The sizzling heat at NYC’s outdoor bars is about to give way to a cold and rainy, wintery winter. Where is a stony-faced, bouffant-haired, raven-haired hunk of brooding beauty to go during these low-pressure climatic changes? Here’s where…
New York will see its first taste of winter this week when the week-long heatwave that took New York by storm yesterday and Monday is replaced by a cold and wet December. Can anyone think of a venue other than Central Park that offers respite from the impending wicked cold? The park’s seasonal outdoor dining space, Summerstage, is considered New York’s “premier outdoor dining and entertainment venue”. Despite its frosty climate, with its retractable roof, the place has seen a lot of rain and snow. Winter gardens run from July until October, and “seemingly picture-perfect” views of the park’s skyline can be spotted from one of its restaurants.
One spot not serving them soon, though, is the Travel Hotel (41 East 42nd Street), that’s putting its 25,000-square-foot (2,500 sq m) dining room (pictured, above) back into hibernation for several months due to renovations. There are plans to open in late spring. The 13 other restaurants in the hotel keep serving diners – bar bistro Gotham Bar & Grill (10 East 44th Street) does have its outdoor dining area, as does OXO Tower Club (99 Fifth Avenue) and Ozone Park’s Hop Scotch (119th Street and Mill Road).
Tourist photographer Kurt Herbein’s photographs offer a graphic reminder of New York’s uneven skyline. Photograph: Kurt Herbein
On Monday, as the mercury dipped below freezing, baristas rushed around Isabella’s Coffee (149 Chambers Street) making lattes and lattters. A spokesperson for the cafe said they were having nothing less than 30 degree Celsius weather inside and that their outdoor menu would stay on until the outdoor dining season ended.
Greenpoint has two restaurants enjoying the parks in its midst: the Rufio (278 Wythe Avenue), which features a rooftop patio, and Toloache (11 Wythe Avenue), which runs the New York Public Library’s bookshop but also has an “intimate outdoor space”. DeFranco’s (38 Bogart Street) in the same neighbourhood also has a ground-floor outdoor seating area, while Denizens of the City on Burke Street takes in Hudson River Park.
Another London transplant, two-Michelin-starred chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli, opened a new restaurant, Poussin, in Manhattan’s SoHo (540 Broadway). The magazine Eater reports that it will take advantage of the city’s locations and open at 5am (3pm local time), just to be on the safe side. The downstairs 1,000-square-foot (108 sq m) eating room will be used for grilling and demonstration shows, and Adria promises to use ingredients and techniques from New York’s farms and restaurants.
Perhaps those enjoying the warm weather this week might appreciate going for a short walk rather than a short bus trip. When London experienced its last January heatwave back in 2011, the Observer reader and childrenswoman Margaret chose – and we approve of – Thomas & Friends Playing Fields, a grassy hill near her house in Kentish Town, north London. The fun in staying in London has a cruel irony, but a pithy wisdom.