March 25, 2025 • 32 mins
The East Village in New York City is a bustling, lively neighborhood full of top-notch restaurants, fun activities, and plenty of bars worth checking out.
East Village Location
The East Village runs from Houston to 14th St and then 4th Ave on the west end to the East River.
Within the East Village, there are sections including Alphabet City, Little Ukraine, and the Bowery.
It has often been a center of counterculture in New York and is seen as the birthplace of punk rock in the city.
Places to Eat in the East Village
- Giano - Our favorite Italian restaurant in the city.
- Veselka - Popular Ukranian spot with a focus on breakfast and brunch.
- Kafana - Traditional Serbian food in a cozy setup.
- Prince Tea House - Lots of tea options, desserts, and more.
- Ray’s Candy Store - Long-standing dessert shop with soft serve, deep-fried Oreos, and more.
- 7th Street Burger - Fairly priced smash burgers and fries.
- Two Boots Pizza - Unique flavor options in a funky spot.
- Lavagna - Tuscan flavors in a compact restaurant, amazing pasta.
- Joe’s Pizza - Quality New York pizza available by the slice or pie.
- Mama Fina’s - Authentic, fairly-priced Filipino food.
- San Marzano - Low-priced Italian spot with a bustling crowd.
Bars & Places to Drink in the East Village
- Amor y Amargo - Craft cocktails focused on Amaros and bitters.
- Burp Castle - Quiet bar (you will get shushed) with imported beers.
- Please Don't Tell - High-quality cocktails in a speakeasy accessed through a phone booth.
- The Bronx Brewery - Unfortunately, it's now permanently closed since we recorded this episode.
- The Wayland - Unique cocktails with tasty bites.
- McSorley's Old Ale House - One of the oldest bars in NYC with only two options (dark or light ale).
- Barcade - Loads of arcade games and an extensive draft list.
Fun Things to Do in the East Village
- Astor Center & Astor Wine & Spirits (This Episode's You'll Have to Check It Out Segment) - Top-notch wine and liquor store with an accompanying educational center focused on wine and liquor history and education.
- Atelier Sucre - Small kitchen offering cooking and baking classes.
- AuH2O - One of the best thrift stores we've been to in Manhattan.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Just a note, the first few minutes of this episode you
might hear some feedback. Apologies for that.
We left a space heater on on accident but did get that turned
off a few minutes in. Thanks.
Welcome to the Better Together Here podcast with your host,
Devin. And Ashley?
Helping you make the most of your time in New York City.
Hey everyone, and welcome to today's episode of the Better
(00:21):
Together Here podcast. My name is Devin.
And my name is Ashley. Today's episode we are going to
tell you our favorite spots in one of our favorite little
neighborhoods in New York City, and that is the East Village.
The East Village is a lively, vibrant, younger area with a lot
going on, amazing restaurants, amazing bars, and a surprising
amount of fun things to do. So let's get right into it.
(00:43):
The naming conventions in New York City generally can be a
little bit confusing, especiallybecause you look at one article
and then you look at a differentmap and they have different
boundaries for the neighborhoodsand it gets a little bit weird.
But generally speaking, the EastVillage, it's not a part of
Greenwich Village. So it is very near to Greenwich
Village, but it is its own different spot.
(01:05):
It is from Houston St. on the South to 14th St. on the North
End, and then from roughly 4th Ave. to the East River on the
east. So the 4th Ave. area, like it
gets funky because the 4th Ave.,it starts to go diagonal and
then it hits Cooper Square and then it turns into the Bowery
and it's just like a little bit of a funky area.
(01:26):
But generally speaking, that is the East Village.
Or if you're looking at a map ofManhattan, it's kind of at the
bottom right side of the island of Manhattan.
Yeah, and it's just above the Lower East Side.
And again, all the neighborhoods, they kind of
bleed into each other, especially nowadays.
Like there's less distinctions between what the neighborhoods
look and feel like, at least theones next to each other.
(01:48):
But yeah, and within the East Village, you've got a few
different names that you might hear that people reference.
There's Alphabet City due to thestreet names being numbered or
sorry, lettered, ABC and D, there's Little Ukraine, one of
the spots we'll talk about related to that and the Bowery.
So those are kind of like different pockets of the East
(02:10):
Village and the East Village. It's known for a lot of
different things, one of which is just kind of being a center
of counterculture in New York and just counterculture in
general, especially back in the 70s, eighties, that time period.
And many call it the birth placeof the punk rock scene in New
York City. So if you're into punk rock,
there's some cool informational things that you can find there
(02:31):
or different pieces of punk rockhistory that you can look up and
go explore in these village. First, we're going to talk about
places to eat. Some of these places we've
talked about before, so we mightgo through them a little bit
quicker, but we'll reference youto our website,
bettertogetherhere.com. If you hear a place that we're
talking about and you want to learn more about it, go to our
website, search the name of thisrestaurant or bar or spot that
(02:53):
we talked about and in all likelihood we will have more
information there for you to understand it first.
And probably top probably the number one, we maybe shouldn't
have done this first because nowpeople might just sign off of
this podcast. Please don't but.
Frankly, if you're going to go to one place in the whole East
Village, I would say go to GianoGiano, one of our favorite
(03:13):
restaurants in New York City. Small, cozy, friendly staff.
We've been there over a dozen times.
Every single time it's the same staff.
The. I think it's a married couple.
We need to find this out, but I think it's.
A married couple find it out. I thought you found it out.
I think that happened. Either way, it's like it's very.
Something why and Ashley would do.
Probably it's very family feel in the sense of like, you can
(03:35):
tell like the people who work there, some of them are family
and good friends and they've known each other for a very,
very long time. Like good rapport.
And I think that makes a difference in a restaurant.
Beyond that though, their pastasare amazing, all homemade in
house everyday, great desserts, great coffees, good wine
selection, just you can't go wrong and the specials are
(03:55):
always amazing. Seriously, I cannot say enough
good things about this place. Again, if there's one place
you're going to go in this wholeepisode, go to Giano.
Well, we have said plenty more. We've done an entire episode
about Giano, so go check that out.
All right, next on our list, Vaselka.
So Vaselka is a very well known Ukrainian spot in these village.
It is more geared towards breakfast and that's probably
(04:18):
when it's the most popular and busy, but fantastic food.
We went once when we were traveling out here visiting one
of Ashley's long time friends who is in the city going to
school. Absolutely loved it.
So it gave us a really cool opportunity to try a type of
cuisine that we had never tried before until then.
Yeah, not a lot of people have had Ukrainian food.
We haven't very often. Similarly, third on our list,
(04:41):
kafana. So kafana is Serbian food.
And oh man, did they have amazing options for us when we
were there. We've been once kind of randomly
stumbled upon it. We had an amazing lamb dish.
It was Lamb, right? Yeah, it was like a lamb, rice
and vegetable situation with like a yogurt sauce.
It was awesome. We got like a big carafe of
(05:02):
orange wine. It was like their house orange
wine. That was delicious and most of
the people in there were Serbianlike it was a it was such a
small restaurant. Not only were the workers mostly
Serbian, but it seemed like people coming in as well were
people from Serbia speaking Serbian.
So it's always a good sign when you go to a cuisine, a unique
restaurant that's from a specific place in the world and
(05:25):
people who are actually from there are at the restaurant, you
know, it's authentic, you know it's good.
Next on our list is Prince Tea House.
This place is a great place to go if you are a fan of tea,
which we are. You can go and you can order an
individual cup of tea. You can go and order like big
pots of tea and they also have amazing, amazing desserts.
(05:45):
So this would be a really fun place to go if you wanted
dessert before dinner, you wanted a little.
Dessert before dinner Spoil yourdinner.
Moms everywhere are panicked hearing.
This Well, we're adults, so if you want dessert before dinner,
I'm here to tell you that's fine.
