My mom is a Southern belle who would choose The Beach over The City any day. When I asked her for three words to describe New York, she paused and said: “Little bit crazy.”

Before we took off on a Norwegian Joy cruise from Pier 88, I had cobbled together a midtown sightseeing tour for her with almost no planning: pictures in Times Square, a visit to Margaritaville, a walk by Fox News (she wanted a picture), and a walk by The New York Times (I wanted to force her to take a picture). I even managed to cross some things off my own New York to-do list: the luxurious Bryant Park public restrooms and the New York Public Library’s original Winnie the Pooh (both pooh-related).

We retreated to our hotel oasis in the chaos of midtown. With crisp sheets, so many pillows, and a tray of sweets including white chocolate in the shape of its signature guitar, the Hard Rock Hotel was surprisingly sophisticated given you might recognize the name from their kitschy Cafe. We dressed for dinner, and enjoyed snacks and sites at RT60, the Hard Rock Hotel’s chic rooftop bar, with views overlooking midtown. After seven years in New York, I was impressed by my pseudo-tour guide abilities. Of course, the easiest way to please a tourist in New York is to show them tall buildings. When we returned to our room, we realized we weren’t alone: on the wooden door that opened to the bathroom was a large black-and-white picture of The Boss. When we used the loo, Bruce watched, too. 

The bulk of my time with Mom, though, wouldn’t actually be in New York. In addition to falling back in love with the city, I’ve been trying to heal some old family wounds. My latest theory is that new, shared experiences together might do the trick, or at least push the past far enough back it doesn’t sting as sharply. The selected experience was a week-long cruise: 144 consecutive hours in a balcony stateroom with the woman who made me.

If you don’t spend your days staring at the Hudson, you might not realize New York is the home to a bustling cruise ship terminal. Blocks from Times Square is your ticket to tropical destinations without stepping foot on a plane. 

The Norwegian Joy welcomed Mom and me on board for a week of food, fun, and the healing of all familial wounds. (As my therapist warned me, “Don’t expect an after-school special.”) Our balcony stateroom started with one bed, which our room steward quickly and kindly separated—an ironic start for a trip that was supposed to bring us together.

We explored the majestic ship on our sea days. A lively casino (who knew my mother gambled?), tasty cocktails (Mom doesn’t drink, but I had my first Black Manhattan, which has quickly become my favorite drink), and nightly delicious, four-course dinners. “This is the best lobster I’ve ever had,” Mom said, “and I worked at Red Lobster for 38-and-a-half years.” We both agreed to be open to new things during the adventure. Mom tried escargot, I tried her Cagney’s steak (as a vegetarian, don’t judge me). She didn’t care for the spicy Indian food from the buffet which I loved.  

A highlight of the cruise for both of us was the new Thermal Suite in the Mandara Spa. A hot tub, steam room, ice room (Mom and I had a mini-snowball fight), sauna and our mutual nemesis: the cold plunge. After 15 minutes of sweating and chatting in the sauna, we decided to step up and do the frigid cold plunge to cool down. Mom lasted about seven seconds, six of which were spent screaming; I managed to last three minutes with plenty of encouragement.

“Breathe. Breathe,” Mom said.

“This must be what it’s like to give birth,” I said.

“This is nothing what it’s like to give birth,” she said.

We relaxed in one of the many heated lounge chairs, enjoying some quiet time away from the more energetic parts of the ship, and shared memories of childhood vacations, some of which I’d never heard before.

Being in a new environment helped us learn we have similar rhythms: we both wake up around 9am, we’re not hungry until the afternoon, and we enjoy a late-night sweet treat or two or four. Luckily, freestyle cruising is perfect for our delayed hunger and night owl sensibilities.

With multiple overnights in Bermuda, we had plenty of time to adjust to island life, too. A sunset catamaran ride with unlimited rum swizzles, a tour into the majestic Crystal Caves, discovered by two boys looking for their cricket ball, and a must-see visit to the pink-sand beach Horseshoe Bay. My mom has always loved the ocean, but now I’m a bit worried I’ve ruined her home of Myrtle Beach. After seeing the bluest blue water in Bermuda and the white sand that never got hot, how can she go back? “Bermuda is the last stop before Heaven,” our cab driver told us, which seemed a bit ominous to say while he was driving us down a very thin road. 

Fast, unlimited Wi-Fi kept us connected at home (potentially too much, as my dad seemed to call and text 5 times a day), but helped us share photos and texts of our experience—or be a lifeline if we found ourselves arguing. But the biggest surprise of the cruise was that we got along very well. Maybe we were both on our best behavior, or maybe it’s easy to get along on a cloud, but the cruise was a fun and healing week for us. If we had to plan a vacation together, we would have fought I’m sure, but having so much taken care of for us, needing only to pick from a menu of food, activities, and excursions, stress was at an all-time low and opened the door for some meaningful conversations. The exact things that I thought might be risky—sharing close quarters, a week of prolonged contact—yielded the best results. Some conversations only happen in the early morning hours in bed or in the 144th consecutive hour of someone’s company. 

