Aces High

Designing their own artistic corner bordering Chinatown and Little Italy this helps to keep the Lombardi tourists out and the pizza loving locals in. L'asso translating to 'the ace' in Italian, plays a winner with their seasonally changing, modern Italian dishes.  Adhering strictly to D.O.C. guidelines that even Nonna would be proud of. This particular night young NY-based artist Jason Yarmosky (jasonyarmosky.com) is beginning his exhibition 'Boxed in' which will serve as eye candy to L'asso diners over the coming weeks. L'asso clearly is a hub for young talent, hipster locals and discerning foodies or those that love to sip wine and share a 29" Roman style slab.

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Restaurants • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Pucking Pub

Well in view of the tubby golden goat-boy statue over the main entrance of the Puck Building is the bar, Puck Fair. This Emerald Isle knock-off is as decent an "Irish Pub" as can be expected, so long as you fully understand that there's no such thing as pub, let alone an Irish one, in these United States. That said, Puck Fair has some of the essential elements of pub-iness. The many beers on tap are served in imperial pints, which means you'll get drunk 20% faster. There is pubish fare that straddles the Atlantic, and the heartier Irish grub like bangers n' mash far outperforms its wussy New York Yuppie prosciutto-wrap counterpart. The kitchen comically delineates authentic food by beginning menu items with the word "Irish." In the multi-level drinking hall, loud with New York-accented voices, it's hard to imagine you're hunkered down in a County Kerry hideaway. But enjoy enough of those imperial pints and you'll forget about authenticity and be talking blarney to the bar's goat-mural in no time.

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Nightlife • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Block Party: July 26

This weekend just up The Bowery from the NFT offices this weekend is one of our favorite events of the summer--The New Museum Block Party. It's a day of art activities and performances in Sara D. Roosevelt Park for kids and adults of all ages. First, enjoy a range of artist- and educator-led interactive projects and programs related to the neighborhood and the New Museum. Then join the Block Party Parade in a raucous processional marching from the park to the New Museum. Explore the current exhibitions with a free docent-led highlights tour, culminating in a special performance at the New Museum. The New Museum Block Party is 100% free and open to everyone. Participants receive a complementary guest pass to visit the New Museum on the day of the event. The fun goes down from 12-7 pm on Sunday July 26th.

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Museums • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Voyeur Coffee

If you can stomach the pretentious SoHo mob, then you should check out Aroma Espresso Bar on Greene and Houston. It's located far enough away from the main SoHo shopping drag as to keep out clueless tourists, but close enough that the trendy people in the know can pop in and gulp down a fancy coffee beverage without ever having to remove their huge designer domestic abuse sunglasses. Aroma's set-up and décor is very European; communal tables and comfy red swivel chairs encourage you to snuggle up next to total strangers and listen to their conversations. If you're a voyeur like me, Aroma Espresso Bar is paradise. (Once I actually had the privilege of overhearing a 20-minute conversation about colonics.) The food is good, the bread is amazing. (My favorite = Warm Grilled Chicken Salad.) The coffee is better than Starbucks, and they give you a little piece of chocolate with each cup. Drawbacks: you have to make a purchase to use the Wi-Fi, and then you only get 30 minutes worth. Also, there is only one bathroom and there is always a long line. And I'm a voyeur with a small bladder, so...major drawback.

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Coffee • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Summer of Sam

Well, if you've never gone here, you've simply missed one of the great all-time dining experiences. And going to Sammy's is nothing short of an "experience;" the waiters and brilliant lounge singer will mock you mercilessly (especially the less Jewish you look) while serving you absolutely perfect chopped liver, humongous strip steaks, and--the sleeper--the massive veal chop, perfectly cooked (unless you order it medium or medium well, in which case, it's overcooked, you tasteless idiot). Vodka is served by the bottle, which is encased in ice. As the bill will be very steep (don't even bother to try to understand it; just pay it, Sammy's needs to stay in business), bring working plastic and thank us in the morning on your way to the hospital for your quadruple bypass...