And if you're a child listening to this, I hope that you had
permission and also it's OK to eat your dessert before your
(06:08):
dinner sometimes. As long as you eat your dinner,
yeah. These are the lies that adults
tell children. A great thing at Prince Tea
House is the. Is that like the layered cake?
Yeah, the. Crepe cake The matcha The matcha
crepe cake is my favorite thing to get when we go there.
It's so delicious. It has like 20 plus layers, a
very very thin crepe sprinkled with like matcha powder and
(06:33):
whipped cream. It's absolutely delicious.
If you've never tried a crepe cake, definitely get that here
and. If you want another dessert
spot, next on our list is Ray's Candy Store.
Ray's Candy Store has been an institution of the East Village
for decades. Ray himself is often there.
You can't miss him. You'll know exactly who he is.
He's like 80 or older, is that right?
(06:54):
He's getting up there in age. I don't know his exact age, but
he's been there since day one and he's still there.
He'll still pour some soft syrupfor you.
They have deep fried Oreos. Great place to grab some dessert
and then go sit and eat it in Tompkins Square Park, which is
otherwise known. As Rat Square Park.
And you can guess why. And we?
(07:16):
Actually one of the times we went to Ray's candy store, we
went across the street and we'reeating them at night in Tompkins
Square Park. And our friend Adam was like oh
we're going to go eat in Rat Square Park.
And we were like why is it called Rat Square Park?
And I kid you not, like 5 seconds later a rat like
scurried out from underneath where we were sitting.
So pretty self-explanatory. Also, Tompkins Square Park,
(07:39):
maybe not somewhere I want to goexplore in the middle of the
night. I'll just say that.
All right, next on our list, 7thSt.
Burger. There are multiple locations of
7th St. I believe this is the original
correct? I think so because it's on 7th
St. Right, OK, this is the original.
It's now expanded multiple, multiple locations throughout
the city, really good smash burger style, kind of thinner,
(08:02):
smaller burgers, but very well priced and they come out very,
very quickly. So even if there's a line, know
that it will move fast. Next on our list is 2 Boots
Pizza. This pizza spot is awesome if
you want like a pizza by the slice.
They have very unique flavors ontheir pizza.
Yeah, I think they have. I think they have one like with
Doritos, they're just very like obscure non common combinations
(08:27):
which some of them can look weird but they're pretty much
all tried and tested that they're going to be really good.
But in that same breath, they also have a really great like
pepperoni slice or cheese slice.But if you want to get creative
and try something brand new, this is a good spot to
experiment. Can't go wrong with two boots.
All right, next on our list, another Italian spot in these
village, Lavagna. Our friends Adam and Branson
(08:50):
took us here for the first time.Phenomenal spot, again, smaller.
They have nice outdoor seating and like combo indoor outdoor
seating when the weather is nice.
Every dish we've had there has been amazing.
It's a very small spot. Know that like it's a little bit
crowded moving around like many restaurants are in New York, but
can't go wrong with Lavagna. One main memory that's coming to
mind for Lavagna is that their ceiling is really cool.
(09:12):
It's like a copper ceiling. They have like copper tiles on
the ceiling. I believe you.
Very very cool vibe in there. The pasta is incredible.
Everything we've had there has been great.
Great small vibey Italian recommendation.
If you want some more pizza options, Joe's Pizza, there's a
Joe's Pizza in the East Village.You can't go wrong with Joe's.
(09:33):
Joe's gets a little bit of smackonline.
It's people have sometimes negative things to say about it.
They're all wrong and they're all just they're angry for
whatever reason. You can't go wrong with Joe's
Pizza. It's good pizza.
It's not the best pizza you'll ever have in your life, but it
is a high quality, fairly pricedNew York slice.
Who's talking crap on Joe's? So many people you've known.
(09:55):
Yeah. It, it gets a really like, it's
a lot. A lot of it is like the people
who just want to feel like I'm atrue New Yorker.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say negative things about Joe's
because I know other spots that are more unique and cool and
they're not touristy like Joe's.It's really that vibe of people
online. There's a whole culture of like
that type of stuff in New York City, of people who just like,
(10:18):
hate Manhattan, hate Midtown, hate anything that has more than
one location and think that it'sjust like a stain on the
internet's weird, man. I think that's silly.
And Joe's is always busy becauseit's good and you always get
fresh slices. I've never had like an old
mediocre slice at Joe's Pizza. It's always great.
If you're going to do a whole pie, if you're like a group of
at least three people, I would probably do a whole pie and
(10:39):
order ahead. You can do online pick up on
their website and you'll beat the line every single time.
OK, next on our list is Mama Fina's.
Mama Fina's is a phenomenal sit down Filipino restaurant.
So if you never had Filipino food before, a lot of rice, a
lot of soy sauce based dishes, alot of like if if you've had an
adobo before, they have really good things like lumpia, which
(11:03):
is kind of like spring rolls butmore flavorful.
I lived in the Philippines for two years.
I love, love, love Filipino food.
And Mama Fina's. It was, it seemed like they were
like a little bit searching for their identity of like what they
wanted to be inside the restaurant.
And I think that that has hurt them a little bit.
But the food itself? Extremely authentic and
(11:23):
delicious. Anything to have that place
Rocks. OK, next on our list, last of
the food options, San Marzano. So we went here before wine
class at a spot that we will actually mention later.
It's a sit down spot, but the prices do not reflect that you I
think we got our pastas for somewhere.
I think you could go in, sit down, get like the cheapest pops
(11:46):
pasta option and no other like drink or appetizer and probably
leave after tax and tip for lessthan $15 or less.
It was super affordable. Very affordable, especially for
New York standards. San Mardano had great pasta
options that were absolutely delicious.
Good portions for a very reasonable price.
(12:06):
We even got a bottle of like theleader bottles of Pellegrino for
I believe like $4.00 which is much cheaper than what you can
get at other Italian restaurants.
It also was very cute in there, very vibey, lots of young
people. Yeah, 'cause it is technically
it. It's like near Noho, it's near
NYU, so you definitely get a younger crowd there.
(12:27):
Speaking of schools, that leads us into this episode's New York
Know how? All right, this one again comes
from the book NYC Basic Tips andEtiquette by Nathan W Pyle.
We've talked about it before. We'll link it in the show notes.
Phenomenal coffee table book. Just a great gift as well.
If you have someone who loves New York or is traveling to New
(12:50):
York, this is New York City. Basic tips and etiquette #55
please mind your backpack. And it has a picture kind of
looking in through the roof of abus.
And there's someone standing in the middle walkway with their
hand up on the rail. And their giant backpack is
sticking into the walkway. And it says, your enormous
(13:10):
backpack makes it difficult to access this part of the bus.
Talking about the back of the bus.
And he says, I don't mean to exaggerate, but this ruins
everyone's life forever. Be aware of your backpack.
I again, a lot of people are traveling to New York.
They, they bring backpacks, you know, because you're out and
about for the day and you want all your stuff with you totally
get it. I take my backpack a lot of
places. You just have to be aware that
(13:32):
most spaces in New York, whetherit be inside of a restaurant, a
bar, the subway, a bus, a train station, whatever it is, they're
all kind of built for people without backpacks.
And the way you maneuver as a human, you're just not really
used to that. And so if you've got a backpack
on, you've got to know that it might be taking up walkway
space, it might be taking up space for someone to sit,
(13:52):
whatever it might be, you just, you got to be aware of it.
And if you're at the entrance ofa subway car and someone's
trying to get on and your giant backpacks in the way, more often
than not someone is just going to ram into you in your backpack
rather than saying excuse me, because it's automatically
assumed in the head of New Yorkers that you're the problem.
Because you kind of are. People don't have a lot of
(14:13):
respect for backpacks, let's just put it that way.
Backpacks can't get no respect. Can't get no respect?
All right, that's this episode'sNew York.
