Posts tagged ‘new york’

I have two more years left in New York City before and want you to help me put together my NYC bucket list. What are the essential dining experiences in the city—that is, where/what should I make SURE I’ve had before I leave town?

It’s almost an impossible task to categorize and then tackle every quintessential New York experience—but that hasn’t stopped me from trying. (I did this when I was prepping to leave Chicago after grad school ten years ago, too. Restrict yourself to a student budget for an extra challenge!)

What follows is a highly subjective, ever-evolving list of moments and meals that remain indelibly classic from my incessant trawling over the past decade. It’s a mix of high and low and more than enough to get you started for the next two years.

The rundown is tres Manhattan-centric because that’s been the bulk of my experience, but each venue tries to recapture the exhilarating soaring wash of realization that makes you want to stand on a street corner and yell, “New York is the greatest city in the world!”
>> What are the can’t-miss New York restaurants? Read on. >>

All summer, I’ve been obsessing over the ghosts of old New York, lamenting the loss of iconic diners and landmarks that maybe never existed and thinking of Frank O’Hara. O’Hara, a poet who lived in New York in the 1950s and ’60s and who died young, as the great ones do, in an accident on Fire Island at age 40, was a jauntily heartbreaking chronicler of everyday life and the small details that make the city sing.

image courtesy of Flickr user DC Products

But why am I telling you all of this? We’re a food site, not American Lit 103. Well, my dears, instead of wolfing down some halal chicken from a street vendor during his lunch breaks at the Museum of Modern Art, Frank used the time to write poetry at breakneck speed. His 1964 tome Lunch Poems was thus named by City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti (the same man who published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and defended the book against obscenity charges) for the provenance of its contents.

And so, for all you readers dreaming of the freedom of your lunch hour, here’s one of my favorite pieces summing up New York in summer, celebrating those few shining minutes when you’re released from your windowless cubicle and are able to immerse yourself in a glass of papaya juice and the crowded lifeblood of the city.
>> Read on for Frank O’Hara’s ode to lunch hours in New York. >>

As a nation of drunks, we tend to overromanticize and idealize the neighborhood bar. You should never have to fight for a barstool. The beer should flow freely and you should be able to indulge in fried delicacies at all hours. It’s not a special destination, there’s not a dress code (on the contrary, walking into this mystical place should be as comfortable as putting on a pair of old sweats), and it’s hard to find one bar that will pack all these qualities into four booze-soaked walls.

The object of my undying affection? I found it four years ago at Bayard’s Ale House, a bar as it should be.

In 2006, Bayard’s replaced the former Sazerac House, which had a steady following (including John Belushi and Norman Mailer, according to The Villager) for 41 years. It still retains some the Sazerac’s old Village clientele—upon my first visit, I shared the long wooden banquette with an aging transvestite—and looks like it’s been around much longer than the past four years, which makes sense, considering the building in which Bayard’s resides was built in 1826.

The interior is suitably dim with exposed brick, a wooden bar with brass accents, and a tin ceiling festooned with hanging white Christmas lights. But the banks of windows curving around the facade of its corner perch at Hudson and Charles keep Bayard’s from veering off into dive-ville (see Crow, Stoned and Whiskey Pub, Nancy for stellar examples of this genre), with light streaming in for people-watching on sunny afternoons or summer happy hours.
>> But what do you eat at Bayard’s Ale House? Read on. >>

After he wowed us with his lamb bacon, Danielle and I knew we had to hit up Chef Bobby Hellen of the Belgian gastropub Resto for a Good. Food. Stories. Q&A. Bobby, a native New Yorker, has been with the Resto team since the restaurant’s 2007 opening, and now leads the kitchen as Executive Chef.

Though the restaurant is most well-known (along with the vast selection of Belgian brews) for its pork-focused dishes and nose-to-tail eating, Bobby also serves up heaping amounts of locally-sourced produce alongside his housemade charcuterie, meats, and poultry from New York-area farms like Four Story Hill. For the more adventurous, the Resto team offers the Large Format Feast, where a whole animal will be broken down and delectably prepared for your large group (they’ll feed up to 18 people).

>> Read on to find out how a grapefruit changed Bobby’s life. >>

Today, please welcome a post from Kristen Trajan, who has meticulously scouted a few wallet-friendly NYC dining options to keep us full and on a budget.

I’ve been riding the poor train for years now, and while I’ve been known to hop off for a little Blue Hill at Stone Barns, I stay true to my cheap roots. As Danielle will attest, I’m a great dinner date, but not a terribly adventurous grocery partner. (You’re talking to the girl who recently put a $1.29 package of pasta back on the shelf after realizing I could get it for $1.19 eight blocks away.)

But we don’t always have the luxury of—or energy for—making delicious dishes for less at home. And that’s why I’m giving you the highly coveted top 5 under $5.

Under $5, you say? In New York? Yes, my friends, ’tis true. I know just about every corner, park, and questionable hole-in-the-wall restaurant for recession-friendly deliciousness. But I’m starting with five classy spots. You know, where you can take that date you don’t really want to invest in. In no particular order, I give you the first five:

>> Where can you get this bowl of filling hummus for only $5? Read on. >>