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Restaurants • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

We All Scream For No Cream

The fact that Stogo makes sense to me is alarming. Ice cream without dairy, made instead from soy milk, coconut milk, or hemp milk. Yep, I get it. Don't know how you milk a hemp, but whatever. I did an internet search for a place to take a recently-veganized out-of-town friend and both she and I were happy with the little shop that had dozens of flavors, sweet scoop-girls happy to give us samples, and a really satisfying product that, horrah!, tasted like ice cream, really good ice cream! All-natural and healthier than the traditional stuff, I think to myself, what's catch? There are only two, and they didn't occur to me until much later whilst contextualizing: 1) 1 scoop = $4+ and 2) try explaining to your 90-year-old, Depression-era great aunt that you spent that money on ice cream that didn't even have milk in it. Sigh. Maybe I've been in New York too long.

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Shopping • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Burrito Brothers

Which is harder to find in Nolita: quality lunch-cart food or quality tacos? Find the Calexico cart and the answer is neither! Battling bland hot-dogs and yuppy-Mexican with a couple of spatulas and puffy vests, the gentleman-soldiers of Calexico Carne Asada are on the streets fighting the good fight for fresh n'tasty Cal-Mex. Tacos, burritos, and "rolled quesadillas" are launching droves of Soho-office workers into full-fledged burrito comas, burping chipotle 'crack' sauce as they digest listlessly at their desks. As the esteemed winners of the 2008 Vendy Awards, the Calexico crew draws a faithful and growing following, so hit the cart early or late to avoid the rush. There may not be crack in the sauce, but burrito cravings will compel patrons out of the expensive Mexican restaurants of Soho, crowding the sidewalks to rejoice at the advent of damn-fine street food.

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Restaurants • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Buyer's Market

Let's face it, the city streets are like catwalks, and sometimes you don't want to be seen wearing head-to-toe mall fashion. But no worries, Nolita's young designer's market is an ideal spot for scoring that one-of-a-kind piece your wardrobe sorely needs. Like Etsy.com landed in a high school gym, the market provides a retail space for up-and-coming designers selling handmade clothes and accessories. Folding tables and coat racks display the goods: cuffs made from recycled records, origami paper wallets, funky vintage bags, and hand-embroidered jackets. For the most part, jewelry dominates the space, and while it's not quite Tiffany's quality, you can take home a pair of gold-plated, hammered-metal, twisted-hoop earrings for $30. But possibly the most unique aspect of the market is the chance to chat with the designers themselves. Try out your bargaining skills, if you dare.

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Shopping • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Milagros Memories

The soft, cozy aroma of incense greets you at the door, which is propped invitingly open most days. Brightly colored decorations of papier-mache and woven cloth spill out onto the sidewalk, where a lawn chair and potted plants are stationed. The interior is quiet and dimly lit, offering literal and figurative shade from the blaze of the city outside. Mexican folk art shops like this proliferate in Santa Fe, and for a moment you can imagine you're on Canyon Road rather than East 3rd Street. But La Sirena--funky, artsy, teensy and lovingly cluttered--suits the East Village fine. Every conceivable Mexican craft is represented in this shoebox-sized store. It's all fair-trade, much of it bought directly from Mexican artisans and priced under $30. Most striking is the collection of tin milagros that covers the walls, shiny enough to make a magpie drool. A trip is recommended for the incense alone, sold for $2.75 per pack and called Pink Rose. Despite the name, the comforting blend conjures baking with cinnamon and milk, a mellow wood fire, and a subtle memory of the powder mom used to wear.