Know how? Be aware of your backpack.
Watch your backpack. Nailed it all right back to the
East Village places to grab a drink there are so many bars in
(14:34):
these village we're going to slide through seven of our
favorite here are we talked about this one before Amor E
Amargo this bar all the drinks are made with very unique
bitters and amaros Amaros if youdon't know they're like darker
herbal liqueurs usually from Italy very deep flavor rich
(14:55):
dense it's not everyone's cup oftea our friend BJ every he makes
a joke every time we see Amaro he we went here here we went
here with him and he just didn'tlike it at all which totally
fine but. I don't think he's an Amaro guy,
and that's yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
You just got to know what you'regetting into.
But the interior is awesome, like the decor is cool, the
(15:17):
ceilings, the wall, like the whole vibe in there is very not
like classic, not like classical, but.
Old school so classic is a good way to describe it.
It's so small. But like 1920s old.
School. Yeah, yeah, it's got some, like,
flapper flair. Yeah.
You also can buy a wide range ofbitters in here if you like
(15:37):
cocktails. If you like bitters, this would
be a great place to come and getyourself a gift, get a friend a
gift from your trip to New York.Highly recommend the spot.
Next on our list is Burp Castle.We've talked about this place
multiple times. It's one of our favorite bars in
the area. Burp Castle is a beer bar.
Most of them are imported from from Belgium.
Unique flavors. I've had a banana bread beer
(16:00):
from here is we've had a lot of like.
Sweeter like a Raspberry beer. Yeah, they.
Also have some Raspberry chiffonI don't.
Know yeah they also have some classic like loggers and.
But great beer options and they'll usually let you try if
there's, you know a new one thatyou're interested in.
Friendly ish beer prices anywhere from probably 8 to
$12.00 if you're getting like a more special beer.
(16:20):
But what's unique about Burp Castle is it is a quiet bar.
You are not supposed to talk louder than you would in a
library. And you will get shushed.
The bartenders will shush you, patrons will shush you.
It's one of my favorite things about Burb Castle.
It's just that 'cause you go to some bars, it's so loud, you
can't even hear yourself think. You can't talk to the people
(16:41):
you're with. It just feels like you're in a.
Screaming, screaming at each other and you're nodding and you
have no idea what your friend said.
This is not that place. This is a great place that go
have a have a beer, have a nice intimate conversation, actually
be able to hear each other. Most times we come here there's
someone reading a book so it's that kind of vibe.
Also can't forget to mention themurals.
(17:03):
The murals along the entire interior are just phenomenal.
Think kind of like Game of Thrones vibes with like people,
not like. With like Renaissance.
Like Renaissance? There's monks, so many monks.
On the wall, there's a ship that's like there's a.
Shipwreck. There's basically what looks
(17:23):
like the interior of like a pub slash kind of horror house.
Yeah, there's some boobs. There's some boobs.
There's some. Boobs on the wall it.
It but like amazing murals and it's just like this story that's
painted across the entire thing and it's just the whole vibe.
Don't skip burp castle love thatspot.
All right, next very different vibes than burp castle is please
(17:44):
don't tell. Please don't tell is a Speakeasy
that is actually accessible through a hot dog place called
Croft dogs, which inside of Please don't tell.
So you'll walk into Please don'ttell sorry, you'll walk into
Croft dogs. There's this kind of like phone
booth looking thing on your left.
The hot dog area is like straight ahead.
So you can't just go order hot dogs and and be there.
(18:06):
But to get into Please don't tell you dial A phone.
They'll ask you a reservation. Sometimes there is a wait.
So be aware that you know, if you're coming into the area,
especially on like a Friday night, go in, put your name down
and then see how long the wait is.
Maybe go somewhere else, come back.
But inside of please Don't tell,you can get some of the hot dogs
and some of the foods that that are available at Krift Dogs.
(18:27):
So you can kind of get both in one go.
But certainly that's not the highlight.
The highlight are the drinks. The drinks, so Please Don't
Tell, are some of my favorite drinks that we've had in the
city. They are a little on the more
expensive side, but I think deservingly so.
Their cocktails are very well crafted, very creative options.
They usually have like one that comes to mind.
I think there's like a bacon infused old fashioned, like just
(18:52):
very cool cocktails that you wouldn't find anywhere else.
And it's always like dimly lit. There's taxidermy on the walls.
Really fun place to go. Yeah.
Great Speakeasy. We're checking out.
It's called Please Don't Tell. Next on our list, The Bronx
Brewery. The Bronx Brewery also has so
multiple locations. This one in the East Village,
they show a lot of sporting events.
We went there for a WNBA Finals game.
(19:14):
They have, they're kind of joined in with a cool burger
spot as well. So there's fantastic burgers,
great beer options, really friendly staff.
I think they have video games inthe back corner and like pinball
and weird arcade games. Like it's just, it's a very
funky spot. We had a great time there.
Bronxbury is a great spot to go if you specifically want to
(19:36):
watch women's sports. They have all types of sports
on, but if there's a big like WNBA game on, you know that
they're going to be playing thatgame.
Very inclusive environment. They have tons of vegan food
options as well which a lot of places don't have.
Highly recommend we're. Going to take a quick break to
remind you to sign up for the Better Together Here newsletter.
We e-mail once a week with important things that you want
(19:59):
to know about New York City, thebest places to eat, the best
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Next on our list is a more standard cocktail bar and that
is the Wayland. I actually first went to the
Wayland for a free kind of networking event that a software
that I use for my job was putting on.
(20:21):
So the first time I went, I got multiple drinks and appetizers
for free, which instantly, you know, gives it a saw.
I get the soft spot in my heart for this place.
But we've gone back since I think twice.
Awesome cocktails and like a very kind of just like bustling
atmosphere. They've good music playing, just
kind of a trendy spot. Great cocktails too.
(20:42):
One cocktail that I remember from this place is I got some
type of Margarita that was kind of like a green juice.
It tasted like like a health green juice but with tequila in
it and lime. Honestly, I really liked it.
You have to like green juice to like it, but I thought it was
very interesting. Next spot we're going to talk
(21:03):
about Barcade. We have mentioned Barcade and
other episodes. There are a handful of locations
of Barcade. It's just like it sounds.
It's a bar, it's an arcade. You combine them together you
get Barcade, great beer selection, good food options
actually if you want it, wide variety of games, everything
from pinball to NBA Jam to Asteroid and Galactica to Crazy
(21:25):
taxi to The Simpsons game like. Pac-Man.
Pac-Man driving games, shooters,like they've got it all.
It's like a really classic arcade.
And what's nice too is if like your quarter gets swallowed by
the machine, there are people there who are going to fix it.
A lot of times you go to arcade and like half the games are
broken and you can never get someone to help you if you lose
your quarters or whatever it is.Like it's well run, it's a well
(21:46):
oiled machine. It's definitely definitely worth
checking out. Arcade is a really fun option if
you want to go to a bar, but youdon't necessarily just want to
drink, you want something to do.This is a fun place to go with
like a small group of people, especially people you don't
maybe know that well, people youknow really well.
Very reliable fun spot. All right, last on our list of
places to drink in the East Village, certainly not least and
(22:09):
probably the oldest on the list.Definitely the oldest on this
list, One of the oldest bars in New York City, Mcsorley's Old
Ale House. Mcsorley's.
I've said it once in this episode, but it is another
institution of the East Village.It is a New York City proper
spot that has been around for over 100 years.
You walk in. Well, First off, we've walked by
(22:33):
Mcsorley's a dozen times. We've been into Mcsorley's a few
times. Every like, no matter what day
of the week it is. What time, Every single time we
walk by, it is the same guy, thesame bouncer out front.
I don't know his name. We should figure out his name.
Should I just name? It's always the same guy.
