The massive, magnificent Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine has long (like: more than a century long) been an integral part of the Morningside Heights community, that mini-neighborhood within the Upper West Side that includes Columbia University. In addition to regular (30 times a week!) Episcopal worship services, St. John's Cathedral provides numerous social services and outreach programs; runs the Cathedral School, one of Manhattan's most sought-after K-8 private schools; and hosts many hugely popular annual events, such as the Blessing of the Animals on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the screening of the classic vampire flick Nosferatu, and the Winter Solstice series of concerts starring the Paul Winter Consort. It's also just a really amazing building, with an interesting history, and dozens of cool things to look at and marvel over both inside and out on the grounds.
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For months the signage outside promised that Motorino's Chef Mathieu Palombino would be opening his intriguing-sounding Bowery Diner "soon". Our eagerness was understandable: could Chef Palombino do for traditional New York City diner food what he had done for pizza at his excellent Motorino? Early reviews were mixed after Palombino finally opened The Bowery Diner doors last month, but by the time we finally got there last weekend the place was respectfully crowded though not over-loud, and we had a (mostly) first-rate, thoroughly satisfying diner-ish dinner — and will likely be back for more.
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Posted in Downtown, NYC Dining
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Tagged Bowery, Bowery NYC, Downtown, Downtown New York, Downtown restaurants, Lower Manhattan, Mathieu Palombino, Motorino NYC, restaurant, The Bowery, The Bowery Diner
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We have mixed feelings about the Standard Hotel, located smack in the middle of the Meatpacking District. Yes, the Standard Hotel and its New York hot spots–bars, clubs, restaurants, roof decks, beer gardens, etc.–tend to attract the sort of wannabe high-rolling party-people that can make the neighborhood insufferable at times. But we do love the architecture and design of the place; and it is nicely integrated with the High Line, one of our favorite destinations in the city; and, honestly, every time we've patronized one of the Standard's establishments–notably the roof deck bar and creperie, as well as the namesake Standard Grill–the staff couldn't have been more warm and welcoming. And now, another example: the Standard Hotel Ice Skating Rink, heading into the stretch run of its second season, and where we went, and kind of had a blast, for the first time just last week.
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Part bakery, part hot-chocolate bar (there's coffee, too), part sandwich spot, and all with the distinct flavor of Spanish cuisine, the new La Churreria on Mulberry Street does a great job of offering weary Soho and Nolita shoppers and on-the-go quick-bite seekers cozy relief on a dreary February day. Opened in December by Jesus Manso, aka Lolo, of next-door Socarrat renown (by the way, one of our favorite meals and nicest nights of 2011 was spent at the bar here, falling in love with a platter of paella), La Churreria has a pedigree that should at least get you in the door. And though La Churreria may specialize (and, mostly, excel) in frying up its namesake doughy, chewy, cinnamon-y sticks, there are also enough other things on the menu here, both sweet and savory, to earn it a permanent spot among our top picks for snacks and treats.
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Posted in Downtown, NYC Dining
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Tagged Downtown New York Spanish Cuisine, Downtown NYC, La Churreria, La Churreria NYC, Lower Manhattan, Mulberry Street, Mulberry Street New York, Mulberry Street Restaurant, NoLita, Nolita NYC
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We've seen three of Jon Kessler's wild installations over the past few years–the first, the massive Palace at 4:00 a.m. at PS1, was incredible–and even though they've been thematically and mechanically similar, we really don't get tired of the man's work. Take Jon Kessler's The Blue Period, which he created in 2007 but is now being shown for the first time in America at Salon 94 Bowery. Here, in one glorious explosion of whirring, splattery, flickering madness, are all of the elements that make a Jon Kessler installation such a pleasure: spinning surveillance cameras, stacks of monitors, miniature worlds, kinetic machines. And tons of blue paint. And cut-out people and tiny faces. And spectacle to burn.
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Chef Christos Christou of the Upper East Side's brand new Yefsi Estiatorio knows what old-school Greek dishes should taste like. As a child in Cyprus, he apparently spent years poking around his family's Taverna, learning from this grandmother how to get that magic combination of olives and lemon, garlic and oil, that makes rustic Greek cuisine really sing. Here in New York City Christou did his time at the Upper West Side neighborhood Greek favorite Molyvos and Milos, as well as honing his chops at the French Culinary Institute. And now Chef Christos Christou has opened an old-world-looking spot on the far Upper East Side, a neighborhood that can always use another solid dining option.
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Sure, it's pretty normal for food- (and fun-) loving New Yorkers to impersonate a flash mob when an on-fire chef's restaurant opens in the trendy precincts of Soho, the West Village, the upper Bowery, et al. The Dutch. The new Acme. Tertulia. Miss Lily's. Dozens more, mobbed from day one. But out among the stroller pushers of Park Slope, Brooklyn, it's highly unusual to see the kind of energy and excitement that recently greeted Chef Dale Talde's spanking-new "asian-fusion" spot, Talde, right near the F train on 7th Avenue. In fact, there was so much gushing and internet chatter about Talde Park Slope that we had to go check it out. Talde isn't quite a destination restaurant, but the Asian fusion food is quite good, the long, many-windowed room pretty, the atmosphere buzzy without being too frantic. The next time you're passing through these parts, Talde is well worth a visit.
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You can be forgiven for not feeling too excited about the grand reopening, after a year of rethinking and redesigning the galleries within its historic building (and figuring out how the near-bankrupt institution can pay its bills), of the South Street Seaport Museum. Yes, there is an actual museum down there, right in the thick of the chain stores and bad restaurants that make the stretch one of the most mallish in all of Manhattan. Even more surprising: the South Street Seaport Museum, at least now, post-renovations (we admit, we'd never been before), and with lots of new exhibitions, is actually pretty cool. It's interesting, well thought-out, mostly entertaining, and features lots of artifacts and information the likes of which we've never before seen. And they've kept the admission price low at Seaport Museum NYC, at only $5 for ages 9-and-up (8 and under are free), so you can pop in and spend 30 minutes or so and not feel like a rube in your own town.
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There's never a bad time to eat a big bowl of first-rate ramen as far as we're considered. Heck, one of our favorite ramen bowls last summer was at Midtown Manhattan's Totto Ramen, on one of those miserable muggy evenings, when the last thing in the world you want to do is to pour hot broth into your belly… unless said the hot broth in Asian cuisine tastes really, really good. Anyway, that said, clearly the best time of year to sit down and slurp your way through a steaming bowl of thick noodle soup is right now, so it's good to know that Tabata Noodle Raman exists, and, more important, that it is excellent.
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Posted in Midtown, NYC Dining
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Tagged Asian Cuisine, Asian Food, Burmese Food, Midtown Manhattan, Midtown NYC, Midtown Restaurants, Ramen, Ramen Bowl, Ramen Restaurant, restaurant, Restaurants Near Port Authority, Tabata Noodle Ramen
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