Happy Halloween

Grand (Central) Dining, Indeed

Last night, after a particularly busy evening of saving the world by event planning, we found ourselves in the Grand Central Market in Grand Central. It has been awhile since we strolled through this great little market, plump with the freshest seafood and meats, produce, wines, cheeses, and baked goods. Our eyes bulged, our mouths watered, our wallets opened and after about 10 minutes, we had handfuls of food to take with us for a lovely little evening. We had some fresh bread from Zaros, some amazing antipasti pasta salad from Bella Cucina, a bit of fresh Vermont cheese from Murray’s, some savory chicken from Dishes and the most amazing chocolate truffles from Li-Lac. And when we went home, we topped it all off with a food coma. Now that’s a great evening, and we’re not ashamed to admit it.

A New Home for Lost Luggage

In mid-September, American Airlines officially began to conduct all of its operations out of what is now known as Terminal 8 at JFK airport. The new terminal is approximately 1.58-million-square-feed and includes a new U.S. Customs and Immigration facility that can handle 1,600 travelers per hour, with security checkpoints capable of handling 1,800 travelers per hour, expanded ticketing positions and self-service check-in machines, as well as a state-of-the-art, in-line security baggage system to expedite passenger processing times. Estimates are projecting that the terminal will handle almost 13 million passengers per year.

It's a Zagat-y Wednesday

The 2008 Zagat’s Survey of Restaurants were released today and while our favorite pizza joint did not make the list of hot spots (it’s a conspiracy), we found ourselves drawn to the little red book nonetheless. I’m sure a few restaurateurs’ tongues are wagging this morning at the results. While we like to think that Zagat is a truly democratic survey, we know that it’s really just a collection of people’ few of the highlights:

• Shock of no shocks, Gordon Ramsay at the London NYC topped the list of newcomers.

• Union Square took the best restaurant honors away from Gramercy Tavern, in their never-ending flip flopping game between the top two spots.

• Time Warner’s Restaurant Collection is rocking some top spots – Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was listed as best décor, and the Thomas Keller-ific Per Se has best service.


• Overall dining prices dropped by three cents ($39.46 per dinner), but this CLEARLY is only surveying Starbucks and McDonald’s in the city. We can’t remember the last time we spent less than $75 on a meal.

Happy 100th Birthday Plaza Hotel!

Park(ing) NYC-style

What’s hap, hap, happening on this lovely Fall Friday in NYC? Lovely that you asked. Time’s Up and Green Map, two of the city's many active environmental organizations, are sponsoring Park(ing) Day in the West Village. This one-day global event is hosted in various cities, and features a collaboration between artists, activitists and citizens to temporarily transform metered parking spots into Park(ing) spaces – temporary public parks. This year’s park is hitting the streets today in front of Birdbath Green Bakery on 7th Ave at Charles Street until 6 pm. We hear that some comfy chairs, a bit of shade and a spot of lemonade is being provided. Here's a pic of last year's park in midtown. As kids who love our city for moving toward a greener way of being, we’re all for parking it on the street for the afternoon.

Woo Hoo - It's Wednesday!

Café Carlyle

Last night Woody Allen & The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band kicked off the 52nd Season of performances at Café Carlyle. A New York institution, Café Carlyle offers refined service, exceptional cuisine and amazing performances. Featuring some of yesterday and today’s most favorite jazz and cabaret performers, this Fall Café Carlyle will be hosting Mr. Allen’s regular Monday night gig, along with Eartha Kitt, Elaine Stritch and Judy Collins, in the intimate venue. Nothing says New York like a night a the Carlyle.

With Our Rabbit Ears, We Declare

So, after a particularly busy weekend, we were thrilled to find ourselves sacked out in front of the TV (or our best friend Ramon, as we like to call him) last night watching the Emmy Awards. While it wasn’t a particularly exciting show to watch (Ramon and I blame Ryan Seacrest), it did make us think of our deep, committed and unwavering love of television. And it also made us realize just how many of shows in our glassy-eyed past are based on New York. So, here is a listing of some of Team Shackman’s favorite NYC TV Shows, in no particular order:

Law & Order – Spawning spin-off after spin-off, and employing just about every actor at some point in their career, L&O is practically a cottage industry.

Sex and the City – It’s no secret that the strongest relationship on the show was the characters marriage to The Big Apple. NYC is quite a looker - who can blame them?

Seinfeld – Duh.

30 Rock – we heart Tina Fey. Bigtime.

Everybody Hates Chris – Ok…we don’t really watch this show. But, it represents Brooklyn, which we do heart. And Ramon likes it.

Saturday Night Live – Duh squared.

What's Hot

Keepin' It Real – Let’s be honest, K.I.R never experiences the chilly winds that come with being out of style. But, K.I.R. version 9.14 is All Brooklyn, All Bowling. The Gutter - the first bowling alley opened in BK in half a century - is a hoot. That's right - a hoot! With a Schlitz globe in the house and old school pin-setters, this new “Old as New” bowling alley is going to be paradise to Brooklyn’s many hipsters. We’ll probably even make a swing by to check it out.

Fall – Ok, go with us on this one. We realize that Fall is temperately cooler than summer, which makes it decidedly “not hot” on principle. But, we heart the way that in the Fall, people start strolling down the streets again in NYC wearing funky hats, chucky scarves and clunky shoes. It’s like people remember what it’s like to dress for fun and that is just…hot.