It's probably Pat. It looks so much like Pat it's
(22:53):
got. To be, I mean, Pat's brother
Pat, like his name has to be Pat.
We have a guy in our building who a worker in our building
whose name is Pat and they do look similar but also like Pat
is Irish, Pat is an. Old, bald Irish man.
So and so is this guy and he just like this literally could
be like Pat Mcsorley the 5th, who knows, but he's always
(23:13):
there, super friendly. It can get very, very crowded,
especially on weekends and laterin the evenings.
It's it's a popular spot. What's awesome about Mcsorley's
Old Ale House? They only offer 2 drinks dark
ale, light ale and when you order you order one ale and it
comes out in 2 glasses so be aware of that that it seems like
(23:35):
you're getting a ton but they'renot the biggest mugs but it's a
pretty fair price. I want to say it's like 8 it's.
Like 7 or $8? 7 or 8 bucks.
Per Beer. Yeah, and, and each one you're
getting, you know, two small mugs of it.
Recommend if you're going with one other person, one person
gets the light ale, one person gets the dark ale and you share
it. They do have food options.
Again, it gets very, very crowded.
(23:55):
I don't think I've ever been in there and have had space to sit
down. But we are usually going at more
popular, busy times. But it's an institution.
It is out of all these places for drinks that we've talked
about outside of Burp Castle being our probably like
individual favorite. Mcsorley's Old Ale House is
definitely one of the most famous and popular in the East
(24:16):
Village and if not all of Manhattan.
Like it has been around for a very, very long time.
Really cool decor. All the different people who've
come and had a drink at Mcsorley's, People on the wall,
famous people, just a slice of history we're checking out.
All right. And that leads us in to our next
section, which is going to be the things to do in East
Village. But also the first one is going
to be this episode's you'll haveto check it out segment.
(24:38):
The next stop is Astor Center and Astor Wine and Spirits.
So this is technically in Noho, which is like a little pocket
between Greenwich Village and East Village.
It's so close. We're including it as part of
this. We have been to Astor Center a
couple Times Now. We actually emailed about this
just about a month or so ago. If you're not on our e-mail
(25:00):
newsletter, be sure you join it Better Together here.com back
slash newsletter. We e-mail once a week, no spam,
no AI, no BS, just our authenticexperiences in New York City to
help you have a better time. Astor Center is part of Astor
Wine and Spirits, which has beenaround I think since the 70s.
And Astor Center itself was built within the last couple
decades and it's a, it's kind ofaround the corner from the wine
(25:23):
and spirits store. And it's a classroom
essentially. It is a classroom specifically
geared towards wine, cocktails, food and wine pairings.
They have a wide, wide variety of classes, of which we've been
able to take 2 so far. I would highly recommend
checking out the Astor Center Calendar and seeing if there's a
class that you are interested intaking.
(25:45):
Both of the classes that we've been to have been highly
informational and fun. You're getting a ton to drink,
you're getting a ton to learn, you're having a fun time.
Both of the instructors that we've had have been very sharp
personalities. They know a lot, but they teach
in a very entertaining way the most.
So the first class we did was a Mad Men era cocktails.
We made, I believe four different cocktails and they
(26:07):
kind of took us through the history of that time period and
why those drinks were popular and the arguments of shaken
versus stirred on certain cocktails, like all into the
details. The most recent one we did was
an orange wines class, which wasso cool.
And the, our teacher for the orange wines class was actually
the owner. He used to be, well used to be
(26:30):
the owner. He he started As for wine and
spirits, he's no longer the likeacting owner, but he is kind of
the guy behind Astor Center and Astor Wine and Spirits.
And he was just a wealth of knowledge about, you know, a
topic, orange wine that I knew very little about.
But every time you go, you get small bites, usually some bread
to go along and some food pairings.
(26:51):
You get at least four to six drinks.
Basically all said and done. It's a great, great spot.
And when you go to ask our center, take the class, whatever
you're talking about during thatclass, they usually give you 10
to 20% off to go into Astor Wineand Spirits just around the
corner and get those drinks, cocktails or sorry, liquors,
(27:11):
wines, whatever it might be at adiscount.
Just a little pro tip, if you are going to take a class Astor
center and it's alcohol based, Ihighly recommend eating dinner
before you go to this. Why is that actually?
Because when we did the Mad Men cocktail class, I don't know
why, but we didn't eat dinner. You came straight from work or
like pretty much, yeah. I think we met there.
(27:32):
You came from work. Yeah, and after the first
cocktail, I was like, oh, I'm a little drunk.
And we had like three or four more cocktails to make.
It was quite a night. It was really fun though.
Like it was fun. It's nice to take a class where
you feel like you're actually getting what you pay for.
Like, got a great lesson, learned a lot about making
cocktails, learned a ton about the history, and got a little
silly in the process. And I think most of them are,
(27:53):
it's roughly an hour and a half to two hours long, which I think
it's just the right amount. And they cost anywhere,
depending on the classroom, like65 to $100 per person.
So it seems steep, but you're getting an in person experience,
you're learning a lot, and you're getting a bunch of
alcohol. So that is this episode.
You'll have to check it out. Segment a store center and a
(28:14):
store wine and spirits. Stand clear of the closing
doors, please. All right, moving forward with
some fun things to do in the East Village.
Next on our list is similar ish to Astor Center and that's
Atelier Sucre. I don't know if I'm pronouncing
that right. This is I got this as a gift for
Ashley for her birthday. Yes, birthday.
(28:37):
We did a pastry making class. It's this.
That was so fun. It's pastries, right?
Yeah. What?
What are those called? We did like cream puffs.
Cream puffs. They were cheese puffs.
And then the Eclair. Oh yeah, chocolate eclairs.
Chocolate eclairs and it was theagain, the teacher here, this
isn't just some random guy like Hawking information about how to
make pastries. Like this guy was like a very
(28:58):
seasoned and advanced pastry chef.
The class was really cool. I think there was maybe 16 ish
people in there total. You're at a table usually with
four people total. They have all the ingredients
laid out for you already. They're walking you through the
process of each step. They are able to do hands on
help if you need it. He's kind of explaining why you
(29:20):
do one thing versus the other. I mean, it was and you get
delicious snacks to eat and to take home.
Yeah, the guy that we did the class with was very
knowledgeable, but he also was very down to earth and not
pretentious at all. Like I'd never made any of these
French pastries. And he made it very fun and like
a very like easy learning experience.
(29:42):
Yeah. So that's Atelier, Sucre,
ATELIER. And then SUCRE, if you want to
look this up, we'll try a link to it in the show notes as well.
It's probably French atelier. Yeah, we're certainly saying it
wrong, but that's OK. We're pretty American.
And last on our list of things to do in the East Village is an
amazing thrift store. We had gone to Giano with my mom
(30:07):
and aunt who were in town and wewere walking back to the subway.
And my mom has an amazing knack for finding thrift stores and
like just having this like sixthsense of knowing where thrift
stores are and if they're good or not.
There was like a clearance rack outside that had things.
What was it, 3 dollars or three?Dollars.
Yeah. So you know that they hooked us
(30:27):
with that, but then we went in and it's this very small compact
thrift store. But it's a real thrift store in
that it's we've got like vintagethings.
It has kind of more modern things, but it's not some thrift
stores nowadays are just an excuse to charge people like
$150.00 for a starter jacket that's old or like a old
T-shirt. But like this is a real thrift
(30:48):
store with jewelry, with clothing, with some Knick knacks
for around the home. We got a little piece of art,
like phenomenal spot. I think we got like a couple
items of clothing as well. They had a very wide selection
of like really cute name brand stuff that was in great
condition. I realized we didn't tell
anybody. We didn't tell people the name.
(31:10):
It's AUH 2O owl H2O or we lookedthis up previously.
AU is gold, gold H2O is water. So on the.
Periodic table of elements, so gold and water.
So there's your signs. We didn't.
