Tag Archives: Lower East Side

New York City (Lower East Side) + Buffalo 2023

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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).

New York City 2021 – Part 8

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Last day in New York City for this trip!

As NJ and I called this, this was was a Jon (Ellenbogen) recommendation day.

Started the day by heading to the first Jewish deli I’ve been to in New York called Katz’s in the Lower East Side (definitely a long line, but it moves fast and it is worth it):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/28/katzs/

I would not (as I think stated in a previous post, live in the Lower East Side (kind of dirty, wide streets and not new).

Afterwards, took the subway to Hudson Yard to check out the Vessel and the shops near by. Although I’ve been to that area before, they really upped the Christmas light game there (both inside the mall and outside Vessel).

From Vessel, we walked to the Chelsea neighborhood to check out an immersive exhibit by Artechouse called Machine Hallucination. Using AI, for some of the scenes, they were able to take images from social media of New York and create immersive transitions. Thought that was really cool. Also, if you want to drink, they have a bar at the top of the experience (where you can still view the whole thing). Definitely a key setup. Lastly, they did sell art NFTs at one point, but they were all sold out.

In terms of the Chelsea area, (around 15st between 11 and 9) is regentrified, and seems to be pretty lively. If considering getting a new construction place in Hudson Yard, since Chelsea area is super close Hudson Yard, one should consider that neighborhood (but I don’t think I would get an actual place in Chelsea).

After visiting Artechouse, we headed to West Village (decided Uber was best) to check out the pizza place Jon had recommended, which was called John’s of Bleecker street:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/28/johns-of-bleecker-street/

Between Greenwich and West Village is like Hayes valley. Lots of places to eat, and older houses. Great area for eating / dating, but too old for me to live there (think of John’s of Bleecker)

After, we headed back up near our hotel to check out a lounge called The William (we had to wait about 1.5 hours since we didn’t have a reservation, it fortunately Park Avenue Tavern was 2 minutes away):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/28/the-william/

After, headed to Quantum Brooklyn (obviously in Brooklyn) to check out Aly and Fila. Then ended the night by going back to Brooklyn Navy Yard to do round 2 of Eric Prydz.

New York City 2019

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I landed in New York City on a Monday in JFK, and headed to Manhattan to meet Ben at his place that is right beside the Empire State Building first pic below is his view).

From his place we went a bit south to a restaurant called Society Cafe: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/the-social-cafe/

After, we walked back to his place, but passing Madison Square Park.

The next day I checked into my hotel, called The Avalon. Then I headed over to Hudson Yard, where I spent a lot of time at the Vessel (but before reaching the Vessel, I checked out the Old Penn station building, which is now a post office, and passed by Madison Square Gardens).

Then I grabbed lunch at Wild Ink over at the shops at Hudson Yard, and also did some shopping: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/wild-ink/

Plus had a snack at Shake Shack and a mocha at Blue Bottle: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/shake-shack-hudson-yard/

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/blue-bottle-hudson-yard/

After Hudson yard, I grabbed dinner at Momofuku Noodle bar: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/momofuku-noodle-bar/

Next day, I started the day late (mainly since I was in the ga area the previous night, where it was surprisingly happening on a Tuesday), and did AYCE at a Japanese / Korean restaurant: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/ichi-umi/

From there, I checked out the MOMA for and hour (they give you a discounted ticket if you go at that time).

After the MOMA, I met up with some friends at the meat packing district area, where we grabbed dinner at a place called Hudson Clearwater: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2019/12/04/hudson-clearwater/

From there we barhopped. We started at a place called Employees only at the meat packing district, then went to an arcade bar called ____ at lower east village (we actually spent quite a bit of time at this bar because of the beer pong arcade game. The drinks there though were not good).

We ended off the night near my hotel in K town, where we found a korean club (one floor up from the karaoke bar), where they had too 40 edm music, with a lot of ppl (girl to guy ratio was 3:2, and it was mostly Koreans).

New York City, first day

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Our hotel when we arrived in Manhattan was located in midtown, which is great since it is pretty central to everything (Time Square, Empire State, Central Park, etc). It was called the Royalton.

(FYI, we did arrive in New York, Long Island at 2am of this day and stayed at the La Quinta hotel, but nothing notable about it except the hotel had a horrible bed, and the towels were not soft… but it was cheap at only $100 a night).

We started off the day going to Korea town and eating at a place called Her Name is Han. At this restaurant, we met David Schwimmer!:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/19/her-name-is-han/

We then explored a bit in Korea Town, stopping by Food Gallery 32 (a Korean cafeteria with different vendors), and then got dessert at this place:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/19/grace-street-coffee-and-desserts/

After, we headed to Central Park, and walked around (started around 86th st and made our way down).

After Central Park, we briefly stopped by Times Square. We saw Bryan Cranston while we passed by the theater were he was doing show (he starts the play by barging from the outside).

After Time Square we went to the lower East Side, where met up with our friend Mike (whose lives in New York for 5 months), and checked out a couple of bars. The most notable one is this one:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/19/bar-goto/

Afterwards, we met up with some friends at Cooper’s Craft and Kitchen for drinks.

Then we attempted to go to Marquee, where Quinto was playing. It the tickets were $60, or $500 for bottle service. Since it was already 2:30am (and I’m they close at 4am), we thought it was not worth it. We then attempted Terminal 5 where San Holo was playing, it they closed early at 1am!

That’s its for day 1.