Posts Tagged ‘All the Restaurants in New York’

How to Celebrate Father’s Day with a New York Flair

Dad’s Day is right around the corner. Here are some cool New York-style ways to celebrate.

Take Dad to Dinner

It’s time to get out of the house or apartment. Dining at home has been fun and the breadth of shows on Netflix is enticing, but now that indoor dining has resumed and outdoor dining is a real thing in New York, Dad can enjoy a foodie night on the town for Father’s Day.

Courtesy Brooklyn Chop House

Always lively Brooklyn Chop House in FiDi is offering a special prix fixe menu for Father’s Day. The Asian-inflected menu features a range of small dishes that Dad will love like rock shrimp tempura, chicken lettuce wraps, chicken satays with peanut sauce and Pac Man seafood dumplings. (Make sure you take a photo of dad with that one!)  Entrees are a man-sized 24-ounce bone-in, dry-aged ribeye steak; ginger scallion lobster; sweet black bean Beijing chicken; and spicy Kung Pao chicken.

Courtesy LoLo’s Seafood Shack

Harlem’s original Cape Cod and Caribbean mashup LoLo’s Seafood Shack will feature a spread of seafood baskets and boils, juicy jerk ribs, and more from Chef Raymond Mohan. You can pretend that you’re taking Dad to an island as you sit outdoors in the restaurant’s surprising Harlem backyard.

Courtesy Bar Marseille

Combine a day at the beach with dinner at Bar Marseille in the Rockaways. Presenting an eclectic collection of flavors found along the French Riviera including influences from North Africa, Italy, Greece and Spain, the Father’s Day menu offers dishes like a brisket and grilled asparagus special along with grilled oysters, beef tartare and chicken Provençale.

If Your Dad Is More of A Drinking Guy

Courtesy Fiddlesticks Pub

Join Fiddlesticks and Teeling Whiskey for Father’s Day, celebrating the family legacy of Dublin’s most-awarded Irish Whiskey. From June 17-20, bring your father to Fiddlesticks Pub in the West Village for a bespoke experience sipping experience. Dad will enjoy specialty cocktails with personalized leather coasters to complete the very individual experience. Seating is at the outdoor Phoenix Parlor, inspired by the Teeling Whiskey distillery in Dublin.

Buy Dad a Book about His Favorite Restaurants and Drinking Spots

Nom Wah Tea Parlor © John Donohue

Artist John Donohue has spent the past umpteen years drawing sketches of all the restaurants in New York City and now Paris. With so many restaurants shuttered due to Covid, the “All the Restaurants in New York” book is especially relevant and poignant. Undoubtedly, many of Dad’s favorites are included. And since he still can’t really safely travel to Paris yet, Donohue’s new “All the Tables in Paris” illustrations will have him dreaming of his next vacation with the whole family. Better still, buy Dad both books and a print of his favorite restaurant that you can easily frame. You’ll be helping the restaurant industry, too: 10% of all print sale profits go to the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.

Buy Dad a Ticket to the Hottest Shows in Manhattan

“Springsteen on Broadway” © Meryl Pearlstein

Make sure Dad has copies of his vaccine card so he can enjoy Bruce Springsteen’s return to Broadway. Starting this month, the Boss will re-mount his sold-out “Springsteen on Broadway” smash at the St. James Theater. Only fully vaccinated patrons can attend so add the New York Excelsior Card to your phone wallet for easy display. (Note: A negative Covid test is not enough to secure entry). Even if you saw it on television, there’s nothing like hearing Bruce tell the story of his life in words and music, in person. Seating is not socially distant, so keep that in mind if you decide to purchase tickets.

Immersive Van Gogh © Meryl Pearlstein

Immersive Van Gogh has just opened in a purpose-built space on Pier 36 in Lower Manhattan. The huge 500,000 cubic foot structure is easy to spot – it’s covered with Van Gogh’s famous sunflowers. The product of video artist Massimiliano Siccardi with direction by Broadway set designer David Korins (Hamilton) and music by Luca Longobardi, three massive rooms of differing configurations and a balcony await Dad on his special day. Not to be confused with a similarly named Van Gogh immersion (Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience) happening on Vesey Street, this sound, color and light experience is a fully immersive sensory sojourn into the mind of the great artist. The visuals are on a loop that lasts for 35 minutes but you can stay as long as you want and enjoy the changing tableaux.

Your Valentine’s Day Gift Guide for Fans of New York City

Tours and Books

Steinway Factory experience - Courtesy New York Adventure Club

Here’s a way to share your love of New York with tours you can take from your living room. Do you have a love of the piano? Sign up for the Steinway Factory experience. Are you curious about how the subways came to be? Become a savvy straphanger learning about the city’s transit history. Did you know about New York City’s various evolutions as the Center of Jazz in the US? The diverse virtual tours from the New York Adventure Club explore the special nooks and crannies of NYC. An egift card is your ticket to adventure. This might just be the start of a brand- new love affair.