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Shopping • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Really Keeping It Real

A flashback to geeky teenage awe and fear as you linger outside the door of Bess, a black hole next to the gas station on Lafayette and Houston. This place looks like it's run by those punks who hung out in the park by school! By those riot grrls who dominated the bathroom in the art department, sneaking clove cigarettes and telling you they were witches! Well, dear, the truth is even more frightening: this place is run by "fashion people." Founded by veterans of VOGUE and Ralph Lauren, and patronized by Mary-Kate Olsen, the idea of it feels like seeing the homecoming queen being invited backstage at the Nirvana concert. Rock and roll is supposed to be about US, not THEM! Still, Bess is achingly cool and one-of-a-kind, and way more authentically "rock" than John Varvatos headlining CBGB. Everything here is handmade, and either unique or very limited, which explains (sorta) the $400-and-up price points. The look combines punk, metal, goth, grunge, and gypsy in a strictly black-and-white palette, executed in studs, chains, denim, tie-dye, leather and suede, plus diaphanous fabrics for the ladies. Don't overlook the exquisitely crafted rock star jewelry, which is actually Bess' raison d'etre.

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Shopping • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

No Sitar Required

If you're anything like me, your summer brings with it oodles of invitations to very "now" gatherings of hip and happening types on beaches and rooftops. No jacket required, haze recommended, clothing optional, leave your hang-ups at the door. Dig? But it's hard to be the life of the party with a plain old acoustic guitar in hand, or even worse, bozo bongos. Boring! Be the boffo belle of the ball and stop by Keshav Music Imports beforehand to pick up something really groovy. Set aside any fears of asking dumb questions to a stern Indian--the store is run by Keshav Das, a white yogi, who treats newbies no differently than the many chart-topping recording artists who have passed through his doors o'er the years. Keshav picks out all the instruments himself on trips to India. He can also teach you how to play them, he himself being a "kirtan-wallah" who has performed with gypsies, babas, and sadhus in India, and with other professional musicians throughout the world. The store is generally open during hours when squares are at work. If you're one of those people, drop in on a Saturday afternoon. Hare Krishna and all that jazz!

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Shopping • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Frites This Side of Belgium

Quick! Before warm weather unveils the chubtastic results of your winter sloth, revel in the East Village-by-way-of Belgium's most addictive snack: crispy, thick-cut, twice-fried, salt-tossed potatoes served in a paper cone. Skip the ketchup, and eat them European-style, with mayonnaise. A lineup of 25 sauces, from mango chutney mayo to wasabi mayo, are available, with free samples upon request. But for real comfort-food indulgence, don't miss the poutine. A styrofoam cup packed with fries and Canadian cheddar cheese curds melting under hot chicken gravy, this ain't your standard-order diner cheese fries. This single-minded shop only has a few seats available in the back, so you're probably better off getting your frites to go and munching down Second Avenue. Either way, it's sure to kick some of the gloom off your late-winter blues.

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Restaurants • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

A Needlessly Lavish Touch of Class

Finally: They've unlocked the gate on the servants quarters and I am made privy to the pastimes of moneyed, Scottish archivist-financier-publishers. In the case of the Forbes, the choice is clear: Collecting. And what a lovely collection it is: Toy boats and soldiers from all over Western Europe in many a descriptive display; political, porcelain figurines and a celebrity daguerreotype picture gallery. A charming, patrician assemblage fit for the masses, so long as they're respectful of wealth, idiosyncrasies and confident enough in their commonness not to pay an entrance fee. My one misgiving as regards the whole arrangement is the exhibit entitled A Year of Dancing Dangerously: One Woman's Journey from Beginner to Winner which is boring, sequin-y and lay. I realize they included such a monstrosity on account of the authoress/dancer's being somehow connected to the Forbes clan, but really, I expect gentility to trump obligatory familial inclusion when it comes to unapologetic displays of wealth and collectibles. Still, as a charming illustration of noblesse oblige, I applaud the wealthy Scotch.

