November 3, 2011

New York City

I recently spent a few days in New York City. The weather was hot and sunny for most of the time and only started to deteriorate when I left for San Francisco. It wasn’t my first time in New York and so the few days I spent there were not so much about discovering but more about experiencing… Food, a lot of food, all sorts of food, coffee, the High Line, riding on the West Side and Central Park, and Corona Park in Queens. These were my highlights. So yes, somehow my trip turned into a culinary experience. For this I have to thank Kim Ann Foxman, who sent me the best food tips ever and Irene Sunwoo, who is the best host ever! My best eats were at Momofuku Noodle Bar (great noodles), Marlow & Sons (dinner only, delish), Caracas Arepa Bar (super good, super filling) and Frank (french toast filled with chocolate in the middle… OMG!). My best coffee experience was at Ninth Street Espresso (the one on East 9th street between Ave C & D) and Everyman Espresso (for a cortado and the best chocolate cookie ever), from which I also bought some Counter Culture Coffee beans.

If you go to New York City, do go to the High Line and walk it all the way, from the Meatpacking District to West 30th street. “It features an integrated landscape, designed by landscape architects James Corner Field Operations, with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, combining meandering concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings. Fixed and movable seating, lighting, and special features are also included in the park”. I started the promenade as the sun was setting, it was peaceful and beautiful. There are plenty of benches, deck chairs, you can hang out with friends or with a good book, listen to music or just people watch. It is an incredible space. There is art everywhere too.

Cycling on the West Side and in Central Park was just… well… fun, and with no cars.

I went for the first time to Corona Park in Queens to catch a photography exhibition of Andrew Moore‘s work, Detroit Disassembled, at the Queens Museum of Art. The journey to and walk through the park is worth it on its own right. This is where the New York City World Fair was held in 1964-65 and there are still some vestiges of this past grandiose event (the Unisphere is quite a sight). I really liked Andrew Moore’s work too. Admittedly, he’s not the only one that has documented the ruins of Detroit (I previously posted about Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre‘s amazing project on Detroit) but his eye and composition is really arresting. His other projects are also very much about past grandeur and its decline, and are also visually striking (check out his Russia series, amazing).

I guess this trip wasn’t so much about having ‘fun’ per se but it was very good nonetheless. The next leg of my trip was San Franciso, of which I will post photographs very soon.

Here are below other amazing tips from my very knowledgeable NYC friends. Here is to be having some good times in the Big Apple.

FOOD/COFFEE

East Village
- Xian Famous Foods (amazing cheap homemade noodles)
- Mermaid inn (happy hour oysters are a good deal and really good fish)
- Westville (super fresh, super delicious. pies are great!)
- Peels (nouveau American restaurant. supposed to have an amazing breakfast/brunch. Also does takeaway coffees and pastries)
- Porchetta LLC (very delicious roasted pork sandwiches! also try the crispy potatoes)
- Hasaki Restaurant (sushi)
- Vandaag (so nice inside! dutch restaurant)
- Robataya (really great Japanese place. Serves small plates of really unique food)
- Sundaes & Cones (homemade ice creams….flavours like ginger, banana, black sesame, coconut…)
- Lucien (great french food!)
- Goat Town (really great nouveau American)
- Abraço (really lovely tiny tiny Portuguese coffee place)
- Cafe Mogador (middle-eastern inspired bistro/cafe)
- The Roasting Plant (they actually roast the coffee beans as you order)

Union Square
- Joe The Art of Coffee (coffee — near parsons!)

Lower East Side
- Prune (good brunch and Bloody Marys)
- Zucco: Le French Diner (little hole-in-the-wall french diner, it’s really tiny)
- Schiller’s Liquor Bar (it’s an American restaurant, not a bar. Very loud!)
- Il Labratorio (amazing homemade ice cream. The black sesame one is real nice and they have earl grey ice cream too)

Bowery
- Gemma Restaurant (really beautiful Italian restaurant. For romantic setting, excellent service, and great food. Part of The Bowery Hotel)

Nolita
- Ceci-Cela (french patisserie. very nice cookies, pastries, cakes)
- Balthazar Restaurant (a very well known restaurant and with a bakery next door. nice selection of breads and pastries)
- Epistrophy Cafe
- Cafe Gitane (nice french-moroccan cafe/restaurant)

SoHo
- The Smile (very nice little American cafe/restaurant. Very cozy inside. You have to descend down a few steps to get to it. Just next door to the boutique Oak)
- Pepe Rosso To Go (Italian restaurant)
- Saturdays Surf NYC (coffee shop/surf shop! excellent coffee)
- Cafe Select (Swiss restaurant)

West Village
- Corner Bistro (amazing juicy american burgers)
- Third Rail Coffee

Chelsea
- Chelsea Market (indoor food market. so many stalls. so much food)

Midtown
- Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel (the secret burger place in the back of a hotel lobby)

Upper East Side
- Cafe Sabarsky (beautiful viennese cafe/restaurant done up in e20c style decor. Part of the Neue Galerie Museum (early 20th century Austrian and German art)

Brooklyn
- Mary’s fish camp (it’s a little more pricey but it’s real good)
- DuMont Burger (best burger)
- The Meatball Shop (great variety of meatballs)
- Katz’s Delicatessen (really amazing bagels, corned beef/pastrami/reubens sandwiches, potato blintzes)
- Driggs pizza (great pizza!)

SHOPPING
- St. Mark’s Bookshop (East Village)
- Pas De Deux (very nice little boutique, East Village)
- Strand Books (overwhelmingly stocked used bookstore, Union Square)
- Assembly New York (also a great boutique. expensive, but great selection, with some vintage mixed in, Lower East Side)
- Maryam Nassir Zadeh (really really great boutique. quite expensive, but they have a great selection, Lower East Side)
- Top Hat (very very cute store with an eclectic range of products…from bird calls to pens to lamps to stationery…, Lower East Side)
- Creatures of Comfort (great great great boutique, Nolita)
- Oak (great boutique, Nolita)
- EVA New York (great boutique, Nolita)
- A.P.C. (french fashion, awesome shirts, SoHo)
- Opening Ceremony (boutique, SoHo)
- Seven (boutique, SoHo)
- Kiosk (design stuff, SoHo)
- Storefront for Art and Architecture (SoHo)
- Project No. 8 (a really great store, but i think the women’s branch may have closed. in any case, try the men’s shop, project no. 6, which is just down the street, Chinatown)
- Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (the museum is obviously nice, but the gift shop is AMAZING, Upper East Side)
- Beacon’s Closet (amazing second hand clothes for so cheap, Williamsburg)

BARS/CLUBS
- Trophy Bar (good drinks, good DJs, and also now serves some food. The burger is real good, Williamsburg)
- Please Don’t Tell (weird awesome speakeasy place to get good cocktails in East Village. It’s in a hot dog restaurant, you go inside the phone booth, pick up the payphone, and a guy opens a secret door and lets you in. It’s located through the phone booth of Crif Dogs restaurant)
- Bassment NYC at The Monster on Thursdays (West Village)
- Clubberdown Disco on Fridays at Chelsea Hotel w/ Lady Fag, real gay and fun, Chelsea)
- Vandam Sundays at Greenhouse (go directly to the basement, preferably no earlier than 1am, SoHo)
- Heather’s Bar (really cool bar, East Village)
- Veronica People’s Club (really cool bar/cafe low key/mostly gay, it’s the sister bar of Heather’s, Williamsburg)
- Turkey’s Nest Tavern (get a margarita to go, a large, then sit in McCarren Park, Brooklyn)