Tag Archives: bars
Salinas
While the rest of New York crams into Birreria, it’s time to explore alternatives a little off the beaten path. After all, no matter how strong the draw of a new place, outdoor dining should be about relaxation, not suffering through a crowd-induced panic attack.
One outdoor spot that opened recently with a sliver of the press attention Batali’s place has gotten is Salinas, an enchanting little tapas place in Chelsea. The main wow factor here is the decor, designed by hair and makeup artist Donald Mikula and his wife Mary Catherine. There are vintage-y Spanish touches like wire mesh fronted bar cabinets and exposed stone walls, hanging flowers and flattering lighting. (more…)
Posted in Chelsea, food, New York restaurants, restaurants, Spanish
Tagged bars, fireplaces, New York, outdoor dining, tapas
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Lobster Rolls: Nancy’s in Martha’s Vineyard
When it comes to lobster rolls, the more bare bones a restaurant is, the better. The best lobster rolls we’ve ever had were usually served grumpily through a kitchen window and eaten on picnic tables, often in a crab grass lot by the side of a major thoroughfare. Because why would you need table linens, atmosphere or attentive service? They would only detract from the main event. (more…)
Posted in food, Martha's Vineyard, restaurants
Tagged bars, Bloody Marys, lobster rolls, Martha's Vineyard, travel
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Summer Getaway: Asbury Park and Ocean Grove
New Jersey’s Asbury Park, the launching pad for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, has a rock and roll vibe you don’t find at many seaside towns. With lots of music clubs big and small, it draws a tattooed crowd that’s more indie than family. It’s hard to get bored here, with new restaurants opening every year, a great vintage pinball hall, hopping bar scene, touring bands and the occasional Bon Jovi sighting.
The perfect getaway for New Yorkers? Maybe, but there aren’t that many places to stay in still-gritty downtown Asbury. Fortunately, the antidote to Asbury debauchery can be found right next door in neighboring Ocean Grove, a former Methodist summer camp populated with historic Victorian houses, several of which have been turned into gracious B&Bs. There’s no booze to be had in this still-dry town, but the old-fashioned ice cream parlors and antique stores are the perfect counterpart to the nightlife next door. (more…)
Posted in food, restaurants, Southern
Tagged bars, beer, Bloody Marys, ice cream, New Jersey, travel
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Birreria
New Yorkers were elated when Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich’s Italian food emporium Eataly opened last year. There was only one problem: Eataly didn’t seem to be intended for New Yorkers. A massive marketing and PR effort across the U.S. and in Europe meant that Eataly instantly filled up with tourists – even the ones who can get decent biscotti at home.
Fortunately, the Red Apple bus crowd does not seem to have discovered the new rooftop restaurant on top of Eataly yet. You’ll still be elbowed by the crowds on your way to the bar at Birreria, but at least none of those elbows will be loaded down with Century 21 bags. (more…)
Posted in Flatiron District, food, Italian, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged bars, BBQ, beer, Mario Batali, New York, wine bars
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Best Outdoor Dining 2011
As much as we complain about the heat, it’s so nice to be able to dine al fresco when summer finally comes to New York. But what we’re looking for isn’t any old table plunked on a sidewalk next to a major truck route, but a nice setting, fun scene and preferably some good food. Here is an opinionated guide to the best outdoor dining in town. (more…)
Posted in food, restaurants
Tagged bars, BBQ, burgers, fireplaces, guides, New York, outdoor dining, pizza
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Tenpenny
Not everybody can be gifted with the bones of a gorgeous West Village townhouse – and sadly, Tenpenny, the new-style Italian restaurant in the back of a bland Midtown hotel lobby, was not dealt the best hand at birth. She’s not a looker from the street, since she’s practically invisible, and the boxy space doesn’t immediately shout “romance.”
But the walls are painted just the right color of saturated brick red, votive candles twinkle throughout the room, the bar is long and inviting, and a skylight lets in the last light for an afterwork crowd that’s spent the entirety of a summer day in an office. She may not be a little boite on a charming side street in Venice, but Tenpenny’s doing the best with what she’s got. (more…)
Posted in food, Italian, Midtown East, New York restaurants, restaurants
Tagged bars, New York
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Rome: Dining & Drinking Guide
One of the best things you can find in Rome is a bargain. After seven days on the wallet-bruising Amalfi Coast, the main thing we were craving was cheap, cheap, cheap. Fortunately, Rome has a variety of inexpensive but excellent traditional restaurants, some of them trattorias several generations old, others a new endeavor from young chefs setting up shop in up-and-coming neighborhoods. Most importantly, you don’t sacrifice anything in quality for the price. (more…)
Amalfi Coast: Dining & Drinking Guide
Long before farm-to-table dining was all the rage in the U.S., this verdant peninsula on the western coast of Italy was home to some of the finest, freshest cuisine anywhere. The fruits and vegetables grown right on the Amalfi Coast – terraced gardens of olives, lettuces, tomatoes and lemon trees, all whizzing by as you take the Circumvesuviana train down south – make a startling difference on the plate. Over the course of seven days this May, we sampled some of the best the Amalfi Coast has to offer. (more…)
Posted in Amalfi Coast, food, restaurants
Tagged bars, Italy, pizza, seafood, seafood restaurants, travel
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Montauk Dining & Drinking
If you ever want to convince someone to like the Hamptons, take them to Montauk. Of course, they might claim that this fishing and surfing village is not actually a Hampton, since there are very few manicured lawns, polo players or designer boutiques in sight. But this naturally beautiful, windswept tip of Long Island could charm even the staunchest Hampton hater.
