinner. Contest ends at Midnight. Enter here.

TUESDAY, MARCH 12: Multifaceted French artist Yasmina Reza, one of the world’s most successful playwrights, comes to FIAF for a special evening of film and conversation. Author of the award-winning modern masterpieces Art and God of Carnage, Reza will introduce her recent film Chicas, a family drama that follows a Spanish widow and her three daughters growing up in France. Following the screening, Reza will stay for a Q&A during which she will also discuss and sign copies of her newest novel, the French bestseller Heureux les Heureux. 7pm at FIAF, Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street. $10 members / $15 general public. Buy tickets here.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13: PlaNYC is a bold initiative that has the potential to make New York City one of the most environmentally conscious urban centers in the country. Artist Mary Miss’ audacious project inspired by PlaNYC, City as Living Laboratory, Broadway: 1,000 Steps, seeks to turn the entire Broadway corridor into a place where artists and citizens can collectively dream of a sustainable future. Lawyer John Osborn has been an active participant in PlaNYC, and is working on demonstration projects and public policy initiatives that are incrementally realizing this sustainable future. Join us for a conversation about PlaNYC’s use as an inspirational tool, and the work both planners and artists are doing to engage the citizens of New York in the infrastructure that surrounds them every day. 6pm at The 8th Floor, 17 West 17th Street. Registration required. FREE. RSVP here.

THURSDAY, MARCH 14: No Longer Empty hosts Milonga, Tango & Live Music. Come celebrate the opening of Espresso Tango Radio with an evening of Argentinean Tango with world renowned dancers Junior Cervila & Natalia Royo from Argentina and acclaimed Héctor Del Curto Tango Quartet. Learn the basics of this passionate dance with a class from the masters, then watch the live tango performance and practice what you learn with live music by the quartet. 7pm at The Clocktower, 29-27 41st Avenue. $15. Buy tickets here.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15: Headscapes is a group installation show about what goes on inside the heads of artists. In order to find creativity, artists often go into a particular head space. These frames of mind vary, each made from a pallet of ideas, feelings, sounds, symbols, and processes. In Headscapes, a group of self-organized, Brooklyn artists are making these places real in an empty warehouse in Long Island City. The show features work by more than 25 artists. Viewers of the show are invited to go inside the various projects and inside the headscapes of artists. Set in a raw warehouse environment, the structures hide detailed interiors. The Installations include an igloo made of speakers, a web spun inside a giant geod, a forced-perspective room, a black and white 8mm film odyssey, a kalediscope projection lighthouse, a nest of neon geometric collages, a car theater, and umbrella-clouds that project beams of directional sound. On view until March 24. Weds-Sun 12-6pm at 26-19 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens. FREE.

SATURDAY, MARCH 16: Untapped Cities, Local Roots NYC and No Longer Empty present a 5-course sit-down dinner and cocktails in the abandoned Bank of Manhattan in benefit of the non-profit, No Longer Empty. Chef Will Griffin will present a 5-course dinner. 7pm at the Clocktower, 29-27 41st Avenue, Long Island City, Queens. Only a few more tickets available at $125 (tax deductible). Purchase via Paypal here.

SUNDAY, MARCH 17: Chinatown Restaurant Week is here and continues until March 31! All participating restaurants, unless otherwise noted, will offer special Chinatown Restaurant Week meals for $20.13. Links to the Chinatown Restaurant Week menus, if available, will be posted here before March 16, 2013. Check out our Sunday in Chinatown column for our recommendations.