Have to look it up. I told you it was gold, right?
I've taken chemistry a lot of times.
That was my worst grade ever in college was chemistry, so yeah.
(31:33):
Same, that's why I had to take it so many times.
It's too difficult, but AUH 2 OA, great thrift store, very
nice staff as well. Very down to earth.
Just a great spot to check out. And that wraps up our favorite
spots in the East Village. We went through 21 different
spots. We weren't telling you all the
numbers, but there's 21 of them.The East Village is such a fun
(31:53):
place to go and explore. I prefer it in the evenings.
Just seems like it's a little bit more lively and energetic.
You can't go wrong heading to a restaurant, getting a nice meal,
going to a bar to after, and just really just kind of walking
around and exploring what the East Village has to offer.
If you haven't already, please, please, please leave us a review
(32:13):
Apple podcast, Spotify, rate US,review us all those different
things and make sure you sign upfor a newsletter,
bettertogetherhere.com, back slash newsletter.
And other than that, we'll catchyou on the next episode.
The last stop on this screen. Everyone, please leave the
frame. Thank you for watching.
Just a note, the first few minutes of this episode you
might hear some feedback. Apologies for that.
We left a space heater on on accident but did get that turned
off a few minutes in. Thanks.
Welcome to the Better Together Here podcast with your host,
Devin. And Ashley?
Helping you make the most of your time in New York City.
Hey everyone, and welcome to today's episode of the Better
(00:21):
Together Here podcast. My name is Devin.
And my name is Ashley. Today's episode we are going to
tell you our favorite spots in one of our favorite little
neighborhoods in New York City, and that is the East Village.
The East Village is a lively, vibrant, younger area with a lot
going on, amazing restaurants, amazing bars, and a surprising
amount of fun things to do. So let's get right into it.
(00:43):
The naming conventions in New York City generally can be a
little bit confusing, especiallybecause you look at one article
and then you look at a differentmap and they have different
boundaries for the neighborhoodsand it gets a little bit weird.
But generally speaking, the EastVillage, it's not a part of
Greenwich Village. So it is very near to Greenwich
Village, but it is its own different spot.
(01:05):
It is from Houston St. on the South to 14th St. on the North
End, and then from roughly 4th Ave. to the East River on the
east. So the 4th Ave. area, like it
gets funky because the 4th Ave.,it starts to go diagonal and
then it hits Cooper Square and then it turns into the Bowery
and it's just like a little bit of a funky area.
(01:26):
But generally speaking, that is the East Village.
Or if you're looking at a map ofManhattan, it's kind of at the
bottom right side of the island of Manhattan.
Yeah, and it's just above the Lower East Side.
And again, all the neighborhoods, they kind of
bleed into each other, especially nowadays.
Like there's less distinctions between what the neighborhoods
look and feel like, at least theones next to each other.
(01:48):
But yeah, and within the East Village, you've got a few
different names that you might hear that people reference.
There's Alphabet City due to thestreet names being numbered or
sorry, lettered, ABC and D, there's Little Ukraine, one of
the spots we'll talk about related to that and the Bowery.
So those are kind of like different pockets of the East
(02:10):
Village and the East Village. It's known for a lot of
different things, one of which is just kind of being a center
of counterculture in New York and just counterculture in
general, especially back in the 70s, eighties, that time period.
And many call it the birth placeof the punk rock scene in New
York City. So if you're into punk rock,
there's some cool informational things that you can find there
(02:31):
or different pieces of punk rockhistory that you can look up and
go explore in these village. First, we're going to talk about
places to eat. Some of these places we've
talked about before, so we mightgo through them a little bit
quicker, but we'll reference youto our website,
bettertogetherhere.com. If you hear a place that we're
talking about and you want to learn more about it, go to our
website, search the name of thisrestaurant or bar or spot that
(02:53):
we talked about and in all likelihood we will have more
information there for you to understand it first.
And probably top probably the number one, we maybe shouldn't
have done this first because nowpeople might just sign off of
this podcast. Please don't but.
Frankly, if you're going to go to one place in the whole East
Village, I would say go to GianoGiano, one of our favorite
(03:13):
restaurants in New York City. Small, cozy, friendly staff.
We've been there over a dozen times.
Every single time it's the same staff.
The. I think it's a married couple.
We need to find this out, but I think it's.
A married couple find it out. I thought you found it out.
I think that happened. Either way, it's like it's very.
Something why and Ashley would do.
Probably it's very family feel in the sense of like, you can
(03:35):
tell like the people who work there, some of them are family
and good friends and they've known each other for a very,
very long time. Like good rapport.
And I think that makes a difference in a restaurant.
Beyond that though, their pastasare amazing, all homemade in
house everyday, great desserts, great coffees, good wine
selection, just you can't go wrong and the specials are
(03:55):
always amazing. Seriously, I cannot say enough
good things about this place. Again, if there's one place
you're going to go in this wholeepisode, go to Giano.
Well, we have said plenty more. We've done an entire episode
about Giano, so go check that out.
All right, next on our list, Vaselka.
So Vaselka is a very well known Ukrainian spot in these village.
It is more geared towards breakfast and that's probably
(04:18):
when it's the most popular and busy, but fantastic food.
We went once when we were traveling out here visiting one
of Ashley's long time friends who is in the city going to
school. Absolutely loved it.
So it gave us a really cool opportunity to try a type of
cuisine that we had never tried before until then.
Yeah, not a lot of people have had Ukrainian food.
We haven't very often. Similarly, third on our list,
(04:41):
kafana. So kafana is Serbian food.
And oh man, did they have amazing options for us when we
were there. We've been once kind of randomly
stumbled upon it. We had an amazing lamb dish.
It was Lamb, right? Yeah, it was like a lamb, rice
and vegetable situation with like a yogurt sauce.
It was awesome. We got like a big carafe of
(05:02):
orange wine. It was like their house orange
wine. That was delicious and most of
the people in there were Serbianlike it was a it was such a
small restaurant. Not only were the workers mostly
Serbian, but it seemed like people coming in as well were
people from Serbia speaking Serbian.
So it's always a good sign when you go to a cuisine, a unique
restaurant that's from a specific place in the world and
(05:25):
people who are actually from there are at the restaurant, you
know, it's authentic, you know it's good.
Next on our list is Prince Tea House.
This place is a great place to go if you are a fan of tea,
which we are. You can go and you can order an
individual cup of tea. You can go and order like big
pots of tea and they also have amazing, amazing desserts.
(05:45):
So this would be a really fun place to go if you wanted
dessert before dinner, you wanted a little.
Dessert before dinner Spoil yourdinner.
Moms everywhere are panicked hearing.
This Well, we're adults, so if you want dessert before dinner,
I'm here to tell you that's fine.
And if you're a child listening to this, I hope that you had
permission and also it's OK to eat your dessert before your
(06:08):
dinner sometimes. As long as you eat your dinner,
yeah. These are the lies that adults
tell children. A great thing at Prince Tea
House is the. Is that like the layered cake?
Yeah, the. Crepe cake The matcha The matcha
crepe cake is my favorite thing to get when we go there.
It's so delicious. It has like 20 plus layers, a
very very thin crepe sprinkled with like matcha powder and
(06:33):
whipped cream. It's absolutely delicious.
If you've never tried a crepe cake, definitely get that here
and. If you want another dessert
spot, next on our list is Ray's Candy Store.
Ray's Candy Store has been an institution of the East Village
for decades. Ray himself is often there.
You can't miss him. You'll know exactly who he is.
He's like 80 or older, is that right?
(06:54):
He's getting up there in age. I don't know his exact age, but
he's been there since day one and he's still there.
He'll still pour some soft syrupfor you.
They have deep fried Oreos. Great place to grab some dessert
and then go sit and eat it in Tompkins Square Park, which is
otherwise known. As Rat Square Park.