Courtesy John Donohue's All the Restaurants in New York

Brooklyn-based artist John Donohue has created the perfect gift for a foodie, particularly one who’s pining for the pre-pandemic NYC dining experience. Donohue’s signed, limited-edition prints of many of New York’s favorite restaurants are a creative tribute to the city’s dining establishments. They’re also a feel-good gift: you’ll be supporting the city’s badly hurt restaurant industry with your purchase. Fifty percent of print-sale profits go to the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.  If you’re as obsessed with these illustrations as I am, John’s book, All the Restaurants in New York, will look fabulous on your coffee table, too.

Courtesy Betsy Polivy

Walking Manhattan Sideways by Betsy Polivy is a compilation of the author’s years of chronicling the small businesses on Manhattan’s side streets. The beautifully photographed book will warm your heart as you read about the entrepreneurs who make up the city’s independent and enduring character. The book is a love letter to the melting pot that is New York, and a vicarious trip through the Big Apple.

Cakes, Cookies, Chocolates and More

Courtesy Bake Me A Wish! New York

Celebrate your love this Valentine’s Day with a gourmet, heart-shaped cake from Manhattan’s Bake Me A Wish!  New York. Available in two sizes, the larger ten-inch cake can be customized with the name of your special someone or a very personal romantic message.

Courtesy Levain Bakery

In time for Valentine’s Day, Levain Bakery is finally shipping their Two Chip Chocolate Chip cookie, a decadent take on a classic chocolate chip cookie sans nuts and brimming with semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips. You can skip waiting in the bakery line for your fresh treats:  these oversized cookies are baked for immediate shipment and are packed in a whimsical blue gift box. If you sweetie drools over Levain’s original Chocolate Chip Walnut or Oatmeal Raisin flavors, you can order those, too.

Courtesy MarieBelle Chocolates

Indulge your sweet tooth with MarieBelle Chocolates’ artisanal ganache collections. Each ganache is artfully decorated with a Valentine’s Day design that tells a beautiful love story. Special for the holiday, the MarieBelle Valentine Truffle Box is an assortment of European-style truffles in dark chocolate, matcha and Champagne. The packaging, designed by renowned fashion illustrator Izak Zenou, is a Valentine’s Day collectible. Champagne is always better when it’s wrapped in chocolate.

Courtesy Bushwick Farm

Is your honey sweet, salty or spicy? Bushwick Farm has foodie gifts to sass up your holiday menu for any taste preference. Born in a test kitchen in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Bees Knees honey comes in a delightful gift set as do the company’s Trees Knees maples and Weak Knees srirachas. Go for the ultimate buzz with the Threes Knees Spicy Trio for a signature tasting experience.

Courtesy Coffee Project New York

The coffee, candles and macarons gift box from Long Island City’s Coffee Project New York puts a coffee-centric finishing touch on an at-home romantic meal. Light the coffee-inspired candle, pour a taste of three coffees (or just one if you prefer) and linger over strawberry verbena macarons from Le Petit Paris, a French bakery also in Long Island City. Maybe pour a spot of Cognac for an added kick.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility - Courtesy Open House New York

Tired of roses and Champagne? On February 14, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and Open House New York host a virtual Valentine’s Day tour of the city’s largest sewage plant, the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility, where wastewater from storm drains and toilets and sinks of more than one million New Yorkers is cleaned each day in a complex system, including eight giant stainless steel digester eggs. This tour sells out every year, so you’d better hop online NOW. For 2021 it’s virtual – but, next year, you’ll want to reserve the in-person event as soon as it goes on sale. Seriously.

Renew Your Vows - Courtesy Times Square Alliance

Times Square Alliance invites couples each year to renew their vows on Valentine’s Day on the iconic red stairs in Duffy Square. This year’s event is a bit different. Only a few couples will be able to participate live due to social distancing requirements, but you can show your love online by registering for a virtual space. It’s still the ultimate NYC way to avow your commitment to each other anew.

DUMBO in Brooklyn - courtesy Dumbo Improvement District

For a professional holiday photo memory, free of charge, head to DUMBO in Brooklyn on Valentine’s Day weekend. No, it’s not to grab the influencer shot you see all over Instagram with the Manhattan Bridge in the background. A Heart Sculpture, designed and fabricated by Bednark Studios, has been installed on the Empire Stores patio, creating a perfect picture frame. Strike a romantic pose in the middle of the lipstick-red art piece for a photo via the Self Portrait Project, courtesy of the Dumbo Improvement District. From 5-9pm on Saturday and Sunday photos will be projected on the Manhattan Bridge at dimensions of 65 by 40 feet. A link to digital photos will be available on the @dumbobrooklyn Instagram account on February 20. To keep you warm, you’ll also receive commemorative Valentine’s Day hand warmers.

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