This quick guide is your companion for a first visit to New York City during the holidays: where to stay depending on your budget or travel style, where to eat (from casual comfort to splurge‑worthy dinners), and how to spend your days and evenings — skating, sightseeing, theater, and city strolls — with a feel for what it will cost. Use it to build a trip that’s both realistic and magical.
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by Brian Wall
Fall is a special time of year. There is a plethora of increased flavors and spices that do not come out the rest of the year. Winter will also invite a cornucopia of warmer flavors and heavier beers that are higher in calories, alcohol content and in different flavors for some. Autumn does offer a nice assortment of flavors and varieties due to harvesting of fruits and vegetables.
The biggest flavoring for autumn beers and in most Oktoberfest-style beers is pumpkin. Ahh, pumpkin. The visage of warm pie, Jack-o-lanterns and a fireplace can easily fit into the mind when picturing a nice round, full orange pumpkin. One beer that is inundated with the spirit of pumpkin was sampled recently- Post Road Pumpkin Ale. Continue reading
Filed under Brian Wall
The owner of New York City’s famed Rao’s Italian restaurant, reputedly the toughest place in the Big Apple to get a table, died this week after a bout with lung cancer. Frank Pellegrino Sr. was 72.
The restaurant has thrived in Harlem, through some of the neighborhood’s most dangerous times, since 1896. It features only 10 tables, and follows one of the most unusual seating policies in the industry. Seven of the 10 (two of which were added during a relatively recent renovation) are “owned” by regular customers. Those patrons in essence have a right of first refusal. They can come every night, lend the table to friends, or donate the seating for charity auctions. Continue reading
Filed under Crave, Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Remember the Cronut rage of 2013? Well, the wacky New York pastry chef is back and this time Dominique Ansel has outdone himself.
Like the Cronut before it, the Waffogato fuses two things you never thought to put together and features a waffle made out of ice cream (vanilla with bits of Belgian waffle in it). It is then topped with a maple syrup espresso, and as the “waffle” melts, little pearls of tapioca are revealed in a sexy sweet mess. Continue reading
Filed under Steven Doyle
by Andrew Chalk
On Wednesday 5th February Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB) announced an agreement to acquire Blue Point Brewing Company of New York. The deal values Blue Point at $24m and is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2014.
Blue Point Brewing Company is a leading craft brewer, producing over 40 beers sold in 15 states, mainly along the U.S. east coast. AB is the world’s largest brewer, with 48% of the U.S. market. Blue Point sold around 60,000 barrels in 2013. AB sold 98.8 million barrels in the U.S. in the same period.
Why would AB want to acquire such a minnow? Continue reading
Filed under Andrew Chalk
by Steven Doyle
This Monday there will be a special screening of Hey Bartender at the Village Theater at 32 Highland Park Village at 7pm. The film is about a bartender in the era of craft cocktail. After the film meet Jason Kosmas, co-owner of one of the bars featured in the film, Employees Only in New York. Kosmas will speak abut the film and host a Q&A session. You will also hear from the film’s director, Douglas Tirola and William Grant Portfolio Ambassador, Charlotte Voisey. The evening will finish up with an after party next door at the Village Bar.
Here is the film’s IMDB synopsis: Continue reading
Filed under Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Ever wonder what happened to the chef from Cedars Social who went off to New York to stake claim at his restaurant, Prospect? The New York Daily News recently reported that Kyle McClelland has done pretty well for himself, giving Prospect four out of a five star rating. The critic who reviewed the Brooklyn restaurant said that McClelland had the most “visually stunning dishes in any borough.” Continue reading
Filed under chefs, Steven Doyle
by Steven Doyle
Chef John Tesar is taking his breath-taking restaurant, Spoon Bar and Kitchen on the road this week. For those fortunate enough to be in New York tonight, you have an opportunity to dine with Tesar at the James Beard House where he has planned a hella good menu which samples much of his Spoon menu coupled with plenty of champagne.
For more information, check out the James Beard House webby. Check out the food and pairings for tonight. Continue reading
Filed under James Beard House, Steven Doyle
