SF Bay Area Version

Alright, time for city number two. Tons of New Yorkers here, so let's hear it.

I really don't even know where to start. There's an infinite amount of stuff to do in NYC. So much of what I love to do is just walk around the city. So many great bustling neighborhoods to experience, so many interesting people and things to see.

Bars, restaurants, museums, hotels, neighborhoods, galleries, stores, you name it, New York has every possible variety.

I'll start out with a recomendation for one of my favorite NYC activities. I've done this a number of years. Sept 29, 2007 is the date this year: Fifth Avenue Mile. A mile long race down Fifth Avenue. I do 5Ks from time to time and the occassional 10K, but I'm not a serious runner at all, so it's really fun doing a mile race - you just run really fast. The weather is usually beautiful for this. Just a fun way to start your Saturday in New York.

Please put in at least a little detail about what you post. Just listing random names of things/places is lame.

Le Pain Quotidien was recommended to me from 2p2 NY'ers and it is my favorite bakery in the city. There is about a dozen of them but I go to the one in Central Park.

I usually take my wife and kids once a year. One of our highlights is taking the subway to Brooklyn and walking the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.



We then eat lunch at Grimaldi's (get there early to avoid the line)


and walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge (yea nits, I know the picture is facing Brooklyn ).

Gotta see the revised MOMA. The inside space of the building itself is reason enough.

NY Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Needs no explanation.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Brunch at a Sarabeth's location

Oh, and for the hip hop folk, visit the Big L memorial mural uptown

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan is up there on my list.

I love going to the turtle pond in Central Park. That one never ceases to amaze me; smack dab in the middle of the most urban city in the country is this raw piece of nature. I can sit and watch those turtles for hours, knowing that any time I feel like it, I can be in Times Square in ten minutes. It's the ultimate in contrasts.

I also love the Natural History Museum. I love these in general, but the one in New York is so....old school. It really has this air of 19th-century colonialism about it; a sense that it's stocked by the plunderings of eccentric rich explorers and self-taught anthropologists doing their own versions of 'eco-tourism' 150 years ago.

as a jazz guy, I love hitting up the jazz clubs when I'm in NYC.

i like the new iridium as you don't have to deal with the obstructed view that you used to when it was near the lincoln center.

The Village Vanguard is probably my favorite place to visit. Its in the west village off of broadway and can be easy to miss if you aren't paying attention. The atmosphere there is great and they usually put on great acts. I don't know what the current price per set is right now, but it shouldn't be more then 40. There is a two drink cover there

Upright Citizens Brigade theater has great improv, SNL guest appearances, even weekly free shows ... definitely check this out.

Also, Film Forum and IFC are great theaters to check out independent / foreign movies.

The Coffee shop (union square) and Jerry's (soho) for great casual food.

Ain't that the truth. As such, here are some great NYC resources:

Menupages is a website that lists menus of just about EVERY Manhattan restaurant. Its a priceless resource. As a caveat, the reviews they have should not be taken all too seriously b/c of the very small sample size.

Gothamist is a very handy NY blog that is updated every hour or two and covers local news, upcoming concerts, restaurant reviews, and other kinds of fun stuff. A similar site that is more geared to music news/concerts is Brooklyn Vegan.





Citysearch is like Menupages, but covers bars and clubs exclusively. Every neighborhood has something to offer. But every kind of scene can be found.

OK, time to go to the concert. specific questions as to things to do are welcome.

early weekend morning chess in washington square park in the summer. hot coffee, cool morning, quiet park and a handful of $5 speed games with a chess hustler/homeless guy. good times.

Katz's Deli -- best pastrami in the universe. it's basically a big pile of meat, between two flimsy slices of rye bread that have no purpose, and a plate of pickles. kosher-style (though not actually kosher), so mustard only.

1) Frick Museum, Brooklyn Art Museum/Botanical Gardens. Frick has 3 Vermeers in it, plus some other greats, and is just a stunning 'house,' see what rich guys lived like in the old days.

2) Met/NYC Opera. La Boheme/Magic Flute/Tosca, etc. Even if you just go once, at least go...once. You might like it.

3) Yankees game/Bronx zoo. Great spring/summer events also good 'date' things to do.

4) Qualifying rounds at US Open. Go early, you get to see the stars of tomorrow [and some of yesterdays/current recovering from injury] and see Federer/Roddick/Maria/Venus practice while sitting in the front row.

5) Shakespeare in the Park - another must-do, the talent there is usually quite high both on-stage and off.

6) Dim sum in Chinatown. Speaks for itself.

7) Go play Bethpage Black. If you are really, really good at golf that is.

8) Drinks on roof of Met Museum at the sculpture garden, best views in the City, always a good crowd up there, relatively little known.

The weekly, free outdoor movies summer in Bryant Park is also a ton of fun, get there early, bring food & drinks + blanket, invite some female friends, can't go wrong. The piers on the West side highway have cool sand volleyball courts, mini-golf, batting cages, trapeze school, lotsa outdoor concerts + dance stuff.

i haven't picked up much interesting stuff living in NYC for 8 months now, but i did recommend le pan quotidien to darko, so i'll take credit there.

one restaurant i would feel pretty good about recommending is poke , on the upper east side. very good, very fresh sushi, reasonably priced, and i've gotten great service all three times i've gone. i was checking out the reviews on the linked site and apparently a lot of people have not been happy with the service - felt rushed or didn't like the BYOB policy. i didn't have any problem with this and i went there on some pretty busy nights, but YMMV.

i really liked the red dragon roll and pretty much any hot appetizer you order - last time i was there they had this raw tuna pizza on a sort of scallion pancake with melted cheese that was f'in sweet.

This is a hike out of the city and usually to get on over the summer you need to get there really early/even stay overnight.

On the theme of useful websites for those unfamiliar with parts of New York, hopstop (subway/walking directions/estimated cab time and fare) is just about the best resource out there for traveling within the city (boroughs too). I use it myself at least once/week just to double check how long it will take to get somewhere. The estimated travel times are extremely accurate in my experience.

Also, Citysearch is alright but I think Yelp has better content and is much easier to navigate.


I'm sure Daver would have posted this had he been here before me, but Barcade is a very cool bar that isn't a "typical NYC place." It's got 20 or so old school arcade games and about an equal amount of beers on tap. It's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I might as well steal Egg from Daver too. It's a cool little diner just a couple blocks from barcade, so if you wake up hungover in some hipster chick's loft it's a great way to start the day.

Just about anything in Central Park is a good time when the weather's nice. Unfortunately I don't go nearly as often as I wish I did.

Everyone should hang out in the southwest corner of Washington Sq. Park and play chess with crazy old guys then chat up some girls at the dog run. If the pick up lines Bruiser taught you from his Vegas camp end up working there's some pretty cool places to eat/drink in the area. I like Town Tavern for cheap drink specials and great burgers (chef used to work at Corner Bistro, also close by).

I think the Cloisters is one of my favorite places to go on a nice spring day. The Cloisters is essentially several European monasteries that were taken apart, shipped to New York, then reconstructed by the Metropolitan Musuem and turned into a Medieval art gallery. The most famous work housed there is the Unicorn Tapestries:





Even if you are not that into art or museums, the Cloister is still definitely worth a visit on a nice day because of its atmosphere. Its definitely a money place to go on a more sophisticated date or a good place to take people who are visiting New York. Rather than describing it myself I found a very good review from New York Magazine: