We spotted Lisa D right on St. Marks Place near Union Square in the middle of a thunderstorm and she still managed to stay dry in style. She’s a student in the city and resides in Midtown. Her favorite stops to find her fashion treats are vintage shops, American apparel, TopShop, and Urban Outfitters.
-Miya Brown
No Comments | Posted on August 30, 2011 | Categories: From the Blog, Union Square
I feel the same degree of loyalty to Sammy’s Noodle Shop and Grill that Dorothy does to Kansas when she clicks her heels three times and utters, “There’s no place like home!” If I threw a distressed (and hungry) Dorothy into the hustle and bustle of New York City, she’d walk along the yellow-lined roads everywhere from the Upper West Side to the Lower East Side only to discover that there’s no place like Sammy’s.
Sammy’s used to display ducks in their front window on 11th and 6th, battered in grease and hanging rotisserie-style from hooks until an advocacy group dictated otherwise. You pass this same window (tinted now, so the weak of heart don’t have to avert their gaze) and open the swinging door. Once inside, Sammy’s reveals no great aesthetic differences to any other American-Chinese eatery: there’s that bathroom with the broken flusher, faded green floor tiles worn from years and years of hurried waiters’ traversing feet, a blinking letter or two on the neon sign bearing the restaurant’s name. The décor is plain, literally speaking to the purpose the venue serves: your hungry tummy. The absence of wall hangings, rare cactuses and a harp player are a testament to Sammy’s dedication to delicious food. This is the sort of place you have to trust will deliver. (Speaking of which, Sammy’s delivers for free).
No Comments | Posted on August 29, 2011 | Categories: Dining, From the Blog, Greenwich Village
We spotted Ms. Jade waiting for the bus near Fort Greene Park and totally admired her stylish fashion sense. Originally from California, she now lives in Brooklyn and loves shopping in Brooklyn’s thrift stores. She also has her own business called Joyce Elaine’s Closet where she enjoys assembling a collection of trendy and fashion forward threads for herself as well as other vintage lovers.
-Miya Brown
No Comments | Posted on August 22, 2011 | Categories: From the Blog, Native's Pick
I’ve recently come up with a new way of gauging the quality of a restaurant: its coffee. Simple, maybe, but think about it: how many restaurants can you recall that serve great coffee, but terrible food? Usually, if the espresso that rounds out your meal is delicious, then chances are that the meal itself couldn’t have been too bad either.
With this guideline in mind, my friend and I opted to finish our meal at Long Island City’s LIC Market with two cups of coffee: the proverbial icing on the cake of a thoroughly lovely evening. Like everything else at LIC Market, the coffee was deeply satisfying without being extravagant.
No Comments | Posted on August 20, 2011 | Categories: From the Blog, Long Island City, Neighborhoods, Queens
Thursday, August 18
HOT Firemen: Calendar Launch Party
Meet and mingle with the nation’s bravest (and most attractive) firemen. Get your tickets now!
8pm-11pm, Greenhouse, 150 Varick St
Friday, August 19
IKEA Crayfish Festival
$9.99 for an all-you-can-eat Swedish buffet in Brooklyn’s best store!
Three seatings: 4:00-6:00pm, 6:30-8:30pm, 9:00-11:00pm
GUMBO w/ the Real Housewives!
Join Alex and Simon at Galapagos Art Space featuring DJ Justin Dawson spinning, dirtysugarphotography photo, free haircut, 2 bars (an open vodka bar!) + stage dancing = incredible time! Come early for free giveaways!
10pm, 16 Main St @ Water St, $10
Saturday, August 20
Get Outside: Summer Streets!
Inspired by similar events in Bogota, Paris, and around the world, this celebration of public space creates a route connecting the Brooklyn Bridge with Central Park, to low-traffic streets on the Hudson River Greenway, Harlem and Governors Island, allowing participants to plan a route as long or short as they wish” Bike, run, or walk NYC!
7:00 am – 1:00 pm
Jazz Age Dance Party @ Governors Island
This Saturday and Sunday, head back to the 1920s with the Dreamland Orchestra at this renowned annual event. Wear your flapper dresses and get excited for an afternoon of dance instruction, picnics, and fabulous music.
11am-5pm, $7
Sunday, August 21
MOVES Boutique, Sunday Function, Installment II
This mini event series allows all ages to enjoy crafting, DJS, shopping, vodka lemon cucumber spritzers, and a photography show! The 3PM-4PM open bar makes traveling to Greenpoint even more worthwhile. See you there!
3-8pm, 214 Franklin St btw Huron and Green
Ice Cream Sunday @ New Amsterdam Market
For the second year in a row, beat the downtown heat while tasting the most creative and unique flavors from NYC’s best ice cream makers!