Zeppoles – People...The Feast of San Genero has officially started, and that means that the hot, hot, hot little balls of deep-fried, sweet goodness known as Zeppoles are back in town. Run, do not walk down to Little Itlay. There is just nothing like a stroll down Mulberry, taking in the sights and sounds of the Annual Street Festival while munching on these bad boys.

Derek Jeter – HOT. Then, Now, Forever.

Coming Attractions

Our love of all things Jennifer Garner extends well beyond her butt-kicking role in Alias (which, truthfully, may have had more to do with her co-star and love interest, Michael Vartan.) No…we have loved Jennifer from back in the day when she was our favorite hostest with the mostest at one of our much-visited Upper West Side brunch joints. Success, in this case it seems, has gone to the deserving. So, how tickled pink are we that she will be coming to Broadway in this Fall’s Cyrano de Bergerac? Very. And to add a cherry on top of our cupcake, Kevin Kline will play Cyrano to Ms. Garner’s Roxane, and the very talented Daniel Sunjata (Take Me Out) will star as Christian. Now, we will not let our Jen G. adoration cloud our remembrances of some of Broadway’s more recent star turns without sizzle (you know who you are, Julia Roberts), but, we’re hopeful. The show opens November 1st.

New York Summer

FALL FALL FALL BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

Ok, we’re going to be brave. We’re going to accept that there are certain things we can’t change. Like Fall. It’s going to come. But, we’re also going to remember that Fall brings its own magic with it. Some things that have us jazzed for the upcoming months in New York?

New Show Openings: There are some serious stars coming to New York this Fall: Claire Danes (Pygmalion with Jefferson Mays); Ian “Please Call Me Sir” McKellen (King Lear at BAM); Megan Mullally (Young Frankenstein); Jennifer Garner (Cyrano De Bergerac with Kevin Kline); and Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale) – just to name a few.

Art Explosion: The Dutch are invading the Met with a major exposition, “ The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings…”; MoMA is still riding the waves of the Richard Serra exhibit through September 10, and doing a focused look at Alexander Calder’s early work; The Whitney houses Kara Walker’s first full-scale American museum survey.

America’s Next Top Model: Cycle 9, BABY!

Central Park in the Fall: ‘Nuff said.

This Moment is Brought to You by The Arch

BK Rulz

It isn't often (ever) that we venture out to Brooklyn. We're not quite sure why (we're lazy). After all we’ve heard nothing but raves about the art scene (overrun with hipsters), music scene (overrun with hipsters) and the foodie scene (overrun by stroller-wielding hipsters.) But, a recent excursion had us all excited about the Borough formerly known as Kings. From hipsters to hasidim, from pizza to picturesque vistas, Brooklyn had a bit of everything. We stopped by our favorite boxing gym to work on our jabs and punches, took in our favorite view of the Brooklyn Bridge (from right below it) and stopped by Steiner Studios to stalk some film stars (no luck.) Of course, Grimaldi’s beckoned and we couldn’t deny ourselves. But, a walk across the bridge back to Manhattan surely worked off the calories. Although, we’re pretty sure the bag of Jacques Torres chocolates is still with us.

Love to Love You, Baby

A recent night celebrating some birthdays had us trolling about the club-land known as Chelsea. Given that we’re less likely these days to shake, shake, shake our groove things, and more likely to shake, shake, shake a bowl of popcorn while sacked out on the couch, we saw some new and cool things. It’s been a while since we’ve unleashed our inner dancing queens and kings. Well, we made up for lost time, and got down on the dance floor. It reminded us of why New York is considered one of the world’s best play-lands, and made us think of some ab-fab places to get our groove on. Some favorites? Here you go:

Lotus – A personal favorite, this multi-tiered Babylon of hip is all about high style, high energy and that’s what NYC lounge living is all about. With décor done in sexy and soft shades of caramel and chocolate, Lotus keeps the MeatPacking district buzzing.

Cielo – If you are looking to really shake a tailfeather, Cielo is the place for you. The DJs are amongst the best in the city and the smaller setting makes everyone just…pop. Also, we’re all about fresh air when dancing, so the outdoor lounge is nice to catch our breath and a wink.

Pre:Post – No night of clubbing is complete without a little nosh before AND after, right? Well, Pre:Post can cater to both urges! Serving the West Cheslea crowd bistro fare in the daylight and the twilight, Pre:Post fills a very unique niche in New York…and many hungry tummies.

Welcome to the USA

Without getting all political, we can say that we’re not President Bush’s biggest fans. While we’re certainly not his least favorite, we do not wear I heart Bush t-shirts for many, many reasons. Well, the man has scored some points with us this week by signing legislation that expands the Visa Waiver Program. The expansion of the legislation will allow citizens from 39 countries (up from 27) to visit the United States for up to 90 days without a visa, while putting measures in place to enhance national security and improve the arrival process through customs upon entry in the U.S. The National Tour Association, a big proponent of the legislation’s expansion, notes that it will help the U.S. regain lost market share in international travel and work to improve the United States’ image abroad, and we’re definitely big fans of that.

We'd Rather Be At Work...Seriously

Hooray! A Garden for Beer

We can't tell a lie - we love sitting outdoors in the summer months, drinking beer with our friends. We heart beer. We heart summery outdoors. We heart our friends. Put these things together and you've got quite a good time. So, where does one find such good times in NYC? Taking the N train to Queens, our quest is satisfied at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria. This old time restaurant and beer garden is a former Czech and Slovak social club and features some great Eastern European beers on tap, as well as some tried and true culinary delights. Besides being the last remaining beer garden in New York, the Boho Hall boasts a totally relaxed environment to while away weekend afternoons with a good brew. 'Nuff said.