NYC recommendations

Disclaimer: this is a list from 2006 and some of these places may not still exist so check their websites before you try.

New York Recommendations

Starting with some culture:

 

Galleries And Museums

 

Manhattan:

 

1. The Frick Collection
2. The Guggenheim
3. The Metropolitan Museum
4. The Neue Galerie
5. MOMA
6. The Cloisters
7. The Tenement Museum
8. The Eldridge Street synagogue

 

Brooklyn

 

1. The Brooklyn Museum
2. The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
3. The Brooklyn Brewery (Williamsburg)

 

Queens

 

1. PS1 (where the MOMA decamped when they were rebuilding – this can have really good stuff and also can be really bad but worth it just for a look).

Also home to the Warm Up parties

http://www.ps1.org/ps1_site/content/view/274/102/

 

Upstate New York

 

1. The Storm King Art Center http://www.stormking.org/

This place is breathtaking. One hour bus ride from Port Authority in Manhattan – you buy the tickets at the station which include the entrance to the sculpture park.

Take your own food as there’s nothing there apart from sculptures and a small art center.

 

Bars, Clubs, Music Venues….

 

Manhattan:

 

1. APT – lounge bar in the Meatpacking District, doorpeople can be unbelievably bitchy at the weekend but during the week it’s cool
2. Cielo – opposite APT – beautiful club, great music but people are pretentious and drinks are very overpriced. Monday night is Francois K’s famous “Dub in Space” night –this is the best time to go.
3. Village Vanguard  – best Jazz club in NY by far
4. Shebeen – great little bar playing electronica in Nolita http://nymag.com/listings/bar/shebeen/
5. Element – decent club in the Lower East Side
6. Turntables on the Hudson – this is at various locations but usually a fairly fun night out
7. Body and Soul Parties – usually in the West Village – original NY disco and house parties – lots of fun but only once every few months
8. NuBlu – reggae and soul in Alphabet City
9. The Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel– beautiful room but all table service
10. French Tuesdays – Francophone night held in different locations every month – quite fun. http://www.frenchtuesdays.com/cities/ny/
11. Downstairs bar at the Bryant Park Hotel – very lovely hotel bar – good if you’re in Midtown and you don’t want to be stuck in an Irish Pub with loads of office workers
12. 230 Fifth – this has a completely random mix of people and bad music but an incredible view of the Manhattan skyline – definitely worth it for one drink at least.

 

Brooklyn:

 

(a)   Williamsburg

 

1. Triple Crown – HIP-HOP! They get great guests here – Grandmaster Flash, Jazzy Jay, Ali Shaheed Muhammed, Jeru, Rob Swift – it’s very chilled, cheap and a nice, mixed crowd
2. Bembe – the best mojitos, capetas and caiprinhas ever. The music is salsa and hip-hop and it is right underneath the Williamsburg bridge – very atmospheric.
3. Capone’s – buy a beer and get a free stone oven-baked pizza! Deal!
4. Galapagos – very arty bar, features in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes.
5. Spuyten Duyvil – hundred of types of beer, cider and wine and nice food – this was my “local” – open very late
6. Black Betty – have good bands here, and really nice Moroccan food
7. Barcade – a bar with arcade games – lots of fun!
8. Monkey Town – bar, cinema and restaurant – can be really pretentious but if there’s a good film or good band it is fun
9. Moto – a bit hard to find but worth the effort – this is a “speakeasy” style bar, next to the bridge, really interesting wandering around this area
10. Roebling Tea Room – this is the building I lived in so I loved it here! Teas and gorgeous food during the day, wine and music and gorgeous food in the evening.
11. Soundfix – above the record shop of the same name. Really good.
12. Studio B – proper club http://clubstudiob.com/
13. Zebulon – jazz club

 

(b)   Prospect Heights and Downtown Brooklyn

 

1. Flatbush Farm – this is a bar and a restaurant both of which are excellent. I really love this place.
2. Soda – cool bar, nice burgers
3. BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) – great venue – films, bars, music, plays etc.

 

 

Queens (disclaimer: I hardly ever went to Queens so I’m sure there are more places than this)

 

1. Water Taxi Beach – amazing views of Manhattan and good music.

 

Websites and mailing lists with details of parties etc.

