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4 months ago
Betty Bakery, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.
Kids, I have eaten in more than my fair share of dessert bakeries, and if Betty is not pretty much the best I’ve yet to find in North America, I can’t remember what is. Unlike certain really ridiculously overrated venues in DC and Manhattan that have become tourist destinations, and/or brand themselves with silly product names like “Crunchyfeet”, it’s actually all about the food here. It’s not buttercream that merely looks like buttercream: it’s buttercream that tastes like… well, like if heaven had baker-angels, and those angels had dreams about what the perfect supra-heavenly buttercream would taste like… right? Yeah, that’s what this tastes like. Texture, moisture, flavor… they’ve got it all.
And damn if it isn’t hella cute to boot. Oh, and they make homemade Twinkies and Ding-Dongs. (I think that snackfood which somehow does good deeds during its life gets to reincarnate here…)
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Notes: 11 / 4 months ago from thecityofnewyork
Tumblr reblog fromthecityofnewyork:
NYC subway 1986
I post this hideous photo of what the subway looked like back then, only to emphasize how sleek, clean, and awesome the subway is now. (Even the slightly decrepit ACE line is better than this.) There are things it could do better, but the subway system is one of the best things about living in New York.
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5 months ago
Burger Joint!
I can’t decide if Burger Joint is a cynical attempt at manufacturing cool authenticity, or simply the miraculous survival of a delicate flower in an otherwise harsh environment. So, I’ve decided I simply don’t care. Whatever the reason, Burger Joint works.
Hidden (to increase the allure) behind a curtain, down a dark hallway, and indicated only by its iconic neon sign at the end of the hall, Burger Joint is located in a place only slightly less probable to me than, say, the Vatican. It’s in the lobby of Le Parker Meridien hotel, which sits in a neighborhood I’d never visit except to go to the theater. But we had tickets for one of the “Fall Into Dance” performances, and there it was. And it’s hardly what you’d call a secret any more, and it’s always packed at mealtimes, but…
But it’s like having a little hidden passageway or room built into your house, like the children’s reading room at Rochester’s Central Library. Of course you know it’s there. And your friends probably do too. And maybe it’s even in a guidebook or something. But you still love it and get a thrill from it each time you crack open the door.
And… the burgers. The meat wasn’t quite as fabulously thick and juicy as Paul’s, in the East village. But the roll doesn’t turn to mush in your hands, like it does at Paul’s. And the fries are better, but hardly the best in town. What really I love about this burger is that it’s neither one of the super-skinny Shake-Shack/In-and-Out patties you can barely taste, nor a too-huge-to-enjoy patty. No, let’s call this one the Goldilocks patty, shall we? Great flavor from the beef, which is cooked right, but you’re not stuffed afterwards. And you gotta’ go with The Works, toppings-wise. It’s one of those mysterious alchemies of flavor fusion, like peanut-butter and chocolate.
The look is really great. They’ve managed to combine vintage seating with new construction in the rest of it, and create something that looks like it *could* have been there for 50 years, minus the attendant layer of aged grease. Again, it’s technically fake-cool, but done so well I don’t mind calling it cool anyway. And the size is perfect to make it feel intimate and obscure.
Definitely a mob-scene during mealtimes. We snuck in at 6:30 or so on a weeknight, then the line was wrapping around the lobby by the time we left. So, skip it then. But the rest of the time, if you’re anywhere near it…
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5 months ago
San Gennaro!
Yes, the San Gennaro festival is over-crowded, tacky, and the food’s hardly world-class. But that’s also the charm of it. (That, and a pasta place that sells a “Special Nighty”.)
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Notes: 1 / 5 months ago
The Subway gnomes!
These little bronze dudes are scattered all over several stations, I think; especially Union Square. Love ‘em. I’m always noticing a new one, tucked away in a place you wouldn’t see at first.
Update: Found the background on these! The series is called “Life Underground”, by Tom Otterness. You can learn more about it here and here, and see some more great photos at Flickr and at nycsubway.org.
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Notes: 6 / 5 months ago from presidents
New York City. Best streetside garbage in the world.
(Tumblr reblog, courtesy of: presidents.)
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5 months ago
The IKEA ferry.
