NYC-Arts Top Five Picks: July 2 – 8

Interesting. Unusual. Uniquely NYC. Highlights of this week’s top events include Automania, the Bard SummerScape 2021 Schedule, Richard Haas: Circles in Space and more. Get the NYC-ARTS Top Five in your inbox every Friday and follow @NYC_ARTS on Instagram or @NYCARTS on Twitter to stay abreast of events as they happen.

Richard Haas: Circles in Space

Hudson River Museum

Westchester

Fri, Jun 25, 2021 – Fri, Sep 10, 2021

In his most recent series of paintings and drawings, artist Richard Haas explores intersections between abstraction, color theory, and the geometry of the universe, bringing together passions and preoccupations from throughout his expansive and celebrated career. Richard Haas (American, b. 1936) is best known for his illusionistic architectural murals and trompe l’oeil style, painted on and within prominent buildings across the United States from Portland, Oregon, to New York City and Yonkers, as well as …

Automania

Museum of Modern Art

Manhattan

Fri, Jul 02, 2021 – Sun, Jan 02, 2022

Since the first automobiles hit the road over a century ago, cars have left a lasting imprint on the design of our built environment. For both better and worse, they have fundamentally reshaped the ways in which we live, work, and enjoy ourselves. Cars have altered our ideas about mobility, connecting us across great distances at ever greater speeds. “Automania” takes an in-depth look at an object that has inspired countless examples of innovation, social transformation, …

The New Woman Behind the Camera

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Manhattan

Fri, Jul 02, 2021 – Sun, Oct 03, 2021

“The New Woman” of the 1920s was a powerful expression of modernity, a global phenomenon that embodied an ideal of female empowerment based on real women making revolutionary changes in life and art. Featuring more than 120 photographers from over 20 countries, this groundbreaking exhibition explores the work of the diverse “new” women who embraced photography as a mode of professional and artistic expression from the 1920s through the 1950s. During this tumultuous period shaped …

Bard SummerScape 2021

The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts

Westchester

Thu, Jul 08, 2021 – Sun, Aug 22, 2021

Long recognized as “a hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure” (New York Times), “Bard SummerScape” returns this summer with a full season of live music, dance, opera and more, culminating with the 31st annual Bard Music Festival, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World.” Productions will be staged for limited in-person audiences both indoors and out, across Bard’s idyllic 1,000-acre campus, adhering to rigorous health and safety protocols while celebrating the joys of live performance and the beauty of …

Immersive Van Gogh

Pier 36 NYC

Manhattan

Thu, Jun 10, 2021 – Mon, Sep 06, 2021

“Immersive Van Gogh” was created by the world-renowned master of digital art, Italy’s Massimiliano Siccardi, who for 30 years has been pioneering immersive exhibitions in Europe. His magnificent installations have been seen by over 2 million visitors in Paris. With the help of 60,600 frames of video, 90,000,000 pixels, and 500,000+ cubic feet of projections, this captivating digital art exhibit merges state-of-the-art technology, theatrical storytelling, and world-class animation. It gives guests the rare opportunity to “step inside”

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So many things to see and do, to eat and drink in NYC.

Here are 10 of my NYC faves:

8 Exciting Things To Do & Eat On July 4th In NYC – New York – The Infatuation

The best NYC walks to take this spring – TONY

The NYC Bar Hit List: The Best New Bars In NYC – The Infatuation

The 9 best picnic spots in NYC* – TONY

For the Medici, the Last Great Picture Show – The New York Times

22 Best Things to Do Outside in New York Now – TONY

The 11 Best New Burgers In NYC – New York – The Infatuation

Smorgasburg 2021 Guide Including Vendors, Locations and Times – TONY

Summer in the NYC: Check out these arts & entertainment options as restrictions lift | amNewYork*

Resident’s top chefs serve special occasion menus around NYC. – TONY

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If you are looking for some of the best info on food and drink, restaurants and eating in New York City, then you want to head to New York magazine’s Grub Street.

Right now you want to check out: The Return of Restaurants

“Make up for lost meals. No takeout, no pasta kits, just 66 of the best new (or newly relevant) places to eat.”
Edited by Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld, Photographs by Dina Litovsky

Here are 3 more of my faves:

Linger Over Chinese Fast-Casual

Milu / 333 Park Ave. S.

Quick-serve grain-bowl spots don’t typically attract bustling social scenes. Not so this Chinese-inspired rice-bowl specialist, whose customers like to gather as much as they do grab and go. On a recent weekday evening, the restaurant’s breezy curbside shed drew a practically rowdy group of bowl aficionados: young women in NYU Dental School scrubs letting off steam, two skate punks hogging four seats, and, in a sure sign of the return to normality, rival parties aggressively eyeing a table whose occupants kept looking like they were about to bolt but never did. On weekends, we hear, things get even crazier. Chalk it up to an elegant-for-fast-casual design; cozy indoor booths; a short but sweet list of wine, beer, and sake; and chef Connie Chung’s savor-worthy cooking, especially her Yunnan brisket bowl — sticky, ripply, caramelized nuggets of meat candy with perfect rice and marinated cucumbers. —R.P. & R.R.

Cross Delancey for Goat-Neck Biryani

Dhamaka / 119 Delancey St.

International destination dining took a long hiatus during the pandemic, but Chintan Pandya’s homage to the regional culinary traditions of India, which opened recently at the new Essex Market, is packed these days with mobs of gastronauts from around the city. The space inside is strung with colored lights and includes an increasingly crowded, lively bar, but if you wish to feel the full heat of the fresh, made-to-order cooking, we suggest you secure a table within the sidewalk enclosure, where there’s more space to spread out. Order a round of Brooklyn’s fine, Indian American–owned 1947 beer, then begin merrily working your way through the menu, which is filled with dishes that even the most knowledgeable food scholars from India may not have tried, like pots of Bihari-style mutton infused with garlic and crunchy-topped biryani folded with bits of chopped goat’s neck. —A.P.

Order Omakase in a Sushi Speakeasy

Sushi On Me / 71-26 Roosevelt Ave., Elmhurst

With its pink neon sign, piano for live jazz, and bamboo placemats, this subterranean spot on the border of Elmhurst and Jackson Heights feels more like an artsy friend’s basement than an austere sushi counter. The $89 15-course omakase — including Hokkaido scallops, fatty tuna, and lobes of uni one recent night, among other pristine morsels — is exactly the sort of meal one should experience in person. While the sushi is top-notch, it’s chef Atip “Palm” Tangjantuk’s ability to turn a hushed culinary ritual into what feels like a fun night at a piano bar that makes the place so special. If you’re lucky, you may even be handed a blowtorch to sear your own fish.—B.O.

Also see Eater New York’s interactive map that highlights
all 66 restaurants that deserve your attention.