NYC-Arts Top Five Picks: July 9 – 15

Interesting. Unusual. Uniquely NYC. Highlights of this week’s top events include MoMa in-person film screenings, Ensemble Connect at Ghost Forest, TAP IT OUT, 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.

MoMA Summer 2021 In-Person Film Offerings

Museum of Modern Art

Manhattan / Wed, Jun 23, 2021 – Fri, Jul 30, 2021

The Museum of Modern Art’s Titus Theaters will welcome audiences back for matinee screenings beginning on June 23. Jun 23–Jul 16: Selections from “Wynn Thomas, Production Designer” Jul 21–23: Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone’s “Our Hospitality ” Jul 28–30: Ken Okiishi’s “Vital Behaviors” MoMA’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden will open for Thursday-evening outdoor screenings beginning July 8 and continuing every Thursday through August 26. Jul 8: Neil Goldberg’s “Hallelujah Anyway, Anyway” + New York Shorts including films by Cauleen Smith, …

You Are Here

Restart Stages at Lincoln Center

Manhattan / Wed, Jul 14, 2021 – Fri, Jul 30, 2021

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts recently announced the world premiere of “You Are Here,” a public sculpture, sound, and live performance installation conceived by Andrea Miller, award-winning choreographer and artistic director of movement-based production company GALLIM. The commission is supported by the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund (ADIF) and will be presented as part of “Restart Stages.”  In a process that invites co-creation with the Lincoln Center site and local New York community, Miller continues her investigation …

Ensemble Connect at Ghost Forest

Madison Square Park

Manhattan / Wed, Jul 07, 2021 – Wed, Jul 14, 2021

Madison Square Park Conservancy presents a series of free concerts curated and performed by musicians from Carnegie Hall’s “Ensemble Connect.” Performed from within the Conservancy’s current public art installation, “Ghost Forest” by Maya Lin, the “Music on the Green” programs are designed to complement the installation and its themes with nature-inspired works by Claude Debussy, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, Caroline Shaw, and more. “Music on the Green” takes place in the park’s Oval Lawn every Wednesday at …

The Roaring Twenties and The Swinging Sixties

The Museum at FIT

“The Roaring Twenties and The Swinging Sixties” compares the fashions of the 1920s and 1960s, both periods of significant crisis and change. Organized by students from FIT’s Master of Arts program, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, the show features twenty-six objects from MFIT, fashion illustrations from FIT’s Gladys Marcus Library Special Collections and College Archives (SPARC), and additional archival photographs and films that further demonstrate the parallels between the fashion of the two …

TAP IT OUT

Times Square

Manhattan / Sat, Jul 10, 2021, 11:30 am

“TAP IT OUT” returns with a LIVE PERFORMANCE IN THE MIDDLE OF TIMES SQUARE on Saturday, July 10 at 11:30am. This FREE, PUBLIC EVENT, in Father Duffy Square/ Times Square/ Broadway, 7th Ave & W 47th St, marks the conclusion of “TAP CITY,” The New York City Tap Festival. “Tap it Out” presents tap dancers on individual portable boards in a structured improvisation, followed by unison choreography and the “Shim Sham Shimmy” At Noon, THE U.S. …

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

Here are 10 of my NYC faves:

What travelers can expect in a newly reopened New York City – The Washington Post

The Best Meals I’ve Had Lately For Under $15 – New York – The Infatuation

The New Yorker’s Go-To for Spices and So Much More – The New York Times

The 8 Best Dishes We Tried In June – New York – The Infatuation

Georgian Restaurant Cafedelia Opens in Greenwich Village – GrubStreet

The NYC Hit List: The Best New Restaurants In NYC – the Infatuation

Untrodden Broadway: The Hidden Gems of a World-Famous Street – The New York Times

The 38 Best Beer Bars In NYC – New York – The Infatuation

Why Are Sandwiches So Expensive in New York City? – InsideHook

The Secret Patios Of NYC – New York – The Infatuation

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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,

Here are 3 more of my faves:

Meet in Midtown for Hunanese

Blue Willow / 40 W. 56th St.

When this terrific Hunan restaurant opened last year just down the street from Trump Tower, the owners had trouble attracting customers because security arrangements limited access to the block. But true fans of Hunan cuisine — which can be just as spicy as Sichuan, with a broader array of sharp flavors — have a way of sniffing out talent and overcoming obstacles in their path, and Blue Willow gradually became a word-of-mouth hit, especially among Chinese Americans. Now, with the barriers gone, the restaurant draws diners looking for dishes like house-smoked Hunan bacon (thick swatches of pork belly stir-fried with cloves of garlic) and “snow red greens” (minced mustard greens riddled with pickled red chiles). —R.C.S.

Share Thai Disco Fries at a New-Wave Diner

Thai Diner / 186 Mott St.

It’s clear while sitting at Thai Diner’s packed outdoor setup on Mott and Kenmare that Nolita, a reliably bustling corner of the city that felt eerily quiet throughout the past year, is very much alive these days. At this, Ann Redding and Matt Danzer’s latest spot, they’re serving Uncle Boons (RIP) favorites, such as khao soi and crab fried rice, alongside cheeseburgers, fried-chicken sandwiches, and Thai disco fries smothered in curry sauce, which we recommend pairing with a notably strong martini while ogling the ecstatic-to-finally-be-out-and-about passersby. —R.P.S.

Gorge on Russian Spa Food

Matryoshka at Wall Street Bath & Spa 88 / 88 Fulton St.

The Russian bathhouse isn’t just about cleansing; it’s about restoring and nourishing, which is why the indoor-dining ban hit the banya so hard. You were permitted to sweat it out on Fulton Street, but you couldn’t seek rejuvenation through hot borscht and cold beer. Now, after a few rounds in a sauna set to a screaming 220 degrees, you can once again bring your body back to life in a cafeteria with other dripping-wet patrons wearing very few clothes. Consider filling up on slippery Siberian pelmeni drenched in butter, fried potatoes slicked with enough garlic to qualify as a medicinal supplement, and Georgian lamb soup that will scorch your tongue for days, which means it’s precisely the right temperature.—R.P.S.

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