Corner Bistro

Corner Bistro on 331 West 4th Street (between 12th and Jane St) has dubbed themselves "the last of the bohemian bars in West Greenwich Village." They're a burger and beer bar institution in the area.

We liked Corner Bistro for several reasons:

1). Cheap beer. Order the McSorely Ale or McSorely Dark on tap for $2.50. If you're a high roller, you can order a Guinness Pub Can for $6.00. But why would you do that? Guinness is my favorite beer, but $2.50 at a bar in New York City is a great deal. Take advantage of it.

2). Affordable, simple beer-friendly food. You get no menus here and sometimes that's a good thing. There's only a few things you can order off a chalkboard. We've heard people exclaim that Corner Bistor's Bistro Burger is the best burger in New York City. We wouldn't call it the best, but the hefty 8 oz burger with melted cheese, bacon, and raw onions is pretty good, and the sheer volume of this burger makes it a good deal for just $6.75. We might have ranked this burger higher if the meat was more juicy and the bread less crumbly the first time we ordered it.

You can also order a chili burger for $6.75, a cheeseburger for $6, a regular hamburger for $5.75, or a grilled chicken sandwich for $6. The best part about the average-tasting chicken burger were the toasted buns. A burger is a better choice here.

But the best thing to order at Corner Bistro is their grilled cheese sandwich for $3.75. Granted, you can easily make a grilled cheese sandwich at home. But everything about the way Corner Bistro made this was perfect - nicely grilled, crunchy bread, ample amount of cheese, and it wasn't overly greasy or soggy. Pair it with a beer, and you have a lovely match. Pair this with a McSorely Ale and you'll have a fine dinner in Manhattan for $6.25! Add fries to the mix and your tab will still be under $10.

By the way, there's ketchup bottles everywhere.


3). Casual atmosphere in a non-casual neighborhood. You can walk into Corner Bistro dressed as down as you want and no one gives a shit. Corner Bistro has a mixed clientele, but consists mainly of dudes. If you're a single female in the city looking for dudes, don't bother trying to pick up men here. Corner Bistro guys seem like the kind of guys that would rather drink beers with their man friends while talking smack about women than the kind of high fivers actively seeking female companionship (you can find them paying $15 for martinis down the street).

4). 50+ bartenders. They look like they could be your pop or your wise-cracking grandfather that doesn't have time for young kids' attitudes. It's refreshing to see these type of guys behind the bar in a bar industry obsessed with hiring winking men with overly slicked back hair or girls who've blown all their tips on implants and too much makeup.

5). Yes, you can actually sit down to have a beer. Although it's a relatively small bar, there's at least seating options - intimate booths in the back area (mostly college types and couples) or the front bar area (mostly large groups of co-workers).

6). There's a jukebox. The music tends to get drowned out in the sea of conversations, but at least the choice to play music you like is there.

Another thing to know about Corner Bistro is that it's always crowded. It really doesn't matter if it's day or night, weekday or weekend. We've had to stand in lines, but the wait isn't too bad. For some reason, we always ended up seated next to the jukebox and kitchen counter.

One thing we didn't like about Corner Bistro is that they are one of the few places in Manhattan that doesn't deliver, which is why we ended up on several occasions ordering a Pop Burger instead. We can bet that they're too short staffed to deal with delivery orders. They'd be getting way too many burger orders at 3 AM.

Palate for Half Price Latin Drinks

New York City has the best bars in the U.S. Period. Proof - Paladar at 161 Ludlow Street. Best time to go to Paladar is between 4 and 7 PM to get tipsy off their half price drinks.

One difficulty at this bar is getting a seat at the bar.

Once you overcome that hurdle, the next challenge is deciding what drink to order - Mojito, Caipirinha, Margarita, or Sangria? Easiest decision is to try them all. They're all good. The bartender was making drinks factory-production style. It was crazy that there was only one bartender considering how crazy busy it was during the half-price hours. We've never seen a bartender with such mechanic focus.

We so badly wanted to order something off of their seafood-friendly menu but the food didn't come with happy hour prices so we stuck to the booze.

Paladar's a fun, lively spot. It's also located on a great bar hopping area. If you're over the age of 27, chances are you'll feel like a senior citizen among the sea of L.E.S. trendsters. But don't let that deter you from getting your discounted drinks on.