 

1. www.flavorpill.net – weekly email with cultural stuff to do
2. www.nonsensenyc.net – same as above but more counter-cultural
3. www.dailycandy.com – I don’t like this site but it’s very popular in NYC
4. www.rooftopfilms.net (this is for a series of films, animations and gigs that goes on throughout the summer – the events are generally well attended and interesting
5. http://www.wolflambmusic.com/ – minimal techno producers who do warehouse parties in Brooklyn
6. http://www.turntablesonthehudson.com/
7. http://www.bodyandsoul-nyc.com/main.html -  best parties in NYC
8. www.curbed.com – I love this website – it’s all about real estate, weird goings-on and new things opening and closing
9. http://thepoolparties.com/ – Parties and gigs in the Mc Carren Pool in Williamsburg – a disused public pool – they have films there too
10. www.sheckys.com – Discounts, and details of free events in NY
11. www.moviefone.com – if you want to find out where a film is showing
12. http://www.summerstage.org/ – Central Park Summer Stage – free concerts in the park

 

Restaurants, Cafes, Cupcakes shops etc.

 

Manhattan (another disclaimer: there are SO many places to go in NY, these are just some of my favourites that I can remember)

 

Café Gitane  – this is my favourite place in the City. You have to have the avocado on seven grain toast. It is amazing. Cheap, cheerful and a nice scene. You can almost feel like you’re in Europe. (242 Mott Street, Nolita, Subway – 6 at Spring) http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=5220

 

Florent – the food is not out of this world but it’s open 24 hours and it’s really fun (69 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District) – CLOSED NOW…

http://www.restaurantflorent.com/

 

Balthazar –incredible for brunch and people-watching. You can basically just order a bread basket and some coffee and it will keep you happy for hours.

80 Spring Street, SoHo (6 to Spring)

http://www.balthazarny.com/

 

Prune – also incredible for brunch.

54 East 1^st Street (6 to Bleecker)

http://www.prunerestaurant.com/

 

Clinton Street Bakery – unbelievable for brunch – the pancakes with maple butter will make you weep with joy

4 Clinton Street between East Houston and Stanton (the Lower East Side)

      http://www.clintonstreetbaking.com/

 

Levain Bakery – all this place sells is 4 types of cookie – they are all amazing – the size of a fist and full of melting chocolate chips.

167 West 74^th Street (UWS)

http://www.levainbakery.com/home.html

 

City Bakery – lunch, breakfast and the best chocolate chip cookies you will ever have in your life, ever. Fantastic hot chocolate too that your spoon stands up in.

3 West 18^th Street

http://thecitybakery.com/index2.htm

 

Kanoyama – my favourite sushi place. Cheap but nice. I would go here at least once a week.

175 2^nd Avenue at 11^th Street

http://www.kanoyama.com/

 

Republic – kind of like Wagamama but as it’s in NY it’s much better and cheaper

This is on the West side of Union Square

http://thinknoodles.com/

 

Han Bat – Korean food – huge portions and delicious food.

53 West 35^th Street (between 5^th and 6^th)

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=4096

 

Shanghai Café, Goodies, Joe’s Shanghai, New Green Bo and countless others for fantastic dimsum in Chinatown

 

Gennaro’s – Italian on UWS – have the antipasto platter – you won’t regret it. “Family-style” Italian i.e. go there with friends.

665 Amsterdam Avenue btw. 92^nd and 93^rd Streets

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=3&restaurantid=864&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=42&home=Y

 

 

Brick Lane Curry House – does a very nice curry if you want one that isn’t completely crap like most of the curry places in NY – quite expensive though for NY

http://www.bricklanecurryhouse.com/

 

 

Una Pizza Napoletana – heavenly pizzas

349 East 12^th Street between 1^st and 2^nd Avenues

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=6138&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=0

 

 

Otto – heavenly pizzas, pastas and olive-oil gelato – if you don’t have this then there’s something wrong with you

One Fifth Avenue

http://www.ottopizzeria.com/about_reservations.html

 

Momofuko and Momofuko Ssam – just writing the name makes me want to cry – ramen and amazing noodles, porky stuff and yum.

163 First Avenue and 10^th Street

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/momofuku_noodle_bar/

 

Shake Shack – this place is legendary and hence has long queues. The burgers are fantastic – it is worth queueing if you’re not in a hurry.  Well known as the best burgers in NYC.

