Love Rue B, and Grupo (next door to Rue B) is one of my favorite pizza places in the city.

Mod(s),
would love if you could delete my last post in this thread. New ¥ork is still a cool place to live every once in awhile...

So I was in NY this past week. Did a bit of eating and drinking:

1) Milk & Honey - Chinatown speakeasy. Small, very speakeasy spot. Gimmick is no menu. You tell them your tastes and they bring you a drink. You give them as much or as little information as you want and they go from there. Had 4 drinks, all good. Probably one very good, one exceptionally good, one impressive and interesting, and one strong and not very interesting. My drinking companions had another 7 drinks between the 3 of them, and they were all good as well. Drinks are fairly standard NY prices ($16/drink, I think), cash only, no food on site. The vibe was excellent - I had no sense of pretension, hipsterdom, or anything else from the waiter, bartender, or table clearer, all of whom were friendly and all but the table clearer very knowledgable about cocktails.

Leaving M&H I had a huge craving for Vanessa's Dumplings, which I had spotted while wandering around a bit while waiting for the others to show up. Zagat 22 food with avg tab $11. My cousin who I was meeting that night and lives in the area says that for $11 you'd probably wind up with enough food to kill you. Something like 5 dumplings for $1. Sadly, it was closed, so we got in a cab across the village-ish to:

2) Blue Ribbon Brasserie. A friend had recommended it to me as good food open til 4 AM. The menu was a bit all over the place and definitely more expensive/fancier than I was expecting for post drinking food. We wound up getting peirogis (too small, too few, too dainty in general for what I want when I get peirogis), oso boccu (really good) to start, and then I had a burger with goat cheese (lol like $16) (also very good). The one of us who didn't get a burger got a duck club sandwich, and said it was excellent. Apparently things like oysters are a big hit here, but we didn't have the mindset for it. Also, it's possible ?uestlove was there, who knows. We ate semi-hurriedly so a couple of us could catch the last MetroNorth for the night.

Next day back in to the city for the previously mentioned dinner at:

3) Apiary - Modern American. Personally I had hamachi crudo (done as a variation on the classic sashimi appetizer, large pieces of raw hamachi, tiny diced jalapeno, sauce, off-putting micro greens), the roast chicken, and a dessert called a blackberry financier. Aside from what I consider a pretty big mistake of putting microgreens on things they should just be kept the **** away from, everything was excellent. We did dinner for 8 and except for my sister not finishing the sauce/puree/whatever on the bottom of her plate, every plate for every course was basically licked clean. A couple decent bottles of wine at roughly 100% markup over store prices were enjoyed as well. On the whole, a really excellent meal for a great value for NY, I thought.

A couple days later, and I met up with a friend at:

4) Angel's Share - Japanese cocktail bar. I still don't really know what makes something a Japanese cocktail place instead of any other aside from Japanese dudes making all the drinks. I guess I'll have to figure that out. Drinks came out eerily quickly. Both shaken and stirred drinks were made nearly silently, spookily. I didn't order insanely well, and was really only very happy with 1 of my 3 drinks, though my friend was very happy with all 3 of hers. Mostly I was disappointed because my drink that said it was bourbon with muddled strawberry was insanely sweet (for what I expected). Vibe was great, and only a few people were carrying the issue of GQ that just named it one of the best cocktail bars in the country. There was food, which was nice (pickled vegetables are a great bar snack, as are fried oysters and grilled meat on a stick), and windows, which were cool both because they're relatively rare in cocktail places and because there was a huge lightening storm. I guess a 3rd reason they were cool is because one of the seating options was "at a window." Next time I go I'll probably sit at the bar and be more careful to order things that are clearly not sweet. The really good drink I had involved infused gin, cayenne, lemon, and cinnamon. Not sure what else since the menu isn't online...

Left Angel's Share and started walking my friend back to her place and we happened upon:

5)Pommes Frites. Obviously a store that just sells great fries and a zillion dipping sauces is going to be both awesome and impossible to walk by without buying fries. So we did that. Brilliant marketers that they are, they have 2 chairs out on the sidewalk so there can always be someone luring random passerbys with golden fried awesomeness. So we got in the chairs and then there was a huge line of drunk people lined up seemingly instantly where there hadn't been a line before. $5 isn't cheap for french fries, but it was definitely worth it.

