Contributed by Jens Hoffmann
To state the obvious:
You could easily ennjoy and fill a couple of weeks eating your way down one street in Jackson Heights, Queens, or spend days uncovering corners of Central Park.
I just like to show the cherry on the cake.
Here you’ll find a nice bar, a hidden garden, market shopping against the backdrop of an unbeatable skyline and some big-picture and hyperlocal history to bring you a little closer the feel good of the city.
Recommendations:
The Museum of the City of New York is where you find 400 years of history.
Elizabeth Street Garden is a community garden full of flowery nooks and hidden benches to discover.
Galleries and attractions
City Reliquary has thousands of New York relics that you can view for the price of a Williamsburg latte. Nicola Vassell Gallery is a new exhibition space dedicated to diverse perspectives. Jack Shainman Gallery is a contemporary art gallery on West 24th Street. Greene Naftali is a roomy gallery tucked beneath the High Line. Tompkins Square Park is a site with a long history of activism and perfect for a morning stroll. Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a Lower East Side center of poetry and performance with Puerto Rican roots and a bohemian spirit.
Restaurants and bars
Le Rock is a French brasserie in Rockefeller Center with a sleek Art Deco design. Ace’s Pizza offers Detroit-style slices to go in Midtown. Lodi, a favorite of The New York Times food critic, Pete Wells, is an Italian restaurant with outdoor seating. Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar is an 11-seater in Rockefeller Center. Pebble Bar is a sexy, low-lit Midtown cocktail bar where the chances of a celebrity sighting are high. Jimmy’s Corner is a Times Square dive bar that was opened in 1971 by a beloved former boxer and trainer. Frankel’s Delicatessen & Appetizing is where to get a riff on the bacon, egg and cheese in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop has delighted for decades with its cheap and cheerful treats and brightly uniformed staff. Bar Pitti, an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village, may be known for its lines and brash service, but the people-watching is superb. Malatesta Trattoria is a low-key, cash-only Italian affair in the Village. Marie’s Crisis Café is where to find Broadway-level talent for the price of a couple of beers.Golden Unicorn is a Chinatown stalwart in the rapidly shrinking neighborhoodMei Lai Wah has delicious pork or steamed egg-yolk buns for a snack on-the-go.
Shopping and markets
Big Night is a “shop for dinner, parties and dinner parties.
50 Norman is where you can discover a Japanese mini-market.
Where to stay:
Nothing has quite as much old-school downtown appeal and luxury as The Bowery Hotel in the Lower East Side
Itinerary:
400 years of history at the Museum of the City of New York in East Harlem which you will find opposite Central Park at the top end of Museum Mile.
Its an overview of the many eras of the city’s development, including its few decades as the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, its 19th-century shift to an immigrant hub, the growth of the city’s park program after the New Deal and the birth of the punk and hip-hop subcultures of the 1970s and 1980s.
Le Rock
Go grand in Midtown
Rockefeller Center is enticing popular restaurateurs with real-estate deals, aiming to draw locals and tourists alike. One glamorous newcomer is Le Rock, a French brasserie (from the owners of the popular TriBeCa restaurant Frenchette) with a sleek Art Deco design and a pricey (around $200 for two without drinks) menu of chilled oysters, bison au poivre and a long list of natural wines.
For a night of grand Manhattan opulence, you’re in good hands. Other notable arrivals in the area: Detroit-style slices at Ace’s Pizza, Italian dining with outdoor seating at Lodi (a Times food critic’s favorite) and the 11-seat Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar.
9 p.m. Drink somewhere old, somewhere new
Cap off your night at Midtown’s sexy new Pebble Bar, known for its celebrity clientele and investors. low lighting and cushy booths; and the highest number of chic 30-somethings per capita in the neighborhood. Grab a fistful of the fancy matchbooks on your way out. For the Midtown of yesteryear there’s Jimmy’s Corner, a dive bar opened in 1971 by the former boxer and trainer Jimmy Glenn, who died of Covid complications in 2020. Now operated by his son Adam, it remains a perfect spot for a beer and a shot for both tourists.
Visitors to New York could easily fill an entire weekend uncovering corners of Central Park.
The real breakfast of champions is a pastrami, egg and cheese sandwich at Frankel’s Delicatessen & Appetizing in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
There may be no better representation of New York deli cuisine than the happy marriage between the Jewish staple meat, and the bodega and coffee-cart hero, the bacon, egg and cheese. If securing a window seat is a bust, the benches of McCarren Park across the street are calling your name. And for breakfast dessert (you’re on vacation!): Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop. You might recognize the bakery from the 2021 movie “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but regulars know it for the unparalleled blueberry buttermilk doughnuts ($1.75).
11 a.m. Shop by the skyline
From Greenpoint, the northernmost neighborhood in Brooklyn, the views of the East River are unbeatable. Follow Noble Street all the way to the end, and you’ll find Greenpoint Terminal Market, a marketplace of vendors, every Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine. You’ll get a top-tier view of the Manhattan skyline while you sift through racks of vintage clothes, tables of art and jewelry, and maybe get a really bad portrait made ($5) to commemorate the day. For a little more shopping, try Big Night, a “shop for dinner, parties and dinner parties”; Dobbin St. Vintage Co-op for vintage furniture; and the mini-Japanese market at 50 Norman for housewares by Cibone and customized dashi packs from Dashi Okume.
Do not miss Coney Island
Hidden away from Williamsburg’s chain coffee shops and boutique gyms is City Reliquary ($7 entry) a tiny, colorful storefront wedged between buildings on Metropolitan Avenue. Inside is a quirky and fascinating collection of New York artifacts curated by this not-for-profit community museum and civic organization. Packed (really packed) into two small rooms, you’ll find defunct subway signage, souvenirs from New York World’s Fairs, samples of rocks from far below the city and an astonishing amount more. Look for the many iterations of paper deli cups, including the iconic Anthora cup (designed by Leslie Buck in the 1960s), which you’ll still see at diners and bodegas today.
Walking between the hundreds of galleries in the West Side Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea, rather than committing to one art museum, is a great way to take in a large sampling of artists and immerse yourself in their works. Start at the airy Nicola Vassell Gallery, an exciting new gallery committed to exhibiting diverse perspectives. From there, head up 10th Avenue to Jack Shainman Gallery on West 24th Street where artists such as Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems have shown their work.
End your crawl at Greene Naftali, a roomy gallery tucked beneath the High Line.
Greenwich Village cynics will complain about its restaurants: Lines everywhere, many cash-only and littered with celebrities and the rubberneckers that follow.
For first-time Village diners, though, Bar Pitti unfailingly delivers an entertaining night out.
Get there around 6 p.m. (with cash — no cards accepted) and there should be a short wait.
Order the eggplant Parmesan if it’s on and a bottle of Pinot Noir.
The best Italian food in New York?
It’s probably not the best on its block. But the brash-yet-somehow-charming service, prime location and killer people-watching makes Bar Pitti a true New York affair.
For a more relaxed alternative, Malatesta Trattoria has an excellent tagliatelle ragu and a lower-key ambience.
Enjoy the Big Apple, we love it.
