#LoveLocal: Time Out New York celebrates local shops, food and culture

A new lifestyle shop and CBD lounge coming to the Lower East Side has already gone viral and it hasn't even opened yet. Bowery Showroom, which opens on Saturday, has gotten more than 5.5 million views on TikTok. Its founder Matt Choon has been posting short videos on the app teasing the store and it got so much attention that about 2,000 people turned out to its pre-launch event on March 31. RECOMMENDED: NYC's Harry Potter flagship store has an official opening date But what exactly is Bowery Showroom all about? Why all the hype? Firstly, it's a designer thrift store selling rare sneakers and designer grails (sought-after) clothing, but it's also a CBD and hemp flower dispensary selling products from its sister brand, Potion. The shop will sell gummies, roller balms, pre-rolled joints, CBD hemp flower, tinctures, and more. Not only that, it'll be a sort of community space that hosts workshops for creatives, art installations and parties where visitors can make their own art and express themselves in "an inclusive, accessible, future-facing atmosphere." @chiefchoon IM OPENING A NYC STORE YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO BE IN.. APRIL 2021! 🌿✨💨👀👕 ##vintage ##thrift ##dispo ##fashion ##lounge ##secretspots ##viral ##hiddengems ♬ original sound - RaveCentral Matt Choon had been showing off his cannabis products from Potion at the Hester Street Fair and held a pop-up shop in Chinatown previously and online sales have been strong, so he felt it was time for a brick-and-mortar store, h

One of the best open-air spots in the city to grab a drink and see a show, the rooftop at Elsewhere, is reopening for the season on April 30 just in time for Hot Vax Summer. The rooftop venue, which also managed to reopen for gatherings last summer, will be offering socially distanced food, drinks and music beginning next week. Reservations for the upcoming events are currently available through the venue’s site for 2+ parties Thursday–Sunday and 4+ parties on Fridays and Saturdays. (Party packages are also available for 6+ parties.) Though reservations are strongly encouraged, they’re not required. The venue will also be setting aside tables for walk-ins. "Our main goal is to just get people back in the space, enjoying the venue again—that's where our heads are at," co-founder Jake Rosenthal told us last summer when the venue decided to reopen the rooftop. "We set up a lot of precautions to make sure its happening in a way that takes public health and safety seriously." Photographer: Luis Nieto Dickens/Elsewhere's rooftop in 2019 Those health protocols this time around include limiting service to seated tables and contactless ordering via mobile phones. The upcoming events at the rooftop are a continuation of the “Sunstreams” that they began last year around sunsets on Friday nights. (However, you can also now see them live and in-person.) On April 30, you can see Jubille & Jesse Mann, on May 1 there’s Oscar Nñ & Fried Platano and on May 2, Eli Escobar and Lloydski. The Ro

A climber's paradise with an incredible rooftop café is about to open its doors in Brooklyn. VITAL Brooklyn will launch its 24-hour bouldering gym inside a former warehouse in Greenpoint this May, bringing 45,000 square feet of tread walls, tension, kilter and campus climbing, hang boards, slacklines, and even other fitness equipment, from cardio machines and aerial silks to a yoga studio and more. Founders David Sacher and Nam Phan are dedicated to climbing and bouldering, but they also want to create a community for fitness-minded folks by casting a wider net. That's why the gym is so much more than rock walls. There's a fully decked-out cycling studio with a great sound system, fitness classes, weight machines, full programs with instructors for those who want to do yoga, aerial silks or other types of exercise. The good news is that all of this is included with membership. Photograph: Madeleine Chan Stanley The building itself, which is a gut-renovated historic warehouse built around 1910, is two floors with a top-floor yoga studio that opens onto a patio containing a fire pit and view of the city. The gym's stairwells have been painted vivid colors and there's a gorgeous black-ink mural of a NYC street scene on the second floor, while the rest of the building maintains the historic brick and architectural elements. But the real jewel in this climbing crown is the rooftop. VITAL has made its rooftop weatherized and turfed so members can climb on it year-round, relax in

Looking for some new spots in the city to explore as the five boroughs continue to reopen? Here’s an underground spot you’ll want to add to your list. Coby Club is a new, subterranean lounge opening on Seventh Ave that’s inspired by 1960s San Francisco nightlife. The lush space pays homage to San Francisco Chinatown nightlife in the 1960s and one woman in particular who was at the heart of it: Miss Coby Yee, the glamorous dancer and owner of the iconic club Forbidden City. Photograph: Courtesy Coby Club The space certainly does have a sense of mystique to it with black velvet banquettes and red, silk-shaded lighting. In one especially timely touch, the walls are adorned with gold embossed phoenix-like dragons, meant—in part—to represent the city’s nightlife dramatically rising from the ashes this year with a new sense of strength and optimism. Who doesn’t love a little metaphorical wall art? When the space opens on April 22, you can swing by for craft cocktails and small plates. Live musical performances and other forms of live entertainment are planned for the near future once current restrictions relax. The owner behind the new lounge, Bob Pontarelli, has launched other well-known past restaurant and nightlife ventures, including Crowbar, Barracuda, Leshko’s, Elmo and Industry Bar.  Photograph: Courtesy Coby Club On the menu will be small plates like tuna tartare with avocado and sweet chili, spicy wings with soy-ginger honey glaze and a charcuterie board. Cocktails wil

