Uptown To Do List - Week of Jan 13, 2025
An ever changing list of things to do above the park
Hello and Happy Monday!
EATS AND DRINKS
Taqueria Allende (2100 Frederick Douglass at West 114th Street): Taqueria Allende is figuring things out. The sister of Alison Wine Bar—do not go to this place expecting it to be anything like Alison wine bar—we were happy to see a new taqueria in a neighborhood that lacks a lot of good taqueria options. We were sad that the place has kind of phoned it in in the design department and offers no on-menu vegetarian options. It actually does not really serve vegetables at all, so if that is what you principally eat, Taqueria Allende is going to be a little bit of a challenge for you. What I will say is that the humans who work there are awesome and accommodating.
A big THANK YOU to the fellow who was willing to re-home the mushrooms from the queso fundido on a rainy night so we could have mushroom burritos. We wish they would also have come with peppers and onions but we we almost forgot about that when we added the housemade salsas, which hit it out of the park. (The green one is equal parts garlicky and spicy and full of awesomeness—you should see if they will sell you a bottle to take home because you will want to put this on everything.) We are also not sure if this is a regular thing or not but, we dined in and got free guacamole before dinner and free churros after our meal. Both totally delicious. Since we were the only diners-in on the Thursday when we stopped by (though several came to pick up), we assume that we are now the only people who know about this freeness. Except now you. As we learned from Mortal Kombat, there is no knowledge that is not power. Exercise it wisely.
L’Artista (142 Hamilton Place between West 143rd and 144th): L’Artista is really, very cute—outside and in. Like we were five people and strained the capacity of the place but everybody pitched in and made it work. Our group tried a little of everything but concluded that the appetizers really outshined the mains—the artichokes were perfectly fried. My tuna was tasty but was no artichoke. My negroni was excellent and is also available at a discount during happy hour, which lasts until 7 and includes several small plates as well as cocktails, beer and wine. We did not check out the garden, because it was winter (and not one of those 60 degree December days), but we suspect the garden is really cute too.
Superhet Coffee (390 Manhattan between West 116th and 117th Streets): on December 30th, the former manager of the cafe Box Kite opened a brand new coffee shop called Superhet. It’s a welcome addition to the coffee desert of Manhattan Avenue. If you, as we, are wondering about the name, we did a google for you—super het is apparently a shortened form of superheterodyne (try to fit that on a sign!) and it refers to a receiver that mixes an incoming signal with a locally generated frequency to produce an easier to process and amplify intermediate frequency. Ahem. To conclude: we assume this means Superhet means to tell us it is bringing some new flavor to the coffee desert that is was Manhattan Ave. That is consistent with our experience at the shop. The spot is real small (no but like really), gives off East Village vibes with its heavy metal music and dive bar aesthetic, and served us a delicious espresso (we tried #1 of 4) and a coquito latte (described to us as Puerto Rican eggnog, which was not wrong). We think this spot is good as is but it is really gonna shine when it’s warm enough to sit in the park again!
HAPPENINGS
If you RSVP’d like we told you last week, then on Sunday, January 19th, you will be going to see the WNYC Apollo joint: “A Burning House”: MLK and the American Experiment at the amazing Apollo Theater (253 West 125th Street between Fred Doug and Adam Clayton Powell). This annual event will explore Dr. King’s legacy through conversations with intellectuals, community and faith leaders, authors and artists, who will discuss democracy and civil rights under a second Trump administration. It is sure to be lively. If there are any tickets left, you can get them here.
Although we love a good fitness class here at Above the Park, we have resisted telling you all about the uptown deals this January. Until now. Here’s our hot take on Harlem exercise deals: Many most basically all of them include packages of things. For example, Harlem Cycle will sell you 8 classes for $79; the Harlem YMCA will give you a $0 initiation fee and a fourth month free if you last for three (rates are best for the young and elderly); Harlem Yoga will give you 50% off an unlimited membership for January plus another $30 off if you send them an email, which will get you a month of unlimited yoga for $62; Harlem Kettlebell will give you 12 classes for $100 if you’re new; Movement Harlem will give you 25% off your January dues plus a $0 initiation fee. (Our research for this post also taught us that there is an organization in Harlem called Gladiators NYC that bills itself as the “oldest and premiere league, school, and team/club of armored combat in NYC.” NYC Gladiators classes apparently are “usually 100% free.” While this isn’t in our wheelhouse, we wanted to include it here in case it is in yours.)
But, if—like us—you’re not ready to go steady with a new studio, then consider taking a single FREE class at Fire Studio (280 West 115th Street, at Fred Doug). The studio is two levels but has a small footprint, which explains why classes are limited to 6-10 people depending on the class. There is Fire50, which is a circuit based class, yoga for moms, fitness for teens, some kind of senior situation called “SAIL” (which makes it sound like we are actually shipping seniors elsewhere—I don’t think we are), and then there are rowing classes. We chose to row on a Saturday morning and were not disappointed. Our classmates were super friendly, our instructor was super enthusiastic and our heart rates went super high! Think of it as a low key flywheel on a water erg. Plus there was an off the erg portion focused on abs and then another one with Bulgarian split squats, which at least one of us found wonderous and satisfying. Fire Studio isn’t big enough to replace our regular gym-going but I suspect it will sneak into our exercise-with-friends-weekend-rotation.
The Harlem Heroines and Heroes 2025 Run will be taking place on Sunday, January 19th from 8:30 to 11am. In honor of MLK Jr.’s birthday, the New York Flyers and crews throughout New York will roll through Harlem to celebrate some of the greats—we assume through a combination of monument and site visits but the website did not provide a ton of detail. What we can tell you is that the run can vary in length from 3 to 11 miles, so it should fit the bill for a wide variety of runners. If you want to participate (surely, you do), meet at 8:20 at Cafe Amrita (301 West 110th near the Frederick Douglass Monument and CPW). The paces for this run are 9:00 and 11:30, which seem humane, if running 11 miles feels humane to you.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Harlem Renaissance turned 100 last year and the New York Times did an excellent feature called “A Visual History of the Harlem Renaissance.” It’s interactive and has some terrific old photos, which you’ll want to see. Immediately—and maybe especially—if you missed the James Baldwin exhibit.