11am-4pm, South St & Beekman St
Edible Garden @ NY Botanical Gardens
If you haven’t seen this awesome medieval Spanish greenery yet, head to Queen and join Chef Alexandra Raij of Txikito who will teach a class in preparing traditional Andalusian food!
4pm- 5:30pm
1 Comment | Posted on August 18, 2011 | Categories: Attractions, Entertainment, Event-Related, From the Blog, Native's Pick
The Gotham Writers’ Workshop is as much a part of the New York City landscape as the Empire State Building. Their neon-yellow street corner boxes with signs exhorting passerby to “Be Sexy. Write.” have an improbable way of fading into the background, of becoming a part of city life that we accept without question. But since I’m always interested in being sexy and in honing my craft, I stopped in at one of Gotham’s day-long level one fiction intensive workshops.
No Comments | Posted on August 18, 2011 | Categories: Attractions, From the Blog, Native's Pick, Only in New York
Walking into Francine Segan’s “Cooking with Beer Class” at the Institute of Culinary EducationI was terrified. I have actually never cooked anything before. Okay, once I made a cheese quesadilla for an eight-year old girl I was babysitting but that hardly counts seeing as how she guided me through the entire process…
The class, which takes place in state-of-the-art kitchen, begins with everyone sitting around a table (there were about twenty of us total ranging in each from twenty- something to sixty-something) listening to Francine explain each dish in rapid-fire speed. There were twelve dishes on the menu that were going to be divided up among the class. Some descriptions I found shocking. For the “beer can chicken” Francine told us that you: “stick a beer can in the tushy of the chicken that evaporates into the carcass and really adds flavor.” I hardly had time to process that image before we were on to the next thing.
There was almost immediately a spirit of camaraderie. Beer poured freely. People threw out helpful and neighborly suggestions as Francine spoke like “Never pour your grease down your sink. You’ll have problems.” One girl even volunteered that she’s only ever cooked grilled cheese, which made me feel better.
No Comments | Posted on August 17, 2011 | Categories: Dos and Don'ts, Event-Related, From the Blog, Native's Pick
Let’s face it: Wednesday can be a tough day to get through. It’s the middle of the week, work is slow; the weekend seems like it’ll never arrive. Unfortunately, for most of us, the best we can do on a Wednesday afternoon is to grin and bear it, and (try not to) stare at the clock as it slowly counts down the minutes until the end of the work day.
Last Wednesday, however, was different.
Last Wednesday, the editors at Inside New York were treated to a sampler of macarons from Little Oven, a small bakery in Long Island City specializing in these exquisitely-crafted, French-invented, insanely-tricky-to-make-at-home bites of heaven. Delivered by hand (by hand!) by Little Oven’s friendly store manager, Kyra, and wrapped in a ribbon-tied box, the sampler featured an array of the bakery’s classic flavors: Caramel Fleur de Sel, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry, Passionfruit, Cassis, and Pistachio.
1 Comment | Posted on August 17, 2011 | Categories: From the Blog
There is little that makes waking up more tolerable than the thought of a fist-sized, fluffy, sweet and soft muffin. With everything from blueberries and bananas to pecans and poached pears embedded within that heavenly cake, glassy sugar crystals, rolled oats and crumbly streusel sprinkled across the top, the beloved portable breakfast come in many a form. Here are seven of my favorites!
Two Little Red Hens
1652 2nd Ave (btw. 85th and 86th St.)
What looks to the naked eye like an ordinary blueberry muffin turns out to be a cylindrical lump of unadulterated joy. Those conspicuous marble-sized indigo berries are merely preludes to the fluffy cake, its texture lumpy and inconsistent in that exact way that separates the muffins from the cupcakes. While the hints of ginger in the cake are depth enough to render it a standout, it’s the pockets of lemon curd nestling like sweet-tart and potent surprises in the muffin’s nooks and crannies that propel it to the top of this list.
Peels
325 Bowery (at 2nd St.)
While it may sound jarringly unorthodox, the amalgam of buckwheat, rosemary and lemon marmalade that is the “Peel’s Muffin” just may be a touch of unexpected brilliance. The sticky-soft crust, embedded with shimmering sugar-crystals and garnished with sprigs of dried rosemary gives way to a fantastically dense and grainy (no doubt thanks to the bran) body. With ribbons of potent candied-lemon rind snaking through the rosemary-flecked batter, the sharp citrus perfectly rounding out the light rosemary, it just may be among the most complex muffins out there.
Van Leeweun
48 ½ East 7th St. (at 2nd Ave.); 632 Manhattan Ave. (at Bedford and Nassau), Greenpoint, Brooklyn; 81 Bergen St. (at Smith St.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
While the hard-to-pronounce vendor may be better known for its screwball ice creams than its baked goods, the small dome-topped muffins sitting quietly behind the counter may just challenge such an automatic association. The blackberry hazelnut muffin I tried sported a sugar-encrusted crust spotted with enormous, plump blackberries that burst with juice, a criminally moist and almost egg-y interior that was reminiscent of an extremely dense popover. And while hazelnuts were ground so finely into the batter they were difficult to spot, their sweet, earthy flavor was anything but.
Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleeker St. (at West 11th St.); 1240 Avenue of the Americas (at 49th St.); 200 Columbus Ave. (at 69th St.); Grand Central Terminal
Yes, it’s a cupcake place. But contrary to what anyone might (rightfully) assume, the tins of muffins that go virtually unnoticed are far more than unfrosted cupcakes. While my pumpkin muffin was cupcake-sweet (more so by far than any others on the list), it had a texture and flavor all its own. Far lighter than Magnolia’s super-dense cupcakes, and so sticky its crumbs could cling to a fork, the muffin feels exactly like something that might come out of your own oven. And, with its full pumpkin flavor, enhanced by the nutmeg and cinnamon speckling the cake, it tastes that way too.
Trois Pommes
260 5th Ave. (btw. Carroll St. and Garfield Pl.), Park Slope, Brooklyn.
It may be on the small side, but the mushroom-shaped confections churned out by Park Slope’s Trois Pommes are so rich this may be a good thing. The pumpkin muffin I sampled was sweet without being overpowering, its delicate pumpkin flavor enlivened with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla. And while there was little interruption in its smooth consistency, its rock-candy hard brown sugar streusel topping, and sprinkling nutty toasted pumpkin seeds supplied satisfying doses of crunchiness.
Financier
62 Stone St. (btw. Mill Lane and Hanover Sq); 3-4 World Financial Center (Battery Park City); 35 Cedar St. (10 Liberty Plaza btw. Pearl and William St.); 1211 6th Ave. (at 48th St.); Grand Central Terminal
See: www.financier.com/locations for complete list.
Only a French bakery could produce a muffin so buttery you can almost feel it coating the inside of your mouth. The cone-shaped apple muffin, a crusty streusel climbing up its sticky, soft top, was light, airy and sent a shower of spongey crumbs from its body with every bite. While the cake itself was relatively one-dimensional – sweet, buttery and with the texture of an exceptionally smooth cornbread –it was the perfect backdrop for slivers of tender caramel-y apple dispersed throughout.
Grey Dog Café
90 University Pl. (btw. 11th and 12th St.); 33 Carmine St. (btw. Bleeker and Bedford St.); 242 West 16th St. (btw. 7th and 8th Ave.)
When it comes to breakfast indulgences, bran muffins are probably not the first things that come to mind. And while Grey Dog’s bran muffins, what with the disks of banana and erupting blueberries splotched across their misshapen palm size tops, certainly look virtuous, one bite into the tender, sweet and nutty body that is fantastically buttery and has the consistency of a coarse and chewy cake reveals that a bran muffin does not have to equal a heap of tasteless sawdust.
3 Comments | Posted on August 16, 2011 | Categories: Brooklyn, Dining, From the Blog, Manhattan, Native's Pick
Image courtesy of bodyandpole.com
This week, I traded in my trapeze for something a little closer to the ground: the pole. (Cue eye-rolling of parents—don’t worry, I’m staying in school!) While I enjoy risking my life in the air, my lack of upper body strength makes it quite challenging; little did I know that pole dancing requires the same skills! But hey, any dance studio that advocates that wearing fewer clothes is better (for sticking to the pole, of course!) is worth checking out… Body & Pole in Midtown was my studio of choice.
Commonly misconceived as a raunchy, perhaps even a strip club activity, pole dancing is, in fact, an art form, combining dance and gymnastics and requiring hours upon hours of training to build strength and flexibility. Sure, anything can get its bad rap, but try spinning around a pole with your ankles before you judge! And speaking of judging, Body & Pole currently has an instructor, Steven Retchless, in the Top 16 on America’s Got Talent- vote for him! Lian, owner of Body & Pole, explains that having a male pole dancer come this far in the national competition is fantastic for pole dancing as an art form, giving it legitimacy as Steven wows audiences.
After a long workweek, I changed into my bike shorts and camisole and headed to Body & Pole for their “Pole Virgins” class- an hour-long pole fitness class that teaches the basics so students can move onto upper levels. Six poles and twelve students made the perfect class size: small enough that I received personal instruction, but large enough to eliminate most of my self-consciousness about being watched. Dim overhead lights and pink party lights illuminating the mirrors set the perfect atmosphere for the next hour.
2 Comments | Posted on August 14, 2011 | Categories: Attractions, From the Blog, Midtown East, Native's Pick
Order your copy of Inside New York 2012 now! The 2012 edition features over 600 dining and nightlife reviews in all five boroughs, original maps, walking tours, and essential budget-friendly tips to living in NYC. Inside New York 2012 is available for purchase here!
