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bellastraniera
a.k.a. Marcy Swingle - obsessed with food and fashion.View my photography website.
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Tag Archives: bars
Birreria
New Yorkers were elated when Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich’s Italian food emporium Eataly opened last year. There was only one problem: Eataly didn’t seem to be intended for New Yorkers. A massive marketing and PR effort across the U.S. and in Europe meant that Eataly instantly filled up with tourists – even the ones who can get decent biscotti at home.

Fortunately, the Red Apple bus crowd does not seem to have discovered the new rooftop restaurant on top of Eataly yet. You’ll still be elbowed by the crowds on your way to the bar at Birreria, but at least none of those elbows will be loaded down with Century 21 bags. (more…)
Posted in food
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Tagged bars, BBQ, beer, Flatiron, Italian food, Mario Batali, New York, restaurants, wine bars
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Best Outdoor Dining 2011

As much as we complain about the heat, it’s so nice to be able to dine al fresco when summer finally comes to New York. But what we’re looking for isn’t any old table plunked on a sidewalk next to a major truck route, but a nice setting, fun scene and preferably some good food. Here is an opinionated guide to the best outdoor dining in town. (more…)
Posted in food
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Tagged American food, Asian food, bars, BBQ, burgers, fireplaces, French food, German food, guides, Italian food, New York, outdoor dining, pizza, restaurants
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Tenpenny
Not everybody can be gifted with the bones of a gorgeous West Village townhouse – and sadly, Tenpenny, the new-style Italian restaurant in the back of a bland Midtown hotel lobby, was not dealt the best hand at birth. She’s not a looker from the street, since she’s practically invisible, and the boxy space doesn’t immediately shout “romance.”
But the walls are painted just the right color of saturated brick red, votive candles twinkle throughout the room, the bar is long and inviting, and a skylight lets in the last light for an afterwork crowd that’s spent the entirety of a summer day in an office. She may not be a little boite on a charming side street in Venice, but Tenpenny’s doing the best with what she’s got. (more…)
Rome: Dining & Drinking Guide

One of the best things you can find in Rome is a bargain. After seven days on the wallet-bruising Amalfi Coast, the main thing we were craving was cheap, cheap, cheap. Fortunately, Rome has a variety of inexpensive but excellent traditional restaurants, some of them trattorias several generations old, others a new endeavor from young chefs setting up shop in up-and-coming neighborhoods. Most importantly, you don’t sacrifice anything in quality for the price. (more…)
Amalfi Coast: Dining & Drinking Guide

Long before farm-to-table dining was all the rage in the U.S., this verdant peninsula on the western coast of Italy was home to some of the finest, freshest cuisine anywhere. The fruits and vegetables grown right on the Amalfi Coast – terraced gardens of olives, lettuces, tomatoes and lemon trees, all whizzing by as you take the Circumvesuviana train down south – make a startling difference on the plate. Over the course of seven days this May, we sampled some of the best the Amalfi Coast has to offer. (more…)
Mega Map: New York Restaurants and Bars
If you’ve ever wished you could search Gastro Chic by location, here’s a new addition to the site: a mega map of New York restaurants and bars. Every NYC place we’ve ever written about is included here, marked by an icon that leads to the review. It will be updated automatically with new restaurants and also featured in a mini map on the sidebar, so you can always find that new tiki/spaetzle/kimchi place that’s near the L train but not in the MePa. Go wild!
Montauk Dining & Drinking
If you ever want to convince someone to like the Hamptons, take them to Montauk. Of course, they might claim that this fishing and surfing village is not actually a Hampton, since there are very few manicured lawns, polo players or designer boutiques in sight. But this naturally beautiful, windswept tip of Long Island could charm even the staunchest Hampton hater.
Once just the site of fish shacks and red sauce joints, Montauk has been luring serious diners out here ever since Sam Talbot took over at the Surf Lodge several years back, right after winning Top Chef. He has since moved on to Imperial No. 9, but Montauk’s culinary caché lingers on. For one thing, it would be hard for a seafood chef to be much closer to the source, since lobsters, clams, oyster and fish are hauled in to the docks here every day. Unlike tourist attractions like Mystic, this is still very much a working fishing village.
Posted in food, travel
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Tagged bars, Bloody Marys, guides, lobster rolls, lunch, New York, restaurants, the Hamptons
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Desmond’s
Ever since Gino’s closed last year, there’s been a dearth of places to dine in the tony East 60s. Upper East Siders could head up to Jean-Georges’ the Mark, but the difficulty of getting a reservation here makes it hard to just pop in for dinner. Yet again, a world-renowned chef spoils the potential neighborhoody-ness of a restaurant – sigh.
For a sceney scene and a menu that satisfies without drawing in hoards of diners from the rest of the city, Desmond’s is shaping up to be the place to be for the Upper East Side set. Fortunately Indochine co-founder John Loeffler and former chef at Soho House David Hart bring a much needed downtown sensibility with them, satisfying the desire of many an Upper East Sider: a restaurant that makes one feel as if one is somewhere cool and downtown-ish without actually having to go anywhere. (more…)
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Tagged American food, bars, New York, restaurants, Upper East Side
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Boulud Sud
The opening of a new Daniel Boulud restaurant is reason enough for a downtowner to head uptown, but there are two things about his new Boulud Sud that make it particularly exciting. When most American restaurants take on the genre of Mediterranean food, they stick to the usual suspects: Italy, Spain, France and Greece. But one of the first words on Boulud Sud’s menu is “harissa,” and the African and Middle Eastern influences take off from there.
This is a welcome change, because our American idea of what constitutes Mediterranean fare is behind the times. Despite New York chefs’ emphasis on food like one’s nonna would have made it, many restaurants in France and Italy have changed radically since the ’50s, with many more African and Middle Eastern techniques and ingredients making their way onto menus. (more…)
Posted in food
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Tagged African food, bars, French food, Italian food, Middle Eastern food, New York, restaurants, vegetarian food
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Pipa
Nominated for a James Beard award for best restauranteur, Phil Suarez has a knack for creating successful restaurants no matter what the economic climate of the day. Long before he started ABC Kitchen on the south side of ABC Home, Suarez’s Pipa was bringing in the crowds for small plates and sangria. Since warm weather calls out for Spanish-style dining, we revisited this 11-year-old tapas spot to see how it was faring.
Some of the best things about Pipa have not changed, including the excellent, just-fruity-enough, brandy-spiked sangria served in elegant glassware. The moodily pretty space is still decked out with dozens of exquisite antique chandeliers, and you can still buy one from ABC if you’re happy to drop a couple grand. The interior is a good place to retreat during hot weather, and the sidewalk seating is a nice option for sprawling out on cool nights. (more…)
Posted in food
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Tagged bars, Flatiron District, New York, restaurants, tapas, wine bars
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