Chef Thomas Keller is the creative genius behind two of the world’s best restaurants, French Laundry in Napa Valley, and Per Se right here on New York City’s Upper West Side. Either will set you back, at a minimum, $350 per person.

Exploring Thomas Keller Recipes: We Get Served

We’ve eaten at Bouchon Bakery and Cafe many times over the years (mostly just grabbing something at the counter-service Bakery, true, but also at the sit-down Cafe as well), including an early dinner just this past week, on what happened to be the restaurant’s fifth anniversary. We were offered an anniversary special, a five-tastes-for-five-bucks plate, and were rewarded with a nice little tour of the best of the Bouchon bakery menu. The Tartine au Thon–or, Tuna Sandwich–was, as always, total perfection, the exact right balance of fish and olive and aioli and crunchy bread. A bit steep at $13, maybe, but delicious nonetheless. Also terrific was the Salmon Rillettes, a beautiful blend of smoked and fresh salmon on toast.

The Jambon Fromage sandwich was fine, the ham and cheese plenty flavorful and well buttered, but nothing really too exciting. The Quiche was a little more special, soft and crisp and eggy, but the Bibb Lettuce Salad, while undeniably fresh, was, ultimately, unsatisfying in the way that a bowl of lettuce can be. We’ve always had good luck with the Bouchon soup du jour, and the other night was no exception, a generous bowl of Fennel Soup, thick and rich and enlivened by a touch of Meyer lemon reduction, perfect with our four (!) rolls and crock of excellent, salty butter. For dessert, we always walk over to the Bouchon Bakery counter, where pretty much everything is wonderful, from the Caramel Macaroons to the Oreo-ish TKOs, BUT by far our favorite treat–and a perennial contender for best cookie in town–is the creamy, chewy, sweet, and peanutty Nutter Butter. Irresistible.

Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery NYC Details

Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery and Cafe are located on the third floor of the Time Warner Center at 59th Street and Broadway. The Bakery counter is daily open from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. on Sunday); the Cafe starts serving each day at 11:30 a.m., for lunch and dinner.

Best Pizza Slice: Francesco’s

Sal and Carmine’s makes a wonderful, salty, cheesy slice that we’ve actually had dreams about, but they’re up on Broadway and 102nd, and don’t deliver. Francesco’s, then, on Columbus between 68th and 69th Street, is where we most often find ourselves whenever the craving hits for a classic New York City fold, or when we need to grab something quick before a movie at the Loews right around the corner.

There’s nothing fancy about Francesco’s–they do have lots of toppings options, and even serve pastas and such, but we always get one regular slice, one pepperoni slice, cover with black pepper, done–but the balance between sauce and cheese here is pretty perfect, and the crust chewy and crispy, and the whole experience consistently satisfying, and just exactly how we like our pizza.

Best Bagels: H&H Bagels

The future is a bit uncertain for this Upper West Side institution–years of tax troubles have led to a recent Chapter 11 filing–but fingers crossed they finally work it all out, because H&H Bagels is not only the largest bagel spot in New York City, they also are the absolute best bagel bakery in town. Precisely dense and chewy, with just a hint of sweetness, H&H Bagels, on the corner of Broadway and 80th Street, are so good we’re in here at least a couple of times a month (we’re partial to their Poppy, but they have everything… um, including Everything), either getting a single for an on-the-go snack, or a few for a Riverside Park sunset picnic, or a dozen or more for a Sunday brunch-at-home feast.

Best Smoked Fish: Barney Greengrass

Yes, Zabar’s, on Broadway and 80th Street, sells a nice smoked whitefish, and their egg salad is delicious (also, rice pudding), as is their sliced lox and nova… but when we really want to make our weekend special, we go up to 86th Street and Amsterdam for the oily, melty smoked fish and chunky, creamy salads at Barney Greengrass. For more than 100 years the Barney Greengrass family have been providing New Yorkers with a wide variety of brunch-makers and bagel-toppers–whatever you do, don’t miss the smoked sturgeon–that have become legend. There are tables at Barney Greengrass if you feel like dealing with the crowds, but we always get from the counter, and enjoy at home.

