February 25, 2025 • 34 mins
While Midtown Manhattan has many negative stereotypes among New Yorkers, the neighborhood is full of top-notch restaurants, vibrant bars, and phenomenal activities!
In this article, we'll focus on what we're calling 'Upper Midtown,' or the area from 50th Street to Central Park and 8th Avenue to 5th Avenue.
Top 4 Things to Do in Upper Midtown
Top 4 Restaurants in Upper Midtown
- Sugarfish - Get one of the omakase options; we usually get the Trust Me
- Quality Italian - Must try their homemade sambuca, Lobster alla vodka, and Whipped ricotta
- Kin Ramen
- Bengal Tiger
Top 4 Coffee Shops in Upper Midtown
This Episode's You'll Have to Check It Out Segment - The Ribbon
The Ribbon is a cozy spot near Central Park West on the Upper West Side, with friendly staff, a phenomenal happy hour, and plenty of TVs with sports. They offer delicious drinks & their top-notch chicken tenders are probably our favorites in NYC.
Their happy hour, daily from 4-7 pm, includes $7-$13 bites (including the chicken tenders) and $6 beer, $10 well drinks & wine, and $12 specialty cocktails, including a margarita, old fashioned, and pineapple mule.
Check out The Ribbon on 72nd Street here.
Top 4 Bars in Upper Midtown
- Valhalla
- Tanner Smith’s - Brunch bottomless cocktails - $35 with the purchase of an entree for 90 minutes
- Haswell Green’s - Named after Andrew Haswell Green, an influential city planner for NYC. Green was responsible for Central Park, the New York Public Library, the Bronx Zoo, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and also participated in or led significant projects, such as Riverside Drive, Morningside Park, Fort Washington Park, and protecting the Hudson River Palisades from destruction.
- Faces & Names - Great trivia set up every Tuesday night, solid food options include mini tacos, burgers, and pretzel bites
Top 4 Places to Shop Upper Midtown
- 5th Ave/Rockefeller Center
- Nordstrom
- Columbus Circle
- Tj Maxx on 57th street & 8th avenue
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
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,
everyone. And welcome to today's episode
of the Better Together Here podcast.
My name is Devin. And my name is Ashley.
And in today's episode, we are giving you an ode to Midtown.
Midtown is often the butt of many jokes when you are
(00:22):
referencing Manhattan and New York City.
And we are going to tell you whythose jokes are wrong, although
they have some truth to them. Balance.
Balance. So let's get right into it.
There are lots of jokes about Midtown and about how there's no
good food there and it's only a tourist trap.
And they're wrong. Personally, I love midtown.
(00:43):
Midtown is where we live. I will say we've only ever lived
in Midtown, but after living in Midtown I it's really hard to
imagine living anywhere else because Midtown is quite
literally where everything is happening.
Most of the things that you wantto do when you're in New York
City are in Midtown, so already living here is very convenient.
(01:04):
Of course, that does have some drawbacks of it is often quite
crowded, but we're going to focus in specifically on what
we're going to call Upper Midtown or Central Park South.
We're talking about from 50th St. to the park, which is
basically 60th St. and we're going roughly from 8th Ave. to
(01:24):
5th Ave. That just literal square chunk
that's right below Central Park.What we love about Upper
Midtown, again, this is the areathat we live in, but you are far
enough outside of like the true Times Square and Theater
District stuff that it's outsideof that craziness in crowds, but
you're close to Central Park. There are actually some amazing
(01:45):
restaurants, bars, coffee shops,places to shop, things to do.
We're going to cover our top 4 for each of those categories
because we have lived in Upper Midtown for about four years
now. All right, first category, top
four things to do in Upper Midtown.
We'll start at #4 Carnegie Hall.Carnegie Hall is an iconic venue
(02:08):
that has been around for decadesand decades.
It is a beautiful building as well.
The exterior is worth walking. Even if you don't go in and go
to a show, it is worth walking by Carnegie Hall just to see the
exterior. It has been on many shows and
movies and. Carnegie Hall is built in 1891.
(02:30):
1891 So it is a piece. Over 100 years.
Over 125 years. A piece of history.
There are multiple like areas within Carnegie Hall that has
events. They are more along the lines of
symphonies and pianists and individual vocal artists and not
like someone like Kendrick Lamar.
(02:50):
Although Kendrick Lamar, but he could probably play Carnegie
Hall. He could absolutely play
Carnegie Hall. One day we'll call him and and
tell him that he should. Unfortunately, right now, as
we're recording this February of2025, Carnegie Hall does have
scaffolding around it. And it's like funny because it's
scaffolding that they've made to.
Look like the outside of Carnegie Hall.
(03:11):
Which is OK, but. Scaffolding sucks.
That scaffolding has been there for almost as long as we've
lived here, which is really dumb.
But check out Carnegie Hall, OK #3 on top, four things to do in
upper Midtown. Radio City.
Radio City, again, another iconic venue.
We have seen multiple shows there.
We have seen Gideon, who's an R&B artist.
(03:32):
We have seen the comedian Jim Gaffigan.
We have seen the Rockettes. Radio City is one of those
venues where you hear about it, you see it on shows, you see it
in movies, you know, you hear, you know the name.
And when you walk in like it lives up to the hype.
And it is just this beautiful building, so spacious, so much
(03:52):
seating. The acoustics are perfect.
I mean, you can't beat Radio City Music Hall.
One thing that's wild about Radio City is you have
absolutely no idea how huge thatvenue is from the outside.
Like it has a huge sign outside.This is Radio City.
Pretty iconic, very beautiful. But when you step inside, you
truly like it's an absolutely massive venue.
(04:13):
And it will say like, there's nobad seat in the house.
We've sat in every single tier. We sat down in the orchestra.
There's not a bad seat in that house.
And like Devin said, the acoustics in that building are
amazing. Great spot to go to a concert,
to see your favorite band, to gosee the Rockettes.
If you hear around the holidays.Highly recommend Radio City as a
music venue. #2 on the list, theMuseum of Modern Art or the MO
(04:36):
Ma as it is called. We have talked about this
before. We've done a whole episode about
the best places to eat near the MO Ma.
We love the MO Ma. We go pretty frequently.
It is a multi floor massive museum right in the heart of
upper Midtown. It's on 53rd St.
It's modern art. So there might be some pieces
that you just don't get and you don't think are that exciting or
(05:00):
beautiful or whatever, but it isa very unique museum and they
have a lot of different exhibitions that rotate through
and change from time to time. So even if you've been to the
MoMA before, you can come back again and you'll see something
different. I think similarly to the Met, I
think the MoMA really has something for everybody.
Like Devin mentioned, it is modern art.
(05:21):
So there is more modern art thanthere are other types of art.
But maybe I'm going to send somereal art nerds by saying this,
but if you don't think that modern art is your thing, you
can always walk around and play the game that Devin and I like
to play called art or fart. Which fart is essentially the
art that you think that you could make or your 3 year old
(05:44):
nephew could make, or you just don't get it.
And sometimes you don't have to get all the art, and I think
that that's fine. It's a great game to play you
you'll never unhear it. Now that we've now that you've
heard it from us, you'll never unhear it and it's a great,
great game to play. All right.
And that leads us to number one on our list of the top four
things to do in Upper Midtown Central Park.
We have done multiple episodes about Central Park.
(06:05):
We've covered things to do. We have covered secret spots
we've covered. We have an article on our
website about places that have apicnic.
We we have so much content aboutCentral Park.
It is arguably our favorite partabout New York City.
Central Park is amazing. It is a massive, massive park.
It is thousands of acres. There are forest, there are
(06:30):
lakes, there are statue. I mean, it is all that you think
it might be and then some. Central Park is, like Devin
said, one of our favorite spots in all of New York City.
We happen to live near Central Park and we take our dog every
single morning to Central Park. Central Park has off leash
hours, so if you're a fan of dogs and want to see a wide
variety of dog breeds. I will say I've seen more types
(06:54):
of dogs just walking around Central Park than I have living
anywhere else, so great variety of dogs.