And you can guess why. And we?
(07:16):
Actually one of the times we went to Ray's candy store, we
went across the street and we'reeating them at night in Tompkins
Square Park. And our friend Adam was like oh
we're going to go eat in Rat Square Park.
And we were like why is it called Rat Square Park?
And I kid you not, like 5 seconds later a rat like
scurried out from underneath where we were sitting.
So pretty self-explanatory. Also, Tompkins Square Park,
(07:39):
maybe not somewhere I want to goexplore in the middle of the
night. I'll just say that.
All right, next on our list, 7thSt.
Burger. There are multiple locations of
7th St. I believe this is the original
correct? I think so because it's on 7th
St. Right, OK, this is the original.
It's now expanded multiple, multiple locations throughout
the city, really good smash burger style, kind of thinner,
(08:02):
smaller burgers, but very well priced and they come out very,
very quickly. So even if there's a line, know
that it will move fast. Next on our list is 2 Boots
Pizza. This pizza spot is awesome if
you want like a pizza by the slice.
They have very unique flavors ontheir pizza.
Yeah, I think they have. I think they have one like with
Doritos, they're just very like obscure non common combinations
(08:27):
which some of them can look weird but they're pretty much
all tried and tested that they're going to be really good.
But in that same breath, they also have a really great like
pepperoni slice or cheese slice.But if you want to get creative
and try something brand new, this is a good spot to
experiment. Can't go wrong with two boots.
All right, next on our list, another Italian spot in these
village, Lavagna. Our friends Adam and Branson
(08:50):
took us here for the first time.Phenomenal spot, again, smaller.
They have nice outdoor seating and like combo indoor outdoor
seating when the weather is nice.
Every dish we've had there has been amazing.
It's a very small spot. Know that like it's a little bit
crowded moving around like many restaurants are in New York, but
can't go wrong with Lavagna. One main memory that's coming to
mind for Lavagna is that their ceiling is really cool.
(09:12):
It's like a copper ceiling. They have like copper tiles on
the ceiling. I believe you.
Very very cool vibe in there. The pasta is incredible.
Everything we've had there has been great.
Great small vibey Italian recommendation.
If you want some more pizza options, Joe's Pizza, there's a
Joe's Pizza in the East Village.You can't go wrong with Joe's.
(09:33):
Joe's gets a little bit of smackonline.
It's people have sometimes negative things to say about it.
They're all wrong and they're all just they're angry for
whatever reason. You can't go wrong with Joe's
Pizza. It's good pizza.
It's not the best pizza you'll ever have in your life, but it
is a high quality, fairly pricedNew York slice.
Who's talking crap on Joe's? So many people you've known.
(09:55):
Yeah. It, it gets a really like, it's
a lot. A lot of it is like the people
who just want to feel like I'm atrue New Yorker.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say negative things about Joe's
because I know other spots that are more unique and cool and
they're not touristy like Joe's.It's really that vibe of people
online. There's a whole culture of like
that type of stuff in New York City, of people who just like,
(10:18):
hate Manhattan, hate Midtown, hate anything that has more than
one location and think that it'sjust like a stain on the
internet's weird, man. I think that's silly.
And Joe's is always busy becauseit's good and you always get
fresh slices. I've never had like an old
mediocre slice at Joe's Pizza. It's always great.
If you're going to do a whole pie, if you're like a group of
at least three people, I would probably do a whole pie and
(10:39):
order ahead. You can do online pick up on
their website and you'll beat the line every single time.
OK, next on our list is Mama Fina's.
Mama Fina's is a phenomenal sit down Filipino restaurant.
So if you never had Filipino food before, a lot of rice, a
lot of soy sauce based dishes, alot of like if if you've had an
adobo before, they have really good things like lumpia, which
(11:03):
is kind of like spring rolls butmore flavorful.
I lived in the Philippines for two years.
I love, love, love Filipino food.
And Mama Fina's. It was, it seemed like they were
like a little bit searching for their identity of like what they
wanted to be inside the restaurant.
And I think that that has hurt them a little bit.
But the food itself? Extremely authentic and
(11:23):
delicious. Anything to have that place
Rocks. OK, next on our list, last of
the food options, San Marzano. So we went here before wine
class at a spot that we will actually mention later.
It's a sit down spot, but the prices do not reflect that you I
think we got our pastas for somewhere.
I think you could go in, sit down, get like the cheapest pops
(11:46):
pasta option and no other like drink or appetizer and probably
leave after tax and tip for lessthan $15 or less.
It was super affordable. Very affordable, especially for
New York standards. San Mardano had great pasta
options that were absolutely delicious.
Good portions for a very reasonable price.
(12:06):
We even got a bottle of like theleader bottles of Pellegrino for
I believe like $4.00 which is much cheaper than what you can
get at other Italian restaurants.
It also was very cute in there, very vibey, lots of young
people. Yeah, 'cause it is technically
it. It's like near Noho, it's near
NYU, so you definitely get a younger crowd there.
(12:27):
Speaking of schools, that leads us into this episode's New York
Know how? All right, this one again comes
from the book NYC Basic Tips andEtiquette by Nathan W Pyle.
We've talked about it before. We'll link it in the show notes.
Phenomenal coffee table book. Just a great gift as well.
If you have someone who loves New York or is traveling to New
(12:50):
York, this is New York City. Basic tips and etiquette #55
please mind your backpack. And it has a picture kind of
looking in through the roof of abus.
And there's someone standing in the middle walkway with their
hand up on the rail. And their giant backpack is
sticking into the walkway. And it says, your enormous
(13:10):
backpack makes it difficult to access this part of the bus.
Talking about the back of the bus.
And he says, I don't mean to exaggerate, but this ruins
everyone's life forever. Be aware of your backpack.
I again, a lot of people are traveling to New York.
They, they bring backpacks, you know, because you're out and
about for the day and you want all your stuff with you totally
get it. I take my backpack a lot of
places. You just have to be aware that
(13:32):
most spaces in New York, whetherit be inside of a restaurant, a
bar, the subway, a bus, a train station, whatever it is, they're
all kind of built for people without backpacks.
And the way you maneuver as a human, you're just not really
used to that. And so if you've got a backpack
on, you've got to know that it might be taking up walkway
space, it might be taking up space for someone to sit,
(13:52):
whatever it might be, you just, you got to be aware of it.
And if you're at the entrance ofa subway car and someone's
trying to get on and your giant backpacks in the way, more often
than not someone is just going to ram into you in your backpack
rather than saying excuse me, because it's automatically
assumed in the head of New Yorkers that you're the problem.
Because you kind of are. People don't have a lot of
(14:13):
respect for backpacks, let's just put it that way.
Backpacks can't get no respect. Can't get no respect?
All right, that's this episode'sNew York.
Know how? Be aware of your backpack.
Watch your backpack. Nailed it all right back to the
East Village places to grab a drink there are so many bars in
(14:34):
these village we're going to slide through seven of our
favorite here are we talked about this one before Amor E
Amargo this bar all the drinks are made with very unique
bitters and amaros Amaros if youdon't know they're like darker
herbal liqueurs usually from Italy very deep flavor rich
(14:55):
dense it's not everyone's cup oftea our friend BJ every he makes
a joke every time we see Amaro he we went here here we went
here with him and he just didn'tlike it at all which totally
fine but. I don't think he's an Amaro guy,
and that's yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
You just got to know what you'regetting into.
But the interior is awesome, like the decor is cool, the
(15:17):
ceilings, the wall, like the whole vibe in there is very not
like classic, not like classical, but.
Old school so classic is a good way to describe it.
It's so small. But like 1920s old.
School. Yeah, yeah, it's got some, like,
flapper flair. Yeah.
You also can buy a wide range ofbitters in here if you like
(15:37):
cocktails. If you like bitters, this would
be a great place to come and getyourself a gift, get a friend a
gift from your trip to New York.Highly recommend the spot.