Best Chinese: Grand Sichuan

Admittedly, we have more experience with the Grand Sichuan in Chelsea than with the new one on Amsterdam and 75th Street, but so far favorites like Double Cooked Pork, Sesame Beef, Chicken with Broccoli and anything on the menu with Bitter Melon have totally hit the Chinese-take-out, watch-Netflix-streaming spot.

Best Cheeseburger, Fries and a Milkshake Meal: Shake Shack

The competition in this category was effectively over for good the minute Danny Meyer opened one of his cultishly (and justifiably) adored the Shake Shack on Columbus and 77th Street. The Shake Shack Burger (with secret Shake Shack sauce) or the Double Cheese Burger, are juicy, complex, meaty miracles. The fries (with or without cheese) are excellent as well: crisp on the outside, fluffy within. And the shakes, or concretes (which are extra thick, and chunky with treats) are sweet, creamy and spectacularly good. No surprise, Shake Shack can get crazy crowded, but still, we eat here once a week when life allows.

The American Museum of Natural History  in New York is SUCH a part of the neighborhood landscape here on the Upper West Side that we usually forget how much fun it is to stroll through the vast marbled halls. In our previous post about visiting  the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, we discussed how this museum was a part of many NYC dwellers’ childhood. This time we will look at another institution that was a staple in our childhood.

Anyway, realizing it had been more than a little while, and spurred on by friends who had just brought their toddler to see the butterflies, we popped into the Museum last week for a quick peek around (the AMNH’s “suggested donation” policy makes such a thing feel more doable), and wound up spending almost two hours looking and laughing and, yes, learning our way through many old friends as well as a few AMNH new arrivals.

First stop, as it has always been, was the dinosaurs. Or, rather, the Museum of Natural History “fossil halls”, which these days consist of four big galleries, packed with more than 600 different specimens (an astonishing 85% of which are actual fossils, as opposed to fill-in casts) designed to be viewed in a long, continuous loop that tells nothing less than the story of vertebrate evolution on Earth. Plus: they’re really, really cool to see up close, and imagine encountering on some prehistoric plain, or jungle, or… something. Experience and age have done nothing to dampen the “whoa” factor of these creatures.

Also required viewing are the habitat group dioramas, those wonderful, steadfastly low-tech “big animal boxes” (as we used to call them) that show the planet’s great beasts frozen forever, usually in the middle of some sort of dramatic situation: an epic battle between Alaskan Moose, for example, or a Mountain Gorilla pounding his chest, or the Canada Lynx sneaking up on the “Varying Hare” in the snow. The Hall of Biodiversity is also a treat, and, of course, no visit is complete without a quick sit underneath the Blue Whale, the AMNH’s beloved 94-foot-long model of the world’s largest animal, hanging above the dimly-lit Hall of Ocean Life.

We hadn’t been to the now-traditional, winter-long exhibition of the Butterfly Conservatory since our kids were tiny, so it was good to see that the crowds hadn’t thinned at this insect-y slice of the tropics in the intervening years (yes, no question, the Museum is often packed, with noise and chaos levels that can inch toward the unbearable but, you know… we just deal with it, and keep moving). Also surprising entertaining was the by-definition more cerebral than visceral exhibition, Brain: The Inside Story, which makes good use of interactive stations to tell the complicated tale of how our mind actually works. Both of these special exhibitions, it should be noted, require a separate admission price.

