Just when it seems winter can’t get any testier – ice, snow, more snow – Restaurant Week 2014 breezes into town February 17 through March 7 with its offer of agreeably priced prix fixe lunches and dinners. Can spring be far away?
Well, yes. But in the meantime you can feast on $25 lunches and $38 dinners, three-courses each. And that’s sweet. Read more
If Louis Lassen, the Connecticut sandwich shop owner often credited with inventing the hamburger, had been French, the world’s most iconic sandwich might look something like a clever new creation making its debut this week at Gaby, the French brasserie at the Sofitel New York.
Meet the Franburger, a slender ground-beef patty nestled in a crisp sour dough baguette and topped with melted Brie, lettuce and sliced tomato. Lest there be any doubt about the sandwich’s allegiances, it’s served with French fries. Read more
This month Michelin and Zagat had their say. Which hotel restaurants did these reviewing heavyweights smile upon?
The Modus Operandi differ sharply between the two guides. That said, you’ll see many of the same names in both. Read more
Last summer, Herb n’ Kitchen, the new restaurant at the New York Hilton-Midtown, was briefly the talk of the town, never mind that it hadn’t opened yet. In case you missed the fuss, Hilton announced it was closing its woefully outdated all-purpose restaurant and launching a new “dining concept” in the vast space at the back of the lobby. Read more
In John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, the character Doc becomes obsessed with a fanciful drink he’s never tasted and has, in fact, never seen – the beer milkshake. “He wondered what a beer milkshake would taste like,” Steinbeck writes. “The idea gagged him a bit, but he couldn’t let it alone. It cropped up every time he had a glass of beer.”
Beer isn’t Cointreau; it’s a self-contained, stand-alone drink. But like prosecco, bourbon and other staunch stand-alones, it can play nice with the right accompaniment. The new Beer Cocktail menu at The Pierre’s silky Two-E Bar shows just how nice. Read more
Hard as it may be to picture – especially if you’re gazing at the Empire State Building – Manhattan was once blanketed by farmland. John Rowland, the 19th-century surveyor who mapped Manhattan’s street grid, knew all about it. In his spare time he fashioned nearly 100 maps of the island’s farms.
But enough history. Manhattan farming is back, albeit on a very small scale (think planter boxes). Still, finding a Manhattan hotel that grows its own food – or at least some of it – is a lot easier than it was as recently as a year or two ago. Read more
Coffee unleashes strong passions. For everyone who swears by Starbucks there’s someone who would rather choke than order up a Grande anything.
Bean lovers probably feel just as strong-minded about Portlandia’s Stumptown brew, which if nothing else, is a lot more exclusive. (Translation: it’s harder to find.) Read more
When a tower is as tall as the Empire State Building, you can see it from a lot of vantage points. Still, the view from roof bar at the new Refinery Hotel is special.
The hotel stands just four blocks north of the once-tallest-building-in-the-world. From the roof it appears so close you feel you could almost leap over in a King Kong moment. Read more
It’s the weekend of liberty, equality and fraternity as Bastille Day — July 14 — rolls around this Sunday for the 224th time. Paris not in your travel plans? The Serendipity, created by Colin Peter Field for the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz Paris, bills itself as France in a Glass. The Ritz is closed for renovations this year, but you can try this one at home. Read more
Summer in the city doesn’t seem like summer without NYC Restaurant Week, now in its 11th year. Read more