Next on our list is Burp Castle.We've talked about this place
multiple times. It's one of our favorite bars in
the area. Burp Castle is a beer bar.
Most of them are imported from from Belgium.
Unique flavors. I've had a banana bread beer
(16:00):
from here is we've had a lot of like.
Sweeter like a Raspberry beer. Yeah, they.
Also have some Raspberry chiffonI don't.
Know yeah they also have some classic like loggers and.
But great beer options and they'll usually let you try if
there's, you know a new one thatyou're interested in.
Friendly ish beer prices anywhere from probably 8 to
$12.00 if you're getting like a more special beer.
(16:20):
But what's unique about Burp Castle is it is a quiet bar.
You are not supposed to talk louder than you would in a
library. And you will get shushed.
The bartenders will shush you, patrons will shush you.
It's one of my favorite things about Burb Castle.
It's just that 'cause you go to some bars, it's so loud, you
can't even hear yourself think. You can't talk to the people
(16:41):
you're with. It just feels like you're in a.
Screaming, screaming at each other and you're nodding and you
have no idea what your friend said.
This is not that place. This is a great place that go
have a have a beer, have a nice intimate conversation, actually
be able to hear each other. Most times we come here there's
someone reading a book so it's that kind of vibe.
Also can't forget to mention themurals.
(17:03):
The murals along the entire interior are just phenomenal.
Think kind of like Game of Thrones vibes with like people,
not like. With like Renaissance.
Like Renaissance? There's monks, so many monks.
On the wall, there's a ship that's like there's a.
Shipwreck. There's basically what looks
(17:23):
like the interior of like a pub slash kind of horror house.
Yeah, there's some boobs. There's some boobs.
There's some. Boobs on the wall it.
It but like amazing murals and it's just like this story that's
painted across the entire thing and it's just the whole vibe.
Don't skip burp castle love thatspot.
All right, next very different vibes than burp castle is please
(17:44):
don't tell. Please don't tell is a Speakeasy
that is actually accessible through a hot dog place called
Croft dogs, which inside of Please don't tell.
So you'll walk into Please don'ttell sorry, you'll walk into
Croft dogs. There's this kind of like phone
booth looking thing on your left.
The hot dog area is like straight ahead.
So you can't just go order hot dogs and and be there.
(18:06):
But to get into Please don't tell you dial A phone.
They'll ask you a reservation. Sometimes there is a wait.
So be aware that you know, if you're coming into the area,
especially on like a Friday night, go in, put your name down
and then see how long the wait is.
Maybe go somewhere else, come back.
But inside of please Don't tell,you can get some of the hot dogs
and some of the foods that that are available at Krift Dogs.
(18:27):
So you can kind of get both in one go.
But certainly that's not the highlight.
The highlight are the drinks. The drinks, so Please Don't
Tell, are some of my favorite drinks that we've had in the
city. They are a little on the more
expensive side, but I think deservingly so.
Their cocktails are very well crafted, very creative options.
They usually have like one that comes to mind.
I think there's like a bacon infused old fashioned, like just
(18:52):
very cool cocktails that you wouldn't find anywhere else.
And it's always like dimly lit. There's taxidermy on the walls.
Really fun place to go. Yeah.
Great Speakeasy. We're checking out.
It's called Please Don't Tell. Next on our list, The Bronx
Brewery. The Bronx Brewery also has so
multiple locations. This one in the East Village,
they show a lot of sporting events.
We went there for a WNBA Finals game.
(19:14):
They have, they're kind of joined in with a cool burger
spot as well. So there's fantastic burgers,
great beer options, really friendly staff.
I think they have video games inthe back corner and like pinball
and weird arcade games. Like it's just, it's a very
funky spot. We had a great time there.
Bronxbury is a great spot to go if you specifically want to
(19:36):
watch women's sports. They have all types of sports
on, but if there's a big like WNBA game on, you know that
they're going to be playing thatgame.
Very inclusive environment. They have tons of vegan food
options as well which a lot of places don't have.
Highly recommend we're. Going to take a quick break to
remind you to sign up for the Better Together Here newsletter.
We e-mail once a week with important things that you want
(19:59):
to know about New York City, thebest places to eat, the best
things to see, the best ways to get around, all the things that
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Next on our list is a more standard cocktail bar and that
is the Wayland. I actually first went to the
Wayland for a free kind of networking event that a software
that I use for my job was putting on.
(20:21):
So the first time I went, I got multiple drinks and appetizers
for free, which instantly, you know, gives it a saw.
I get the soft spot in my heart for this place.
But we've gone back since I think twice.
Awesome cocktails and like a very kind of just like bustling
atmosphere. They've good music playing, just
kind of a trendy spot. Great cocktails too.
(20:42):
One cocktail that I remember from this place is I got some
type of Margarita that was kind of like a green juice.
It tasted like like a health green juice but with tequila in
it and lime. Honestly, I really liked it.
You have to like green juice to like it, but I thought it was
very interesting. Next spot we're going to talk
(21:03):
about Barcade. We have mentioned Barcade and
other episodes. There are a handful of locations
of Barcade. It's just like it sounds.
It's a bar, it's an arcade. You combine them together you
get Barcade, great beer selection, good food options
actually if you want it, wide variety of games, everything
from pinball to NBA Jam to Asteroid and Galactica to Crazy
(21:25):
taxi to The Simpsons game like. Pac-Man.
Pac-Man driving games, shooters,like they've got it all.
It's like a really classic arcade.
And what's nice too is if like your quarter gets swallowed by
the machine, there are people there who are going to fix it.
A lot of times you go to arcade and like half the games are
broken and you can never get someone to help you if you lose
your quarters or whatever it is.Like it's well run, it's a well
(21:46):
oiled machine. It's definitely definitely worth
checking out. Arcade is a really fun option if
you want to go to a bar, but youdon't necessarily just want to
drink, you want something to do.This is a fun place to go with
like a small group of people, especially people you don't
maybe know that well, people youknow really well.
Very reliable fun spot. All right, last on our list of
places to drink in the East Village, certainly not least and
(22:09):
probably the oldest on the list.Definitely the oldest on this
list, One of the oldest bars in New York City, Mcsorley's Old
Ale House. Mcsorley's.
I've said it once in this episode, but it is another
institution of the East Village.It is a New York City proper
spot that has been around for over 100 years.
You walk in. Well, First off, we've walked by
(22:33):
Mcsorley's a dozen times. We've been into Mcsorley's a few
times. Every like, no matter what day
of the week it is. What time, Every single time we
walk by, it is the same guy, thesame bouncer out front.
I don't know his name. We should figure out his name.
Should I just name? It's always the same guy.
It's probably Pat. It looks so much like Pat it's
(22:53):
got. To be, I mean, Pat's brother
Pat, like his name has to be Pat.
We have a guy in our building who a worker in our building
whose name is Pat and they do look similar but also like Pat
is Irish, Pat is an. Old, bald Irish man.
So and so is this guy and he just like this literally could
be like Pat Mcsorley the 5th, who knows, but he's always
(23:13):
there, super friendly. It can get very, very crowded,
especially on weekends and laterin the evenings.
It's it's a popular spot. What's awesome about Mcsorley's
Old Ale House? They only offer 2 drinks dark
ale, light ale and when you order you order one ale and it
comes out in 2 glasses so be aware of that that it seems like
(23:35):
you're getting a ton but they'renot the biggest mugs but it's a
pretty fair price. I want to say it's like 8 it's.
Like 7 or $8? 7 or 8 bucks.
Per Beer. Yeah, and, and each one you're
getting, you know, two small mugs of it.
Recommend if you're going with one other person, one person
gets the light ale, one person gets the dark ale and you share
it. They do have food options.
Again, it gets very, very crowded.
