Uptown To Do List - Week of Dec. 2, 2024
An ever changing list of things to do above the park
Hello and Happy Monday - we hope everyone had a restful and delicious Thanksgiving holiday!
EATS AND DRINKS
Kaafi (171 Lenox Ave. between West 118th and 119th Streets): this place bills itself as a Pakistani tea house, which cool but also it is cooler than that. The chai is amazing—we had the masala chai (pretty traditional) and kashmiri chai (which is made with green tea and is pink). In fact, we visited Kaafi with an Indian dad type, who said “with the right really good spices, we could make this too,” which translates in normie speak to: “HOLY CARDAMOMMY Batman, this is the best tea I’ve had since I left the subcontinent!” (Also, you definitely can’t make this at home unless you have a live in auntie who dedicates hours each day to honing her chai game.)
Unfortunately, the accompanying snacks performed unevenly. On the savory front, the daal naanwich was a miss for me—it was a thin layer of daal with some onions on pretty thick naan with a side of potato chips that appeared to be housemade though they lacked seasoning (masala powder would have been nice but also some more salt would have helped too). Our group was split on the chaats: we had the eggplant chaat and samosa chaat, each of which were individually rated good to very good.
But the gulab jamun donut was an apparition. OMG. The donut itself was dense but not overly sweet and the whipped cream was dusted with cardamom, which gave it a wonderful aroma. If you have the donut alongside any of the savory bites, you will wonder how the same person made them both. Did they??? If you pair the donut with a chai, you will wonder why it took you so long to get to this place. (And if you go on a weekend, like we did, you will quickly learn that your traitorous neighbors have known about this place for months, keeping it on the down-low in the hopes of keeping the crowds at bay.)
Ramen Kuraku (3952 Broadway between West 165th and 166th Streets): Ramen Kuraku has the wackiest “about” page of any ramen restaurant we’ve visited. Basically, they have a samurai theme called the “way of ramen,” which involves “battles with customers” and possibly “instant death” from bad reviews online. Seemed a little dramatic for a hole in the wall ramen spot so we were pleasantly surprised relieved when we got there and actually everyone seemed to be within two standard deviations of normal.
The place itself is small and cozy. Just the sort of place that hits the spot on a cold winter day. Most of the restaurant is comprised of a counter bar that wraps around the kitchen. Totally sit there if you can; it’s the place to be. They have a good range of ramens, many without pork or with an option to choose a protein other than pork, and they get special props from us for having a gluten free and vegan ramen made with konjac noodles. (If you’re into pork, their menu brags about their chashu pork, which is apparently slow cooked for more than 7 hours and probably is delicious.) We got Kojiro and Tokyo ramens and our ramens were solid to excellent. However, take note that they are not messing around with their “spicy” option. I eat a lot of exceptionally spicy food and my insistence that the spicy broth be “really spicy, no really” was an unforced error.
The time to go to Ramen Kuraku is happy hour, which conveniently straddles the dinner hour from 4-8 M-F and all day on Saturday and Sunday. Happy hour features drink specials and small bites, ranging from Sapporo on draft from $5.41 to tatsuta age (Japanese fried chicken) at $11.33. Though happy hour doesn’t include a discount on your ramen, it would be a mistake to skip it—or to leave a bad review, because no way…but also, if they are right about that whole “instant death” thing, your bad review will mean instant ramen for the rest of us. So, to conclude, order your ramen with the right amount of spice, during happy hour, and don’t be the reason we can’t have nice things.
Saggio (827 West 181st Street between Pinehurst and Cabrini): Saggio is one of those comfortable, red sauce spots with dark wood. It’s dimly lit through the inside and the bar is the best seat inside the house. (The garden can’t be beat on a nice day and you’ll likely see Saggio on this list again come spring.) The restaurant itself touts its homemade pastas but previous reviews have called them average. Even if pasta is not the best dish in the house, the crostinis we had were very good to excellent: we tried the white bean and stracchino cheese ones. So our pitch for this restaurant is go for happy hour. Lucky for you, that happens to be weekdays 4-6pm—but at the bar only, so don’t try to get deals at a table in the dining room. Specials include $8 select wines, $6 select beers, spirit and mixer for $7, and old fashioneds, negronis, americanos and French 75s for $8. While you’re there, don’t overlook the happy hour “select bites,” which include specials on five of the crostinis ($4-6), polpettini for $6 and calamari for $10.
