Best Things To Do In New York City This Weekend
It's August. Suddenly? Already? Regardless of whether your summer is going fast or slow, you can mark the start of the season's doggiest days by stuffing your face, drinking up, or sliding down Park Avenue. Read on to learn more. By Jessica Allen.
NYC Restaurant Week is back! Three full weeks of great, great meals for low, low prices: $25 for lunch and $38 for dinner, to be exact. Participating restaurants include A Voce Madison, Bann, Beauty & Essex, Brasserie, Catch NYC, Craftbar, The Dutch, Fung Tu, and many, many others. You get three courses, great ambiance, excellent service, and a chance to check out a new place. Monday, July 20, through Friday, Aug. 14, prices vary, reservations recommended.
For one night, and one night only, Smorgasburg comes to Central Park. This food-focused sibling of the Brooklyn Flea Market features 25 or so vendors, all beyond nom-nom-worthy, including Asia Dog, Lonestar Empire/Best Summer, Ramen Burger, Blue Marble Ice Cream, Pizza Moto, and Lumpia Shack. There will be beer/wine and live music too. This event is part of SummerStage, the city's largest free performing arts festival. Friday, July 31, 5 to 9 p.m., $10, tickets required.
Inspired by car-free, pedestrian-only events in Bogotá and Paris, New York City began Summer Streets a few years ago. This Saturday, and again on August 8 and 15, you can stroll, bike, amble, and/or run without a care for street lights or vehicle traffic for roughly seven miles along Park Avenue. You can see street art, learn soccer, take a fitness class, hang out with some dogs, and meet Ben Franklin. New this year? A 270-foot waterslide (register online to have a go)!!! Saturday, Aug.1, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., free.
Forget about celebrating with water or a PowerBar at the end of this race: the Chardonnay Run marks the accomplishment of running five kilometers alongside the Hudson River Greenway with a glass of wine, from Barefoot Wine & Bubbly. Finishers will also be feted with live music, cheese, and cheers. Run, walk, hobble, spring, skip, and/or smile across the finish line, and you'll most certainly get your wine. Saturday, Aug. 1, 9 a.m. (staggered start times until 10:30), $70.
Featuring more than 20 chefs from New York City as well as the Catskills, Catskills Comes to Queens is all about showcasing not only the great produce and products grown and made upstate (including beer, wine, Heritage pork, grass-fed beef, rabbit, goat, and cheese) but what can be done with such things in the right hands. In the Town Hall's garden, you'll find barbecue pitmasters and at least one whole animal being spit roasted. Food, wine, good times, and fun. Saturday, Aug. 1, 6 to 9 p.m., $95, tickets required.