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Art Galleries • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Cambodian is the new Vietnamese

Vietnamese sandwiches have run their fifteen minutes of fame so now it's time for the foodie crowds to move on to...wait for it...Cambodian sandwiches. The wacky New York food world moves in mysterious ways (seriously, why have a billion pizza places opened in the last few weeks?). Enter the quirky Num Pang. These guys servie up peppered catfish, veal meatballs, coconut shrimp, grilled skirt steak, or pulled pork smothered in chili mayo and pickled veggies on a toasted Parisi Bakery roll--a nice touch and nod to old-school New York. Served with an ice-cold blood orange lemonade, and you just found yourself the perfect Union Square lunch. Just be prepared to take these delicious little morsels to go. There's only a few seats upstairs, and they fill up fast. 

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Restaurants • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Grieve or Rejoice?

A picture says a thousand words. But I need to write at least one hundred, so we'll say 171 in this case. Thanks to fabulous blogs like EV Grieve, Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, and Lost City, the whole world is able to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the East Village. Case in point: The newish Cooper Square Hotel. Crammed into a block between two tiny brick buildings, this place just looks surreal from certain angles. But with giant high-rises like these penetrating the surrounding quaint blocks on a regular basis now, this scene is starting to feel very normal for better or worse. And with the futuristic new Cooper Union building (foreground of photo, check out the webcam) almost complete, these few blocks will surely have architects swooning. In some ways, it's really amazing to see witness the changing skyline of a city right before your eyes. Of course it's easy for me to say--I haven't had my view blocked by a $350 a night glass hotel room.

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Hotels • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

Truly Vintage

I bet you could find a pair of rose-colored glasses here that would make the world seem like it is not in a global recession or that half of us are freezing over or melting away. But you'll have to search the library-like cabinets full of spectacles and shades from a time passed long ago. Offering vintage frames dating back as far as the 1700s (not the usual thrift shop 'vintage' 3-year old Guccis or Pradas), this is an environment where you can stay, look, and try on anything your eyes are drawn to. This former Chelsea flea market booth is now a bustling East Village shopping landmark, complete with honest staff that will tell you, like it or not, that you won't suit a pair of oversized Kennedy-esque shades or Top Gun aviators. Be it so, perhaps you will be better suited to the room adjacent, full to the brim with vintage garments of the wardrobe variety. Either way you will walk out with something epoch and something FABULOUS!

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Shopping • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

It's Electric

Well, slap my knee and call me Susan. I never did understand the brouhaha over this establishment, nor am I like to. 'Tis purportedly one of the last cool bars in the East Village, but I just don't see it. It's overcrowded, bears preppy-seeming patrons and unmannerly bar-people. But can this be faulted on the EV stalwart, or is it the times we live in? In its defense, Blue & Gold does offer $3 well drinks and shots; drinks of such predictable flavor and workingperson price that my near-constant bitterness is placated... and momentarily vaporized. Ah, my sinuses. I suppose it would be immature not to congratulate Blue & Gold on its modest prices in such a nauseously hopping arena. Lea Garrett, NFT Office Superior, gleefully cites its lack of relative outside light as conducive to daytime drinking. So I relent. Blue & Gold is probably one of the best bars in the East Village, notwithstanding that Holiday place, but then I'm in no humour to give consequence to neighborhoods that have been slighted by my high opinion.

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Nightlife • Washington Square / NYU / NoHo / SoHo

East Village Crack Sale!

As Keith Haring said, "Crack is Wack!" Easy alternative: chocolate. No possibility of incarceration and no crack whores (well, I guess that's both a positive and a negative). But I digress. Lynda Stern's new chocolate shop, Bond Street Chocolate (located of course on East 4th Street), will make you at least temporarily forget about the impending (let's face it, already-here) recession. Her chocolate Buddhas, Jesuses, and Ganeshes will make you see the godhead, guaranteed. Her chocolate skulls will definitely get you an extra base tonight with your goth girlfriend. And her lavender-laced truffles will get you, well, pretty much whatever you want with whomever you give them to. She's also doing gift basket