The American Museum of Natural History details

The AMNH is located on Central Park West at 79th Street. If you’re ever in the area you should take the time to visit. If anything, this should be, yet, another reason to come to the Upper West Side.  The American Museum of Natural History hours can be viewed on their website.

photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com

Ok, we admit it: it’s been a while since our kids were of the CMOM age. But there were definitely a few years there, back in the mid 1990s, when the Children’s Museum of Manhattan was an indispensable part of our Upper West Side wintertime family life. Yes, it can get crowded. And loud. No, it’s not possible to completely sterilize every piece of every exhibit after each child puts his or her hands all over it (although these days there ARE hand sanitizer dispensers all over the place). But the kids? They love it. All of it!

What this Manhattan Museum Has to Offer

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan has been an Upper West Side family institution for more than 30 years now, and, after a recent visit, we must say the place has never looked more exciting, more well-organized, more inviting. It’s cleaner also. The museum exhibitions there right now are terrific. The Wizard of Oz area, for example, is great for climbing (see, especially, the wall of the Wicked Witch of West’s castle) and running up and down ramps, and you can build your own arching rainbow with pillowy blocks (just try to not get the song stuck in your head!), and there’s a fun “feel, guess, and lift-the-flap” animal game at Uncle Henry and Auntie Em’s farm. The Dora (the Explora) and Diego exhibit was an obvious hit, too, as toddlers (and older! nostalgia kicks in pretty fast, it seems…) roamed the rainforest, rescued and cared for any and all baby animals they found, spelunked for a bit, pitched in to help fix Tico’s car, and made unbelievable amounts of noise (er, music) at the fiesta in Dora’s house.

photo courtesy of nydailynews.com

For older kids (“6 and up”) there’s the slightly more transparently educational Gods, Myths and Mortals, at which these young scholars of ancient Greece matched wits with Aristotle (the animatronic bust version) in game after game of 20 Questions, built temples, honed their weaving skills on a very cool working loom, and arm wrestled an ancient Olympian mechanical arm. Of course, CMOM also has tons of classes and workshops and performances going on throughout each day, for all (young) ages and attention spans, as well as the 4,000-square-foot Playworks floor, where crawlers, toddlers and even preschoolers can just have a blast at a variety of lively, smartly-designed and interactive stations.

Photo from cmom.org

As you can tell, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan doesn’t shy away from corporate sponsorship, but the up-selling is minimal or non-existent and that Nickelodeon money (for example) definitely helps pay for a portion of the education. CMOM remains a big hit with the little ones, year after year after year.

Children’s Museum of Manhattan Details

CMOM is located on 83rd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam and is open on Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CMOM is closed to the general public on Mondays, when outreach programs and school groups descend upon the museum.

picture of Joan Osborne courtesy of youdopia.com

February’s first performer was the Carolina Chocolate Drops – they were as delicious as their namesake.  Later in the month, eight time Grammy nominee Joan Osborne will be performing her new song cycle Love and Hate. Also, Tony award winner Anika Noni Rose, and fellow Broadway chanteuse Kate Baldwin, recently seen in Finian’s Rainbow, take Lincoln Center’s stage 2 weeks apart.

The final performer of the season, on February 20th, is Herb Alpert. The legendary trumpeter is joined by his wife, singer Lani Hall, as they perform songs from their recent release Anything Goes. All performances take place in the breathtaking Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall, an intimate space offering striking views of Columbus Circle and Central Park.  This is an opputunity that should not be missed! For tickets, contact the Frederick P. Rose

Hall Box Office at 212-875-5443.

Photo courtesy of barntiques.com

Beloved by Upper West Siders for more than 25 years, the GreenFlea Market is not only open during the spring and summer, but during the cold winter months as well.  There is even a farmer’s market inside. Located on Columbus Avenue between 77th and 79th Streets, the market is great for antique hunters and gift seekers alike. One wonderful furniture company featured last weekend is  Barntiques by Tony Garcia. Garcia is a Flea Favorite, known for his one-of-a kind signature wood pieces that bring a sort of nostalgic feel to them.  He uses 200 year-old barn wood found in Pennsylvania which is not an easy task. Last weekend, perusing his wares, he said to me: “Everyone tells me my pieces have good Feng Shui because of the rounded corners and the old wood.” Let’s just say that Good karma starts at $100. Even with the rustic feel of the old wood, Garcia is able to put a modern spin on his designs which, if you’re from and live in the Upper West Side, will no doubt appreciate.

