Tag Archives: Manhattan

New York City 2021 – Part 8

Posted on by
Reply

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 2021 – Part 7

Posted on by
Reply

7th day in. New York City!

First thing this day was to switch hotels to the Grand Hyatt, which is beside Grand Central station. The hotel definitely reminded me of a Vegas hotel (big lobby, room was big, beds super comfortable). However, it did not have any amenities (like a hot tub, pool, or even a bar!). But it’s location is great (near the subway system). So a bit of mixed feelings about the hotel.

After switching hotels, we grabbed brunch near the hotel at a place called Pershing Square, which was across Grand Central’s entrance:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/pershing-square/

We then made our way to the World Trade Center in the Financial district. We checked out the pool / waterfall memorial. Unfortunately tickets to the memorial museum were sold out. Did check out the Westfield mall under the World Trade Center (which I didn’t do before). Also ate at Eately in 4 World Trade Center:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/eataly/

In terms of living in the financial district, I would consider it, but need to walk around more (I do like how it’s clean, and pretty new. Not sure if there is new construction or not).

After, we took the subway to the Flat Iron district and checked out the museum of sex. Interesting experience (haha, only posting PG pics below). There are two parts to it. The first part was like a regular museum (and is further divided into 3 parts. Only the first out of 3 I found interesting, which was about different devices. The second part was about Sex Violence, and the last was about sex in media). The second part was called super fun land, and was very interactive with games (ie a version of whack a mole, the claw game, and ended of with a bar). There was also a slide (that lead to the bar). I would not recommend going down the slide (too tight). I would say that museum is good for a date (maybe 4th date?).

In terms of living in the Flat Iron district, I thought the streets were not well lit, and it’s pretty dirty (and saw a sketchy group there). Will not consider that area.

To end the night, checked out the West End for a pregame, then went to Brooklyn Ship yard to catch Eric Prydz (round 1). The West End is pretty nice (clean, new construction, and is close to Amsterdam street). Definitely would consider property there. In terms of Upper West Side, it’s mainly town houses I heard (but I think some people include West end as part of the upper west side).

New York City 2021 – Part 6

Posted on by
Reply

6th day in NYC!

This day was Thanksgiving, so didn’t do too much. Since Korea town was near the hotel, made my way over there.

First stop was a ramen place for lunch. The place I went to was great for eating alone, and just doing things on your phone (you could eat, drink, and stay for an extended prettied of time and not feel pressured to leave):

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/25/koku/

Afterwards, checked out a Korean bar also in Korea town (you had to look upwards to find it, and the entrance was sorta hidden since the entrance was through another store:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/itaewon-pocha/

After, had thanksgiving dinner at Chez Josephine, which was a 22 minutes walk to Midtown West:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/chef-josephine/

New York City 2021 – Part 5

Posted on by
Reply

Fifth day in New York City!

Started off the day going from our hotel at south of Central Park (the Warwick) to one at Midtown, the Hilton Garden Inn Midtown. Stayed in this area before in 2019 when Ben lived in NYC. Great area. Clean, close to many eateries, it’s new, close to midtown.

After switching hotels, grabbed food at this bagel place near by:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/zuckers-bagels/

Then, took the subway to Battery Park to check out the Statue of Liberty. The Subway system is actually pretty easy to navigate if using Apple Maps. Also, the iPhone let’s you “tap in” very easily (ie you don’t need a metro card). For the subway system, seems that circles mean regular trains, and a Diamond means express. You also want to make sure you check if the direction is “uptown” or “downtown” (at least for north and south trains). Usually taking a train along Park Avenue it is the (green) 4 or 5 train. One thing I haven’t figured out is the difference between numbers and letters for the train names (ie we took an A train when going south on a street near Broadway).

For the Statue of Liberty, we got the tickets ahead of time. I did make a mistake of getting a fairy ride from New Jersey instead if New York, but fortunately they were not busy and accepted the tickets (fyi tickets also had a “time”, and they do airport security style checks).

The first stop of the ferry ride is Liberty Island. There is a great view of Manhattan from the island. Apparently the statue is 2 pennies thick.

The second stop is Ellis island. Having my citizenship and going through the museum there was pretty cool. They have the 100 questions listed on a wall of the citizenship test. They also restored the place where they process new immigrants in the 1900s (although they didn’t really emphasize the 240000 (out of 12 million) people rejected and sent back to their home countries (they only mentioned people who committed crimes and sneaked in illegally were sent back). Also below is a map where people from different countries live in the US (not sure if it is just permanent residents and citizens).

After Statue of Liberty, checked out Midtown West for dinner and drinks. Wanted to go to Jin Ramen, but they were completely full (so next time!). We ended up going to a place called Jing Fong, which was an excellent dim sum place:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/25/jing-fong/

Midtown West nightlife is basically in Amsterdam avenue (above 75st, and below 100st). We checked out 2 bars there (which also had dance floors, and also met up with a friend and checked out a wine bar:l. Overall Amsterdam street reminded me of Polk street in San Francisco

-Jake’s Dilemma

-(one I don’t remember)

-Sur Vingt Wine Bar

Ended the night at a bar called Industry (at Hell’s Kitchen, where a bunch of nightclubs and bars are at also), and had an awesome night :).

New York City – Part 4

Posted on by
Reply

Fourth day in New York!

