5 NYC Department Stores With Great Food For 2013
The holiday shopping rush is behind us (phew!), but that won't change the fact that shopping makes you hungry. Read on for department stores in New York City with the best food, so you're prepared whenever and wherever hunger strikes. By Jessica Allen.
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Serving Manhattan since 1897, ABC Carpet & Home now boasts ten floors of "cause-related" rugs, textiles, antiques, furnishings, clothes, throws, jewelry, and lots (and lots) of other stuff that helps the environment and raises awareness about social issues. In 2011, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Phil Suarez opened ABC Kitchen, devoted to local, sustainable, organic farm-to-table food, and immediately won fans and accolades, including "Best New Restaurant" from the James Beard Foundation, for their delicious efforts.
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Bloomingdale's isn't known for its humor. And yet the name of its most famous restaurant is pretty funny: "Forty Carrots" is a play on the sparkly things sold elsewhere in the building, as well as a nod to its healthful fare like grilled fish and soups made fresh each day. But the reason for the longish lines on the seventh floor is the frozen yogurt (flavors rotate regularly). Low in calories, creamy, hefty, and (relatively) cheap, a small will run you about $5. For added energy, get the wheat germ topping; for a splurge, chocolate gummi bears.
In 1923 Barney Pressman pawned his wife's engagement ring and used the money to open a store named after himself on Seventh Avenue. Years later, his son and heir transformed Barneys from a discount menswear emporium to the luxury retailer we know today, then named the restaurant in the Madison Avenue flagship store after himself. Fred's At Barneys offers wide-ranging local, seasonal fare that skews Italian. As you eat, you can nonchalantly watch the pretty people, probably including some famous faces. Just make sure to dress to impress.
So, OK, we're cheating a bit on this one. Technically, a mini-mall, even one as charming as this, isn't a department store. However, you can still shop for many things in a single location at this former girdle factory in Williamsburg, including scooters, clever tees, and other things for the youngster in your life at Area Kids, jewelry at Miniminimarket, and all manner of printed matter at Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers, and that's good enough for us. After browsing or buying, stop in at Handsome Dan's for snocones [sic], taffy, licorice, chocolates, and other candy.
More than three decades ago, Sarabeth Levine made an orange apricot marmalade in her Upper West Side apartment using a 200-year-old recipe. That led to more jam, which led to a brisk retail business, which led to bakeries and cafes and restaurants, including one in the Lord & Taylor flagship store on Fifth Avenue. Like the store, the restaurant specializes in all-American feel-goodness, including lemon-ricotta pancakes, cream of tomato soup, and quiche, for breakfast and lunch. That marmalade also led to a nickname (and Twitter handle): "Goddess of Bakedom."