Right now, there's a way to satisfy your sweet tooth and help out restaurant workers at the same time. Non-profit NY Forever and New York Magazine have teamed up to curate a box of some of NYC's best cookies to sell and give the proceeds to Restaurants Organizing, Advocating & Rebuilding (ROAR), the organization that gives relief and assistance to NYC's restaurant workers directly. The Cookie Edit box, which goes for $50 a pop, includes the following 12 cookies: Archestratus Books + Food’s Casa Cookie, Breads Bakery’s Chocolate Rugelach, Bruno’s Pignoli Cookies, Brutus Bakeshop’s Miso Chocolate Chip Cookie, High Low Beverage Company’s Chocolate Coconut Crinkle Cookie, Kemi Dessert Bar’s Pandan Crumble Cookie, L’Appartement 4F’s Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie au Sel de Mer, Mottley Kitchen’s Mottley Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie, Nasrin's Kitchen’s Kolompeh Date Cookie, Patisserie Fouet’s Sesame Cookies, Té Company’s Butter Shortbread Cookie, and Ursula’s Mexican Wedding Cookie. RECOMMENDED: The best cookies in NYC Naming NYC's best cookies is not a new practice—Time Out New York tested about a dozen last year and came up with our own list (the Chocolate Explosion at Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery took the top spot). But putting them together in one box is something New York Magazine was excited to do after such a tough year. "Literally gathering them together is a new and exciting proposition for us," New York deputy editor Alexis Swerdloff said. "And coming out of a year that has been i

New York City's iconic Tavern on the Green is finally reopening this month after being closed for 13 months. On Thursday, April 29, New Yorkers and visitors to the city will be able to enjoy a meal at the restaurant indoors (with capacity at 50%) or in any of its beautiful outdoor settings, including its Main Courtyard located across from Central Park’s Sheep’s Meadow, its beer garden at the front of the restaurant, and its South Terrace. There will also be a "to-go" window for those who want to picnic in the park. Menu items available for an order on the go include the veggie frittata, a jumbo shrimp and guacamole wrap, a cheese and charcuterie plate, and a full drink menu including wine, beer, and cocktails to-go.  Photograph: Tavern on the Green "To say that we are excited to open our doors again is an understatement," said Jim Caiola, co-owner of Tavern on the Green. "Tavern is more than just a restaurant, it is a place for New Yorkers to unwind, relax in the heart of Central Park, and feel some kind of normalcy again. The past year has tested our industry, and we have come back more resilient and innovative than ever. It has been powerful to see how restaurants have adapted and we so look forward to bringing back such a special offering, whether our guests are coming in for dinner in the iconic Central Park Room, or grabbing a cheese plate and cocktails to enjoy in the park.” Tavern on the Green has a spring menu by award-winning chef Bill Peet, which includes beloved

New York City's first-ever woman-owned and run brewery and taproom, Talea Beer Co. in Williamsburg, is already breaking expectations. With its fruit-forward brews, Talea specializes in beer for people who do not normally drink ale—and, unlike any other taproom, it's also opened to the community as a workspace during the day. RECOMMENDED: The best beer bars and taprooms in NYC Open as of mid-March, the 9,000-square-foot spot at 87 Richardson St. has been opening at 8am with fresh coffee or cold brew, kombucha and ample room to spread out for remote workers and others just looking for a place to chill. There are two kinds of charcuterie boards available for the peckish, too. Aside from that, its main purpose as a taproom comes alive in the evenings, when it serves up suds from some of its 30 taps, including the Sun Up Hazy IPA, Leaps and Bounds Hazy Double IPA, Raspberry Lime Crush Gose and Mixed Berry Tart Deco Sour IPA, among others. All of Talea's brews (currently about 11 products, plus a cider) are created in its 6,000-square-foot production facility directly behind the retail and taproom spaces, where you can find six fermenters that can hold up to 40 barrels. Each brew is uniquely packaged with a fun design from the artist behind Long Island's Wolffer Estate Winery's labels, making for a can that jumps off the shelf. Photograph: Sydney Butler Photography In the next couple of weeks, Talea will begin scheduling in-person brewery tours, where visitors will be given a dr

