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Recently, I engaged some friends and ventured into 'the city,” as we borough kids tend to call it, to do some exploring. There was plenty to see, particularly regarding the relentless buzz in the ever-evolving New York restaurant world. This year has been no exception, with the splashy reopenings of the famed Rainbow Room and the venerable Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel.
Manhattan
While Manhattan is indeed a place of transiencefew who live there can claim it as their city of origin, and few stay in one apartment for very longthe other boroughs are of neighborhoods, families, and permanence. I lived in Gravesend for the first 20 years of my life and barely knew how to get to Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, which is six miles away (and where I live now). You have your local cafés, parks, and eaterieslike DiFara's, the pizza place that has existed on Avenue J in Midwood for decades, where the now-nearly-100-year-old proprietor to this day still makes the pizzasso why go anywhere else? The best you'll ever have of anything always seems to be incredibly close to home.
Our first night, we stopped at the once-revered Upper East Side institution Park Avenue Café, which reopened in the Flatiron District and still famously matches its decor and menu to the various seasons. It was a cold evening, and we couldn't resist starting off with a Park Avenue Autumn Manhattana blend of rye, Jamaican rum, sweet vermouth and a house-made amaro with autumn spices. Meanwhile, the kitchen staff had embraced a nautical theme, creating a casual grill of pork chops, halibut, and seared diver scallops mixed with a few old classics like broccoli sprinkled with Cheetos.
It's a hot time for New York City hotels with glitzy but pricey midtown addresses and hip downtown locales among the properties in the city's latest crop. This includes a welcome addition, the timeless landmark Martha Washington Hotelwhich once hosted notable guests like Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Taylor, and Veronica Lakehas returned to its boutique roots. Saturday morning brought us to the legendary Langham Place, Fifth Avenue for their Pampered Prix Fixe package, which features a signature 60-minute spa treatment at the Langham Place Spa followed by lunch at the Michelin-starred Ai Fiori, located inside the hotel, for $250 per person (decadent options include lobster benedict and crudo di passera). Not quite in our budget for a casual Saturday outing, it's a great value for what you are getting and a perfect accent on a special weekend getaway to New York. Instead, with all the walking we had planned, we were all about the Chuan Inspired Healing Hand & Feet Retreat; this sumptuous treatment features warm compresses, a sweet and savory exfoliation, and being wrapped in a nourishing mud mask.
Revitalized, we window-shopped our way to the Upper East Sidean area that was a rare experience for us borough kids unless it involved a doctor's appointment or tagging along to a fancy hair salon; in reality, it is about an hour's leisurely walk on a sunny afternoon. Having heard great things about the oysters and happy hour specials at EATS, we wandered into the Lexington Avenue establishment and feasted on the tableside-prepared steak tartare. Made with truffled capers, Dijon mustard, and house-fried russet chips, it was addictive. The main event, though, was the wild mushroom barley risotto, which was prepared with sautéed wild mushrooms and black truffle butter.
Brooklyn
But Manhattan isn't the only draw for out-of-towners. These days, visitors are encouraged to straddle various boroughs if they're in town for a few days. Thanks to the surprisingly efficient subway system, jaunts to many outer-borough hot spots are just a few minutes away. Colombia-based Devocion, for example, just debuted in the United States with a roasting plant and coffee shop in Brooklyn's hip Williamsburg neighborhood. Caffeine snobs were excited to learn the roaster flies its direct trade beans in from Bogotá weekly. On a cold winter's day, it's a great spot to pick up a hot cup of coffee before doing some exploring. We were trying to build up an appetite for an epic brunch, so we prefaced with a discovery mission at the Brooklyn Flea, where you can find handmade, vintage, and artisanal goods galore.
Brunch is always a must and there are so many options across the city, but our hearts were set on Pork Slope, aptly located in Park Slope, a roadhouse-style bar and restaurant that is the pet creation of celebrated chef Dale Talde. The menu showcases bar snacks like loaded nachos with chili, jalapeños, cheddar, tomatoes, onions, lime sour cream, and Philly cheesesteak egg rolls. As it was brunch, we were all about the chicken and waffle sliders: fried chicken, bacon, and cheese on mini waffles with a spicy maple syrup. In other words, absolutely unreal.
Full, tipsy, and very happy, we walked off some fried chicken calories as we ventured a half-mile away to the Old Stone House, an amazing 17th-century farmhouse open to the public on weekends. Tour it and see weapons, uniforms, and much more from the Battle of Brooklyn, a major moment in the Revolutionary War. Lighten the mood afterward with some thrift store shopping; there are tons of great spots within a few blocks' walk, including Beacon's Closet and Housing Works. Park Slope is known to be one of New York's more interesting neighborhoods, simultaneously hipster-fied and gentrified, so the thrift stores are filled with uniquely awesome finds.
Our final spot for our weekend of playing tourist had to be pretty special, so we chose Calexico, the Mexican cult favorite with both restaurants and street carts in Manhattan and Brooklyn. While it initially began as a solo cart in Soho, Calexico has since expanded to include a whole fleet of carts and physical locations that serve up authentic California-style tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. The best time to go is on Sundays or weeknights, when the deals are just as great and you can walk right in and get a table. We hit up the Park Slope restaurant and feasted on a spread of chile-cilantro fries covered in braised beef brisket, caramelized onions, black beans, guacamole, cheese sauce, pico de gallo, and sour creama perfect indulgence to end the weekend.
Our diets were ruined, but our weekend was fantastic. If you attempt to replicate our itinerary, take heed: Bring comfortable pants and a big appetiteand don't expect to button those skinny jeans again for quite a while. The beauty of New York City's boroughs is that there areso many distinct worlds to see, and they are all a short subway rideor a beautiful afternoon walkapart. Whether you want to see glitz and glamour or traditional ethnic neighborhoods unchanged in decades, you can find it all.
By Aly Walansky