Summit Bar
If you have years of catching up to do with someone, you need a bar where you can actually chat, without feeling like a piece of driftwood being tossed around on a sea of revelers. Excellent cocktails never hurt conversation,…
After The Mars Bar, Then What?
Update: Mars Bars bas been demolished. The space is now a TD Bank. I’ve been to Mars Bar, but it was a long time ago. The place smells funky. The beer comes in bottles. The bathrooms have an especially bad…
Good Beer
When it comes to beer I’m not that picky. There’s beer and then there’s good beer, and I drink the good kind. Good beer can be almost anything: a sour lambic, a chocolate stout, even the odd IPA. Something from…
Tompkins Square Dog Halloween Parade
The puppies paraded through Tompkins Square Park in their Halloween finest this past Sunday, and once again I joined the camera clicking hordes eager to record the event. This was my fifth year photographing the event and I enjoyed spotting…
Gramercy Tavern
I believe there’s a therapeutic value to having your water unobtrusively refilled, without needing to ask anyone. The knife you dropped that is swiftly replaced; the napkin that is neatly refolded when you return from the restroom; the single beam…
Dirt Candy
Update: Dirt Candy is reopening on the Lower East Side in January 2015. Usually I’m not eager to try vegetarian restaurants, so my excitement leading up to dinner at Dirt Candy was pretty much unprecedented. By “vegetarian restaurants,” I’m not…
Rice to Riches
Rice to Riches sells rice pudding. But wait–don’t go yet! This isn’t like other rice pudding you’ve had; this rice pudding is FUN! At least, everything about this shop wants you to think so–from the pod-like front doors, to the…
Schnitzel & Things
As I slogged into work the morning after Memorial Day, my bleary eyes alighted on a most unexpected sight. The Schnitzel & Things truck was parked on 46th street. I canceled my morning bagel and an oh-so-subtle spring entered my…
Hecho en Dumbo
Lately it seems like everyone’s moving to the Bowery. Now Hecho en Dumbo, whose owners shuttered their Brooklyn location last fall, is open for business on the newly-chic stretch above Houston Street. And by “newly,” I’m talking about what’s happened…
Drop Off Service
Some bars seem to foster out-of-the-blue conversations with total strangers–Drop Off Service is one of them. If you’re a reasonably-attractive lady there’s a good chance someone will try to talk to you (for better or worse). Also, someone may try…