Madison Square Park

http://www.shakeshacknyc.com/

 

Tia Pol – very lovely Tapas Bar – food and wine are top-notch

205 12^th Avenue (Chelsea)

http://tiapol.com/

 

Pearl Oyster Bar – Oysters and Lobster Rolls

18 Cornelia Street (West Village)

http://www.pearloysterbar.com/

Max Brenner Chocolate Factory – chocolate desserts and chocolates and more chocolate. If you’re in Union Square and want to eat somewhere and have an enormous sweet tooth I would go here. And I did. Too often.

http://www.maxbrenner.com/

 

Sugar Sweet Sunshine – my favourite cupcakes in the City

126 Rivington Street (LES)

http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/

 

Café Zaiya – this is where I went for lunch every day at work – sushi, bentos, bakery stuff and hot food – all really nice, cheap and fresh. If you want to eat in Midtown I’d go here.

18 East 41^st Street between Madison and 5th

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/36248035/new_york_ny/cafe_zaiya.html

 

Dishes – the best deli in NY – you may not be able to control yourself in here.

6 East 45^th Between 5^th and 6^th                           

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=6&restaurantid=10639

 

Kee’s Chocolates – if you like proper artisan chocolates this place is heaven – their crème brulee chocolates are addictive.

Thomspon Street (SoHo)

http://www.keeschocolates.com/

 

Jacques Torres Chocolate Heaven – just go there, don’t ask questions!

http://www.mrchocolate.com/

 

Angelika’s Kitchen – vegan food but tastes pretty good despite the lack of meat and butter. This is a proper NY experience. Each menu item is described by at least 15 words or you get a discount.

300 East 12^th btw. 1^st and 2^nd (East Village)

http://www.angelicakitchen.com/

 

WD-50 – very expensive but worth it for a special occasion. Molecular gastronomy. Tip: you can go there just for the dessert tasting menu which is $25 and mind-blowing.

50 Clinton Street (LES)

http://www.wd-50.com/

 

Holy Basil – lovely Thai food in the East Village

149 2^nd Ave btw 9^th and 10^th

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=4908

 

Café Mogador – Morroccan food in the East Village. Lamb Tagine = good.

101 St. Marks Place (East Village)

http://www.cafemogador.com/

 

Hummous Place – really good and ridiculously cheap hummous and Israeli food

109 St. Mark’s Place (East Village)

http://www.hummusplace.com/

 

Rice – lots of different types of rice dishes from around the world. Really nice and inexpensive.

227 Mott Street (Nolita) 6 to Spring

http://www.riceny.com/

 

Pho Grand – so so cheap and delicious. $5 for a huge bowl of pho. Proper Chinatown experience.  

277 Grand St. at Forsyth

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=2517

 

Doughnut Plant – these things are addictive so be careful. The nicest donuts I’ve ever eaten and I don’t even like doughnuts. The coconut cream filled one is my favourite.

379 Delancey Street (F to Grand) in the full-on Jewish Lower East Side.

You can walk over the Williamsburg Bridge to digest.

http://www.doughnutplant.com/

 

Brooklyn – Williamsburg

 

Egg – for brunch. This is always rated as one of the top 10 places to “brunch” in NYC. Loads of different egg dishes with a Southern style

135 North 5^th Street (L train to Bedford Ave)

http://events.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/dining/14jour.html?ex=1187496000&en=f4d92472aff2bebc&ei=5070

Dumont – great for dinner – proper American food and really tasty.

432 Union Avenue (L Train to Lorimer Ave)

http://www.dumontrestaurant.com/

 

Dressler – gorgeous room, fantastic food

http://www.dresslernyc.com/

 

Diner and Marlow and Sons – these are next to each other. Quite pretentious but worth it if you want cheap oysters and the “authentic” Williamsburg experience. Atmospheric.

http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/restaurants/archives/2005/03/_diner_1.html

      http://www.marlowandsons.com/

      Both just past Williamsburg Bridge (L train to Bedford or JMZ to Marcy)

 

Other general things:

 

Good supermarkets – Fairway is by far the best. Wholefoods is ok but overpriced. The Amish markets are good. I would avoid everywhere else.

