Murphy Park

SNACKING ON GRAND STREET

John Rambow — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:13:00 GMT

Recently I was so happy to be able to revisit a two-block stretch of Grand Street. It's one of my favorite places for good snacks - let's call this Lower East Side strip the Walk of Nosh.

Doughnut Plant

First up: Doughnut Plant at 379 Grand. At this eight-year-old landmark, the doughnuts, made fresh daily, are much more intensely (and often unusually) flavored than the much more boring options elsewhere. Think grapefruit, peanut butter and jelly, even marzipan, and not just vanilla or chocolate. Lavender and blueberry were options the day I went, but I went for the tres leches, a takeoff on the Latin cake of the same name. Covered in a crisp, pale-white frosting, this doughnut had been soaked in sweet milk, making for a gooey interior. A tip: if you do head here, don't go too late in the day: when the day's allotment are gone, they're really gone.

Kossar's Bialys

A couple doors down from Doughnut Plant, at 367 Grand, is a much older and traditional carb-seller: Kossar’s Bialys. Although you can get bagels at this bakery, the real reason for coming is the bialy, a flatter, denser bagel variant that comes with a mass of smashed onions in the center. It addition to being delicious, those bialys are also a reminder of the area's heritage. At one time, Grand Street, like most of the L.E.S., was intensely Jewish. The neighborhood has changed in many ways since then, but Kossar's and many other kosher and Jewish places remain in and around Grand Street.

Pickle Guys

With your dougnut and bialy needs taken care of, there are lots of other places nearby worth checking out. If you're seeking something salty and sour, head to nearby Essex Street for the Pickle Guys, where its pickled vegetables of all sorts are stored in large open tubs. Sure, the pickles are great, but I also love the giardinera, a heavily brined mix of carrots, cauliflower, red pepper, and celery that's very good at a picnic.

Isabella's Oven

If pizza's on your mind, Isabella’s Oven, at 365 Grand, makes a tasty, albeit somewhat pricey, option -- bonus points for the charming small garden in back. Farther east, at 409 Grand, is the laidback Roots and Vine cafe, serving wine and beer as well as coffee. Either place is a good spot for plotting and planning your next NYC destination.

HUNTING DOWN GOOD FOOD ON HARLEM'S 116 STREET

John Rambow — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:04:00 GMT

A few days ago I took the subway up to Harlem as part of research for a New York City travel guide I'm working on. Although 125th Street is the first Harlem stop for most tourists, much of it is too crowded, with lots of shopping but not always enough excitement. The same couldn't be said of my ultimate destination: 116th Street near St. Nicholas Avenue. The area's sometimes called Le Petit Senegal because of the large number of immigrants it attracts from that West African country.

It's important for travelers, even those in their own city, to have priorities. Mine happened to be lunch, so I walked straight ftoor Amy Ruth's, one of the best-known soul food restaurants in Harlem. Here the dishes are named for notable African Americans. I got the "Reverend Al Sharpton" -- the classic combination of chicken and waffles.

You can get the chicken either fried (my favorite) or "smothered" (covered in gravy). The chicken, prepared immediately before it arrived on my plate, was juicy and tender, and I ate it in the traditional way, with lots of maple syrup covering the chicken and soaking into the ridges of the waffles. Delicious.

I also got "sweet tea"-- ice tea with as much sugar as can possibly be dissolved in it. You know what to expect when something's called "sweet tea," but Amy Ruth's version took the concept to new levels of syrupiness. I actually considered watering it down to make it just excessively sweet.

Looking out Amy Ruth's picture window, I checked the progress of one of the many condominiums going up in Harlem. This 16-story example was built in partnership with its next-door neighbor, the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque -- the new building actually cantilevers out over its roof.

The mosque, originally a casino, is hardly the most beautiful thing in town -- a major architectural guide calls it "vulgar" -- but what it lacks in sleekness it may make up for in historical interest. When it first became a house of worship in the 1960s, it was part of the Nation of Islam, and Malcolm X preached there. Later, after he was assassinated, the mosque was renamed for the name Malcolm took soon before his death, and its ties with the Nation of Islam were cut. The congregation these days includes many Senegalese.

Now, fortified by fried food and a whole lot of sugar, it was time to hit the road again. I walked a few blocks west to one of my favorite bakeries, Make My Cake. For me the only choice here is the Red Velvet Cake, an otherwise fairly straightforward classic that gets its lurid hue from huge amounts of food coloring and much of its flavor from the tangy cream-cheese frosting. Sadly I was too full of chicken and sweet tea to get anything then. Like me, you'll have to be satisfied with just a picture until you can find your own way up to 116th Street.

EAST VILLAGE BED & COFFEE

John Rambow — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Photo by Dominik Huber

Open since 1991, the East Village Bed & Coffee is now one of the area’s old-timers, but it’s still easy to walk past this guesthouse without even knowing what it is. There’s no sign—just two doors on the street, one painted bright red with the street number,the other one covered with stickers and graffiti but no handle.