If you go before 9:00 AM you cansee all the dogs running around
off leash which is really cool. Great spot to go have a picnic.
Great spot to bring a frisbee walk around.
Incredible variety of things to do in Central Park.
(07:14):
The only things to skip in Central Park are the horse drawn
carriage rides and the pedicab tours.
Just don't do them. We've covered this in other
episodes. Instead, rent a city bike walk.
There are electric scooter rentals.
There are plenty of other ways to get around Central Park, and
there's a free Central Park audio guide.
Again, we've done an episode about this, so you don't need a
tour guide. You can get it all on your own.
(07:37):
All right, next category we're going to cover is the top 4
restaurants in Upper Midtown. But before that, we're going to
do this episode's New York know how.
All right, This one again is from New York City Basic Tips
and Etiquette by Nathan W Pyle. We've talked about it before.
We'll link it in the show notes.Great coffee table book about
(07:58):
New York City. Phenomenal artwork and
illustrations as well. OK, so this one is New York City
Basic Tips and etiquette #80 it is a man holding the door open.
You can see that it is cold. He's bundled up, there's snow.
His thought bubble says, lol, I'm so indecisive.
And the tip is close the door quickly or everyone in the
(08:18):
restaurant will hate you. A lot of the restaurants do have
the double door feature so that you get less of a draft coming
in and out. But restaurants in New York City
are often small, and if you whenyou open the door, the front
third of that restaurant is going to feel the cold air
coming in. So close the door quickly behind
you. If you have a big group, get
(08:39):
everybody in. close the door behind you.
If you are waiting to be SAT, try and move in so that people
aren't standing with the door open.
Just don't leave the door open freezing.
There's nothing worse than enjoying like your fresh hot
food that's just come from the kitchen and then getting
absolutely blasted by 15° air from the outside because
(08:59):
someone's like holding the door open for way too long.
You're going to piss everyone off.
So that's this episode's in New York.
Know how close the door quickly.Our four favorite restaurants in
Upper Midtown. We'll go starting with #1 Sugar
Fish. Sugar Fish is an omakase style
(09:19):
sushi place. If you're not familiar with what
that means, that means there is a set menu that you order from.
They bring out each fish, each piece of sushi or sushimi or
nigiri individually on its own, and it's all kind of preset by
the sushi chef. It's not like you're ordering a
a Philadelphia roll and a dragonroll.
(09:41):
They do have individual roll options but get the omakase and
the best thing about sugar fish is that it is affordable
Omakase. Most omakase options you're
spending at least $70.00. I feel like it's kind of
standard. Or more I would say to typical
omakase that I've seen. Is it like at least $100 a
person? And Sugar Fish has an option, I
(10:03):
believe as cheap as $39.00 for one of their 'cause they have,
they have three different tiers of omakase where it's like,
obviously as you pay more, you're getting more sushi per
meal per person, but a $39.00 omakase option is fantastic and
it's amazing sushi. Really, really great quality
(10:23):
sushi at a more affordable price.
And it also is a no tipping establishment, which really
makes a difference when you're paying like 20% less for your
meal just because you're not expected to tip.
There's not even an option to tip.
Like that's not like you don't have to tip here, but you can
like there's no tipping, which is really nice.
So check out Sugar Fish. Pro tip, try to go during off
(10:45):
hours because it can be very busy.
They do not take reservations. So if you know you're in the
area and you're wanting to go there, go in first, check, make
sure what availability looks like.
And then you might be able to, you know, go somewhere else for
30 or 40 minutes and come back. I highly recommend.
Sorry, Yeah, I highly recommend going for lunch.
It's usually less busy during lunch.
Or if you're going to go for dinner, try to make it like an
(11:06):
earlier dinner. This would be an awesome spot to
go to if you were going to go toa Broadway show afterwards.
Most Broadway shows start at 7:00 PM, so if you have a nice
dinner around 5:00, that's when I would recommend going.
Usually when we walk by around like 7:00 to 8:00, there's
usually a line out the door which is deserving.
This place is awesome, but if you don't want to wait in a
(11:28):
line, go during their off hours.All right #2 on our list is
quality Italian. Quality Italian, absolutely
phenomenal spot. The restaurant itself is really
cool because when you walk by, it doesn't look very big, but
they have this. You walk upstairs, most of the
seating is upstairs and it is a massive seating area upstairs
and you're kind of a floor above.
(11:51):
I think you're on 6th Ave. And so you kind of get just this
fun view of the happenings on 6th Ave.
An amazing spot. We had their whipped ricotta,
which was absolutely amazing. You had the.
What was it? I had their lobster Ala vodka
pasta when I was there. It was the best Ala vodka pasta
(12:13):
I've ever had. It was like an entire lobster's
amount of meat in the dish, which was awesome, and they
actually lit it on fire before they gave it to me, which was
really fancy and fun. I will mention that this is not
like a casual restaurant, this is like a fine dining
establishment, so make sure thatyou're not wearing a sweatshirt
(12:35):
and shorts. Yeah, it it's definitely a
little bit It it's, it's nicer. It's fancy.
You wouldn't want to come underdressed.
Yeah. And a lot of the places we
recommend are a little bit more casual.
This one is like, I would dress up a little bit, Yeah.
Arguably my favorite thing that we had at Quality Italian was
their homemade Sambuca. If you have not had sambuca,
it's worth trying. It basically is like licorice
(12:58):
flavored liqueur. It's Italian.
Oh man, they're homemade sambucaIt it was just amazing.
You have to try it if you go OK,that's quality Italian.
All right, third on our list, Kin Ramen.
We have talked about Kin Ramen before.
It is a smaller ramen spot rightin the heart of upper Midtown,
only a couple blocks from Central Park.
(13:18):
They have delicious ramen, delicious appetizers, really fun
cocktails, and I love the decor and just the overall vibe.
You walk into Kin Ramen and it feels like you are stepping onto
into Ramen St. in actual Tokyo, Japan.
We've been to Tokyo. They hit the ambiance and the
feeling right up, like it is just, it's perfect.
(13:41):
Really cozy spot to go with people when you go.
We love to get the fried chickenappetizer.
I'm going to pronounce it wrong.I think it's Karage.
Not sure, but incredible fried chicken appetizer and we love
the Kin Ramen. I think Devin, you'd normally
get the spicy one right. Yeah, the spicy 1.
Great flavor. The food comes out very quickly.
(14:03):
It's a good, like, quicker spot to get dinner, yeah.
It can get busy so again, if youcan go during off hours great.
Also pro tip, make sure you go to the bathroom your kin ramen
because it is arguably the greatest bathroom in all of New
York City. Maybe the?
World. The world.
I've never been into a bathroom that has better decor than Kin
Ramen. Like, OK, like what?
(14:25):
Is it about the decor that speaks to you?
I don't know if I really remember the bathroom.
Oh, it is like again. And it it's like a scene out of
like an anime movie, like feels like you're in Tokyo and it's
like the paintings you just said.
It's amazing. Like a little sidebar here.
I genuinely think that when you put thought into your bathroom
(14:48):
as a restaurateur, you are showing that you care and that
you care about the ambience and you care about the overall
experience. Because it's really easy to just
have a basic bathroom that doesn't really match your decor,
doesn't really match what you'redoing.
But when you go the extra mile, I don't know, it sounds weird,
but it it makes a difference, atleast to me.
I get your point. Similarly, sugar fish.
(15:09):
They have two different hand soaps after you go to the
bathroom. They have one before eating and
one after 'cause they. Want yeah, but again, they give
thought to what's happening because like we all go to the
bathroom and like the bathroom is part of the experience when
you go to restaurants and when people don't think about it, it,
it can be a it can be like a detractor from the experience,
or it can be a positive, like itis at Sugarfish Kin Ramen.
(15:32):
Speaking of the fact that we allgo to the bathroom, let's just
let's just take it here. One of my rules that I give
everyone that we're traveling around New York City with or
that comes to visit or that we're mobbed around the city
with is you have to go to the bathroom where you already are.
