MY Secret NY

Drinks on a boat

Whether you found the time this summer to sail the Ionian Islands, swim in Formentera’s lonely beaches and coves, or cruise near Bonifacio’s rocky inlets… the return of vacation will be tough! If you too miss the ocean’s waves, we found an open-sea substitute to get you smoothly back into the swing of New York. More posh than its counterpart The Frying Pan, more central than Brooklyn Barge Bar, Grand Banks is a bar-restaurant built on a historic fishing vessel, the Sherman Zwicker. Ship lovers…

Your 5 minutes of fame

For a long time, the longest queue in NY was not in front of Dominique Ansel’s bakery for the cronuts in the morning, nor in front of Output on a Saturday night, but in front of the different places hosting The Moth show. The Moth is a storytelling contest. A contest devoted to the art and craft of narration. The principle ? Each Moth is built around a word that will be the evening’s theme. When the doors open, storyteller hopefuls put their names in a hat. 10 names are pulled at…

My Top 3 Secret Rooftops

Left picture: Gallow Green; Top right picture: Pod 39 Hotel; Bottom right picture: The Gorbals Mid-August in NY, reading the umpteenth ranking of the best rooftops in the city: Le Bain at the Standard, Jimmy at the James, The Ides at the Wythe – the (very) classic summer ranking. You think you’ve tried every bar with a view in the city. And indeed there are very few rooftops in NY which stay truly confidential. But we like challenges and have put together a top 3 list of…

Yoga with a view

Few New Yorkers are able to locate Long Island City on a map. In Queens? Further east on Long Island? Here’s a clue: it’s where MOMA PS1 is located. If you have ever ventured to Long Island City it’s usually for the Saturday afternoon summer parties in the museum’s courtyard (rarely for their contemporary off-the-wall art collection – don’t kid yourself). The neighborhood’s gentrification is underway. At only one subway stop from Manhattan, just across Midtown East, Long Island City aspires to become the next…

Sugar high

As a child, if your favorite fairy tale was Hansel and Gretel and you dreamed of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, we’ve found a new address that is guaranteed to make your blood sugar spike. The ultimate sweet tooth fantasy: an 8-course all-dessert tasting menu! It is a well-known French chef in NY who is the mastermind behind this gourmet initiative. Dominique Ansel opened a new bakery in the West Village two months ago: Dominique Ansel Kitchen. Nothing earth-shattering at its debut – just a sister…

Escape the heatwave

It’s a fact: 85° is the temperature beyond which it is not bearable to stay in Manhattan on the weekend. To escape the heatwave, we put together a special daytrip program upstate for you – a good alternative to the classic Rockaway beach or the (very) popular Hamptons. Take your car or the train at Grand Central. Make sure to sit on the left side to enjoy the Hudson River scenery as the train rolls north on its east bank during the 70 miles to…

Beat the Sunday night blues

Sunday. 6:30pm. And the perpetual question: what will you do on Sunday night? Sunday is undeniably the least inspiring evening of the week. Whether or not you have fully recovered from your weekend parties, or you have been worn down by the prospect of work on Monday morning or simply just tired of the traditional combo of laundry/cleaning of the apartment (because, yeah, you’ve postponed it for the whole week) it is difficult to escape the Sunday night spleen. The solution is the film club at the Crosby Hotel. You probably know this cosy hotel in the heart of Soho,…

Best kept secret in town – Brazenhead, the speakeasy library

It has been NY’s best kept secret for the past 8 years. It is difficult to describe Brazenhead properly: a bookstore? a speakeasy? a literary salon? a refuge for writers? This improvised bookstore hidden in an Upper East Side apartment is the most confidential literary rendez-vous in town. No sign, no label at the entrance. You can read about Brazenhead but none reveal its location. That’s the rule. Finding Brazenhead is something that has to be deserved! Michael Seidenberg, the tenant of the apartment and…

The 10 commandments of the perfect New Yorker

Commandment #1: Thou shalt live in a cardboard box

“I have a co-op here. I have a place in the Hamptons, for Christ sakes.” The NY real estate paradox summarized by Bret Easton Ellis in American Psycho. If, freshly arrived in NY, your references in terms of housing are the Valmont mansion on 5th avenue in Cruel Intentions or Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze’s Soho loft (in Ghost – come on!), you will have to overhaul your standards. One word to describe the real estate market in NY: a nightmare. But you will learn….