Appropriately-named Underline coffee serves Counter Culture beans just under the High Line in Chelsea. A long, narrow cafe with the counter in the back. It was a nice place to have a coffee break and escape the rain with interesting, tall ceramic macchiato cups.
we visited the ann hamilton: the event of a thread exhibition at the park avenue armory. it’s a really neat building.
after exploring the rooms in the front of the armory, we purchased tickets and were met with an interesting contrast of gleeful chaos and monotone poetry readings
adults and kids were having FUN. when is the last time you were on a swing? how about a giant, 100-foot swing?
reading. the recital was broadcast wirelessly to speakers inside paper bags that were scattered on the floor of the armory.
lots of people laid down in the middle to look up at the swaying curtain
so I took a photo looking up. here is what they saw:
there was a record player and a record cutter. at the end of each day, a song is sung and the recording is cut into a record. that record is then played the next day
this guy was taking a break. you can see the cables attached to swings and the curtain
it was a short visit this time around but there was still time to have coffee thrice!
coffee and the times. espresso at prodigy coffee. Coffee roasted by George Howell Coffee Company. My tasting notes: muted brightness, buttery and light. enjoyable.
neat vibe, very friendly baristas, nice light. this was a good visit.
everyman espresso. despite the barista’s expression at the moment I shot the photo, they were great and there was nothing disgusting about the experience. they are located in a cool spot near union square in the lobby of the classic stage company.
espresso – espresso toscano by counter culture coffee. tasting notes: bright, not much sweetness, light fruit aftertaste, hints of vanilla and peach
macchiato. but it was the drip that Diane ordered that stole the show. the baroida papua new guinea from counter culture
was amazing. delightfully fruity.
this year’s real new york bagel was had at Absolute Bagels – an everything with nova lox and cream cheese. I had to go to “recalibrate” my bagel sensors as Israel would say
and the next day, back to the always-great third rail coffee – serving stumptown. this is a macchiato but my espresso was light and citrusy
fresh pasta at giovanni rana in chelsea market
shaftway
this bicycle is not like the others
NYU’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
this one had no trouble posing. chocolate labrador?
construction. we took a little peek into an unattended construction entrance.
obligatory subway shot – Lorimer St/Metropolitan Ave
cafeteria waste in Bed-Stuy
stencil + marker + drips?
snow in the flatiron district
pi door handle at the Museum of Mathematics steam
good bye, new york
Last month, we visited Culture Espresso Bar at 72 W 38th St. Their website doesn’t match up to the vibe inside – it’s a pretty classy place.
I got the usual shot of espresso. I think they were pulling shots from an Intelligentsia Black Cat blend.
a macchiato to go along
We walked downtown via the High Line:
A couple sitting at the High Line
and walked back uptown through the financial district. This is the 1-million square foot Manhattan Municipal Building. Built from 1909-1914.
Food shots:
Espresso from Cafe Grumpy in Chelsea. Mellow.
Dessert from the Spot Dessert Bar in the East Village. This was the Yuzu Eskimo – Blackberries, raspberry foam, chocolate pearls, oreo soil and chocolate ganache.
It was a neat combination of flavors. The most interesting was the Yuzu – a Japanese citrus fruit. It had a very interesting tart herbal flavor. The raspberry foam was very tart as well and predictably light. The oreo “soil” was delicious as I love oreo cookies and the chocolate was yummy as well.
I can’t remember what my friend Diane got. I think this was the White Miso Semifreddo with berries, olive oil, and raspberry sorbet with an almond tuile.
skating across houston st in manhattan
here are some shots from wandering manhattan on a rainy day. I was feeling kind of ill so I kept it mellow.
“moustache man” strikes again. love it.
(since then he has been arrested .. sadface)
yarnbombing a trike. that did not look easy.
chairs outside of the adidas store in soho
running from the thunderstorm
I happened to be on the high line when a thunderstorm hit. scary clouds loomed over hoboken until suddenly the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the full-on thunderstorm hit.
I wandered chelsea a bit.
I saw this sad spectacle of a bike. everything had been stripped except for the crankset, saddle, and brake posts. is this proof that using an old chain to secure your saddle works?
I hopped back on the high line.
drinking hearts
loved the lighting here
This is part 4 of the bike and coffee tour.
(part 1 of the tour and part 2 and part 3)
Abraco (86 East 7th Street New York) is a small space with a strong smell of coffee and a distinctive neon sign that is featured prominently as their logo on their website. The beans are from counter culture, and the guy apparently has Bay Area roots and had previous experience at blue bottle. For more information, there’s a good writeup in New York magazine.
Abraco’s website pushes some delicious looking pastries, but I only ended up getting an espresso:
The espresso, a ristretto, had a very “traditional” taste to me.
As claimed, the place was tiny and crowded. Nothing wrong with that.
Sam and I continued walking in the east village, headed towards brooklyn but in search of food.
We stopped by Dumpling Man for a snack:
I only ended up with a shot of the bathroom. “Please be good”
We took a little stroll through Tompkins Square Park and then came across Busy Bee Bikes (437 East 6th Street, New York, NY)
Nothing too crazy here. You can see a pretty big used part selection behind the glass on the right and a pretty bright paint job outside where some of the people from the shop were working on repairs.
Our next stop was Bike Works (106 Ridge Street, New York), just on the manhattan side of the Williamsburg bridge. they had a decent selection of cycling caps here, so I picked a couple up as souvenirs.
Also in front of Bike works:
The city was painting new bike lanes on Rivington St as we approached the Williamsburg bridge. Fresh green paint!
Williamsburg bridge photos:
Heavily covered with graffiti good and bad:
aand plenty crowded with cyclists and pedestrians. It was cool to see the variety of styles. There were old beater bikes, fixies with chopped bars, cheapo mountain bikes and nice road bikes.
We took a break to sit down and rest our legs in Williamsburg. There was some group ride going on that looked more instructional than anything else:
we started walking in the general direction of park slope, feet and legs starting to get tired. I happened to spot Bicycle Station (171 Park Avenue, Brooklyn, NY). I went in for a bit. The shop seemed small, and relatively sparse possibly due to the fact that they had moved to this location not too long ago. A family came in with a bunch of bikes needing attention and they were starting the repair as I left.
I stopped into La Bagel Delight for some food and then took a quick peek into Bespoke Bicycles (64-B Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn) before meeting Sam for a beer at Mullanes across the street. It was well-lit with some beautiful signage.
replenished and rested, we continued towards park slope.
Saw this on Atlantic Ave:
worst prizes ever. but cool tape job.
This little amendment to the BNE sticker took some planning. I got a kick out of it:
we had some time to spare before meeting up with Sam’s friend for dinner, so naturally we walked up and down 5th and 7th avenues.
Stopped into R&A Cycles (105 5th Avenue Brooklyn) for a second:
R&A has a big shop with many fancy road/tri/whatever bikes.
passed by Dixon’s (792 Union Street Brooklyn), so I stepped in for a second too:
Dixon’s is also a pretty large shop but their focus seemed to be used bikes and repairs:
We walked on to Tea Lounge (837 Union Street Brooklyn) where I didn’t get more coffee because I was already 2 espressos in for the day. Instead, we sat on a comfy couch and rested.
I tried making a google map of all of the places visited but am having a hard time embedding that onto this site. So, here’s a list of places that I visited (thanks again to Brooklyn by Bike and the New York Times Interactive Coffee Map! and the people who helped me along the way)