So don't like if you're at a restaurant and you're like, oh,
I kind of have to pee when we'reall leaving.
Maybe I'll hold it like just peewhere you are.
(15:55):
Because there are not really public bathrooms in New York
City. And there is nothing worse than
having one person in your group that has to pee and they have to
pee right away. And you're like, well, I don't
know where to take you like there's you probably have to.
Like, go to a bar or a restaurant and like, buy an item
or hope that they're gonna be nice enough to let you in.
But a lot of them will not because a lot of places in New
York, they they don't want people coming in and using their
(16:17):
bathrooms. That reminds me of that scene in
Big Daddy where he's trying to take the kid to the bathroom and
the guy's like, no customers only and then they like.
Pee on the wall. Yeah, yeah, like there.
There is a lot of truth to that scene in Big Daddy.
OK, 4th on our list of our four favorite restaurants in Upper
Midtown. Bengal Tiger.
I believe we've talked about this one as well.
It has changed locations since we have been going to it, but
(16:40):
both of them are actually in this Upper Midtown area that
we're talking about. Bengal Tiger is just a really
great kind of no frills, authentic, delicious Indian
restaurant with good staff. The food comes out quickly, the
portions are fair and their lunch special is amazing.
I think it's $20 and you get is it 20 I?
(17:00):
Think it's 25? 20 or 25, but you're getting an
appetizer, a full entree and a dessert I believe, which is just
a great deal generally. And they have that running at
all times for lunch. Bengal Tiger is just a solid,
solid spot for great Indian food.
I've never had anything that waslike mediocre there.
Everything's always been great. Staff's really nice, really
(17:22):
affordable. Highly recommend this spot if
you like Indian food. Especially their coconut naan.
The first time I think I ever had coconut naan was at Bengal
Tiger. And it is, it's amazing.
It's very unique, very good. So those are four of our
favorite restaurants in Upper Midtown.
We're going to talk about coffeeshops.
If you're in Upper Midtown, you're probably about to go to
Central Park or to go to the MoMA, and you don't want to be
(17:45):
tired. So we'll go through four of our
favorite coffee spots #1 Blue Bottle.
Blue Bottle is a chain. There are multiple Blue Bottle
establishments throughout the city.
It's a really, really good cup of coffee.
And I like the interior setup aswell 'cause it's just very
minimal and very clean. One of my favorite things to get
when I go to Blue Bottle is the iced NOLA coffee.
(18:09):
It's like a slightly sweetened coffee with chicory infused cold
brew with milk. Highly recommend that one, very
yummy. Another spot that we like for
coffee in Midtown is Zebetto Espresso.
It is a really small coffee counter on your way to Central
Park likely, and it's what the name sounds like.
It's just a classic espresso bar.
(18:30):
It's a great spot if you just want to grab like a quick
cappuccino on your way somewhere.
They do have some outdoor seating like kind of on the
sidewalk in the like warmer months.
But again, you can just go in. There's enough places to stand.
They have homemade like Italian cookies and biscotti.
Great, great spot. Another coffee shop we like is
Ground Central Coffee Company, so they have multiple locations
(18:52):
in Upper Midtown and throughout New York City.
Again, just a a friendly spot. They have fun decor, they always
have good music playing, and thecoffee is delicious. 4th on our
list. This one's kind of out of left
field a little bit and one that's very special to us
specifically because it's just part of our daily routine.
But it is a bodega on the cornerof 56th and 7th St. called
(19:16):
Flavor Taste, which is just a hilarious name.
Flavor, taste. I'm not gonna lie, it's not the
best cup of coffee you're ever gonna have.
But if you just want like a small coffee on your way to like
walking through Central Park, I believe the small coffee with
milk I get every morning when I'm taking my dog is like 199,
which I don't know. If you're going to like another
(19:38):
coffee spot, you're probably paying like 4 or $5 just for a
basic cup of coffee. It's always the same people that
are working in there. I believe it's a family.
I'm not positive on that. I should probably find that out,
But they also have your classic bodega stuff like if you wanted
to go in and get a chopped cheese, you could you could get
a hamburger, you could get a grilled cheese, You could get an
(19:59):
amazing bacon, egg and cheese. Bodegas also have a lot of like
drugstore items. So if you needed like some
aspirin or you needed a Gatoradeor you needed cream cheese, like
they have a lot of like grocery store drugstore items also in
here as well if you needed some convenience store things.
So those are our top four coffeeshops in Upper Midtown.
(20:19):
And that leads us to this episodes.
You'll have to check it out segment.
The next stop is the Ribbon. All right, The Ribbon is not in
Midtown, but we are including itin this episode because we went
here recently and absolutely loved it.
It is a cozy spot near Central Park West on the Upper West
Side. So it kind of ties into this
that if you're hanging around Midtown and then you want to
walk through Central Park, you could walk up to the Ribbon.
(20:42):
It's just on 72nd St. and Central Park West.
The staff is friendly, there's plenty of TV's with sports on,
and their best part is their happy hour.
Their happy hour is every day from 4:00 to 7:00 PM.
It includes $7.00 to $13 bites and then also a phenomenal drink
option, $6 beer, $10 well drinksand wine, and even $12.00
(21:04):
specialty cocktails including a delicious Margarita, a
phenomenal Old Fashion, and an absolutely underrated Pineapple
Mule that I had that was so, so good every day from 4:00 to
7:00. But the best part, arguably, of
the ribbon. The chicken tenders.
The chicken. Tenders.
Really, really solid chicken tenders.
Homemade blue cheese sauce. Perfect crisp, perfect size.
(21:29):
I don't know. Do the do the people know how
much we love chicken tenders? I don't think we've talked about
that. OK, so I'm a big connoisseur of
chicken tenders, specifically that anytime you go to a concert
or a music festival or a sporting event and you are, you
know, locked into that area and you are beholden to whatever
food options they are giving you, without a doubt, the best
value is always the chicken tenders.
(21:52):
Reason being, it's usually fairly priced, even for, you
know, festival food or concert prices, that type of thing.
It's usually a fair price and you almost always get 3,
sometimes 4 chicken tenders, which is a lot of food and it
always comes with fries. So when we're talking about
value flavor, it's hard to get chicken tenders wrong generally.
(22:14):
And so like, it's just, it's just the best option.
This is a total sidebar from like New York City specifically.
But next time you're at a concert or at a sporting event,
find the chicken tenders best value.
Also, the chicken tenders usually come out faster than
other things. Yes, exactly which matters.
I will add about the ribbons chicken tenders, it's not your
it's a step up from your classicchicken tender.
(22:34):
It's not like you're Tyson pre frozen chicken tender like these
are made in house. They have their own maybe like
panko bread crumb mixture on theoutside.
Really solid. I will also say their Margarita
is amazing. They use real juices.
It's not the pre the pre made like sour mix.
Really solid Margarita if you like a mark.
(22:55):
So that is this episode. You'll have to check it out.
Segment the Ribbon on 72nd St. and now back to an ode to
Midtown. Stand.
Clear of the closing doors, please.
Our four favorite bars in Upper Midtown.
These probably aren't in a superparticular order.
Well, the two through 4 are not in a particular order.
(23:15):
OK, let's start with faces and names.
Faces and names. It is a classic happy hour spot.
There are a lot of Midtown workers, corporate folk who come
to faces and names, so it can get pretty crowded.
Finance Bros. Finance Bros in the evening.
We love faces and names because they have good cocktails.
It's a cozy bar. The staff is friendly, but they
(23:38):
also have a great trivia setup every Tuesday night.
So if you like playing trivia, Faces and Names has a good
setup. They have a minimum per person.
I think it's 20 bucks, but they do prizes for every single round
so that I think there's usually 5-6 rounds.
They do mini prizes for each round and then the winner gets I
believe $100.00 gift card to I think.
(24:00):
It's A50. Dollar gift card, OK, but still,
if you win one or two rounds andhappened to win the whole night
like you're, you're coming out on top because the rounds like
if you win, you get like it's either an appetizer or a round
of beers for your table or a round of shots, couple different
options. As far as food it faces names.