Started the day with lunch that was a 12 minute walk from our hotel at Midtown East (same area where I got the bagel from Pick a Bagel):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/turkuaz/

Midtown East is a neighborhood I would consider living. It looks pretty clean, and close to Hell’s Kitchen. Only thing is that it doesn’t seem to have newer type buildings. Would want a place with high rises.

After brunch, made our way to the Rockefeller building to check out a bar that overlooks a skating rink. Unfortunately that was closed (likely due to COVID). Would try and check that out again, plus the Fao Shwarz toy store that is nearby (a giant toy store that seems very New York City-ish).

Since we were already close by, headed to 5th avenue to do some shopping at Saks. Got a $300 Uggs scarf. Gotta say shopping there was a great experience. Didn’t feel pressured or judged by the sales people, and the store was well lit. Would go back there to shop again. Saks also has a light festival musical showcase outside the building walls during the holidays. For shopping at 5th in general, next time would probably check out Bloomingdale’s and the Nike store.

After, had drinks near Grand Central called Park Avenue Tavern (see the review about the type of bar):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/park-avenue-tavern/

After, headed over to get dinner at a really good italian restaurant called Carbone (recommended from a friend). Food was really good. The place was in Greenwich Village (didn’t really have time to assess the neighbourbood in terms of living, but it’s near West Village, so probably an ok area to live):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/25/carbone/

New York City 2021 – Part 3

Posted on by
Reply

Third day in New York! Started it off by grabbing lunch at the border of Midtown West for some bagels at Pick a Bagel:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/pick-a-bagel/

Then headed back to near our hotel, the Warwick, (just south below Central Park) where the Moma was at (note to future self, Moma does have ticket allotment sectioned by times. Fortunately it wasn’t busy so we were able to get tickets for an hour after we bought them). We basically got to the Moma by 1pm, dropped A, and then stayed there till 5pm. Lots of different impressionists. The Starry Night by Vincent van Goh was featured. You can also drink wine at a bar they have.

After Moma, we were going to meet up with a friend, Eric, so we checked out the Whisky Trader Bar and Lounge near the Moma. They do have a good selection of Whisky, and it is a fairly large bar. Would recommend going there.

After, we got dinner at East Village, at this Greek Place:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/taverna-kyclades/

We then walked to a bar called the Mona in the same area (and listened to some blue grass music). Gotta say, not sure if I would live in the East Village. Doesn’t really have a homey feeling, the streets are too big.

After, we chilled at Erik’s place in midtown East. It’s a pretty sizable place with a great backyard.

New York City 2021 – Part 2

Posted on by
Reply

For the first 4 nights we stayed at the Warwick Hotel just south of Central Park. The location is great. You can walk to a Broadway play in 12 minutes, or shop at Saks on 5th avenue. Also very close to Central Park itself of course. Great location for visiting (but it is slightly touristy, so not sure if it would be a good place to live).

The second day of the trip we took it pretty easy because of the night before. Started off brunch by going to this Italian Restaurant near our hotel:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2021/11/26/pazzo-notte/

After, we decided to see if we can get last minute tickets for the Book of Mormon. We tried first at the ticketing section at the bottom of Times Square. They did not have anything (and they said they usually don’t for that show). So we then showed up at the ticketing office at the Eugene O’Neill theater (where the show was at). Basically we showed up at 6pm, and they said they had 2 mezzanine tickets for $199 each (and that they could release them at 6:30pm once they were confirmed they would be cancelled). Fortunately for us, we got them at 6:30pm (below you can see how great our spot was). Will say the play was good, but might have been super hyped up. (Haha Salta Laka City, Ootah, Neutrogena).

After the show we headed to West Village to try our luck to try and see a show at the comedy cellar. We basically stood in the stand by line at 11pm, and they confirmed at 11:30pm if we got in or not (and yea, we got in). Before entering, they did require that we seal our phones and watched in a bag (so we don’t record anything). Also a 2 drink minimum was required (they stamp your receipt on exit). Overall, would go back there, but I did like the ambience of The Stand better. (By the way, we went to a local bar, Minetta Tavern, near by while waiting for 11pm, and gotta say, it’s definitely a student area, with great looking people). In general, the west village is better than the east village (see Part 3 post), but there was a lot of trash at the West Village the night we went.

New York City 2021 – Part 1

Posted on by
Reply

Decided to travel back to New York for 10 days (spending my Apple thanksgiving break there). Overall it’s an exploratory visit to figure out what some neighborhoods had to offer, the transportation system, and to see if it would be worth living there some day. Tl;dr, a city I can see myself living in or even buying property.

Instead of documenting each day with one post each, I’m going to just list things (in chronological order) of things done, and what was noticed.

First night we started it off seeing some comedy at a place called The Stand. Didn’t get any of the comedians names, but overall liked the vibe (didn’t feel intimidated there, and you can order food and drinks. Espresso martinis were definitely a thing. The burger I had was just ok). The Stand is near union square park (flat iron area).

After the comedy club we decided to check out a DJ called Adriatique at Brooklyn Navy Yard. It ended up actually being a festival with two warehouses (called Time Warp). Production value was great, and discovered another DJ, Ame, who sounded a lot like Eric Prydz. Also ran into a friend, Eric, who, uh, helped us with staying up until 8am (it also helped last call us at 4am in New York). Great night. Probably need to explore Brooklyn more.

New York City, first day

Posted on by
Reply

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.