Things I missed this trip that I intend to hit on trips soon:

Brooklyn: Prime Meats, Clover Club
Manhattan: Cafe Boulud, Apotheke, PDT, Death & Co (been to but want to go back)
Other: Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Did you tell them you were from out of town?

you and i don't drink at the same places. that's fine, but i didn't get ripped off at any of the places i went. drinks are $12-$13 standard in chicago, and $15-17 in NYC basically everyplace i have drank. i'm not talking about beer, obviously.

great trip report citanul. whats the deal with death and co? i pass by semi frequently and it looks cool. those drink prices are standard at designer cocktail places, i agree.

death & co is a really cool cocktail place. it's less speakeasyish than some of the others. no secret entrances (though no huge signage or anything like that either). it's also pretty laid back, and larger than many of the other NYC cocktail places that pride themselves on being exclusive/tiny.

the bartenders (especially the main dude) are pretty great, and the menu is fairly large and for all tastes. there's food, which is pretty good (including fried mac & cheese last time i was there), and tables are large enough to be comfortable for groups of 4+.

my only complaint one of the times i was there was that one of the waitresses was a bit of a know-it-all bitch, which considering she knew very little was pretty annoying.

but yeah, drinks are great and feature both man's man drinks and girly girl drinks, the food is good and worth eating - especially with booze, and it's pretty chilled out. i think it's cash only as well (like m&h, but not like pegu or angel's share, i think). if you're nearby to it and can use it as a post work place to grab a bit of food and a wind-down drink or whatever it's probably just about perfect for that. there's definitely a bit of hipsterness to the bartenders and whatnot but hey i think you kind of have to be to be that in to these things these days (just a bit), but they're way less annoying about it than many other guys at other places.

The walk along the West Side "boardwalk" is awesome and one that we take nearly every time we are in the City. All you have to do is walk west to the water and it will be along the water's edge and you can walk down the path for + 80 blocks (even more tbh) We have rented bikes at the Central Park bike store ($25 for 3 hrs) and rode from the 50's down to Battery Park & back on the reserved bike and running paths (no cars so don't worry). There are little parks along the way that include basketball courts, tennis courts, etc. The walk gets really nice as you approach the World Financial Center towards the bottom of the island. Definitely recommend.

The West Side Highway from 14th down to the World Financial System is awesome. When I run (which is rare lately) I run that route.

Cool thread. My mum lives in NYC so I usually make it over a few times a year.

Brunch at Good Enough to Eat on the UWS. Great atmosphere, relaxed staff and a nice selection of comfort food and good choice of drinks. Plus its just across the street from the apartment.

Dinner at Petrossian – have the Long Island duck with seared foie gras, followed by a drink at the Peninsula, maybe get a cab to Top of the Strand for a moonlight drink.

People watch in the Village/Soho, grab a coffee and some fresh fruit at La Parisienne. Get pizza at Bella Vita on W58th st. behind Essex House (not the best in the city but the guys in there are great fun and always make you welcome).

Splurge at Per Se and wander down to Top of the Rock for, IMO, much better views than the Empire State Building.

Probably a cliche, but Central Park is really fantastic for just strolling around, sitting, reading, listening to music, relaxing. Undoubtedly one of my favourite things to do is go to a deli, pick up a sandwich/bagel and a drink and sit in the park all day.

Went to prosperity dumplings for the first time today; I could eat those all day every day.

Apiary is great.

How'd you get into Milk and Honey?

PDT and Mayahuel are also great--I saw PDT on your list, but not Mayahuel. And if you're willing to go one stop into Brooklyn, the Counting Room in Brooklyn is at a similar level and a bit cheaper because of the location (Maks, the bartender, was previously at the awesome Cure in New Orleans).

You should definitely add Marea to your list of high-end places to hit up.

good call. allow me to recommend the gramercy park omelette.

just got back from le bernardin. i usually don't buy into the super pricey stuff but i have to say it was worth it. got the regular tasting menu along with "the egg" (which was probably the best of the 3 desserts we got and we weren't even charged for it) Recommend going here at least once in your life. came to about 300 a person with the wine pairings and tip included.

Going to see Chamber Magic tonight!

chamber magic is pretty much a must-see

Figured I'd ask this in here.


Does anyone know of any stores/gift shops in NYC (fairly cheap) that sell the flags of other nations?

I know that the United Nations sells every country's flag, but they only have two sizes (4"x6" & 5'8') and neither is suitable for me.



Thank you

hey. I have one spring semester to complete back in new york this year @ NYU after a few terms abroad, best way to go about getting a short term furnished apartment in nyc? any site or realtor or anyone had success in this sorta search recently?

cheers

Great report. How'd you get in to Milk & Honey? I heard about it and was in the neighborhood and tried to take some friends there before I realized it was invitation only.

i haven's seen it listed yet but on 2d ave and 4th street is a place called Mono+Mono. Highlights are one of a kind beer system in the US (it is an automated pour with a special airated and frozen head pump, amazing) and the BEST fried chicken i've ever heard. its korean BBQ which everyone loves and it sports a collection of 30k vintage jazz LPs and an amazing sound system. if you are an audiophile, jazz aficionado, beer snob or fried chicken fiend, you should check this mother out.

Best meatball sub place?
Best wings place?

I'm in Manhattan for a job interview on friday, any recommendations for a low-key bar where I can grab a seat easily and have a couple of drinks? Hotel is near time square but I don't mind going anywhere in Manhattan.

Donut Palace - tres leches

Vesuvio Bakery - Chicken Cilantro Sandwich

Prommes Frites - Sweet Mango Chutney Mayo

was at this place recently and it was good. took a while to get seated though.