Hoosta Magazine

By Cecile Jayet, editor in chief.

From Broadway to Wall Street, from Chelsea to Little Italy, New York is a state of mind. Beyond the urban legends and the skyscrapers housing urban sophisticated people, New York is a world in turmoil, a photogenic city that bursts the screen of our imagination. A sunset over Manhattan, a trattoria in the Meatpacking, a picnic in Central Park, here I am looking for intimate and urban environments, with a desire to taste the known and less known treasures of the Big Apple. Eating, sleeping, walking around, here are the emotions and the addresses that make, in my point of view, the art of living in New York.

Day 1
Late afternoon in clear weather. I’m going directly to the Empire State Building to see the breathtaking view. I go to the 85th floor without standing in line with the $30 cut-line ticket (Express Pass) which is worth it. No waiting and the feeling of being a true New Yorker. First sunset over Manhattan, Woody Allen is not far away. I go back down to taste the specialties of the Jewish Eisenberg’s home town in the 5th avenue (between 23rd and 22th street) and then join the neon lights of Times Square for the evening (Broadway, 42nd Street).

Day 2
Mean streets. In the footsteps of Scorcese, I walk the streets of Greenwich Village. Saint Luke’s Place, Washington Square Park, the soul of New York is everywhere. An Italian coffee at the corner of Bleecker Street and Mac Dougal, I pop in the trendy Bleecker Street shops (between 7th and 8th Avenue), the Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, small and colorful cakes with divine toppings coming straight out from a picture book for children. I have lunch in Cornelia Street before joining the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) on 6th Avenue for a dive in the pictorial American myth. I get out a little dizzy to have seen for the first time the paintings of Edward Hopper and stars of Jasper Jones.

Day 3
Chelsea shops and Soho galleries lead me to the Meatpacking District, former slaughterhouse district that became the new place to be. To realize this, just have lunch at Barbuto’s, an excellent Italian restaurant located in a garage or at Florent’s, authentic dinner revisited by a Frenchman, chic version of hamburgers and Formica tables. In late afternoon, I grab the Staten Island ferry, the cheapest pleasure in New York (it’s free), which is a 25 minute crossing from Manhattan to Staten Island. To avoid the tourists see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island at sunset.

Day 4
Preparing my dreamed picnic in Central Park is asking for the whole morning of this radiant Saturday. First step: the Union Square Greenmarket (I believe I’ve recognized Meryl Streep) to fill up with organic and homemade products. Then a second stop at Dean & Deluca (560 Broadway and Prince Street), trendy delicatessen. Beauty everywhere and not only in the caddies. My lunch on the grass at the heart of Central Park, barefoot on the delicate lawn of Sheep Meadows, with a panoramic view on the skyscrapers of Manhattan is a moment of pure happiness. It extends into the afternoon at the Disco Roller Blading (in the north east corner of Sheep Meadows), where New Yorkers skaters of all ages make the Saturday night fever up. My odyssey ends in New York at sunset through the crossing by foot of the Brooklyn Bridge (go to Brooklyn using the underground). I love New York!

Address Book

*To get organized*

The New York press to browse online to know all the news of arts, culture and gastronomy in New York.

New Yorker
NY Times
Time out NY
Village voice

*To sleep*

The Greenwich Hotel
377 Greenwich Street
Tel.: +1 212 941 8900
Robert de Niro owns the famous Greenwich Hotel and worth the detour. Decorated with Tibetan rugs and Moroccan drapes, the hotel is an invitation to travel. Open to the heart of Tribeca, you can take the opportunity to discover the art galleries that abound in the area.

Night Hotel
132 West 45th Street
Tel: +1 212 835 9600
“Some things can only happen at night.” That is what the Night Hotel in New York offers to travelers seeking trendy and unexpected experiences. With its concept designed around the theme of the night, the Night Hotel is an avant-garde place that offers a gothic vision of modernity. Welcome to Gotham City.

Vu Hotel
653 11th Avenue at 48th
Tel: +1 212 757 0088
Elegant and sophisticated boutique hotel, the Vu Hotel is an exclusive address in New York. 222 rooms and suites with breathtaking view on Manhattan, the Vu Hotel follows a design and glamorous decadent deco style. The best: the 15th floor terrace overlooking the city.

Morgans Hotel
237 Madison Avenue
Tel: +1 212 686 0300
A few steps from the Empire State Building, this hotel was renovated in 2008 and it’s the most Frenchy hotel in the Big Apple. Two designers, Andrée Putman and Philippe Starck, have signed the bold and chic decor. As at the hotel restaurant, the Asia de Cuba, also designed by Philippe Starck, there is the surprising cuisine of chef Jeffrey Chodorow, whose performances combine culinary flair with the Asian and Latin flavors.

*To eat*

Tomoe Sushi
172 Thompson Street (between Houston & Bleeker)
Tel.: +1 212 777 9346
It is small and the decor is very simple and even if we must sometimes wait nearly half an hour before you can taste the best sushi and sashimi from NYC, the regulars are still coming in to enjoy the quality of fish . Delicious Japanese specialties to eat accompanied with a carafe of sake. Open from Wednesday to Saturday from 15am until 1pm and from 5pm until 11pm. About $20.

5 Ninth
5 9th Avenue (between Gansevoort & Little West 12th)
Tel: +1 212 929 9460
A beautiful sophisticated restaurant in Meatpacking district. The chef, Zak Pelaccio’s recreates the cuisine from around the world and soft succulent crab. It is mandatory to book for dinner, but the terrace of the Hotel Gansevoort right next to it will help you wait. If the weather is nice, have lunch at the little caffe outside the restaurant, simpler, but a real oasis of greenery in Manhattan. Open for lunch from Monday to Friday and for dinner every night.

Restaurant Alma
187 Columbia (Degraw / Cobble Hill West.)
Tel. +1 718 643 5400
Want to eat nachos while walking in Brooklyn? Check out this restaurant where you can enjoy delicious Mexican specialties, while enjoying a spectacular view on the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Opening of the roof (from December 1st to March 2nd) from Thursday to Sunday.

Suba
109 Ludlow Street
Tel. +1 212 982 5714
This is truly a place unlike anything you’ve seen before. At the ground floor, a very trendy tapas bar, on the first floor a dining room, the Grotto, seems suspended over a lighted pool. The cuisine served at the restaurant, just as incredible as the place, is cooked by a chef who walks in the footsteps of Ferran Adria from El Bulli. A unique experience!

*To have a drink*

Hotel bar Gramercy
2 Lexington Avenue
Such. : +1 212 920 3300
It is Ian Schrager, who launched the concept of boutique hotels and design hotel, who has created this incredible hotel bar. The lounges, each more beautiful than the previous one, are synonymous with luxury and quiet beauty. A place to sip a drink, in evening dress, the best Cosmopolitan of the city as Carry Bradshaw with Mister Big.

Balthazar
180 Spring St (& Broadway)
Tel. +1 212 965 1414
The chef of the chic and glamorous brasserie, Keith McNally, revisits with inventiveness and talent our beloved French cuisine. A place always crowded which is equal to its reputation and success.
For dinner, from Monday to Thursday from 5:45pm until 1am. Fridays and Saturdays from 5:45pm until 2am. On Sunday from 5:30pm until midnight. Breakfasts and brunches.

Bar on the roof of the Hotel Gansevoort
18 9th Ave (at 13th Street)
Tel: +1 212 206 6700
If you dream of having a cocktail with a colorful view of Jersey City and West New York, climb on the roof of the Hotel Gansevoort, you will not be disappointed!
Open from 7am until 11am, every day of the year.

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