If you’re going to IKEA, why shouldn’t there be a ferry involved? Visit the Red Hook, Brooklyn IKEA from Manhattan, and there is one! Free cruise of the Hudson included with your new bookshelves! (Swedish meatballs are extra.)
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5 months ago from fujimura3
reblog from: fujimura3
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Notes: 16 / 5 months ago from stevienyc (originally from greetingsfromnewjersey)
Gorgeous photo remembering 9.11
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Notes: 2 / 5 months ago
**Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola**
An amazing venue, where for 25 bucks or so, plus the cost of a (surprisingly good) drink, you can see some of America’s finest music, and enjoy the view above, right behind the band. Trust me when I say that the photo doesn’t actually do the view justice…
We went to see Elana James and the Hot Club of Cowtown, an outstanding three-piece band that specializes in what they all “hot swing”, although that doesn’t tell you much, and they don’t really fit into a category. They’re sort-of an Upbeat-Country-Jazz-Fiddle band with awesome vocal harmonies that plays Cole Porter as much as bluegrass. Catch them at Iota in Arlington, VA on Thursday, or elsewhere on their tour.
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6 months ago
America’s marketplace.
Behold, our new coffee table, which someone once foolishly used for the mere purpose of shoving merchandise around a factory. Stuff like this is drawn to New York like moths to a flame, where you can have it for 35% the price they’d sell it for in a mall. Sweetness.
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6 months ago
The Original New York Milkshake Company!
Was meeting my beloved at Grand Central, wanted a bite to eat. Consulted Yelp, and so took a flyer and walked way over to this place, hidden by the UN.
An awesome little roadside diner, with outdoor seating and a charcoal grill, in Midtown Manhattan. Juicy burger sliders and world-class grilled cheese, on the edge of a nice park, at a place nearly deserted. It’s like hiking in the forest and happening upon a circus camp…
(Very much like the Shake Shack, but more low-key, and without the mobs…)
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6 months ago
Um, wha? Hello, Kitty? Where are you from?
You’re just walking through midtown, on a stroll home from a cool event at Central Park, (another day, another post…) and you stumble upon gigantic white animals from outer space. Just… there.
(For us, just strange and unintentional. But they really are related to THE “Hello Kitty.” You can find them at the Lever House building, and learn more/see more photos here.)
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6 months ago
$2.29 steak tacos at the crazy taqueria across the street.
So, I walk out of the house hungry today. I want something tasty and quick, but haven’t noticed anything promising in the neighborhood yet. I tell myself to expand my horizons a little, and look a little closer. Damn if there isn’t a really sketchy taco place 50 yards away.
The menu is a pastiche of 50-year-old plastic menuboard, and crayon on paper. The owners and staff are all Chinese. There’s not a real Mexican (or even a Texan) in sight. But the tacos are huge, come on these huge tasty crispy shells, (Yes, I know real tacos are soft. But did I mention the Chinese proprietors?) and the steak one is filled with about 6 oz. of tasty skirt-steak. For $2.29. Oh, yeah.
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6 months ago
Manifesto
(Because “Manifesto” is so much catchier than “Mission Statement”.)
Look… about New York…
People outside New York don’t seem to get New York. People seem to think New York is solely the gigantic, soulless towers of Midtown, or is the murder capital of the world, or is a charmless place filled with obnoxious people, or all of those. I’ve been here all of three weeks, and it’s just not remotely true.
New York, truly, is one magic moment after another: moments of felicity. The glorious anonymous taqueria you happen to walk past, the crazy spontaneous performance or rehearsal happening on the sidewalk, the gigantic beautiful parks, and the ludicrous or sublime posters on buses, churches, sandwich boards.
And New Yorkers have gotten a totally backwards reputation. To a man, I’ve found them more friendly, outgoing, generous and magnanimous than in any other city I’ve ever been in. Granted, you don’t necessarily want to be competing with them to get out of a subway station in a hurry, but that’s just a question of logistics…
Yeah, New York can be big, noisy, impersonal, and ridiculously expensive. All true… but all totally compensated for (says the new guy) by the rest of it. So, this tumblr blog is going to be my attempt to share with friends and family and other happy readers all the felicity, the magic, and even the everyday stuff that everybody knows about but which you just can’t find anywhere else. Because for me, New York is… Felicity City.
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