The Few, the Fave Restaurants in NYC

You are never supposed to tell another New Yorker about a great restaurant. Well, you can, but you run the risk of the place being overrun and suddenly your favorite table is always unavailable. But hey, it is tough to find a good nosh spot in this vast city, so I thought I'd jot a few down here (at the risk of ticking off my friends who recommended them. Sorry!) Would love to hear your top restaurant picks, especially on the Lower East Side or Midtown. Here are a few of my favorites:

Soho:
Balthazar: 80 Spring St. 212-965-1212 (French. Amazing escargot.)

West Village:
Alta: 64 W. 10th St. 212-505-7777 (Tapas. Great atmosphere.)
Cafe Asean: 117 W. 10th 212-633-0348 (casual but hip pan-Asian, with beautiful, romantic garden in the back.)

Upper West Side
Isabella's: 659 Columbus Ave. (At 77th) 212-724-2100 (American food. Iconic restaurant.)
Mermaid Inn: 658 Amsterdam Ave. (At 87/88th) 212-799-7400 (hip and happening seafood.)
Blossom: 466 Columbus Ave. (At 82nd/83rd) 212-875-2600 (great vegetarian. Also a location in the Village.)
Josephina's: 1900 Broadway (btw 63/64th) 212-799-1000 (American. Great spot near Lincoln Center.)

East Village
Banjara: 97 First Ave. (at E. 6th St.) 212-477-5956 (Indian food galare.)

Live Hard with LVHRD

Cool stuff begets cool stuff. At Lucid NYC the other night, I saw a presentation by the viral buzz genius behind thehappycorp. He is also involved in an inspired event series LVHRD.

There is a similar premise to Lucid NYC - bring together like minded people in a way that is mind expanding, not numbing. The next happening is Monday, Nov. 24 at 8pm, something to do with on-the-spot fashion design out of material yet-to-be-determined. The event is in the mecca of hip, Williamsburg, at a mystery location. Get more info here.

Awaken Your Social Self with Lucid NYC

There are enough social things to do on a Thursday nite in NYC to make your head spin. Most are fun, frivolous, fancy. But if you are searching for a night out that mixes the whirl of massive mingling with a drop of social enlightenment, then come to a Lucid NYC event.

Lucid NYC is a new social experiment. The model is simple - throw a party in a chic Manhattan loft space and let a few presenters onstage to gab briefly about how they are changing the world. People interface on what they have heard and are inspired to also change the world. Not too ambitious now, is it?

Luckily, Lucid NYC exists totally without pretension and holier-than-thou preachiness. Every event I've attended has an overstock of humor. Presentations have covered every topic from ending world hunger (The Hunger Project) to the world's worst automobile race (The Mongol Rally). I've learned about Freegans as well as a recent corporate innovation exercise at an NPR station. Attendees are of the hip, arty, whipsmart and enlightened variety. Let's just say its a good time.

So hope to see you at the next event, which is scheduled for November 20. Check Lucid NYC's website for more details.

NYC Voting on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008

This election will mark my first time voting in NYC. I'm registered and ready. Polling places are open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm. Here is a great link from the NYC Board of Elections with details, and you can click here to find your polling site.

Have a wonderful, history making day.

New York City Photo Safaris

My high school friend Karen, who lives in Florida, turned me on to this cool happening this weekend. Leave it to the hip out-of-towners to spread the word! Anyway, Photo Safaris are these fun-fabulous photo events put together by Photojojo. According to their site, (1) You bring a camera (2) You take pictures (3) You go to a gathering place and put photos in a slideshow to win prizes. This weekend's event is hosted by Jake Dobkin of Gothamist fame. Sounds cool to me.

Cost is free and upcoming NYC events are on 10/25, 11/15, 12/6. There is no need to pre-register, but because details can change at the last minute they recommend you sign up for emails. You can also read more details about each safari on Facebook.

Check it out and be creative:

Saturday, October 25th / NYC
DUMBO Street Art Photo Tour
Host: Jake Dobkin of Gothamist & Streetsy
Time: 3:30 pm (RSVP)
Meet at: York St F stop

Gee... wish I had a photo to insert in here....

Here is New York

My friend Katherine, who followed her dream of living in NYC all the way from Australia, read this passage from E.B. White and sent it along to me. It makes us both cry:

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh yes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company. . . .

"Here Is New York" was written in 1948 and appears in Essays of E.B. White, Harper, 1977

Quentin's Friends-the Human Way to Network Online

I wanted to expand my New York City knowledge base and shake things up a bit socially. A friend with the most rockin' social calendar I know was a member of Quentin's Friends, and had passed me information from that list from time to time. So I asked her to sign me up, and now I feel more 'in the know' than I know what to do with. Fabulous.

Quentin's Friends is a by-invitation-only, values based online community that operates on simple principles. You post information that can be useful to others (services, events, stuff for sale) or needs of your own (apartment searching is a popular one in here) and members of the list respond. It is extraordinarily useful at times, and at the very least entertaining and mind expanding. For example, there was a recent post for web copywriting in exchange for Reiki sessions. Bartering is big on Quentin's Friends.

To become part of the group, you have to be recommended by a member. They must attest to your 'good character' and you must in turn commit to the group's core values (honesty, respect, fun, etc.) The group is great for networking as well. At a recent Quentin's Friends Party at the Star Lounge (located under the Hotel Chelsea, so cool!) I met NYC dwellers that embodied such values and were just fantastically delightful, fun, interesting people (that is the back of my head in the pic.) Oh, and the founder of it all, Quentin English? A charmer!

Quentin's Friends is an invaluable service for anyone new to New York. Get hooked up and feel connected to the human side of the city.

Pushing Daisies and Free Pie in Times Square

Free pie in Times Square! Yes, ABC is being uber-inticing in promoting Pushing Daisies, that kookily cute TV show, by driving their Mobile Pie Hole right into the heart of NYC and giving out (I'll say it again) FREE PIE.

The Mobile Pie Hole is an RV-type contraption that is traveling the country this month to kick off the second season of the show. It will be in New York on Monday, 9/29 from 7-9am, in Times Square at Good Morning America's Broadway Studios. Cutiepie waitresses will be serving up spatulas, pie-cutters and more, in addition to the main draw of, yes, free pie.

For the technically current, more details are on Yelp or Twitter. How fun?

Spring '09 is here with Fashion Week New York

Its Fashion Week New York, with Spring '09 collections being shown around town, not just at Bryant Park. For textile art of the highest order, I hightailed it to the Jolibe collection being shown at the Hosfelt Gallery. Stunning, colorful modernist frocks with an homage to the ancient, this is clothing worthy of wear. Better yet, the collection was associated with Afghan Hands, the group that empowers Afghanistan women to support themselves through textile arts. View more photos here.

Where Does All the Time Go... In NYC?

Beware - your free time will dwindle to obscurity in New York City. I want to update my blog regularly, really I do. But what the heck happens to that thing called 'down time' in this town? Some strange clock warp happens here, as time just whips on by with nary a dillydally. Some days I feel I blink my eyes and the day is half gone. Why is that?

The pace of New York City is headspinningly fast and frantically frenetic. The commutes around the city are often loooong, so that eats up a few hours. Work life is notoriously stress-filled, taking over a good 10+ hours in many industries. There is always some out-of-towner visiting NYC that just has to see you, gobbling up precious weekend errand-running time. And with so much happening on the cultural and night-life fronts, evenings are packed with event after event after event. If you are lucky, you could be out every night of the week.

It took me about a year to get accustomed to the pace of this town, and I still have my days. But I am in no way complaining. After a lifetime spent in boredom, oh what a wondrous whirlwind this is.