Other Flea Market Items and Goodies

Open weave scarf courtesy of tantraom.com

This past weekend also featured a huge offering of Valentine’s Day gifts such as soap baskets by Golden Soaps. These crafters of soap also offer hand and body cream not to mention a fabric wash. The fabric wash is ideal for clothes that might require special attention when attempting to clean. Think about that elegant dress of yours! In addition, AC Agates, which is known around the NYC flea market circuit for their hand crafted jewelry, also had some very elegant and unique designs to offer and the handmade scarves by Tantra were absolutely fantastic! The market is occasionally open on Saturdays in the winter but they encourage shoppers to call beforehand at 212-239-3025.

As you can already tell, the GreenFlea has a little something for everyone. It’s just one of many reasons why living on the Upper West Side can be fun and exciting. If you’ve read our previous post about the best bakery in NYC, then you would know the Upper West Side neighborhood has so much to offer! As you continue to read our posts, you will see that the this neighborhood is one of the best places to visit and an even more spectacular place to live!

It’s a foodie’s delight as the Whole Foods Market “New Taste of the Upper West Side” gears up for its 4th annual event held on May 21 & 22, 2011. The highly anticipated festival will feature top New York restaurants, such as Dovetail, Compass, Rosa Mexicana, Shake Shack, and Magnolia Bakery. Approximately forty of the hottest New York restaurants will be featured each night.

Foodies Greet New NYC Restaurants

This year will also bring in some exciting newcomers such as A Voce, which opened up at the Time Warner Center in 2008 and Lincoln Ristorante, the newest addition to Lincoln Center., It’s not just for famous New York restaurants; the New Taste of the Upper West Side is about great NYC restaurants.

Truly Local Foods

Also debuting this year for the New Taste of the Upper West Sideis the concept of using only locally sourced ingredients, all of which can be found within 100 miles of New York City.

And it’s not only about Top Rated New York Restaurants

A new event has also been added to the line-up on Friday night — called Comfort Classic. This event is geared for a younger crowd and will include live music. Special guests Adam Richman, star of Travel Channel’s Man v. Food, and Dylan Lauren of Dylan’s Candy Bar, are expected to host Friday night’s festivities. Guest of honor Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief of Food & Wine Magazine, will be headlining Saturday evening’s affair.

Give the Ultimate Foodie Gift: A Ticket

The website went live on February 14, and tickets will be available for purchase then and if the event is anything like last year (this year promises to completely outdo last year), tickets will sell out fast. Proceeds from the festival benefit the Columbus Avenue BID’s neighborhood beautification projects.

The event takes place on Columbus Ave between W.76th & W.77th streets. If you want updates at any time of the day for this event you can follow them on Twitter at @newtasteuwf. They are also available at Facebook at www.facebook.com/newtasteuwf.

Happy eating!

There are many things to recommend about living on the  Upper West Side, especially of the Linden 78 sort. There’s the close proximity to both the magnificent Central Park, as well as to the less-magnificent but still pretty great Riverside Park. There’s the convenience of having those three bustling commercial strips of Broadway, Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues right nearby… as well as FOUR world-class supermarkets–Fairway, Citarella, Zabar’s, and Trader Joe’s—all within a few blocks of each other, any one of which many neighborhoods in this town would kill for. There’s the general family-friendly atmosphere of the community, and perhaps the most inviting perk is that less than a quarter mile away from Linden 78, down a short flight of stairs to a small, warm, aromatic room, there are the absolute best cookies in all of New York City, at Levain Bakery.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie -Photo credit: levainbakery.com

At the Levain Bakery it’s all about the Huge, Chewy Soft Cookies

All the cookies at Levain Bakery are monster-sized–dense, fat and packed with goodies–and come in four varieties, all equally amazing.

