The week before the annual Thanksgiving break that Apple gives us, I decided to work remotely in New York with a friend. I’ve mentioned before that the New York office Penn 11 is pretty sick. It’s located across Penn Station, you basically have a full sized office (first come first serve phone rooms), and there are a lot of eateries around it.

I flew out of SF around 8:25am Monday, and landed at 4:20 in EWR. Since I had meetings, I used my United Club pass to take meetings (stayed there for 2.5 hours). The EWR lounge in terminal C is one of the best United lounges, and it allows people arriving to go in them (you don’t have to book a refundable ticket).

From the airport, Ubered to our AirBnb in Hell’s Kitchen. It only took 35 minutes as there was zero traffic for some reason.

The AirBnb was not what we were expecting though (the heat was not working… so they had to buy us space heaters, and the main area was super small). The next day we ended up switching to a hotel the lower East side (which I’ll get to later).

That same night my friend and I went to a a bar called Valerie (near Rockefeller center). I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it because the food was just ok, and the bartender didn’t know what Asian glow was. We then pivoted to a speakeasy in the flat iron called Patent Pending. Details can be found here (I highly recommend this place):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/patent-pending/

The next day (Tuesday), worked until 10:30am to 6pm. Grabbed lunch at a Mediterranean placed called Naya. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/naya-penn-station/

After work, we met up with Jon’s friend Nick for drinks. We went to one bar near the Apple office called District Tap House. I liked the vibe there (very after work professionals type thing), and they had a full bar (could go from whisky to Aperol Spritz). We then decided to bar hop to the cafeteria area under Penn Station. Grabbed a bunch of whisky drinks there. Will say, that cafeteria in general is great and I highly recommend for just quick eating as well.

Afterwards we ended up checking into our hotel at the Lower East Side called Hotel on Rivington (we were able to get a full refund for our AirBnb, minus one night plus cleaning fees). Hotel itself is very nicely located.

Staying at the lower east side for a week sort of has given me a view of what it’s like to live in New York. Going to and from the Apple office I just need to take the F line (hotel was 5 stops away from Penn Station). Admittedly I did Uber a bunch (as I can work / use my laptop in it… however the estimates to get to work were usually off since closer to Penn station traffic becomes unpredictable). Also lots of eateries and bars close by the hotel.

Should also note that I went to the coffee place, Froth, every morning since it was so close to the hotel:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/froth/

The next day (Wednesday), worked until 6:30pm. Ate at a ramen place in the Penn Station cafe with our friend Yash. After work, we walked over from work to the Nederlander Theater to see a play called Shucked (fyi, we brought our bags, and they let us bring it in. Search was super lite). I will say the play was great. Very funny about all things related to corn. (Drinks were a bit pricey though. $40 for a double whisky on the rocks).

After the play, we ended up going back to the lower east side to a so called “speak easy” (it’s just a late night Chinese restaurant with a full bar). Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/froth/

Next day (Thursday) we started the day by going to Katz’s, where I got a pastrami sandwich and matzaball soup. Soup is fire.

After work, met up with another friend for dinner in the meat packing district called Buddakan. Really like this area and want to explore it more (Tao nightclub is close by). Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/buddakan/

Afterwards, we checked out a really great rooftop near our hotel called Mr. Purple. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/mr-purple/

We ended the night by meeting some people in Williamsburg. Not sure what the name of the bar was, but it was a very whisky type night.

The next day (Friday) was great day, and what we did is kind of why working remote and staying the lower east side made sense. We basically started the day by going to the great bagel places called Russ and Daughters. Details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/russ-daughters/

Worked only a 4 hour day. At around 1pm, we did a 15 minutes walk to SoHo for some shopping. I specifically was looking for a jacket to keep me warm for the upcoming Bills game and Boston. Visited ArcTeryx and Moncler. Would’ve for a jacket at Moncler, but they didn’t have my size (and at $1700 it should fit perfectly!). So ended up getting one at ArcTeryx.

After shopping, we started the night at 7pm by bar hopping around West Village. The places I remember us hitting up are (in this order): MacDougal Street Ale House, Off the wagon, Down the Hatch (had a sick beer pong set up) No and Duplex. After duplex, things are a bit blurry. We did end off the night at a friends Eric’s place (only for like 10 minutes). Also, most people in the group, uh, became very lit.

Also, I did meet up with two other friends, Sam and Celine. We went to Off the Wagon and grabbed Chinese food around that area with the rest of the group.

The next day (Saturday) we started off by having brunch near our hotel called Sons of Essex. Full review can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/sons-of-essex/

We then had some drinks at our hotel (we had a free bottle of champagne to finish). Then walked around SoHo for some shopping. Bought some gloves at North Face. Also stopped by this Rice Pudding place:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/rice-to-riches/

We then went back to Moncler since some people in the group really wanted to check it out.

After shopping, we met up with my friend Vince, and got some Prince St Pizza:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/prince-st-pizza/

After eating, we wanted to go to a speakeasy called Attaboy, but basically had to wait a bit so we went to another place nearby for an hour called Two Doors Down (would recommend Hong back, just the music is slightly louder than expected). For Attaboy, you can read the recipe here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/19/attaboy/

We ended the night at McDonalds, bringing it back to the hotel.

The next day (Sunday) we got up at 5:30am to go to Buffalo for the Bills game. We got a hotel in downtown, the Hyatt Regency (apparently the Jets stay there during their away games). We then chilled a Jon’s friend’s place, Pete for some drinks.

Afterwards headed to the stadium for tailgating. When we got off our Uber, we were greeted to a party bus with some awesome shots. We then spent time at a bar called Prohibition 2020 (it is actually right in the middle of the tailgating action). Drank a bunch of beer, some pizza, and also did a Red Bull vodka. After, we got some beers at a gas station across the street to party at Pete’s friend’s fire truck for like 20 minutes.

Went to the game shortly after. We won! I learned some things about football. (1) there is a 4 in 10 (sometimes could be more if there is a penalty), which mainly describes how many yards (the ten in this case) needed to reset the downs. And (2) there are 5 avenues for points in a game (field goal (3), touch down (6), touch down plus kick off (6 + 1), touch down plus replay (6 + 2), and one other one). For the stadium itself, will say it is almost impossible to find hard liquor. I did end up finding one near section 140 at a very not obvious cart.

We ended the night at a bar to get Buffalo Wings called Bada Bing. Details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2023/11/21/bada-bing-sports-bar-and-grill/

And that concluded the New York experience for this trip. Honestly, really had a good time. (next day headed out to Toronto by getting a rental car through Avis).