If we were in New York today, we would have definitely spent the day playing in the snow in Central Park then heading to a bar like Paladar to warm ourselves up (with fine summer time cocktails). New York, we're missing you most on a day like this.

The Big Papaya

The gazillion Papaya chains can be an eye sore with their in-your-face signs, neon lights, and tacky Partyland decorations, but they bring back memories of good times in New York City, like the Presidential election. After we voted for our new President, we went to our neighborhood Papaya King and got hot dogs to go for dinner. We watched the news coverage of the Presidential election while eating our Papaya King dogs.




After experiencing an incredible Roy Ayers performance at Blue Note, we stumbled into Papaya Dog on our way home.




The fluorescent lighting is really harsh when you've had a long night.


Hot dog and corn dog was the best way to end that night.


No, wait, hot dogs and corn dogs followed by a beautiful distant view of the Empire State building when the streets are eerily quiet was the best way to end that night.

All the Papaya dogs pretty much taste the same, but for some reason, we'll give the edge just a bit to Gray's Papaya.

Multilingual

This is why New York is the center of the world.

Herd of New York Lovers

This is the way you want to scream tourist.

Perhaps not the most street smart way to travel when in New York, or when you're trying to prevent getting overcharged, but it's cool that they don't give a damn about the way they're dressed or their image (well, unless their luggage was lost and they had no choice but to buy five white I Heart New York shirts for five bucks).

Around The Park We Go

Additional pictures of Central Park that we took throughout the year.


A park where people go to tango . . .




This was the cutest and strangest thing. The guy on the bongo was singing "Who's your baby daddy? I'm your baby daddy." The kids were having a ball, but somehow that song was grossly inappropriate. I still have that song stuck in my head.

Images of rape and drugs at Central Park are gone, replaced by images like these.


Did we mention how kid-friendly this park is?

This playground area is so well designed, fun and functional.


A park for painters, photographers, artists and musicians.



A park for brides and grooms that want stunning background images, if they can somehow manage to get all the tourists and onlookers out of the shots. It's also a fantastic place for proposals.



A park for dogs.



A park for Lennon and Beatles fans.


A park for lovers and romantics.








A park for Shakespeare lovers (although the lines for free Shakespeare is ridiculously long and competitive).



A park for dancers, singers, jazz musicians trying to make some extra money while entertaining tourists.

What we love about this park is you can find your hidden, private spots or you can lounge among hundreds of people in the great lawn picnicking, playing sports, playing music, dancing, signing, hula hooping, performing, rehearsing, photographing, painting, acting, rowing, proposing, and ice skating. There's always something to see, something to experience, and something new to fall in love with.



And it's open until 1:00 am, although we've always left the park when the sun began to set. Probably not a bad idea.

Basta

Our dining experience at Basta Pasta this past August wasn't nearly as sugoi as our first time there. The food was good but the portions were too small for our appetites and our sour-faced moody waitress brought us down.

This Crespelle con Funghi e Ricotta was a nice and light, airy pasta dish with subtle flavors. We especially loved the homemade silk handkerchief pasta, but for $16 it still left us feeling hungry.

I had to order the Spaghetti con Prosciutto e Parmigiano because the presentation of being served pasta from a half wheel of Parmesan cheese at the table was enticing. As a lover of all things cheese and pasta, this was paradise.

But it would have been a more fun experience if our personality-less waitress at least pretended like she was doing something enjoyable. She was going through the motions like she was cleaning a toilet. Can I please help you take the block of Parmesan out of your ass please? Can you take a shot of something at the bar and come back to our table?

So yes she kind of ruined it for us. It would have been way better if they created a smaller version of this wheel and let you eat the pasta directly from it. Then as a dessert, you'd chomp away at the cheese wheel and whatever you couldn't finish, you'd take it to go in a takeout box. Brilliant idea.

The pasta was rich, creamy and delicious. The thinly sliced high-quality parma prosciutto tasted equally wonderful. But there was hardly any pasta on my plate and the prosciutto was barely there. It was cruel because it just left you desiring more. It was more like an appetizer portion.