In New York, the heart is where the Stoop is—it's where we hang out, talk to neighbors, drink a little wine and gather. To help document the city's stoop life and celebrate our neighbors, we're teaming up with Stoop Stories, a documentary storytelling series that launched during the first few months of the pandemic. Each Thursday in April, we'll be posting a Stoop Story on our Instagram account, where you can read about a fascinating New Yorker, from their perspective, and click on Stoop Stories' feed to find more and submit your own story. Creator/Photographer Marj Kleinman and editorial director Lara Weinberg co-produce and share stories of resilience from business owners, activists, essential workers, entertainers and others on their respective NYC stoops. The series calls out injustice while spotlighting silver linings and moments of joy. Each one is like a digital time capsule captured on what is essentially an outdoor extension of a living room or foyer. All portraits are posted on Instagram at @stoop.stories.  New Yorkers, such as Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on the steps of Borough Hall and Black Trans activist Qween Jean on the stoop at The Stonewall Inn, have been featured. Stoop Stories, which has produced over 100 features, has appeared in several exhibits, including "#ICPConcerned: Global Images for a Global Crisis" at the International Center for Photography, Papergirl-Brooklyn, and Arts Gowanus ArtWalk on Atlantic Ave. It also has an upcoming exhibit

Alibi Lounge, one of the city’s only Black-owned LGBTQ+ bars, is currently in the final stretch of a down-to-the-wire crowdsourced fundraising campaign to stay open.  The GoFundMe campaign, which we first reported on in June of last year, has been essential for keeping the locally-owned business and community hub afloat over this last challenging year. Now, the bar needs to raise money to pay $20,000 due to their landlord in just two days on March 31. Fox 5 New York, Eater and other outlets have been working to raise awareness about the bar’s fundraising push in recent days, which is just the most recent chapter in owner Alexi Minko’s attempt to keep the space afloat this year.  Though many restrictions around drinking and dining in the city are gradually lifting, the bar has been struggling against the daily 11pm curfews, which have disproportionately affected late-night establishments. "You gotta ask for help sometimes. If you deserve it, and if people know you’re speaking the truth, they will come to your rescue,” Minko told Time Out New York last year regarding his appeals for community support. “The community showed that they wanted Alibi to stay. It's humbling. I wish there was a platform where I could just go and scream at people, “Thank you!” Alibi Lounge is located at 2376 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd in Harlem. You can find out more information on the fundraising campaign here.  Fill out our excellent (and extremely quick) Time Out Index survey right now, and have y

New York City's arts and culinary scenes have had to get creative to survive, and finally, as both industries are beginning their return, they'll collide at Supper Club for a theatrical dinner series you won't want to pass up. Supper Club, the monthly dinner series that celebrates local chefs through a unique dining experience at Red Hook's Pioneer Works, is back starting in May—more than a year after its last event. Photograph: Walter Wlodarczyk The 2021 lineup includes DeVonn Francis (Yardy World) with Anna Polonsky (polonsky and friends) on May 4; Loren Abramovitch and Daniel Soskolne (LEV) on June 29; Woldy Reyes (Woldy Kusina) on July 20; Maiko Kyogoku and Emily Yuen (Bessou) on August 17; and Fredrik Berselius (Aska) on September 21. "This inaugural event will be one of the first social gatherings for many people since March of 2020. It's happening in the Spring which felt very much apropos for us, and something we wanted to celebrate for all it symbolizes: Nature and humans’ new beginnings, hope and renewal," DeVonn Francis and Anna Polonsky said in a joint statement. Their event will reinvent the celebration of spring, taking it from the "euro-centric and wasteful lamb and peas and all the accouterments on a white table cloth" to something more sustainable and multicultural.  "DeVonn's menu, Shakoor's music and our set design will take the classic Flemish/European painting of a feast to a world with Caribbean visuals and ingredients, and incorporate the traditions a

There's light at the end of the 2020 tunnel: Next February, little readers can look forward to a new book about a NYC icon.  Perhaps you recall the Mandarin duck—also known as "hot duck"—who set up shop in Central Park two years ago. The bird, who's native to East Asia, caught the whole city off guard with his arrival and turned his New York stay into a media sensation. Now, he's going to be a literary star—and will likely join the ranks of our 101 best books for kids.  View this post on Instagram Every winter, people flock to Central Park to see the first snow of the season. Now they're flocking for another reason: to see New York's most famous emigre, a fabulous Mandarin duck. @centralparknyc @nycparks A post shared by Time Out New York (@timeoutnewyork) on Nov 16, 2018 at 2:26pm PST Bette Midler will release The Tale of the Mandarin Duck with Penguin Random House in winter 2021. The picture book will include photographs from Michiko Kakutani and black-and-white illustrations from Joana Avillez.  "The real duck’s visit to New York was a cause for celebration," Midler said in a statement. "Everyone who saw him fell instantly in love. I wanted to memorialize his visit, and let readers know that the natural world is full of creatures just like him, if we only take the time to raise our eyes and actually see them.” Until the little fella gets more well-deserved time in the spotlight, check out our favorite kids' books about NYC and join us every day at 10am, Mo