We love the mini tacos. I can't remember how many it
(24:22):
comes with but it's like 8 or 10like really small delicious
tacos. The burgers are really solid.
Probably my favorite appetizer there is the pretzel bites.
Very very good food, nice atmosphere, music not too loud.
It has like a little bit of everything.
It has a huge draft list for beer, lots of bottles and cans
(24:42):
of beer as well. Great cocktails, little bit of
everything. Very solid spot.
Next on our list is Tanner Smith's.
Tanner Smith's can get very, very crowded in the evenings,
but outside of that, they are probably most well known for
their bottomless brunch, which is $35.00 with the purchase of
an entree and you can have it for 90 minutes.
(25:03):
And they're not. A lot of times when you go to
brunch at places with bottomlessbrunch, they're kind of crappy
cocktails that aren't actually really good, but that's not the
case with Tanner Smith's. Tanner Smith has an amazing
bottomless brunch. I've been there several times
with friends. Really solid cocktails at Tanner
Smith's and they also come in like really cute glassware which
I appreciate. The last time I went they gave
(25:24):
me one of their great cocktails in like a bathtub shaped glass.
I don't know why, but it was really cute.
Is that hard to drink out of a bathtub shaped glass?
Slightly especially 'cause I wason like drink 4 in 90 minutes at
this point. They also sometimes give you the
drink in like a really cute little tea cup.
The food here is awesome, but truly like every cocktail I've
(25:46):
had, even outside of the bottomless brunch cocktails have
been really really solid here. Next on our list, Haswell
Greens. So Haswell Greens is a great bar
in Midtown. I'm a little bit biased.
It is the Cleveland Browns supporters bar.
I'm a Cleveland Browns fan. So we go to Haswell Greens
pretty frequently during the NFLseason.
Even outside of that we have been and it is great.
(26:07):
They have. So the downstairs is kind of
like the standard bar and then the upstairs it's more of like
they have two different bar sections up there with kind of
different themes and there's often a live DJ.
The drinks are phenomenal, and it's got a lot of cool kind of
art and history on the wall. Haswell Greens.
It's actually named after AndrewHaswell Green, who was an
(26:27):
influential city planner for NewYork City.
He was actually behind so many things in New York.
He played a role in Central Park, the New York Public
Library, the Bronx Zoo, the American Museum of Natural
History, the Metropolitan Museumof Museum of Art, and also
participated in projects like Riverside Dr. Morningside Park,
Fort Washington Park, and protecting the Hudson River
(26:47):
Palisades from destruction. So Haswell, Andrew Haswell
Green, an iconic figure in New York City, the bar that they've
chosen to name after him, also avery, very solid option.
Haswell Greens again has great cocktails, reasonably priced,
made really well. They also have a huge beer
selection. Every time we've been to Haswell
Greens I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I liked
(27:10):
it. Also, their food's great.
I love their French fries. They also have good chicken
tenders. I.
Think we've had their burger as well?
Right, yes, we've had their burger.
Their nachos. Their chips and guacamole is
also great, highly recommend that.
But great spot if you want to drink before or after a Broadway
show or you're just walking around midtown.
(27:30):
Want a good cozy spot? Highly recommend.
They also have live music. I think most nights, if not
every night of the week, they have some type of live music,
whether it's a DJ or a band or some playing guitar, that type
of thing. So we're checking out, OK,
number one on our list. This is technically not in
Midtown. It's on the other side of 8th
Ave. but we're including it because it's so far north that
(27:51):
it kind of is a Midtown feel andyou don't quite feel like you're
in Hell's Kitchen yet. I'm.
Not going to lie, I kind of had to push Devin on including this
just because it's close enough to Midtown and this is arguably
our favorite neighborhood bar that we go to, Valhalla.
We've talked about this before on other podcasts, but Valhalla
is probably one of our favorite like beer bars that we go to.
(28:15):
Their draft list is very extensive.
They're always bringing in new things.
The staff is incredibly nice. They'll let you try a beer if
you're unsure of what you want. They always have sports on.
They don't usually have the sound on.
It's like you want to like watcha big game and you want to hear
like the commentators, but they do always have the major games
on. And they also have Mead, which
(28:35):
is a honey based kind of sweet. I guess it's between a beer and
a liquor. But Mead super, super great.
And yeah, we, we love Valhalla. It is always a good time.
They do have different specials,you just have to check on their
website and see. But that is Valhalla.
That rounds out our top 4 bars in Upper Midtown.
And the last category that we are going to cover for you in
(28:57):
our ode to Midtown is our top four places to shop.
OK, number one right off the batis Fifth Avenue. 5th Ave. is
famous for a lot of reasons, 1 of it being that that upper part
of 5th Ave. has so, so many shops.
A lot of them are like very fancy high end shops.
There's a the flagship Tiffany store.
There is an Armani. There's Gucci, there's Louis
(29:21):
Vuitton, there's Harry Winston. Like they have some very fancy
stores. The Chanel store is right there,
but they also have like an Abercrombie and Fitch.
They have a Zara, they have a Uniqlo.
Like they have more like typicaleveryday stores as well.
Yeah, there's a ton of shopping there.
We kind of included Rockefeller Center as part of this.
Rockefeller Center is its own kind of area, but some of the
(29:43):
like the Lego store that's famous, the Nintendo store, like
those kind of butt up right against 5th Ave.
So 5th Ave. Rockefeller Center, tons and
tons of good shopping with a huge variety #2 On our list is
the Nordstrom in upper Midtown. It is on Billionaire's Row.
If you're not familiar with Billionaire's Row, it's some of
those massive skyscrapers that are newer that are really close
(30:06):
to Central Park. One of the massive Billionaire's
Row skyscrapers, the entrance toit is actually right next to
this Nordstrom that is what, 3 or 4 stories tall.
There's the, the, the women's section is in one side of the
street and then the men's section is it on the other side
of the street. Like it is a huge conglomerate
(30:26):
of buildings all there that are all Nordstrom and it is huge.
Yeah, I believe the women's store is 5 or 6 floors.
It's absolutely massive. They have everything that you
could want there and like Devin mentioned, if you're looking for
the men's stuff, it is on the opposite side of the street and
the buildings don't connect. So if you're shopping with your
partner. It can be confusing.
(30:47):
Great Nordstrom one stop shop for anything you might need.
Next on our list of places to shop in Upper Midtown, Columbus
Circle. So Columbus Circle, there is the
Shops at Columbus Circle and there's also down beneath there
is the Turnstile Market. The Turnstile Market has
different like it's more food centric, but they do have some
kind of fun little shops. They have a little dog store and
(31:10):
there's a like anime store. Yeah, bookstore.
And then the the shops at Columbus Circle themselves have
a lot of your standard. They have Lululemon, They have a
Williams-sonoma, they have a JoeMalone.
They have AJ Crew, they have an H&M, they have a running store.
So more of like a typical mall. Yeah, but a good variety of of
(31:32):
stores there. And again, it's right next to
Central Park so it's a convenient spot to go.
Also public restrooms if you're needing them.
Last but definitely not least isthe TJ Maxx on 57th St. and 8th
Ave. I love TJ Maxx.
TJ Maxx is probably one of my favorite stores because I don't
like to pay like top dollar prices for pretty much anything,
especially clothes and shoes andcandles.
(31:55):
TJ Maxx if you're not. If you're not awoken to this, if
you have not become enlightened,TJ Maxx has an amazing candle
sele that are way cheaper than candles anywhere else.
Like you can get the big massivecandles that have 30 hours of
burn time for like $14.00 sometimes.
Love TJ Maxx. TJ Maxx also has great dog toys
(32:18):
if you have a furry friend at home and you want to get them a
souvenir from New York City. They have awesome, like, branded
clothing. They have home supplies.
I mean, I don't know if we have to explain TJ Maxx to the
people. They surely know.
But if you don't, if you're not,if you're listening and you're
not from America, like I would go to TJ Maxx just to experience
it because it's way cheaper. And a a lot of times too,
(32:42):
they'll have like branded sportsstuff like you might be able to
find like a Yankees hat or a Yankee shirt or a Knicks shirt.
