Exploring Outside of Manhattan - Why the Outer Boros may very well be Real New York

By Peter Lim


The throngs of holidaymakers content to snap pictures from the queue for the Empire State Building lift, take a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, or endure a Sex And The City Location tour will almost always be there in spades, propping up many an overpriced business. The TGI Friday's in Times Square will always be full, selling $30 appetizers to willing connoisseurs, and many a tourist will be left to wonder "how does anyone reside here as expensive/crowded/inconvenient as it can be?"

Answer: Hardly anybody does.

Well a few individuals do. The Wall Street crowd can afford it, and dwell how we may think they do in the movies (or if you're a fan of Ted Danson's George Christoper on Bored to Death), and a huge amount of people reside in steadily worsening rent-controlled apartments. Everyone else paid Manhattan rent for a while, then we heard about the outer boros. Men and women without (and, progressively, with) extraordinary wealth, but who are familiar with the city, are inclined to go to Brooklyn and Queens. What am I saying? The best dining places, bars, shopping, and neighborhood culture - indeed, the best things to do in NYC - have moved with them.

A new generation of vacation goers is slowly getting wise to this.

North 11th Street in Williamsburg, home of Beacon's Closet - conceivably Brooklyn's most well-known second hand retailer - and the Vice.com hq, is overrun with vacationers during weekends. DUMBO, home of Food Network's Bobby Flay and background fordon't make me express it againSex And The Cityhas developed into a bit like "Brooklyn Disney Land".

These spots are worth going to, and there are a lot more you haven't heard of.

Want the most bona fide Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean food outside of Asia? Check out Flushing, Queens, a 20 minute ride on the LIRR, and a single metro stop from the Mets' City Field.

Enthusiastic about the next up-and-coming cool neighborhood, like Williamsburg but devoid of the travelers? Look no farther than Prospect/Crown heights, the home of an amazing and ever-changing variety of eateries, coffee houses and taverns, and perhaps the very best pizza in The Big Apple.

A little to the north of Williamsburg, where you can find the most overlooked brunch restaurant, Pizza joint, and steakhouse, respectively, is Greenpoint.

Why the outer boros? Exactly the same reason it's better to lodge with family and friends in a foreign place than to rely exclusively on a manual: you're acquiring a taste of the city from the perspective of local residents. Sure, Soho has wonderful (if crowded/overpriced) shops, you need to check out the East Village during your lifetime, and Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall can be worth a visit if you're able to get tickets. ButNew Yorkers are generally bargain-crazy and imaginative to-a-fault. Williamsburg's Barcade, where one can find a glass from one of the best taps within the city for an average of $6 and play classic video games for the original prices through the night, is more our pace. In the outer boros, particularly if you ask a local, you'll find-

-Authenticity - from Bushwick's taco diner run out of the rear room of a genuine tortilla plant to Woodside's SriPraPhai, roundly regarded to be probably the greatest of Thai Restaurants in the united states (think you've experienced Thai food? maybe), to Carroll Gardens' generations-old salami shops on Court Street, the outer boros are replete with places in the magical post-popularity-with-the-locals, pre-tourist-mecca sweet spot.

-Beauty - Prospect Park, and Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and the roadways of Cobble Hill, Park Slope, and Brooklyn Heights, are amongst the most photogenic urban landscapes in The United States, and in contrast to the Statue of Liberty and Central Park, they're less crowded than you'd expect. Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Bushwick - rugged places tagged with street art -are another kind of eye-catching, but no less "real".

-Vibrance - it's correct that some of the more daring eateries, like David Chang's Momofuku, Masaharu Morimoto's Masa, and Wiley DuFresne's WD-50, together with some of the "expense account" spots like 11 Madison Park and the Grammercy Tavern, still call Manhattan home. Many more, like Carroll Gardens' Buttermilk Channel, Park Slope's Al Di La, Williamsburg's Fette Sau, as well as a rotating/ever-expanding cast of daring, chef-driven hotspots are satisfied to call Brooklyn home. The outer boros teem with business joie de vivre as restauranteurs and business-owners take advantage of their lower rent and increasing consumer base.

-Higher Value - You night spend a lot for a meal in Brooklyn (though you certainly don't need to) but be assured your hard earned money are getting more. A luxurious evening can be found at Buttermilk Channel for approximately $150 for 3, including wine - less than a third the price of a comparable Manhattan destination. And there's a dizzying selection of wonderful meals under $20. (Prospect Heights' The Islands, in reality high-priced by Brooklyn standards, nonetheless serves up an brimming plate of jerk chicken for approximately $10, on the low end of the cost of an average Manhattan food truck.) Don't even speak about the bars, where great varietals of ale are accessible for between $4 and $10 a mug and decent wine bars start at approximately $8 a glass. (It's true, you can find decent pubs in Manhattan, but when they're not divy or overpriced, they're crowded, like the West Village's Blind Tiger Ale House - fantastic, but standing-room-0nly any time after 4pm, 7 days-a-week.)

To get a bit of all 3, have a look at the indoor flea market at One Hanson Place (except during spring and summer), also known as the Williamsburg Bank Building (not to be confused with Williamsburg the neighborhood unless you want an expensive and bothersome trip on the G train). A couple of hundred small crafts entrepreneurs make this flea market their home every Saturday and Sunday, and a talk with just a few of the razor-sharp, tech-savvy, artsy shopkeepers will fill you with the outer boros character for weeks to come.

Whether you're considering a visit to Nyc and looking to circumvent the throngs and high price tags, or a Manhattanite in a position to look past the East River - whether Yelp, the advice of a buddy, or (we hope) our site is your guide, give the outer boros a try, and prepare to enjoy the authentic NYC.




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