(23:55):
I don't think I've ever been in there and have had space to sit
down. But we are usually going at more
popular, busy times. But it's an institution.
It is out of all these places for drinks that we've talked
about outside of Burp Castle being our probably like
individual favorite. Mcsorley's Old Ale House is
definitely one of the most famous and popular in the East
(24:16):
Village and if not all of Manhattan.
Like it has been around for a very, very long time.
Really cool decor. All the different people who've
come and had a drink at Mcsorley's, People on the wall,
famous people, just a slice of history we're checking out.
All right. And that leads us in to our next
section, which is going to be the things to do in East
Village. But also the first one is going
to be this episode's you'll haveto check it out segment.
(24:38):
The next stop is Astor Center and Astor Wine and Spirits.
So this is technically in Noho, which is like a little pocket
between Greenwich Village and East Village.
It's so close. We're including it as part of
this. We have been to Astor Center a
couple Times Now. We actually emailed about this
just about a month or so ago. If you're not on our e-mail
(25:00):
newsletter, be sure you join it Better Together here.com back
slash newsletter. We e-mail once a week, no spam,
no AI, no BS, just our authenticexperiences in New York City to
help you have a better time. Astor Center is part of Astor
Wine and Spirits, which has beenaround I think since the 70s.
And Astor Center itself was built within the last couple
decades and it's a, it's kind ofaround the corner from the wine
(25:23):
and spirits store. And it's a classroom
essentially. It is a classroom specifically
geared towards wine, cocktails, food and wine pairings.
They have a wide, wide variety of classes, of which we've been
able to take 2 so far. I would highly recommend
checking out the Astor Center Calendar and seeing if there's a
class that you are interested intaking.
(25:45):
Both of the classes that we've been to have been highly
informational and fun. You're getting a ton to drink,
you're getting a ton to learn, you're having a fun time.
Both of the instructors that we've had have been very sharp
personalities. They know a lot, but they teach
in a very entertaining way the most.
So the first class we did was a Mad Men era cocktails.
We made, I believe four different cocktails and they
(26:07):
kind of took us through the history of that time period and
why those drinks were popular and the arguments of shaken
versus stirred on certain cocktails, like all into the
details. The most recent one we did was
an orange wines class, which wasso cool.
And the, our teacher for the orange wines class was actually
the owner. He used to be, well used to be
(26:30):
the owner. He he started As for wine and
spirits, he's no longer the likeacting owner, but he is kind of
the guy behind Astor Center and Astor Wine and Spirits.
And he was just a wealth of knowledge about, you know, a
topic, orange wine that I knew very little about.
But every time you go, you get small bites, usually some bread
to go along and some food pairings.
(26:51):
You get at least four to six drinks.
Basically all said and done. It's a great, great spot.
And when you go to ask our center, take the class, whatever
you're talking about during thatclass, they usually give you 10
to 20% off to go into Astor Wineand Spirits just around the
corner and get those drinks, cocktails or sorry, liquors,
(27:11):
wines, whatever it might be at adiscount.
Just a little pro tip, if you are going to take a class Astor
center and it's alcohol based, Ihighly recommend eating dinner
before you go to this. Why is that actually?
Because when we did the Mad Men cocktail class, I don't know
why, but we didn't eat dinner. You came straight from work or
like pretty much, yeah. I think we met there.
(27:32):
You came from work. Yeah, and after the first
cocktail, I was like, oh, I'm a little drunk.
And we had like three or four more cocktails to make.
It was quite a night. It was really fun though.
Like it was fun. It's nice to take a class where
you feel like you're actually getting what you pay for.
Like, got a great lesson, learned a lot about making
cocktails, learned a ton about the history, and got a little
silly in the process. And I think most of them are,
(27:53):
it's roughly an hour and a half to two hours long, which I think
it's just the right amount. And they cost anywhere,
depending on the classroom, like65 to $100 per person.
So it seems steep, but you're getting an in person experience,
you're learning a lot, and you're getting a bunch of
alcohol. So that is this episode.
You'll have to check it out. Segment a store center and a
(28:14):
store wine and spirits. Stand clear of the closing
doors, please. All right, moving forward with
some fun things to do in the East Village.
Next on our list is similar ish to Astor Center and that's
Atelier Sucre. I don't know if I'm pronouncing
that right. This is I got this as a gift for
Ashley for her birthday. Yes, birthday.
(28:37):
We did a pastry making class. It's this.
That was so fun. It's pastries, right?
Yeah. What?
What are those called? We did like cream puffs.
Cream puffs. They were cheese puffs.
And then the Eclair. Oh yeah, chocolate eclairs.
Chocolate eclairs and it was theagain, the teacher here, this
isn't just some random guy like Hawking information about how to
make pastries. Like this guy was like a very
(28:58):
seasoned and advanced pastry chef.
The class was really cool. I think there was maybe 16 ish
people in there total. You're at a table usually with
four people total. They have all the ingredients
laid out for you already. They're walking you through the
process of each step. They are able to do hands on
help if you need it. He's kind of explaining why you
(29:20):
do one thing versus the other. I mean, it was and you get
delicious snacks to eat and to take home.
Yeah, the guy that we did the class with was very
knowledgeable, but he also was very down to earth and not
pretentious at all. Like I'd never made any of these
French pastries. And he made it very fun and like
a very like easy learning experience.
(29:42):
Yeah. So that's Atelier, Sucre,
ATELIER. And then SUCRE, if you want to
look this up, we'll try a link to it in the show notes as well.
It's probably French atelier. Yeah, we're certainly saying it
wrong, but that's OK. We're pretty American.
And last on our list of things to do in the East Village is an
amazing thrift store. We had gone to Giano with my mom
(30:07):
and aunt who were in town and wewere walking back to the subway.
And my mom has an amazing knack for finding thrift stores and
like just having this like sixthsense of knowing where thrift
stores are and if they're good or not.
There was like a clearance rack outside that had things.
What was it, 3 dollars or three?Dollars.
Yeah. So you know that they hooked us
(30:27):
with that, but then we went in and it's this very small compact
thrift store. But it's a real thrift store in
that it's we've got like vintagethings.
It has kind of more modern things, but it's not some thrift
stores nowadays are just an excuse to charge people like
$150.00 for a starter jacket that's old or like a old
T-shirt. But like this is a real thrift
(30:48):
store with jewelry, with clothing, with some Knick knacks
for around the home. We got a little piece of art,
like phenomenal spot. I think we got like a couple
items of clothing as well. They had a very wide selection
of like really cute name brand stuff that was in great
condition. I realized we didn't tell
anybody. We didn't tell people the name.
(31:10):
It's AUH 2O owl H2O or we lookedthis up previously.
AU is gold, gold H2O is water. So on the.
Periodic table of elements, so gold and water.
So there's your signs. We didn't.
Have to look it up. I told you it was gold, right?
I've taken chemistry a lot of times.
That was my worst grade ever in college was chemistry, so yeah.
(31:33):
Same, that's why I had to take it so many times.
It's too difficult, but AUH 2 OA, great thrift store, very
nice staff as well. Very down to earth.
Just a great spot to check out. And that wraps up our favorite
spots in the East Village. We went through 21 different
spots. We weren't telling you all the
numbers, but there's 21 of them.The East Village is such a fun
(31:53):
place to go and explore. I prefer it in the evenings.
Just seems like it's a little bit more lively and energetic.
You can't go wrong heading to a restaurant, getting a nice meal,
going to a bar to after, and just really just kind of walking
around and exploring what the East Village has to offer.
If you haven't already, please, please, please leave us a review
(32:13):
Apple podcast, Spotify, rate US,review us all those different
things and make sure you sign upfor a newsletter,
bettertogetherhere.com, back slash newsletter.
And other than that, we'll catchyou on the next episode.
The last stop on this screen. Everyone, please leave the
frame. Thank you for watching.
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