Not all the time, but sometimes you can.
And it's going to be way cheaperthan getting it elsewhere.
All right, that was our ode to Midtown.
We love midtown. We think Midtown is a phenomenal
place, certainly has its drawbacks, but there is so much
to see and do. There are amazing restaurants.
(33:03):
There are amazing bars. Obviously there are some tourist
traps. And there are places that are
very expensive and that aren't actually really good.
But everything we've told you today is worth your time, worth
your money, worth going to. If you have not already, make
sure you sign up for our newsletter.
We e-mail once a week with fun facts and history about New York
City, tips we're getting around and exploring the city, places
(33:26):
you need to check out, current events and news, upcoming events
that you may want to check out if you're going to be in New
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(33:48):
guide to the best coffee shops. All the different things that
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for that. And other than that, we'll catch
you on the next episode.
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,
everyone. And welcome to today's episode
of the Better Together Here podcast.
My name is Devin. And my name is Ashley.
And in today's episode, we are giving you an ode to Midtown.
Midtown is often the butt of many jokes when you are
(00:22):
referencing Manhattan and New York City.
And we are going to tell you whythose jokes are wrong, although
they have some truth to them. Balance.
Balance. So let's get right into it.
There are lots of jokes about Midtown and about how there's no
good food there and it's only a tourist trap.
And they're wrong. Personally, I love midtown.
(00:43):
Midtown is where we live. I will say we've only ever lived
in Midtown, but after living in Midtown I it's really hard to
imagine living anywhere else because Midtown is quite
literally where everything is happening.
Most of the things that you wantto do when you're in New York
City are in Midtown, so already living here is very convenient.
(01:04):
Of course, that does have some drawbacks of it is often quite
crowded, but we're going to focus in specifically on what
we're going to call Upper Midtown or Central Park South.
We're talking about from 50th St. to the park, which is
basically 60th St. and we're going roughly from 8th Ave. to
(01:24):
5th Ave. That just literal square chunk
that's right below Central Park.What we love about Upper
Midtown, again, this is the areathat we live in, but you are far
enough outside of like the true Times Square and Theater
District stuff that it's outsideof that craziness in crowds, but
you're close to Central Park. There are actually some amazing
(01:45):
restaurants, bars, coffee shops,places to shop, things to do.
We're going to cover our top 4 for each of those categories
because we have lived in Upper Midtown for about four years
now. All right, first category, top
four things to do in Upper Midtown.
We'll start at #4 Carnegie Hall.Carnegie Hall is an iconic venue
(02:08):
that has been around for decadesand decades.
It is a beautiful building as well.
The exterior is worth walking. Even if you don't go in and go
to a show, it is worth walking by Carnegie Hall just to see the
exterior. It has been on many shows and
movies and. Carnegie Hall is built in 1891.
(02:30):
1891 So it is a piece. Over 100 years.
Over 125 years. A piece of history.
There are multiple like areas within Carnegie Hall that has
events. They are more along the lines of
symphonies and pianists and individual vocal artists and not
like someone like Kendrick Lamar.
(02:50):
Although Kendrick Lamar, but he could probably play Carnegie
Hall. He could absolutely play
Carnegie Hall. One day we'll call him and and
tell him that he should. Unfortunately, right now, as
we're recording this February of2025, Carnegie Hall does have
scaffolding around it. And it's like funny because it's
scaffolding that they've made to.
Look like the outside of Carnegie Hall.
(03:11):
Which is OK, but. Scaffolding sucks.
That scaffolding has been there for almost as long as we've
lived here, which is really dumb.
But check out Carnegie Hall, OK #3 on top, four things to do in
upper Midtown. Radio City.
Radio City, again, another iconic venue.
We have seen multiple shows there.
We have seen Gideon, who's an R&B artist.
(03:32):
We have seen the comedian Jim Gaffigan.
We have seen the Rockettes. Radio City is one of those
venues where you hear about it, you see it on shows, you see it
in movies, you know, you hear, you know the name.
And when you walk in like it lives up to the hype.
And it is just this beautiful building, so spacious, so much
(03:52):
seating. The acoustics are perfect.
I mean, you can't beat Radio City Music Hall.
One thing that's wild about Radio City is you have
absolutely no idea how huge thatvenue is from the outside.
Like it has a huge sign outside.This is Radio City.
Pretty iconic, very beautiful. But when you step inside, you
truly like it's an absolutely massive venue.
(04:13):
And it will say like, there's nobad seat in the house.
We've sat in every single tier. We sat down in the orchestra.
There's not a bad seat in that house.
And like Devin said, the acoustics in that building are
amazing. Great spot to go to a concert,
to see your favorite band, to gosee the Rockettes.
If you hear around the holidays.Highly recommend Radio City as a
music venue. #2 on the list, theMuseum of Modern Art or the MO
(04:36):
Ma as it is called. We have talked about this
before. We've done a whole episode about
the best places to eat near the MO Ma.
We love the MO Ma. We go pretty frequently.
It is a multi floor massive museum right in the heart of
upper Midtown. It's on 53rd St.
It's modern art. So there might be some pieces
that you just don't get and you don't think are that exciting or
(05:00):
beautiful or whatever, but it isa very unique museum and they
have a lot of different exhibitions that rotate through
and change from time to time. So even if you've been to the
MoMA before, you can come back again and you'll see something
different. I think similarly to the Met, I
think the MoMA really has something for everybody.
Like Devin mentioned, it is modern art.
(05:21):
So there is more modern art thanthere are other types of art.
But maybe I'm going to send somereal art nerds by saying this,
but if you don't think that modern art is your thing, you
can always walk around and play the game that Devin and I like
to play called art or fart. Which fart is essentially the
art that you think that you could make or your 3 year old
(05:44):
nephew could make, or you just don't get it.
And sometimes you don't have to get all the art, and I think
that that's fine. It's a great game to play you
you'll never unhear it. Now that we've now that you've
heard it from us, you'll never unhear it and it's a great,
great game to play. All right.
And that leads us to number one on our list of the top four
things to do in Upper Midtown Central Park.
We have done multiple episodes about Central Park.
(06:05):
We've covered things to do. We have covered secret spots
we've covered. We have an article on our
website about places that have apicnic.
We we have so much content aboutCentral Park.
It is arguably our favorite partabout New York City.
Central Park is amazing. It is a massive, massive park.
It is thousands of acres. There are forest, there are
(06:30):
lakes, there are statue. I mean, it is all that you think
it might be and then some. Central Park is, like Devin
said, one of our favorite spots in all of New York City.
We happen to live near Central Park and we take our dog every
single morning to Central Park. Central Park has off leash
hours, so if you're a fan of dogs and want to see a wide
variety of dog breeds. I will say I've seen more types
(06:54):
of dogs just walking around Central Park than I have living
anywhere else, so great variety of dogs.
If you go before 9:00 AM you cansee all the dogs running around
off leash which is really cool. Great spot to go have a picnic.
Great spot to bring a frisbee walk around.
Incredible variety of things to do in Central Park.
(07:14):
The only things to skip in Central Park are the horse drawn
carriage rides and the pedicab tours.
Just don't do them. We've covered this in other
episodes. Instead, rent a city bike walk.
There are electric scooter rentals.
There are plenty of other ways to get around Central Park, and
there's a free Central Park audio guide.
Again, we've done an episode about this, so you don't need a
tour guide. You can get it all on your own.
(07:37):
All right, next category we're going to cover is the top 4
restaurants in Upper Midtown. But before that, we're going to
do this episode's New York know how.
All right, This one again is from New York City Basic Tips
and Etiquette by Nathan W Pyle. We've talked about it before.
We'll link it in the show notes.Great coffee table book about
(07:58):
New York City. Phenomenal artwork and
illustrations as well. OK, so this one is New York City
Basic Tips and etiquette #80 it is a man holding the door open.
You can see that it is cold. He's bundled up, there's snow.
His thought bubble says, lol, I'm so indecisive.