 

Bed Bath and Beyond for duvets, bed-linen and anything you need for your flat if you can’t be arsed to make the trip to IKEA

 

Best Buy for electronic stuff

 

Record shops: Other Music, Soundfix in Williamsburg, Halycon in DUMBO, lots on St. Marks Square in the East Village

 

www.menupages.com if you want to see the menu for virtually anywhere in the City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick update

I’ve finished my Masters and just come back from a trip to NYC, Texas (including Houston, Austin and San Antonio) followed by a week’s break in St. Tropez. Now I’m getting ready for the big one i.e. two months in India!

Flights to Delhi and back have been booked but apart from that little else has been planned. We are aiming to go from Delhi up to Rishikesh, then to Dharmasala, Manali and to Leh for some trekking in the Himalayas before heading back down towards Rajasthan to see Jodphur, Jaipur, and all the other places beginning with J, perhaps jetting across to Varanasi and then back to Delhi to see off Soph before I have my last 10 days to myself in which I am intending on doing a cookery course somewhere beautiful. That’s if all goes to plan. Some of this may be done in a different order as well because my geography is essentially crap and therefore I have no idea at present if this makes any sense.

During the 2 months I will be trying to keep this updated as much as possible with stories, musings, ramblings and occasional nuggets of wisdom about our various adventures. I’m hoping to ingest as much music as possible along the way although I doubt there’s a bustling minimalist electronica scene in Ladakh, and to learn as much as I can about India. I will undoubtedly be ripped off continuously, burnt by the scorching sun, sick of the blood-sucking mosquitos however I expect to come back, clenching an immodium capsule victoriously between my teeth, with a new verve and vigour for life and quite possibly a gastro-intestinal disease.

I will be avoiding rabid dogs and rabid bats, tap water, meat and meat-based products, meditation, the submerging of any part of my body in the Ganges and all mysterious substances.

Stay tuned. Send comments.

I’m the lyrical Jesse James

Been crap at updating blog recently, mostly because I’ve been working very hard on my dissertation, going to interviews and have lost my internet connection at home due to Tiscali’s extreme uselessness.

Just came back from a wonderful weekend in Amsterdam where I saw a brilliant Millais exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum, a photography exhibit on Stasi interrogation rooms at the Foam Gallery and drank my weight in vodka. It’s such a peaceful and beautiful city – I always feel immediately calm when I step foot off the train from Schipol.

Will update more once the dissertation is over and my life starts again. Although I am going to see Patlabor tonight – an anime classic – at the Barbican, so I’m not being a complete hermit.

A Weekend in Amsterdam

I have just returned from a delightful weekend in Amsterdam. The main concentration was of course on the food and the herbs but we also enjoyed a few, select other things.

I arrived on Thursday morning and met Silvie at the airport. From here we took the train to Centraal Station and then the tram down to the guesthouse we were staying at on the intersection of the beautiful Keizersgracht canal and Utrechtsestraat.

The guesthouse was pretty amusing – run by a small American stoned man and his children. We had the apartment on the top floor with a lovely terrace. The place was pretty grubby but it had a good soundsystem as well as about 1000 movies, thousands of MP3s and all the series of Sex and the City. The location was perfect: on the restaurant and coffee-shop laden Utrechtsestraat, about 10 mins from the Leidseplein and just outside the main tourist nightmare zone.

We went straight to De Koffiesalon – a fantastic, funky little coffee-shop and purveyor of baked goods.  The coffee was amazing, possibly the best I’ve ever drunk, and the little almond pastry I had defied deliciousness.

http://www.dekoffiesalon.nl/home_flash.htm

Then we went for some lunch at a small dutch-style cafe, called Cafe Bowerman, where we both had broodjes and some more drinks.

After this we went back to the guesthouse so I could finish my torturous Management essay and Silvie went off to explore the ‘Dam.

At about 8 Cat arrived and we all went out for dinner to Tujuh Maret – a small Indonesian restaurant. We had the vegetarian rijstaffel which was delicious -  a selection of all the vegetarian dishes on the menu with rice and vegetarian crackers. I forgot to mention that before eating this we had all had a few tokes on some enormous skunk-filled spliff so as usual I was talking at a rate of 1000s words a minute and Silvie and Cat were silent! http://www.tujuh-maret.nl/

We went back to the guesthouse where I was slightly worried about my increasing stonedness but I decided to keep on with the essay, smoke a bit more, and let my creative juices flow. I had little to worry about – the verbal diarrohea I inevitably get when stoned also came in written form. About 6 hours later the essay was done. I passed out at about 2am and then Silve and Cat got back a bit later.

