Brought to you by the fine folks at Tasting Table and Thrillist – Martini Week is calling all sophisticated yet frugal drinkers. Visit top bars as they offer $10 martini cocktails, featuring premium vodka and gin, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. nightly. Check out the list of participating places here!
The Sunburnt Cow
137 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
212.529.0005
www.thesunburntcow.com
It was a dark and stormy night…well, dark. And quiet. In fact, it was a Monday night. Monday night in the restaurant world is not a traditionally busy night. Most chefs actually use Monday as their day off. But that didn’t keep my wife and I from checking out The Sunburnt Cow in the East Village. But I will again emphasize the quiet part – from the start of our meal to the end it was just us, the bar tender/waiter/host and the cooks, which was not necessarily a bad thing. (more…)
Valentine’s Day throws us for a loop this year – landing on a Sunday, one week after Super Bowl. Whether you’re in the afterglow or aftershock of the results of the big game, you’ll no doubt be obligated to step up and treat your lady to a full day of Valentine’s bliss. But fear not – arranging a romantic dinner or even a brunch is easier than you think. NYC restaurants are posting enough special deals to make everyone happy. And even if you’re flying this one solo (again) there’s something for everyone!
Imagine going to a dinner party at Carmen Miranda’s house: a chotzke collection that rivals the most astute junk collecting granny, a trippy tropical kaleidoscopic color scheme, kitschy décor, terracotta tiled floors, hand-painted signs, and good food served by an extremely attentive staff topped off with bananas flambé. Welcome to Esperanto!
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Giano
126 E 7th St.
(between 1st and Ave. A)
New York, NY 10009
212-673-7200
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Giano takes its name from the Roman God Janus. Traditionally, Janus was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest season, making my recent visit to Giano on a lovely fall evening extraordinarily prescient. Janus is a god of transition, the god of gates and doors and beginnings and endings, and he is more than adequately honored by Giano’s stunning culinary homage. (more…)
Luxist is reporting that a chic new bar / lounge will be opening up on the ground floor of the Empire State Building. Occupying a space that was formerly a Post Office, the establishment will be helmed by Mark Grossich, a well-known restaurateur with other successful ventures. Art-deco will await you when they are scheduled to open in November.
[Duncan Quinn via Luxist]
City Crab
235 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10003
212-529-3800
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One little block on Park Avenue in the Union Square / Gramercy Park area is littered with restaurants and bars. Between 19th and 20th Streets there are Angelo & Maxies, City Crab, Sugar Cane, Sushi Samba and L’Express. With all of these restaurants available so close to one another, you can literally never have to leave this one-block radius. On a recent Monday night, we took our hungry selves and settled into City Crab. I had only been there once before, back in 1998 or so, and have been looking to get back there ever since. Upon entering the restaurant, the bar area is on the left while just beyond that are high tables so that you can eat in the bar area but still enjoy their full menu. There’s an upstairs and a downstairs dining room which both have great views thanks to the floor to ceiling windows looking onto Park Avenue. (more…)
October and November enjoy discounted Cotes du Rhone selections at participating Patina Restaurants.
Glasses from $6 and bottles from $24.
Old Town Bar
45 E 18th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 529-6732
www.oldtownbar.com
I had the recent pleasure of meeting an old friend for a couple Bud Lights at the Old Town Bar on 18th Street and Broadway in Manhattan - just north of the Union Square restaurant scene, and down the block from the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. I chose this bar to meet for it’s convenient location, it’s history of serving writers, artists, and other famous types, and also the fact that at 2:00 in the afternoon it’s quiet enough to hold down a conversation.
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