And the tip is close the door quickly or everyone in the
(08:18):
restaurant will hate you. A lot of the restaurants do have
the double door feature so that you get less of a draft coming
in and out. But restaurants in New York City
are often small, and if you whenyou open the door, the front
third of that restaurant is going to feel the cold air
coming in. So close the door quickly behind
you. If you have a big group, get
(08:39):
everybody in. close the door behind you.
If you are waiting to be SAT, try and move in so that people
aren't standing with the door open.
Just don't leave the door open freezing.
There's nothing worse than enjoying like your fresh hot
food that's just come from the kitchen and then getting
absolutely blasted by 15° air from the outside because
(08:59):
someone's like holding the door open for way too long.
You're going to piss everyone off.
So that's this episode's in New York.
Know how close the door quickly.Our four favorite restaurants in
Upper Midtown. We'll go starting with #1 Sugar
Fish. Sugar Fish is an omakase style
(09:19):
sushi place. If you're not familiar with what
that means, that means there is a set menu that you order from.
They bring out each fish, each piece of sushi or sushimi or
nigiri individually on its own, and it's all kind of preset by
the sushi chef. It's not like you're ordering a
a Philadelphia roll and a dragonroll.
(09:41):
They do have individual roll options but get the omakase and
the best thing about sugar fish is that it is affordable
Omakase. Most omakase options you're
spending at least $70.00. I feel like it's kind of
standard. Or more I would say to typical
omakase that I've seen. Is it like at least $100 a
person? And Sugar Fish has an option, I
(10:03):
believe as cheap as $39.00 for one of their 'cause they have,
they have three different tiers of omakase where it's like,
obviously as you pay more, you're getting more sushi per
meal per person, but a $39.00 omakase option is fantastic and
it's amazing sushi. Really, really great quality
(10:23):
sushi at a more affordable price.
And it also is a no tipping establishment, which really
makes a difference when you're paying like 20% less for your
meal just because you're not expected to tip.
There's not even an option to tip.
Like that's not like you don't have to tip here, but you can
like there's no tipping, which is really nice.
So check out Sugar Fish. Pro tip, try to go during off
(10:45):
hours because it can be very busy.
They do not take reservations. So if you know you're in the
area and you're wanting to go there, go in first, check, make
sure what availability looks like.
And then you might be able to, you know, go somewhere else for
30 or 40 minutes and come back. I highly recommend.
Sorry, Yeah, I highly recommend going for lunch.
It's usually less busy during lunch.
Or if you're going to go for dinner, try to make it like an
(11:06):
earlier dinner. This would be an awesome spot to
go to if you were going to go toa Broadway show afterwards.
Most Broadway shows start at 7:00 PM, so if you have a nice
dinner around 5:00, that's when I would recommend going.
Usually when we walk by around like 7:00 to 8:00, there's
usually a line out the door which is deserving.
This place is awesome, but if you don't want to wait in a
(11:28):
line, go during their off hours.All right #2 on our list is
quality Italian. Quality Italian, absolutely
phenomenal spot. The restaurant itself is really
cool because when you walk by, it doesn't look very big, but
they have this. You walk upstairs, most of the
seating is upstairs and it is a massive seating area upstairs
and you're kind of a floor above.
(11:51):
I think you're on 6th Ave. And so you kind of get just this
fun view of the happenings on 6th Ave.
An amazing spot. We had their whipped ricotta,
which was absolutely amazing. You had the.
What was it? I had their lobster Ala vodka
pasta when I was there. It was the best Ala vodka pasta
(12:13):
I've ever had. It was like an entire lobster's
amount of meat in the dish, which was awesome, and they
actually lit it on fire before they gave it to me, which was
really fancy and fun. I will mention that this is not
like a casual restaurant, this is like a fine dining
establishment, so make sure thatyou're not wearing a sweatshirt
(12:35):
and shorts. Yeah, it it's definitely a
little bit It it's, it's nicer. It's fancy.
You wouldn't want to come underdressed.
Yeah. And a lot of the places we
recommend are a little bit more casual.
This one is like, I would dress up a little bit, Yeah.
Arguably my favorite thing that we had at Quality Italian was
their homemade Sambuca. If you have not had sambuca,
it's worth trying. It basically is like licorice
(12:58):
flavored liqueur. It's Italian.
Oh man, they're homemade sambucaIt it was just amazing.
You have to try it if you go OK,that's quality Italian.
All right, third on our list, Kin Ramen.
We have talked about Kin Ramen before.
It is a smaller ramen spot rightin the heart of upper Midtown,
only a couple blocks from Central Park.
(13:18):
They have delicious ramen, delicious appetizers, really fun
cocktails, and I love the decor and just the overall vibe.
You walk into Kin Ramen and it feels like you are stepping onto
into Ramen St. in actual Tokyo, Japan.
We've been to Tokyo. They hit the ambiance and the
feeling right up, like it is just, it's perfect.
(13:41):
Really cozy spot to go with people when you go.
We love to get the fried chickenappetizer.
I'm going to pronounce it wrong.I think it's Karage.
Not sure, but incredible fried chicken appetizer and we love
the Kin Ramen. I think Devin, you'd normally
get the spicy one right. Yeah, the spicy 1.
Great flavor. The food comes out very quickly.
(14:03):
It's a good, like, quicker spot to get dinner, yeah.
It can get busy so again, if youcan go during off hours great.
Also pro tip, make sure you go to the bathroom your kin ramen
because it is arguably the greatest bathroom in all of New
York City. Maybe the?
World. The world.
I've never been into a bathroom that has better decor than Kin
Ramen. Like, OK, like what?
(14:25):
Is it about the decor that speaks to you?
I don't know if I really remember the bathroom.
Oh, it is like again. And it it's like a scene out of
like an anime movie, like feels like you're in Tokyo and it's
like the paintings you just said.
It's amazing. Like a little sidebar here.
I genuinely think that when you put thought into your bathroom
(14:48):
as a restaurateur, you are showing that you care and that
you care about the ambience and you care about the overall
experience. Because it's really easy to just
have a basic bathroom that doesn't really match your decor,
doesn't really match what you'redoing.
But when you go the extra mile, I don't know, it sounds weird,
but it it makes a difference, atleast to me.
I get your point. Similarly, sugar fish.
(15:09):
They have two different hand soaps after you go to the
bathroom. They have one before eating and
one after 'cause they. Want yeah, but again, they give
thought to what's happening because like we all go to the
bathroom and like the bathroom is part of the experience when
you go to restaurants and when people don't think about it, it,
it can be a it can be like a detractor from the experience,
or it can be a positive, like itis at Sugarfish Kin Ramen.
(15:32):
Speaking of the fact that we allgo to the bathroom, let's just
let's just take it here. One of my rules that I give
everyone that we're traveling around New York City with or
that comes to visit or that we're mobbed around the city
with is you have to go to the bathroom where you already are.
So don't like if you're at a restaurant and you're like, oh,
I kind of have to pee when we'reall leaving.
Maybe I'll hold it like just peewhere you are.
(15:55):
Because there are not really public bathrooms in New York
City. And there is nothing worse than
having one person in your group that has to pee and they have to
pee right away. And you're like, well, I don't
know where to take you like there's you probably have to.
Like, go to a bar or a restaurant and like, buy an item
or hope that they're gonna be nice enough to let you in.
But a lot of them will not because a lot of places in New
York, they they don't want people coming in and using their
(16:17):
bathrooms. That reminds me of that scene in
Big Daddy where he's trying to take the kid to the bathroom and
the guy's like, no customers only and then they like.
Pee on the wall. Yeah, yeah, like there.
There is a lot of truth to that scene in Big Daddy.
OK, 4th on our list of our four favorite restaurants in Upper
Midtown. Bengal Tiger.
I believe we've talked about this one as well.
It has changed locations since we have been going to it, but
(16:40):
both of them are actually in this Upper Midtown area that
we're talking about. Bengal Tiger is just a really
great kind of no frills, authentic, delicious Indian
restaurant with good staff. The food comes out quickly, the
portions are fair and their lunch special is amazing.
