If you’re into food, bicycles, and Scandinavian design, Copenhagen is the city for you. Or so I’ve heard. But even if Copenhagen isn’t on your itinerary, you can eat like you’re there by heading to Aamanns-Copenhagen in Tribeca. The restaurant, which finally opened on Thursday after a year’s delay (followed by hurricane-induced postponement), is an offshoot of chef Adam Aamann’s popular Copenhagen eatery that specializes in smørrebrød. (more…)
Sandwiches had a storied history long before they were even called “sandwiches” (so named for John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who ate roast beef between two slices of bread as a snack during marathon card games). But out of all the varieties out there, from school-lunch PB&Js to po’ boys, cemitas, bánh mì and cheesesteaks, none rocks my world like a classic Italian deli sandwich. (more…)
Tito poses for the camera
This past weekend I rode the escalators down into Javits Center’s underground arena for Meet The Breeds, the world’s largest annual showcase of cats and dogs. Woozy from lack of sleep, clutching a camera that felt like a bowling ball, ambivalently hungry from wafts of fake-buttered popcorn, I meandered through breed displays tightly packed with spectators. The animals I was supposed to be photographing were hidden behind the crowds but I hesitated to push aside Girl Scout troops and families. (more…)
Costumed dogs promenaded through Tompkins Square Park once again this past Saturday in the 22nd Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade. This year’s hot costume themes were the presidential race—including a vengeful Seamus Romney and an unemployed Big Bird—as well as space exploration and bondage bestseller 50 Shades of Gray. (more…)
Bannerman’s Island is a rugged, tree-covered rock topped with a crumbling castle and flanked by sunken towers that appear to belong to a drowned fortress. Adrift in the Hudson River a few miles south of Beacon, the castle is only viewable if you ride the Metro North train to Poughkeepsie. Even then you’re barely treated to a glimpse through infuriating trees as you’re whisked by at 60mph. (more…)
The Tent of Tomorrow is the closest thing New York City has to an abandoned carnival. A decaying ellipse festooned in candy cane stripes, the structure features 100-foot-tall columns which once supported a translucent plastic suspension roof larger than a football field. Today vines climb the columns, bare cables are all that remain of the roof, and a skeleton of spiked arches encircles the top like a rusting crown. (more…)
There’s merely-creative cocktails, and then there’s “experimental” cocktails. You can sip a well-made drink mixed with an infused liquor or unique housemade bitters at any number of mixology dens; but the esoteric ingredients on the menu at Experimental Cocktail Club go above and beyond. (more…)
Update: Mission Chinese has reopened at 171 East Broadway as of December 2014
Here’s the secret to enjoying a meal at Mission Chinese: go during lunch. It’s probably a great dinner spot, but hey, 1-2 hour wait for a table is enough to scare any busy New Yorker (free beer notwithstanding). The white-hot popularity of this place is no surprise. Mission Chinese is an import from San Francisco, where it gained a fervent following and critical praise that’s only grown since its opening in New York in May. (more…)
In the future we’ll ride elevators underground into the park, and hike through subterranean forests.
At least, we will if the Lowline, which aims to be the world’s first underground public park, moves forward. The proposed site, a former trolley station at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, has been unused since 1948 and is now part of a massive urban renewal project, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. (more…)
Update: 5Pointz has been demolished to clear space for new residential towers.
Going to 5Pointz is a little like stepping into technicolor Oz. Stumbling onto it, usually while rumbling overhead on the 7 train, is a little bit of a shock–a block-long factory complex covered in bubblegum-hued graffiti sliding into view, rendering the rest of Long Island City’s architecture all the more drab by contrast. It is, if nothing else, instantly recognizable. (more…)