The Mexican Room

Its 12 rooms, all of varying sizes but none of them enormous, are divided equally among three floors, with the top two reached by staircases narrow enough to be worthy of Amsterdam. The rooms, which have either queen or double beds, each have their own theme—for instance, the Mexico Room has Latin American knick-knacks on the wall, and that includes a sombrero that a guest mysteriously left there one day. Rooms all have their own air-conditioning—a must for late spring and summer in New York. All the bathrooms are shared—there’s one on every floor.

Obviously, it’s not the sort of place where you’ll get a mint on your pillow. What you will get are lots and lots of thoughtful touches to help you see as much of the city as possible. Every floor’s largish common area has a computer available for guest use, as well as free Wi-Fi and a dedicated phone line for receiving phone calls. Large subway maps are mounted on the walls to help with planning, and a long photocopied list of personally recommended restaurants is available for the taking.

Free-trade coffee and tea are available in the kitchens on every floor, as are filtered water and a refrigerator with food staples, for those who want to do a little cooking. There’s also a small backyard with a koi pond—this acts as the de facto smoking lounge when the weather’s good.

Rooms (double occupancy, with all taxes included) start at just $115 for the smallish “Dutch room” on up to $140 for larger front rooms that look out onto Avenue C. With prices like that, it’s not unusual for many rooms to fill up as long as eight months in advance. (There’s a waiting list available on the website for cancellations.) All in all, this low-key guesthouse is a great place for feeling a little more like a temporary neighbor and less like someone just passing through town.

East Village Bed & Coffee; 110 Avenue C, New York

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THOR: THE HOTEL ON RIVINGTON

John Rambow — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:58:00 GMT

Lots of visitors to New York would love to stay close to the clubs and restaurants of the Lower East Side and other nearby neighborhoods, but until fairly recently there were just not many rooms available here, outside of a few scattered guesthouses and very small hotels.

It wasn’t until 2004, when The Hotel on Rivington went up, that a more luxurious option became available. At the time, THOR got a huge amount of press for its looks—this light-blue glass tower made no attempt to blend in with the five-story tenements and other 19th-century buildings that were its neighbors. (Since then, it doesn’t stick out quite as much as it once did. A handful of other glassy buildings have arisen nearby, and more are on their way.)

Don’t come here if your idea of luxury requires a lobby the size of the one in Grand Hotel—THOR makes its priorities clear by using its ground floor for a lounge and restaurant. To get to the actual lobby, you have to go up a story, to what Europeans call the 1st floor but what we Americans insist on calling the 2nd floor.

Whatever floor you claim it’s on, the tiny lobby is little more than a way station toward yet another lounge, this time one with an impressive pool table and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto Rivington and one of my favorite places for empty calories, Economy Candy. (A visit here is never wasted.).

Those floor-to-ceiling windows turn up again—they’re in every room, even in the bathrooms. It’s almost as if the city itself serves as the rooms’ “art.” Again, THOR is not a place for people whose idea of luxury is a lot of frills. The flatscreen TVs and closets, for instance, are built into the walls, and what little furniture there is (a coffee table, armchairs covered in dark velour) has only a smidge of color and pattern.

None of this high design and understated luxury comes cheap. It never does. THOR’s rooms start at around $500 for double occupancy in high season, but you may be able to swing a slight deal during the heat of summer.

Hotel on Rivington; 107 Rivington Street; New York

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ON THE HUNT IN CHINATOWN

John Rambow — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:32:00 GMT

There are several Chinatowns throughout New York City, but for most tourists, the one in Manhattan is the best to head to. This is the one with all the knockoff handbags and other glittery objects for sale -- an attraction that leaves me cold. Instead, I'd say to head here for the food shops and markets, the restaurants, and the sheer excitement of walking along some very frantic, very old streets.

Chinatown is big, but not so big that you can't wander through most of it in an afternoon. But if you're into streamlining, center your walk on Mott Street, which is sort of the neighborhood's "Main Street" -- if you're heading south, the Chinatown portion starts near Mott's intersection with Kenmare Street. Below are a few of the many stops worth making.

Ten Ren, at 75 Mott, carries a large, almost overwhelming, supply of high-end teas as well as teapots and other accessories. The cheapest loose tea here is about $9 a pound ($20 a kilo), and prices increase drastically for anything better. The store also runs a tea shop a few doors north, at 79 Mott -- it's a good bet for bubble tea and people-watching.

There are lots of decent-to-excellent restaurants in and around Mott Street. One standout is the accurately named Amazing 66, which opened a couple years ago at 66 Mott and has quickly gained a loyal following. The Cantonese dishes here tend to be simple, without anything too fussy. I like the congees, savory rice porridges that are very filling and especially comforting on a chilly day.

If your sweet tooth is acting up, make a slight detour at Bayard Street and walk half a block to #65, home of the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Here the list of flavors are divided into two groups. Options like the subtle almond cookie, green tea, and red bean are all called "regular flavors," and much more common choices like vanilla fudge, pistachio, and coffee are the "exotics." Whichever category you choose, the ice cream's great (and so is the blog, by the way).