I think it's $20 and you get is it 20 I?
(17:00):
Think it's 25? 20 or 25, but you're getting an
appetizer, a full entree and a dessert I believe, which is just
a great deal generally. And they have that running at
all times for lunch. Bengal Tiger is just a solid,
solid spot for great Indian food.
I've never had anything that waslike mediocre there.
Everything's always been great. Staff's really nice, really
(17:22):
affordable. Highly recommend this spot if
you like Indian food. Especially their coconut naan.
The first time I think I ever had coconut naan was at Bengal
Tiger. And it is, it's amazing.
It's very unique, very good. So those are four of our
favorite restaurants in Upper Midtown.
We're going to talk about coffeeshops.
If you're in Upper Midtown, you're probably about to go to
Central Park or to go to the MoMA, and you don't want to be
(17:45):
tired. So we'll go through four of our
favorite coffee spots #1 Blue Bottle.
Blue Bottle is a chain. There are multiple Blue Bottle
establishments throughout the city.
It's a really, really good cup of coffee.
And I like the interior setup aswell 'cause it's just very
minimal and very clean. One of my favorite things to get
when I go to Blue Bottle is the iced NOLA coffee.
(18:09):
It's like a slightly sweetened coffee with chicory infused cold
brew with milk. Highly recommend that one, very
yummy. Another spot that we like for
coffee in Midtown is Zebetto Espresso.
It is a really small coffee counter on your way to Central
Park likely, and it's what the name sounds like.
It's just a classic espresso bar.
(18:30):
It's a great spot if you just want to grab like a quick
cappuccino on your way somewhere.
They do have some outdoor seating like kind of on the
sidewalk in the like warmer months.
But again, you can just go in. There's enough places to stand.
They have homemade like Italian cookies and biscotti.
Great, great spot. Another coffee shop we like is
Ground Central Coffee Company, so they have multiple locations
(18:52):
in Upper Midtown and throughout New York City.
Again, just a a friendly spot. They have fun decor, they always
have good music playing, and thecoffee is delicious. 4th on our
list. This one's kind of out of left
field a little bit and one that's very special to us
specifically because it's just part of our daily routine.
But it is a bodega on the cornerof 56th and 7th St. called
(19:16):
Flavor Taste, which is just a hilarious name.
Flavor, taste. I'm not gonna lie, it's not the
best cup of coffee you're ever gonna have.
But if you just want like a small coffee on your way to like
walking through Central Park, I believe the small coffee with
milk I get every morning when I'm taking my dog is like 199,
which I don't know. If you're going to like another
(19:38):
coffee spot, you're probably paying like 4 or $5 just for a
basic cup of coffee. It's always the same people that
are working in there. I believe it's a family.
I'm not positive on that. I should probably find that out,
But they also have your classic bodega stuff like if you wanted
to go in and get a chopped cheese, you could you could get
a hamburger, you could get a grilled cheese, You could get an
(19:59):
amazing bacon, egg and cheese. Bodegas also have a lot of like
drugstore items. So if you needed like some
aspirin or you needed a Gatoradeor you needed cream cheese, like
they have a lot of like grocery store drugstore items also in
here as well if you needed some convenience store things.
So those are our top four coffeeshops in Upper Midtown.
(20:19):
And that leads us to this episodes.
You'll have to check it out segment.
The next stop is the Ribbon. All right, The Ribbon is not in
Midtown, but we are including itin this episode because we went
here recently and absolutely loved it.
It is a cozy spot near Central Park West on the Upper West
Side. So it kind of ties into this
that if you're hanging around Midtown and then you want to
walk through Central Park, you could walk up to the Ribbon.
(20:42):
It's just on 72nd St. and Central Park West.
The staff is friendly, there's plenty of TV's with sports on,
and their best part is their happy hour.
Their happy hour is every day from 4:00 to 7:00 PM.
It includes $7.00 to $13 bites and then also a phenomenal drink
option, $6 beer, $10 well drinksand wine, and even $12.00
(21:04):
specialty cocktails including a delicious Margarita, a
phenomenal Old Fashion, and an absolutely underrated Pineapple
Mule that I had that was so, so good every day from 4:00 to
7:00. But the best part, arguably, of
the ribbon. The chicken tenders.
The chicken. Tenders.
Really, really solid chicken tenders.
Homemade blue cheese sauce. Perfect crisp, perfect size.
(21:29):
I don't know. Do the do the people know how
much we love chicken tenders? I don't think we've talked about
that. OK, so I'm a big connoisseur of
chicken tenders, specifically that anytime you go to a concert
or a music festival or a sporting event and you are, you
know, locked into that area and you are beholden to whatever
food options they are giving you, without a doubt, the best
value is always the chicken tenders.
(21:52):
Reason being, it's usually fairly priced, even for, you
know, festival food or concert prices, that type of thing.
It's usually a fair price and you almost always get 3,
sometimes 4 chicken tenders, which is a lot of food and it
always comes with fries. So when we're talking about
value flavor, it's hard to get chicken tenders wrong generally.
(22:14):
And so like, it's just, it's just the best option.
This is a total sidebar from like New York City specifically.
But next time you're at a concert or at a sporting event,
find the chicken tenders best value.
Also, the chicken tenders usually come out faster than
other things. Yes, exactly which matters.
I will add about the ribbons chicken tenders, it's not your
it's a step up from your classicchicken tender.
(22:34):
It's not like you're Tyson pre frozen chicken tender like these
are made in house. They have their own maybe like
panko bread crumb mixture on theoutside.
Really solid. I will also say their Margarita
is amazing. They use real juices.
It's not the pre the pre made like sour mix.
Really solid Margarita if you like a mark.
(22:55):
So that is this episode. You'll have to check it out.
Segment the Ribbon on 72nd St. and now back to an ode to
Midtown. Stand.
Clear of the closing doors, please.
Our four favorite bars in Upper Midtown.
These probably aren't in a superparticular order.
Well, the two through 4 are not in a particular order.
(23:15):
OK, let's start with faces and names.
Faces and names. It is a classic happy hour spot.
There are a lot of Midtown workers, corporate folk who come
to faces and names, so it can get pretty crowded.
Finance Bros. Finance Bros in the evening.
We love faces and names because they have good cocktails.
It's a cozy bar. The staff is friendly, but they
(23:38):
also have a great trivia setup every Tuesday night.
So if you like playing trivia, Faces and Names has a good
setup. They have a minimum per person.
I think it's 20 bucks, but they do prizes for every single round
so that I think there's usually 5-6 rounds.
They do mini prizes for each round and then the winner gets I
believe $100.00 gift card to I think.
(24:00):
It's A50. Dollar gift card, OK, but still,
if you win one or two rounds andhappened to win the whole night
like you're, you're coming out on top because the rounds like
if you win, you get like it's either an appetizer or a round
of beers for your table or a round of shots, couple different
options. As far as food it faces names.
We love the mini tacos. I can't remember how many it
(24:22):
comes with but it's like 8 or 10like really small delicious
tacos. The burgers are really solid.
Probably my favorite appetizer there is the pretzel bites.
Very very good food, nice atmosphere, music not too loud.
It has like a little bit of everything.
It has a huge draft list for beer, lots of bottles and cans
(24:42):
of beer as well. Great cocktails, little bit of
everything. Very solid spot.
Next on our list is Tanner Smith's.
Tanner Smith's can get very, very crowded in the evenings,
but outside of that, they are probably most well known for
their bottomless brunch, which is $35.00 with the purchase of
an entree and you can have it for 90 minutes.
(25:03):
And they're not. A lot of times when you go to
brunch at places with bottomlessbrunch, they're kind of crappy
cocktails that aren't actually really good, but that's not the
case with Tanner Smith's. Tanner Smith has an amazing
bottomless brunch. I've been there several times
with friends. Really solid cocktails at Tanner
Smith's and they also come in like really cute glassware which
I appreciate. The last time I went they gave
(25:24):
me one of their great cocktails in like a bathtub shaped glass.
I don't know why, but it was really cute.
