Speakeasys

Speakeasy: Tigre, Lower East Side, NYC

I had narrowed it down to three potential locations to have a drink before taking our friend for her birthday dinner a few blocks away at Dirt Candy. We decided on Tigre, a semi-hidden speakeasy replete with a huge bouncer protecting the graffiti-covered door, as my friend said she had been, and it was a fun place.  The large bouncer asked me where I was looking for Tigre when I seemed confused looking at the numbers on the building and hadn't noticed him yet. He checked my res, mentioned that one of my party had been seated and asked me and others who arrived to wait for the hostess. First [...]

By |2025-01-13T11:26:53-05:00February 4th, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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Speakeasy Apotheke, Chinatown, NYC: Stop on Doyer Street Crawl

Having noticed that the other Apotheke locations take reservations, I had been emailing Emilio, General Manager, about a res when I mentioned I was coming in for a birthday drink with a friend. I asked whether they offered a sparkler in one of their unique cocktails, but he didn't respond. I wondered how he'd handle it, so I didn't email again! He didn't, but Abby, our lovely waitress at — according to Architectural Digest—one of the "Best Speakeasies in the US," did. Their 2020 book, "Apotheke: Modern Medicinal Cocktails" describes the establishment as "the original New York City cocktail apothecary that applies mixology to the world of plant science wellness." [...]

By |2024-12-28T10:49:08-05:00January 19th, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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Pinto Garden, West Village, NYC + & Sons Steakeasy’s Father’s Study Speakeasy

After perusing the neighborhood options for restaurant week, we chose Pinto Garden, a Thai restaurant from Chef Teerawong "Yo" Nanthavatsiri that opened in 2016 on 10th Street. We chose the $45 restaurant week dinner menu, being happily flabbergasted that it included a cocktail. I tried their Smoke Gets in Your Eyes smoky old-fashioned, my dining partner their I Like Me Better with gin, Melon Calpico, lime juice and italacus liqueur. Both tasty. We shared the fresh rolls of rice paper wrapped with vegetables and spicy peanut dressing and the papaya salad of green papaya, tomatoes, snake beans, peanuts and garlic in a palm sugar vinaigrette. I loved the flavor of [...]

By |2024-09-21T11:28:54-04:00September 18th, 2024|Big Apple Life, NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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Repeat: Shuka, Soho, NYC + Up & Up & Raines Law Room Speakeasies

Having had such a wonderful time at Shuka and Up & Up, I repeated the combo with my grand nephew and his girlfriend. We opted to dine outside as it was one of our spring-weather winter days. We shared some meze, including the shaved Brussels sprouts ($14) as last visit, this time adding the falafel and sweet potatoes, which I would recommend.  We continued with chicken ($22/kebab) and beef ($25/kebab) kebabs, requesting the fabulous mushroom one, but it was no longer available as their menu changes based on market availability. Next time! We walked MacDougal to Up & Up for cocktails, followed by another at Raines Law Room, which has [...]

By |2024-03-21T17:47:21-04:00March 21st, 2024|Big Apple Life, NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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The Greek Kyma, Chelsea, NYC + The Connector + Raines Law Room

After seeing The Connector at MCC theatre — a musical loosely based on Shattered Glass — we headed downtown to Kyma, a Greek restaurant in Chelsea/Flatiron, NYC. We were so early that the dining room hadn't opened yet. We sat at the bar and enjoyed our cocktails until we moved to our table. Once seated, we shared the tasty pikilia with a trio sampler of tzatziki, melitzanosalata, and taramosalata with pita triangles and an order of spanakopita ($19 for 3; $7 an additional one). My Greek dining partner raved, saying it was one of the best spanakopita she'd ever had. A huge compliment. Also good is their fresh lavraki ($39); [...]

By |2024-01-28T12:23:16-05:00March 7th, 2024|NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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A Return to The Marshal, Hell’s Kitchen, NYC + Raines Law Room

My visit to Charlie Marshal's eponymous restaurant this time was with my visiting niece, her hubby and their friends. We shared three wood-fired 12-inch pizzas: the prosciutto & arugula ($28.50), the smoked duck breast ($28.50) and — the winter's specialty — the delicata squash with aged mozzarella, roasted red onion and crispy sage leaves ($25.50) along with his not-to-be-missed deviled eggs, red & golden beet salad, heirloom tomato salad and roasted Brussels sprout salad. We also shared the goat-cheese stuffed Greenane Family Farm chicken breast ($29.50), his wood-fired meatloaf ($29.50) and the wood-over braised lamb shank ($39.50) before the wives headed to see And Juliet and I went with the [...]

By |2024-01-28T12:18:44-05:00March 4th, 2024|NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|2 Comments
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Notable Speakeasy: Raines Law Room, Chelsea, NYC

Raines Law Room owes its name to an 1896 law authored by John Raines that said only hotels could serve liquor on Sundays. And only to the guests. Lawmakers designed this law to curtail alcoholic consumption by working men who spent Sundays drinking in saloons. Many places became hotels with "rooms" to sell liquor on Sundays. Speakeasies are having a resurrection in New York. These somewhat hidden bars are popping up, some attempting to recreate the hide-from-the-cops-and-drink-bootleg-whiskey thing. They all have great cocktails to enjoy. After a visit to the Rubin—a Himalayan art museum up the street—we stopped at this hot Chelsea speakeasy for one of their unusual cocktails. We [...]

By |2024-02-09T10:23:14-05:00February 6th, 2024|NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|2 Comments
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A Birthday at Shuka, SoHo, NYC + Up & Up Speakeasy

We started our birthday celebration with drinks at Up & Up, a fun speakeasy on Macdougal, down the street from where we were heading for dinner. And, as their site says, "Yes, the ice actually looks like this!" From there, we headed downtown on Macdougal to Shuka, a restaurant serving various Mediterranean cuisines. The six of us started with many selections from their meze from the market, which included their taramasalata ($12) with crudité ($11), shaved Brussels sprouts ($14), falafel ($11), crispy cauliflower ($15), za'atar fries ($8), jeweled rice ($11) and tuna meatballs ($16).  One dish was better than the next, with the shaved Brussels, crispy cauliflower and za'atar fries [...]

By |2024-02-12T09:33:07-05:00January 30th, 2024|Big Apple Life, NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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Song’E Napule New Location, West Village, NYC + PS at Pine & Polk Speakeasy

The publicist reached out about Song’E Napule's new location, down the block east on Houston from its previous location. I couldn't resist going remembering how delicious it had been. This is the fourth location of this pizzeria and trattoria. I again sampled their Parmigiana Di Melanzane ($18), thin slices of eggplant parmigiana that had melted in my mouth. So glad I did, as it was as good as last time. So was their pizza, although I ordered the 12-inch Margherita pizza ($18), topped with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil drizzled with EVOO this time. The most heavenly dish was the evening's special gnocchi potato dumplings filled with liquid [...]

By |2024-08-07T09:37:38-04:00August 20th, 2023|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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