Once just the site of fish shacks and red sauce joints, Montauk has been luring serious diners out here ever since Sam Talbot took over at the Surf Lodge several years back, right after winning Top Chef. He has since moved on to Imperial No. 9, but Montauk’s culinary caché lingers on. For one thing, it would be hard for a seafood chef to be much closer to the source, since lobsters, clams, oyster and fish are hauled in to the docks here every day. Unlike tourist attractions like Mystic, this is still very much a working fishing village.
Posted in food, restaurants, the Hamptons
Tagged bars, Bloody Marys, guides, lobster rolls, lunch, New York, seafood, travel
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Desmond’s
CLOSED
Ever since Gino’s closed last year, there’s been a dearth of places to dine in the tony East 60s. Upper East Siders could head up to Jean-Georges’ the Mark, but the difficulty of getting a reservation here makes it hard to just pop in for dinner. Yet again, a world-renowned chef spoils the potential neighborhoody-ness of a restaurant – sigh.
For a sceney scene and a menu that satisfies without drawing in hoards of diners from the rest of the city, Desmond’s is shaping up to be the place to be for the Upper East Side set. Fortunately Indochine co-founder John Loeffler and former chef at Soho House David Hart bring a much needed downtown sensibility with them, satisfying the desire of many an Upper East Sider: a restaurant that makes one feel as if one is somewhere cool and downtown-ish without actually having to go anywhere. (more…)
Boulud Sud
The opening of a new Daniel Boulud restaurant is reason enough for a downtowner to head uptown, but there are two things about his new Boulud Sud that make it particularly exciting. When most American restaurants take on the genre of Mediterranean food, they stick to the usual suspects: Italy, Spain, France and Greece. But one of the first words on Boulud Sud’s menu is “harissa,” and the African and Middle Eastern influences take off from there.
This is a welcome change, because our American idea of what constitutes Mediterranean fare is behind the times. Despite New York chefs’ emphasis on food like one’s nonna would have made it, many restaurants in France and Italy have changed radically since the ’50s, with many more African and Middle Eastern techniques and ingredients making their way onto menus. (more…)
Posted in African, food, French, Italian, Middle Eastern, New York restaurants, restaurants, Upper West Side
Tagged bars, New York, vegetarian restaurants
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Pipa
CLOSED
Nominated for a James Beard award for best restauranteur, Phil Suarez has a knack for creating successful restaurants no matter what the economic climate of the day. Long before he started ABC Kitchen on the south side of ABC Home, Suarez’s Pipa was bringing in the crowds for small plates and sangria. Since warm weather calls out for Spanish-style dining, we revisited this 11-year-old tapas spot to see how it was faring.
Some of the best things about Pipa have not changed, including the excellent, just-fruity-enough, brandy-spiked sangria served in elegant glassware. The moodily pretty space is still decked out with dozens of exquisite antique chandeliers, and you can still buy one from ABC if you’re happy to drop a couple grand. The interior is a good place to retreat during hot weather, and the sidewalk seating is a nice option for sprawling out on cool nights. (more…)
The Dutch
If you haven’t made it to Andrew Carmellini’s new place the Dutch yet, remain calm, take a deep breath and stop speed dialing the restaurant. It may be booked for the next month, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact it could use some time to settle into itself, like a good bottle of wine that gets even better with more breathing room.
In the annals of the New York restaurant world, the Dutch represents an interesting play on Carmellini’s part. No longer just the chef with an award-winning Italian restaurant in Tribeca (Locanda Verde), he is stepping to center stage with this American place in Soho in the old Cub Room space. Like Blue Ribbon down the street, it’s open late, it serves fried chicken and it’s courting an industry crowd including Mario Batali, who sat placidly surveying the dining room the other night. It’s already shaping up to be the next late-night hang for chefs and food world insiders, who often tweet from the premises. (more…)
Posted in American, food, New York restaurants, restaurants, Soho
Tagged Andrew Carmellini, bars, beer, duck, Mario Batali, New York, seafood, seafood restaurants
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Monument Lane
Like the celebrity who tries to portray herself as being “just like us,” many hot new restaurants now aspire to humility. A recent attempt to get a table at a new restaurant in the neighborhood yielded zero results between 7 and 10pm on a weekday, any weekday, for the next month. Why? Not all tables are available for reservations because, as the hostess intoned in the “fully committed” catchphrase of the moment, “We’re trying to keep it a neighborhood place.”
Exactly. That’s why there’s a celebrity chef attached! But let’s face it: Not every place can be a neighborhood restaurant. There’s a certain degree of ordinariness that can’t be faked, which is why it was a relief to walk into Monument Lane, an actual neighborhood restaurant in the West Village. (more…)
Posted in American, food, New York restaurants, restaurants, West Village
Tagged bars, New York
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