A few blocks farther south is another good stop for sweets. Aji Ichiban, a branch of a Hong Kong chain of confectionary stores, sells candy, dried fruit, and some savory options. Most items are sold by the 1/4 pound, and with such a big variety, it's a good place to putting together a thank you gift or a snack bag for a trip. Samples of most of the fruits are available, but if you're completely flummoxed, go for the hazelnut nougat or anything in an appealing wrapper.

Go further: Read Frederique's guide her favourite places in Amsterdam's Chinatown.

WARMING UP AT PS 1

John Rambow — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:46:00 GMT

If you’re good at multitasking even when you’re out to have fun, then you’ll want to pay a visit to the Warm Up series of dance parties. These popular events let you surround yourself with music, dance, art, beer, and lots and lots of other good looking people, and do it all at once.

Celebrating their tenth anniversary this year, the Warm Ups are held at PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, a museum housed inside what was once a massive public school on 22-25 Jackson Ave in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City.

Every Saturday afternoon, through 6 September, the museum’s courtyard gets taken over by various bands and DJs, ranging from the obscure to the just about to be discovered to the fanatically followed. The look of the party changes every year—this time the theme is PF 1 (Public Farm 1), a salute to urban gardening that’s powered by solar energy, uses ascending tubes of recycled cardboard to hold edible fruits and vegetables, and even finds space for a small flock of chickens. (The hamburgers, hot dogs, and free-flowing beer, however, are not part of the sustainable agriculture on display, and perhaps for the chickens’ sake that’s just as well.)

The Warm Ups usually turn out to be as hot as their name, and waiting in line for refreshment can take forever. Take care to slap on lots of sunscreen, stay as hydrated as possible, and don’t forget to get inside and see some of the art! Of the current exhibits, a definite highlight are the three works by Olafur Eliasson—they’re a great complement to the five waterfalls of his now flowing in the East River.

By the way, the art doesn’t end once you leave PS 1. Head across the street to 5Pointz, a large warehouse that’s a pilgrimage site for fans of graffiti. “Aerosol artists” who get permission from those in charge there are allowed to put up works on this factory’s exterior, and you’re likely to see at least a few of them touching up a piece when you stop by—current painting hours are noon to 7 on weekends. It all makes a great NYC photo op.

A LAZY DAY IN RED HOOK

John Rambow — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:06:00 GMT

Surrounded by water on two sides, separated by a highway on the others, and no subway stop -- there's a reason that Red Hook doesn’t make it onto most tourists' itineraries. Sure, Red Hook’s isolated, but it's also got some pleasant bars, restaurants, and shops, and an appealing old-Brooklyn atmosphere that make it worth a visit, especially on a lazy weekend.

LeNell's

If you want to get to one of the neighborhood pioneers, though, you’ll have to hurry. LeNell’s, a liquor store on the main drag of Van Brunt Street, is looking for a new home because of lease difficulties. For now, though, you can still check out it’s famed selection of whiskey and other spirits, their bottles piled high amid a small cupid statue and other odd furnishings.

Brooklyn Ice House

f you’d rather sit down with a drink rather than just get the supplies for one, then one likeable option is the recently opened Brooklyn Ice House, up the road a bit at 318 Van Brunt. The beer here comes with impressively low prices, and so does the BBQ: I recommend the pulled pork sandwiches ($5), which come two to a plate with potato chips. It’s a low-key place during the day, with lots of board games to play, a TV that might be tuned to some sports, and no reason to hurry out.

Red Hook ballfields on weekends

Van Brunt’s fun for a stroll, but the best reason to go to Red Hook hasn’t even opened yet this year. For nearly 20 years food vendors have been setting up shop at the Red Hook ballfields on weekends, serving a primarily Latin American crowd that comes here for the soccer and baseball games. Don’t’ expect hot dogs or boring old pretzels: think instead ceviche, pupusas and other exciting dishes. Legal snags have kept the vendors away during the sports season so far, but the director of the vendors’ group, Cesar Fuentes, is certain that they’ll all be up and running again by 26 July at the latest.

IKEA

Photo by Specialkrb

But how are you going to make it to Red Hook if the subways doesn’t? Believe it or not, a certain large Swedish retailer is here to help. Last month, IKEA opened a huge store along the water in Red Hook. The mega-store runs a free water taxi between Manhattan's Pier 11 (just south of South Street Seaport) and its entrance. There's no rule that you have to set foot in IKEA for even one Lack shelf if you take the taxi, which runs every 20 to 40 minutes.

Photo by Specialkrb

Certainly, a recent ride back from the store showed lots of people without any telltale bags--and some were even taking their bikes along. The trip itself is fun, with views of Brooklyn’s waterfront, the Statue of Liberty, and Olafur Eliasson’s waterfall installation, which will remain in the East River until mid-October.