• The Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies are a perfect combination of soft gooey-ness, melty chips, and crunchy nuts.
• The Oatmeal Raisin  Cookies are rich and buttery and sweet (but not too sweet), made with rolled oats and thick with plump fruit.
• The Double Dark Chocolate Cookies with chocolate chips are chewy, deeply cocoa-y and  always perfect when one has a chocolate attack.
• The Dark Chocolate Cookies with peanut butter chips are our favorite, hands down . They’re like the best brownie AND the best cookie you’ve ever had.

Even if one is not an Upper West Side resident, the best cookies in NY are worth a trip the the  Levain Bakery.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip - Photo Credit: levainbakery.com

More than Cookies: Sourdough Baguettes

While the cookies are the star here, Levain Bakery excels at other, more savory, goodies as well. All of their  homemade breads are first rate, from the Sourdough Baguettes to the Whole Wheat Walnut Raisin Rolls to the Olive Herb Semolina Loaves.

Don’t Miss NY’s Best Flatbread Pizza

And the flatbread pizzas at Levain Bakery make for a terrific snack, especially the Olive and Goat Cheese flatbread pizza, all crispy and salty and satisfying. The young staff is friendly and helpful, the room basically a giant kitchen, and although there is a bit of counter space inside, with a few tall stools, and they do sell a nice cup of coffee, Levain Bakery is very much a quick bite/take-out spot.

Levain Bakery details:

Levain Bakery is located on 74th Street, just east of Amsterdam on the Upper West Side of New York City. Luckily, the best bakery in NY is  open on Monday through Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. For more information, please see the Levain Bakery website

P.S.41 Playground - Upper West Side Manhattan

In New York City and in Linden 78′s neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in particular, there are tons of terrific options when it comes to schools. The immediate Linden 78 area is thick with private schools, serving kids from nursery through 12th Grade, with a whole range of different teaching philosophies and styles. To list just a few of the private schools in NYC that are within a quick walk or bus ride: Ethical Culture, the Calhoun School, Collegiate, Columbia Prep, Trinity, Rodeph Shalom, Bank Street, Metropolitan Montessori, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Trevor Day, and the Dwight School. And all of the private Upper East Side schools–including Dalton, Chapin, Brearley, Buckley, Marymount and Spence–can be reached with ease via cross-town bus.

Photo Credit: The City Review

Private school is, of course, expensive. Almost all private Kindergartens these days fall into the $33,000-a-year range–so most parents at least look into public education as a possibility for their children.

The good news for Linden 78 residents: you are part of Manhattan’s Public School District 3, which has several strong “gifted and talented” public school programs, which your child can test into. These are often schools within schools, the best known of which for elementary-age kids is probably the Anderson School, which is part of nearby P.S. 9. Hunter College Elementary School, on the Upper East Side, is also an outstanding free school, though it’s part of the City University, or CUNY, system, rather than the Department of Education, and so has a different test and admissions policy.

P.S. 87 William Sherman

Art wall at P.S. 87

But if you don’t want to have your child tested in order to get into Kindergarten, and believe in public education, Linden 78 children are zoned for (which basically means they have to be accepted, no matter what) P.S. 87 William Sherman. P.S. 87 may not be a perfect school–there are overcrowding issues, as the neighborhood gets more and more developed–but trust us, NO school anywhere, not even the privates, are perfect every day, and every year. P.S. 87 has an extraordinarily active parent body who give lots of time and raise lots of money in order to give the children classes and services that the DOE can’t afford. P.S. 87 has many excellent teachers, and a smart, vibrant student body that reflects and energizes the neighborhood. P.S. 87 has a true community feel to it, between and among families, kids and educators, which no amount of tuition or fund-raising can buy. Best of all, P.S. 87 is located just about a half a block away from Linden 78. Now isn’t that just convenient?