HAPPENINGS
Uptown Holiday Market (Jackie Robinson Bandshell, 116 Bradhurst Avenue between West 147th and 148th Streets): the Uptown Holiday Market will take place on various Thursdays in December (December 5, 12, 19 and 26 from 4-10pm). The market promises a variety of local artisans, craftpeople and food vendors. This is a perfect place to shop for your Great Aunt Edna who has everything other than cool things from artisans around town or just a fun date night to enjoy our above average temperatures this winter. Like the Uptown Night Market, you can RSVP here but you need not RSVP to attend. You can, however, use the RSVP link to buy a lottery ticket for $9.31, which gets you entry into a raffle to win $100 to spend at the market.
The Ladies Room Comedy Festival at Comedy in Harlem (750A St. Nicholas between West 147th and 148th Streets): On Saturday, December 7th and Sunday, December 8th, head on over to Comedy in Harlem for the Fourth Annual Ladies Room Comedy Festival. This year, the headliner will be Carole Montgomery, founder of “Funny Women of a Certain Age” (and “hilarious standup comedian,” according to the Ladies Room website and also our personal experience watching Showtime’s “Funny Women of a Certain Age”). We learned from the website that the show made television history being the first special to feature 6 female comics over the age of 50, which we think is pretty cool. (We still aren’t sure if the next closest show had 5 or like there was never one with more than one.) There are two time slots each day (at 1pm and 3:30), so you have no excuse to miss this laugh riot. 16 and up. Tickets are $25 and there is an $18/person minimum for drinks and/or food. Get your tickets here.
Drag Brunch at Le Cheile (839 West 181st Street at Cabrini Blvd): bottomless drag brunch between 1 and 3pm on Sunday, December 8. This drag brunch sounds like a steal to us: $35 will get you a choice of bottomless mimosas, bloody marys, bellinis or screwdrivers and an entree that ranges from avocado toast to a burger, OR for $50, you can “make it bougie” and get bottomless top shelf, including cocktails. More details here but you don’t need tickets. (The restaurant website just doesn’t seem to be updated regularly.)
Holiday Train Nights at the New York Botanic Garden (2900 Southern Blvd—it’s big, cross-streets won’t help you): on December 7, 13 and 14 reserve a ticket between 7 and 8:30pm for entry into Holiday Train Nights. These three dates are 21+ and will feature food and drinks, including spiked cider cocktails, mocktails and hands-on gingerbread fun. They also come with bonus LIVE musical performances. The train show by itself is cool. The train show with cocktails is waaay cool. Get your tickets here and do it soon because these nights always sell out. If you have little ones and need to visit the trains during a time with a higher concentration of short people, other ticket options and dates can be found here. When you get to the Botanic Garden, the trains are in the Haupt Conservatory.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Power Broker turned 50 this year so we’ve got Robert Moses on the brain. If you can hit pause on his shortcomings (they are many), one great thing Robert Moses did was Jackie Robinson Park. The park was acquired by NYC in 1890s and opened as Colonial Park in 1911. During the WPA, Moses oversaw significant development at Colonial Park, including the installation of a giant pool with an entry way resembling a medieval castle. The park was renamed for Jackie Robinson in 1978. (File that in the “What Took You so Long” comment box.)
The Parks Department calls Jackie Robinson Park a “Harlem jewel.” They aren’t wrong. The Bandshell alone has some pretty great shows. Last summer, we saw the Met Opera there, in what was the most civilized outdoor music show we’ve ever been to—the Met set out chairs and gave us a Playbill. Our friends brought out of town visitors with us and the visitors said the show was the best thing they did in NYC. It definitely was one of the best concerts we saw all summer.
