NYC-Arts Top Five Picks: August 6 – 12

“Interesting. Unusual. Uniquely NYC. Highlights of this week’s top events include “Showstoppers! Spectacular Costumes from the Stage and Screen,” Spike Lee’s powerful “Do the Right Thing,” the Louis Armstrong House Museum, 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.”

Showstoppers! Spectacular Costumes from the Stage & Screen

234 West 42nd Street

Manhattan / Thu, Aug 05, 2021 – Sun, Sep 26, 2021

Thinc Design, the international award-winning exhibition design firm, recently announced the opening of a dazzling 20,000 sq ft exhibition, “Showstoppers! Spectacular Costumes from Stage & Screen,” for a limited eight-week engagement, August 5 to September 26, in the heart of Times Square at 234 West 42nd Street (formerly the home of Modell’s). Thinc has partnered with the Costume Industry Coalition (CIC)—a group created in 2020 to advocate for the survival of New York City’s theatrical costume industry—to produce this …

Louis Armstrong House Museum

Louis Armstrong House Museum

Queens / After being closed for the majority of the pandemic, the Louis Armstrong House Museum recently announced that they would once again be open to the public and giving guided tours of the historic home of Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong—the world’s most famous jazz musician—was an international celebrity who could have lived anywhere. Yet in 1943, he and his wife, Lucille, settled in a modest house in Corona, Queens, where they lived for the remainder of their lives. …

1930 W.O. DECKER Tugboat Ride

South Street Seaport Museum

Manhattan / Sat, Jul 31, 2021 – Sat, Aug 28, 2021

Take an exciting 75-minute ride on the last surviving New York-built wooden tugboat “W.O. Decker,” recently named “Tugboat of the Year” by the Steamship Historical Society of America. Cruises will explore New York Harbor, and views may include the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Battery, and Governors Island, as you set out on an adventure unlike any you’ve had before! Advance reservations are recommended, and guests must check in 15 minutes before the scheduled tour. …

Do the Right Thing Screening

Restart Stages at Lincoln Center

Manhattan / Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 8:00 pm – 10:30 pm

Spike Lee’s third feature marked nothing less than a revolution in American cinema, and endures today as not only a seminal portrait of New York City but also as an urgent work of art about race relations, gentrification, and the meaning of community. Set across one blazing-hot summer day in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the film—which earned Lee his first Oscar nomination, for his original screenplay—captures, with a spellbinding blend of humor and political seriousness, the …

MMMX

Art at a Time Like This

Art at a Time Like This, an arts organization dedicated to providing a platform for artists caught in crisis, presents “MMXX,” an exhibition of nine artists based in Hong Kong organized by Jing Chong, senior curatorial officer of the Hong Kong Art Center and independent curator Andre Chan.  Featuring artists Bouie Choi,  Lee Kit, South HO,  Vvn HO,  Billy H.C. Kwok, Vvzela Kook, June WONG Sui Ling, Winnie YAN Wai Yin and the collective ACAB (All Cats Are …

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

Here are 12 of my NYC faves:

Here are the NYC places you can only go if you’re vaccinated – silive.com

NYC Michelin Bib Gourmands 2021: The Full List – Eater NY PUB

New York’s 2021 Michelin Bib Gourmand Restaurants, Mapped PUB

Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirror room opens in August – TONY

The Best Restaurant Patios In NYC – New York – The Infatuation

15 Best Happy Hours In NYC – Secretnyc

The NYC Best Restaurants and Markets for Loading Up on Picnic Supplies – Eater NY

The 80 best things to do in NYC for locals and tourists

The Best Mexican Restaurants In NYC – New York – The Infatuation

The best Statue of Liberty tours – TONY

Where To Find The Best Caribbean Food In NYC – The Infatuation

Secret New York: 30+ off the beaten path spots in New York City to love

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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:

Surrender to Carbs in Soho

Coco Pazzeria / 307 Spring St.

You see traces of far-west Spring Street’s past at the still-swinging Ear Inn and symbols of its future in the luxury apartment towers that have sprouted along Renwick and Greenwich Streets. Coco Pazzeria, with its raw bar and sparkling-wine list (liquor license pending), is the perfect pizzeria for this newly ritzy part of town, if the steady flow of neighbors stopping in for takeout orders is any indication. But thanks to the reputation of owner Pino Luongo and the presence of homegrown pizzaiolo Ciro Verdi, who can be seen slinging thin-crust pies and his trademark focaccia robiola at his oven in back, the restaurant also attracts couples on dates, travelers from other Zip Codes arriving on fancy folding bikes, and young families taking full advantage of the BYO policy (a must when your dining companions are an infant, a toddler, and a juvenile-delinquent tween). The menu extends to pastas and salads, but dough is the thing, fried into mini-calzones or formed into loaves for sandwiches, including a recent lobster-roll special. —R.P. & R.R.

Eat Greek Off the Beaten Path

Eléa / 217 W. 85th St.

This airy greek restaurant opened in 2018 on a rather unfavorable Upper West Side side street, facing a soon-to-be construction site, at a remove from the buzzier stretches of Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. But when COVID hit, Eléa was one of the first places in the neighborhood to build a beautiful, greenery-draped outdoor seating area, complete with inviting flowers, twinkly lights, and copious heat lamps. The kitchen didn’t miss a beat, turning out zesty shareable small plates like fried-zucchini “chips” and sesame-crusted feta. Now, Eléa has blossomed into a local go-to for date nights and other special occasions — the kinds of dining excursions that feel more celebratory than ever. —Ellie Krupnick

Slurp Some Pho in a Brooklyn Backyard

Bolero / 177 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg

This Vietnamese restaurant smack in the middle of prime Bedford Avenue opened just before the pandemic and managed to soldier on throughout thanks to its backyard — small and slightly suburban-feeling with its wooden fence and strings of tiny lights. Pots of herbs grown on the restaurant’s farm in Pennsylvania line that yard; sometimes a cook will wander out and clip a fragrant betel leaf or a sprig of rice-paddy herb. It’s the ideal setting to enjoy chef Matt Le-Khac’s neo-traditional Vietnamese dishes, such as an unusual pho topped with coarsely ground beef and a vegetarian bun bo Hue chay made with mushrooms as opposed to the customary pig’s blood. —R.C.S.

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

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