Is that hard to drink out of a bathtub shaped glass?
Slightly especially 'cause I wason like drink 4 in 90 minutes at
this point. They also sometimes give you the
drink in like a really cute little tea cup.
The food here is awesome, but truly like every cocktail I've
(25:46):
had, even outside of the bottomless brunch cocktails have
been really really solid here. Next on our list, Haswell
Greens. So Haswell Greens is a great bar
in Midtown. I'm a little bit biased.
It is the Cleveland Browns supporters bar.
I'm a Cleveland Browns fan. So we go to Haswell Greens
pretty frequently during the NFLseason.
Even outside of that we have been and it is great.
(26:07):
They have. So the downstairs is kind of
like the standard bar and then the upstairs it's more of like
they have two different bar sections up there with kind of
different themes and there's often a live DJ.
The drinks are phenomenal, and it's got a lot of cool kind of
art and history on the wall. Haswell Greens.
It's actually named after AndrewHaswell Green, who was an
(26:27):
influential city planner for NewYork City.
He was actually behind so many things in New York.
He played a role in Central Park, the New York Public
Library, the Bronx Zoo, the American Museum of Natural
History, the Metropolitan Museumof Museum of Art, and also
participated in projects like Riverside Dr. Morningside Park,
Fort Washington Park, and protecting the Hudson River
(26:47):
Palisades from destruction. So Haswell, Andrew Haswell
Green, an iconic figure in New York City, the bar that they've
chosen to name after him, also avery, very solid option.
Haswell Greens again has great cocktails, reasonably priced,
made really well. They also have a huge beer
selection. Every time we've been to Haswell
Greens I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I liked
(27:10):
it. Also, their food's great.
I love their French fries. They also have good chicken
tenders. I.
Think we've had their burger as well?
Right, yes, we've had their burger.
Their nachos. Their chips and guacamole is
also great, highly recommend that.
But great spot if you want to drink before or after a Broadway
show or you're just walking around midtown.
(27:30):
Want a good cozy spot? Highly recommend.
They also have live music. I think most nights, if not
every night of the week, they have some type of live music,
whether it's a DJ or a band or some playing guitar, that type
of thing. So we're checking out, OK,
number one on our list. This is technically not in
Midtown. It's on the other side of 8th
Ave. but we're including it because it's so far north that
(27:51):
it kind of is a Midtown feel andyou don't quite feel like you're
in Hell's Kitchen yet. I'm.
Not going to lie, I kind of had to push Devin on including this
just because it's close enough to Midtown and this is arguably
our favorite neighborhood bar that we go to, Valhalla.
We've talked about this before on other podcasts, but Valhalla
is probably one of our favorite like beer bars that we go to.
(28:15):
Their draft list is very extensive.
They're always bringing in new things.
The staff is incredibly nice. They'll let you try a beer if
you're unsure of what you want. They always have sports on.
They don't usually have the sound on.
It's like you want to like watcha big game and you want to hear
like the commentators, but they do always have the major games
on. And they also have Mead, which
(28:35):
is a honey based kind of sweet. I guess it's between a beer and
a liquor. But Mead super, super great.
And yeah, we, we love Valhalla. It is always a good time.
They do have different specials,you just have to check on their
website and see. But that is Valhalla.
That rounds out our top 4 bars in Upper Midtown.
And the last category that we are going to cover for you in
(28:57):
our ode to Midtown is our top four places to shop.
OK, number one right off the batis Fifth Avenue. 5th Ave. is
famous for a lot of reasons, 1 of it being that that upper part
of 5th Ave. has so, so many shops.
A lot of them are like very fancy high end shops.
There's a the flagship Tiffany store.
There is an Armani. There's Gucci, there's Louis
(29:21):
Vuitton, there's Harry Winston. Like they have some very fancy
stores. The Chanel store is right there,
but they also have like an Abercrombie and Fitch.
They have a Zara, they have a Uniqlo.
Like they have more like typicaleveryday stores as well.
Yeah, there's a ton of shopping there.
We kind of included Rockefeller Center as part of this.
Rockefeller Center is its own kind of area, but some of the
(29:43):
like the Lego store that's famous, the Nintendo store, like
those kind of butt up right against 5th Ave.
So 5th Ave. Rockefeller Center, tons and
tons of good shopping with a huge variety #2 On our list is
the Nordstrom in upper Midtown. It is on Billionaire's Row.
If you're not familiar with Billionaire's Row, it's some of
those massive skyscrapers that are newer that are really close
(30:06):
to Central Park. One of the massive Billionaire's
Row skyscrapers, the entrance toit is actually right next to
this Nordstrom that is what, 3 or 4 stories tall.
There's the, the, the women's section is in one side of the
street and then the men's section is it on the other side
of the street. Like it is a huge conglomerate
(30:26):
of buildings all there that are all Nordstrom and it is huge.
Yeah, I believe the women's store is 5 or 6 floors.
It's absolutely massive. They have everything that you
could want there and like Devin mentioned, if you're looking for
the men's stuff, it is on the opposite side of the street and
the buildings don't connect. So if you're shopping with your
partner. It can be confusing.
(30:47):
Great Nordstrom one stop shop for anything you might need.
Next on our list of places to shop in Upper Midtown, Columbus
Circle. So Columbus Circle, there is the
Shops at Columbus Circle and there's also down beneath there
is the Turnstile Market. The Turnstile Market has
different like it's more food centric, but they do have some
kind of fun little shops. They have a little dog store and
(31:10):
there's a like anime store. Yeah, bookstore.
And then the the shops at Columbus Circle themselves have
a lot of your standard. They have Lululemon, They have a
Williams-sonoma, they have a JoeMalone.
They have AJ Crew, they have an H&M, they have a running store.
So more of like a typical mall. Yeah, but a good variety of of
(31:32):
stores there. And again, it's right next to
Central Park so it's a convenient spot to go.
Also public restrooms if you're needing them.
Last but definitely not least isthe TJ Maxx on 57th St. and 8th
Ave. I love TJ Maxx.
TJ Maxx is probably one of my favorite stores because I don't
like to pay like top dollar prices for pretty much anything,
especially clothes and shoes andcandles.
(31:55):
TJ Maxx if you're not. If you're not awoken to this, if
you have not become enlightened,TJ Maxx has an amazing candle
sele that are way cheaper than candles anywhere else.
Like you can get the big massivecandles that have 30 hours of
burn time for like $14.00 sometimes.
Love TJ Maxx. TJ Maxx also has great dog toys
(32:18):
if you have a furry friend at home and you want to get them a
souvenir from New York City. They have awesome, like, branded
clothing. They have home supplies.
I mean, I don't know if we have to explain TJ Maxx to the
people. They surely know.
But if you don't, if you're not,if you're listening and you're
not from America, like I would go to TJ Maxx just to experience
it because it's way cheaper. And a a lot of times too,
(32:42):
they'll have like branded sportsstuff like you might be able to
find like a Yankees hat or a Yankee shirt or a Knicks shirt.
Not all the time, but sometimes you can.
And it's going to be way cheaperthan getting it elsewhere.
All right, that was our ode to Midtown.
We love midtown. We think Midtown is a phenomenal
place, certainly has its drawbacks, but there is so much
to see and do. There are amazing restaurants.
(33:03):
There are amazing bars. Obviously there are some tourist
traps. And there are places that are
very expensive and that aren't actually really good.
But everything we've told you today is worth your time, worth
your money, worth going to. If you have not already, make
sure you sign up for our newsletter.
We e-mail once a week with fun facts and history about New York
City, tips we're getting around and exploring the city, places
(33:26):
you need to check out, current events and news, upcoming events
that you may want to check out if you're going to be in New
York that upcoming week. And as a newsletter subscriber,
you get free access to the ultimate NYC Navigation Guide
and our curated list of Google Maps lists covering topics
ranging from the best bars and drinks to our Upper West Side
(33:48):
guide to the best coffee shops. All the different things that
you get completely for free. So make sure you are signed up
for that. And other than that, we'll catch
you on the next episode.
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