Carol Bove's Caterpillar on Section 3 of the High Line

CBS New York: 5 Moving Memorials

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there. 

Memorials make us remember those who have gone, but they also inspire us to great feats in our own lives. Read on for five of New York’s most moving tributes to check out this Memorial Day [read more].
 

Smorgasburg DUMBO

Among the deliciousness on hand at Smorgasburg DUMBO:

A chocolate s'more from S'more Bakery, smeared with Nutella and blow-torched to order.

A moro-hibiscus soda from Bolivian Llama Party, a stand that wins our award for cleverest name. This dark-pink soda had both berry and floral notes.

A merguez sandwich from Nadia's Moroccan Kitchen. The lamb sausage was pleasantly dried, definitely cured, served on semolina flatbread. We liked the accompanying tomato and cucumbers, which gave the meat a summery freshness.

Man, this apple and ginger soda was refreshing. Brooklyn Soda Works certainly knows its way around siphons and juices. We love the backstory too: the couple who runs this company is one-half artist and one-half chemist. 

From Taste of Ethiopia, we got a misir soft taco: a stripe of injera folded over spicy red lentils, lettuce, yogurt, and tomatoes. This stand wins our award for most descriptive name. 

At Asia Dog we tried the Mash, a chicken hot dog smothered in sweet and spicy ketchup, jalapeno mustard, and crushed salt-and-pepper potato chips. Ultimate stoner food. 

And we ended just about where we started, with an oatmeal and salted caramel cookie from S'more Bakery. Yes, Smorgasburg can be crowded, and the name, which one of us can never seem to remember how to pronounce, is utterly awkward. But, golly, every time we go, we remark on its brilliance, from its use of space to its selection of vendors to its fun atmosphere. It's everything you want from a street fair, minus the funky stands selling sweat socks or belligerently pushing massages.

    

JR and José Parlá Mural in Chelsea

  

SmokeLine

SmokeLine is the outpost of Delaney Barbecue on the High Line. Speaking of lines, they are long, and the barbecue sells out quick. Get there early, bring a magazine, and pack patience. Speaking of smoke, it permeates the Texas-style "Deckle," ingratiating itself with the pork, playing with the raw onions, barely caressing the pickles. We thought SmokeLine was kind of a silly name, but it turned out to be wonderfully apt.

CBS New York: Great Gifts for Grads

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

In addition to reassuring your grad about life after college, congratulate and celebrate him or her with a gift from one of these only-in-New York specialty stores [read more].

CBS New York: Great for Groups

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

 

While experiencing the city solo can be fun, some things are better with together. Click through for activities that are particularly good for groups [read more].

Tom's

Tom's has been feeding Prospect Heights since 1936. By 8.30 on a Sunday morning, the line stretched along the counter, and out the door, and down the block. As we ate our waffle with bacon and cinnamon pancakes, we listened to the tables around us. A dad brought his bashful little daughter to get photos with two young boys dressed as Superman. Some cops discussed donuts and exes with a boyfriend and girlfriend. Countless folks ignored the menu and just ordered their version of the regular.  

The food was good, especially the aforementioned pancakes, spiced with warmth. But what was really good was the sense of community that pooled in the place like syrup, similarly sweet, albeit far more nurturing and nourishing.  

CBS New York: 5 Delicious Spring Soups

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there. 

Not surprisingly, spring soups rely on spring ingredients, including asparagus and ramps. Menus can change as quickly as the weather, so get these bowls of goodness while you can [read more]. And if you go to Gwynnett St., which you should, get some whiskey bread for dunking.

CBS New York: 5 Great Stargazing Experiences

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there. 

Hard as it might be to believe, you can see plenty of stars in New York City that aren’t on Broadway or in the movies. Plus, you don’t even need to bring your own telescope (or autograph book). Read on for our five favorite stargazing experiences [read more].

Rain Room at MoMA

If you haven't already been to Rain Room --- Random International's interactive exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art ---  you're probably in line right now. Stay there: it's worth it. 

Badlands at Film Forum

Now showing at Film Forum is Badlands, Terrence Malick's first film. The slow shots of grasses flowing in the breeze, the sometimes enigmatic dialogue, the preoccupation with the way misunderstandings both fuel and destroy relationships, the difficulties of finding transcendence in the ordinary --- the markers of his later work are all here, in the story of a young man who looks like James Dean (Martin Sheen) and his girl (Sissy Spacek). As the poster says, she watches while he kills a lot of people. What the poster doesn't say is that she narrates their exploits, naively romanticizing their life together, nor does it mention the way in which Malick prefigures so much of what would transpire in cinema in the years since Badlands was made, from the use of source music to underscore irony to the belief that boredom is the dominant feeling of the modern age.

Burger Joint Village

Once upon a time, we heard whispers about a secret burger place located in a hotel, where only those in the know knew to go to get hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and little else. We'd just moved to New York, and everything felt like that, as if everyone we passed knew something we didn't, as if the city were a series of as-yet-to-be-revealed secrets.

Fast forward a decade (!), and the Burger Joint continues to draw people behind the red curtain. But now you can also get burgers and shakes and fries and other greasy goodness from a regular ole restaurant in the Village. We got ours with the works, with a side of nostalgia (obviously). We know now that living here isn't about learning the city's secrets. Every day, everywhere in the five boroughs, millions of things are happening that we'll never be privy too --- thankfully, in some cases, sadly, in others. And that's a-OK with us. Because we're pretty much always grateful for what we are able to see or do or experience or eat, in whatever manner we discover it or method the city uses to share it.      

Swoon in Fort Greene

CBS New York: 6 Ways to While Away a Rainy Afternoon in NYC

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

Let it rain! Here are six great ways to pass the time during a rainy day [read more].

CBS New York: Great Gifts for Mom from Brooklyn

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there. 

Wish the mother, mother figure, or special lady in your life a Happy Mother’s Day with a unique take on a traditional gift, made, or purchased, with love in Brooklyn [read more].

CBS New York: 5 Great Sichuan Restaurants in Manhattan

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

Gone are the days when you had to head to Queens for authentic Sichuan cooking. The Manhattan restaurants below specialize in “ma la,” the peculiar tongue-tingling effect that devotees crave and the uninitiated fear [read more].

Bushwick Collective Update