As someone who's worked as a waitress, if you want to make money off of tips, you leave your attitude at the door no matter what kind of shitty day you've had because you know your day will be much shitter when you count your cash at the end of the day and see how little money you've made. Perhaps our waitress wasn't so nice to us when she learned we were a table on a budget (no antipasti, no high alcohol sales, and no food off the higher price secondi piatti). But even if we ordered just one salad, we expect good service. We should have waited for seats at the bar to open up and let Misa serve us instead.

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck

The long lines of people dressed in Giorgio Armani at the Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream truck (a truck that's been revamped from an old postal service truck) parked in Meatpacking near the entrance to the Highline Park prevented us from trying their tempting treats.

But despite the long lines and higher than standard ice cream prices, we might just have to give this one a shot next time we're in New York after reading how their ice cream might be just a bit better for your health and the environment. Their ice creams are made from organic milk/cream/eggs that are locally sourced, free from hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, and stabilizers. Their hazelnuts come from a farm in Sicily, their vanilla is made from Tahitian beans aged in Vodka in oak barrels, and their recyclable cups and spoons are made from sugar and corn husks. This all sounds great, but for most New Yorkers on a budget Mister Softee is still king.

Le Grainne Cafe

It was a shame that we only ate at Le Grainne Cafe (located at 183th Ninth Avenue) just a few days before we moved out of the city. It would have been our perfect neighborhood brunch spot.

It's a sweet and simple Parisian bistro in Chelsea. It really does look like it could be in any street in Paris.


We were seated right by the counter/kitchen, which was torture since we had to see and smell all the delicious foods being brought out. Our seats also gave us a perfect view of how hard the guys in the tiny kitchen work. It looked like only one or two guys were doing the cooking, which explained why it took so long for us to get our food. Although it took awhile for our food to hit our table, the chefs were working as fast and diligently as humanly possible. Like most restaurants in New York City, the chefs and people that cooked our food - whether French, Italian, or Chinese - were Mexicans. We were impressed with what was going on in the kitchen - when they weren't cooking or plating, they were cleaning or organizing. Basically working their asses off.

This fresh bread saved us.

We absolutely loved Le Grainne's menu, which was simple but savory. It was like taking me back to France: French onion soup, cheese plate with fruits, pate, snails with garlic butter sauce, croque monsieur, croque madame, warm spicy lamb sausage on baguette, and crepes (sweet or spicy sausage, goat cheese and leek, smoked salmon with fresh basil cream and grilled vegetables, butter sugar with ice cream). We noticed everyone was ordering Moules. If not for the price, we would have loved to order the Provencales Moules (mussels in white wine, shallot, garlic, and fresh herb sauce with tomato concassees, black olives, and pesto). The fiance, trying to lower his cholesterol and be healthy, could only order the Salad Nicoise (grilled tuna, boiled eggs, roasted peppers, potatoes, string beans, black olives, and anchovies on a mesclun salad, $14.00). Although it was hard for him to eat this while smelling butter and everything cholesterol-unfriendly in the restaurant, he enjoyed this fresh, filling and pricey salad.

I ordered the Saucisson Beurrer (handmade sweet sausage and butter on baguette, $8.75). The baguette tasted out-of-the-oven good, the sausage was delicious and was perfectly complemented by the rosemary. We've since tried to recreate this at home.

We ended our meal with a great Cappuccino, $3.50.

We went to Le Grainne Cafe around 2:00 PM on a weekday and it was still pretty crowded, so we know this place gets crazy during weekend brunch. One thing we found amusing while people watching at Le Grainne were how many people were drinking champagne and mimosas in the middle of a weekday. We watched a young man near our table polish four glasses of champagne before he received his food. Yup, it was like being back in Europe - people drinking at all hours of the day, enjoying themselves, not working, eating good food. The life.

Le Grainne Cafe is a wonderful place to go for simple French classics. We love that they serve breakfast all day. We bet just ordering their basic Petit Dejeuner Continental (tartine, croissant, chocolate croissant, orange juice, fruit and coffee or tea, $13.50) is splendid. We can picture a writer going to Le Grainne Cafe to enjoy a cup of Rhum Lait Chaud (spiced rum, milk and honey) and an almond croissant. Le Grainne Cafe is open from 8 am to midnight, delivers from 10 am to 10 pm.

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