Real Journalism written by people
Barbetta – the oldest Italian restaurant in New York and oldest restaurant in the Theatre District at 113 years old – is outfitted in four townhouses that date back from 1874 to 1881. Its outside is deceiving, given the brownstone façade and shielding trees, and you might pass it by during the day if you don’t carefully look to see […]
If you live in Brooklyn and have eaten bagels and lox during a Sunday brunch, there’s a good chance that the fish came from Acme. Acme has been distributing smoked fish from its Greenpoint warehouse since the mid-1950s. But the story didn’t start then. A brief history Russian immigrant Harry Brownstein came to Brooklyn in 1905 and distributed smoked fish, […]
I’ve never had soba that I didn’t enjoy, but it’s nice to know that the chefs at Sobaya (sometimes rendered soba-ya) at 229 E 9th Street take it more seriously than most. They handmake the noodles every day from organic buckwheat flour imported from Nagano, and then “simmer high-quality bonito and kelp in charcoal-filtered water to make a dashi broth,” […]
Until recently, I’d never been to Flushing, but my friend Rachel often spends significant portions of her weekends up there, despite the three-train journey from Bushwick. When I asked her to take me on a day trip, she gladly obliged. I think all New Yorkers, even the natives, are tourists in this town, and sometimes it helps to have a […]
In Jackson Heights, Lhasa Fast Food is famous, but for the unfamiliar, the most useful restaurant review is probably still a set of directions. It’s not hard to get to, situated about a block from the Roosevelt Avenue subway station (which fields the 7, E, F, M, and R trains) in a section of Queens that only looks distant on […]
Faro, a Michelin-starred dinner-only date spot with a hybrid menu of Italian and New American dishes, serves homemade pasta and precise, mindfully sourced, modern cuisine from a wood-burning oven in a former warehouse near the Jefferson Avenue L stop. MoMA previously used the building for art storage, but it doesn’t feel as cavernous or austere as it sounds, though it […]
The Bronx’s Little Italy is – as the name suggests – not huge. From the intersection of East 187th Street and Arthur Avenue that marks the center of the neighborhood, its commercial district extends another two blocks south before bottoming out at St Barnabas Hospital. But those two blocks on Arthur Avenue contain everything you’d imagine a Little Italy should […]
A few months ago, a friend of mine, a journalist named Jacob Kaye, heard I’d be working at the Star-Revue this summer and made what he probably thought was an innocuous joke. “You should review all the food at IKEA,” he said. “Little do you know,” I responded, “that Red Hook is a vibrant neighborhood with scores of excellent dining […]
The neighborhood buzzed with hungry local residents and newcomers, who came by bike, ferry and foot for the first annual Red Hook Food and Drink Crawl on July 28. “People live here, but may not ever walk in to try the great food and drink that’s there,” said Nancie Katz, crawl organizer and executive director of Seeds in the Middle. […]
French food lovers and diners can experience masterful cuisine and gastronomy, while honoring French culture and history, from July 8 to 21 as part of the Bastille Week festivities. For two weeks select Manhattan-based restaurants will once again offer prix-fixe menus at $17.89 (bar), $25 (lunch), $42 (dinner), and $178.90 (dinner for two with a bottle of wine) to commemorate […]
From May to September, typically on the second Wednesday of the month, the arts organization Pioneer Works hosts $5 first-come-first-served lunches in its garden at 159 Pioneer Street. The series started in 2017, but I went for the first time this June. For each gathering, Pioneer Works hires a new chef to cater the event. When I attended, the food […]
Alice’s Tea Cup, the popular Manhattan-based tea house franchise that encourages whimsy and imagination while enjoying a spot of tea, unveiled its latest ‘chapter’ in Brooklyn Heights on June 18. The new café, appropriately named Alice’s To Go, provides local Brooklynites with easy, fast countertop service. Though physically smaller in size, it still has the aura of quirky casualness […]
Born and raised in Red Hook, Luquana McGriff makes some of New York City’s most beautiful cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. In 2016, McGriff started her own one-woman dessert-catering company, A Cake Baked in Brooklyn. At the time, she was a 911 dispatcher for the New York City Police Department. She’d held the job since 2001, but a childhood passion for […]