Friday morning we awoke early-ish (for Amsterdam) and headed straight out for lunch. We meandered down the Albert Cuypmarket which was pretty unimpressive – lots of tat and a few fried food stalls – and decided conclusively that we must have sushi for lunch. We went to Zen sushi on Frans Halsstraat in De Pijp where I had some beautifully presented toro and salmon sashimi, lemony rice, and a hijiki and bean salad. I would definitely recommend this place, especially for sitting outside on a sunny day.

We wandered around De Pijp some more and then headed up to Dam Square to go on a boat tour after making a brief interlude to the Red Light district – full of disgusting stoned men munching on pizzas and visiting prostitutes. Pretty depressing sight all round.

We made a quick detour to Barney’s Lounge – a new “coffeeshop” on the Southern Canal belt, just round the corner from our guesthouse. It is by far the nicest coffee-shop I’ve been to. It’s clean and modern looking with comfy couches, great coffee, and a brilliant selection of weed. We got some NYC Diesel and the Cannabis Cup winner – Willie Nelson. The Willie Nelson was ridiculously strong and as a result I actually lost the bag after having one spliff. The NYC Diesel was much more mellow.

After this we headed back to the guesthouse for a quick nap before going to the Moeders restaurant in the Jordaan for dinner. This place was a real delight. An art-deco interior covered in pictures of mothers, both old and young, friendly wait-staff and customers. The food was also absolutely delicious. Silvie and I started with a beetroot, goats cheese and apricot salad while Cat had the beef carpaccio. Then our entrees were a special white-fish with potatoes and beans, and lamb chops. The star of the meal were the desserts: homemade apple pie with ice-cream, chocolate creme brulee and poffertjes with a mascarpone and honey parfait….mind-blowingly good. They also give you a box of cookies to have with your coffee – I sampled some mini stroopwaffles – my favourite Dutch treat.

After this we went to Abraxas in the City centre for a smoke and yet another coffee. I remembered this place as being really chill and pleasant but it was full of people hacking up their lungs and was quite grimy. We only stayed for about half an hour before I was a bit disturbed by all the coughing and had to leave.

We then took a cab to the 11 club. This is an enormous club on the 11th floor of an old commercial building in the Docklands. The club was very cool – loads of graffiti, amazing views, and great decor and A/V stuff. Usually the nights there are great – Ellen Allien, James Holden, the Glimmers – they’ve all played here recently. However the night we went the music was fairly bad with some awful live techno outfit and crappy DJ. The men were all blatantly on the pull but surprisingly unattractive. We weren’t amused.

At about 3 we called it a night and went home for some spliffs and Sex and the City. Perfect combination.

Saturday – we woke up. Heads hurting a little we decided that some instant nutrition was needed. We walked up the Prinsengracht to the Pancake Bakery – a famous Amsterdam purveyor of Dutch pancakes. We all stocked up on much needed stodge and then wandered around the Jordaan, popping into shops to sample chocolates, and looking at some of the Liberation Day festivities. We then headed to the Van Gogh museum where they had an excellent exhibition of Max Beckmann’s work before passing out in the park outside. We had some fresh, hot poffertjes (mini pancakes smothered in butter and icing sugar) before making our way back to the guesthouse for the inevitable dinner decision.

We decided on Vooges – a place on Utrechsestraat. This was by far the best decision of the holiday. We started with some delicious warm bread with garlic butter and a glass of chilled rose. This was followed by an enormous portion of Langoustines in lime butter, chips with mayonnaise, a huge portion of light-dressed salad with pine-nuts and a monkfish and squid-ink pasta dish for Silvie. The Langoustines were divine but far too large for me to finish.

After this we decided to end our evening Amsterdam-style. We went to Barney’s Lounge and bought a hash muffin, and a big rolled spliff and settled back with an alarming quantity of biscuits and coffee to let the evening pass us by. As usual I was gabbering away about rubbish but hopefully I didn’t get too annoying. We finished off the evening with some more Sex and the City.

Sunday was fairly uneventful. We went for some broodjes and then to the airport to go back home. And here I am. Ready to start full-on hardcore revision phase after a lovely, relaxing weekend in one of my favourite cities in the world.