We did learn we have one new, fundamental disagreement, though: coffee. Mom brought a Stanley Tumbler on board to make her coffee milkshakes full of so much milk and Splenda, while I continued to swear by my daily black Starbucks cold brew. Yes, there’s a Starbucks on board Norwegian for a taste of home while at sea. We tried each other’s concoctions—Mom grimaced at mine, and hers was so sweet as to ruin mine—before returning to our own. You don’t have to agree on everything to enjoy a cup of coffee next to someone.

In the weeks since we disembarked our magical week together, we text more often, trade screenshots of our daily step counts to walk off some of the overindulgences of the week, and rehash memories of our favorite foods (Mom loved the Garden Cafe’s German Chocolate Cake and I have dreams about Ocean Blue’s Cheesecake in a Jar.)

It turns out the main risk of taking your mother on a Norwegian cruise isn’t that you might fight, it’s that she might want it to become an annual tradition. 

She texted me on Mother’s Day:

“So, travel buddy, where are we going next?”

Zach Zimmerman is a queer comedian, writer, and author of Time Out New York’s “Pretend I’m A Tourist” column. A regular at the Comedy Cellar, Zach has appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden and had a debut album “Clean Comedy” debut on the Billboard Top 10. Zach’s writing has been published in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and The Washington Post; and Zach’s first book Is It Hot in Here? (Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth?) is out now.

* This article was originally published here

There’s been a full griddle’s worth of new burger options coming to New York lately, from that secret off-menu option at Le Dive to the upstate chainlet Moonburger. And now the Connecticut-based burger joint Wayback Burgers—one of the country’s fast-growing burger franchises—is coming to Manhattan for its first NYC location in Chelsea.

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Set to flip patties at 295 7th Avenue beginning this October, the new, 1,700-square-foot location will offer many of the brand’s signature menu items, centered on made-to-order burgers available as a single patty or classic double patties. One fan favorite is the fittingly titled “Cheeeesy Burger,” which comes with four slices of melted American cheese and two beef patties made-to-order, sandwiched between an inverted, grilled and buttered bun. 

The fast-casual menu also features cheesesteaks, crispy and grilled chicken sandwiches, veggie and Impossible Burgers, chicken tenders, fresh salads, and an array of sides, including loaded cheese curds, fried pickles, chili cheese French fries, and more. Wayback Burgers is also famous for its thick, hand-dipped milkshakes, made with Blue Bunny ice cream and milk, in flavors like “Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shake,” “Red Velvet Cupcake Shake” and “Chocolate Brownie Shake.” 

“We are excited to continue our Wayback Burgers expansion with the lease signing of our first restaurant in New York City,” said Patrick Conlin, President of Wayback Burgers. “Our New York franchisee has assembled a stellar team that will provide the impeccable food and customer service our guests have come to expect. With operations in 35 states and consistent growth of our footprint nationwide, it is an exciting time to be a part of the Wayback Burgers family. We look forward to working with [franchisee] Choudhry Waseem, as we continue to introduce Wayback Burgers to new and returning guests throughout New York City.”

Check out some of Wayback Burgers’ super-cheesy food offerings below: 

* This article was originally published here

The northeast corner of West 145th Street and Riverside Drive was recently co-named for Hubert T. Delany (1901–90), who graduated from the City College of New York and New York University Law School, and served as an assistant U.S. attorney. He was an advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., among others, and one of the first African American judges appointed in New York City in the early 20th century.

Bill Moore photo

Councilmember Shaun Abreu, Representative Charles B. Rangel, Manhattan Deputy Borough President Keisha Sutton-James, members of the Delany family, and the community all gathered to honor Delany at the event. 

The post Street co-naming ceremony honors Judge Hubert T. Delany appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Turns out, Central Park has a pizza problem.

As reported by NY1, the luscious green destination has always been the site of a ton of pizza parties and picnics. However, park goers could never properly get rid of their pie boxes because of their size, which is larger than the regular trash bins featured across the park. 

That’s all about to change: the Central Park Conservancy has just installed a new square bin designed specifically to hold up to 50 pizza boxes at once. On-site staff will be checking the recycling receptacle two-to-three times a day, which should suffice to keep the area clean and clear of rodents.

Currently in “pilot phase,” the project will involve the installation of additional bins should the one currently there prove to be useful and successful. Find the first new garbage can by the East Pinetum section of the park, right by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where picnics are fairly popular.

“You open the pizza box, take all the contents out, wax paper, slices, you throw it in the trash, then you close the box, place it right into the pizza box bin,” explained Jonathan Vasquez, a groundskeeper for the Central Park Conservancy, to NY1. 

It’s clear that officials are finally taking the city’s trash problem seriously. This specific Central Park development isn’t necessarily tied to the rat-related issues that New Yorkers have been contending with, but it certainly goes along with the new public trash cans that were installed all over town just a few months ago.

Who knows? We might soon be crowned the cleanest city in the U.S. A girl can dream, right?

* This article was originally published here

If you’re like most New Yorkers, the biggest deterrent to getting a nice bike is probably the prospects of having it get stolen.

Even though the thefts are common across the city, New Yorkers still take 600,000 bike trips every single day, which means it’s past time officials did something to protect our favorite two-wheeled mode of transit. 

Last week, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced a major initiative involving the launch of 500 secure bike parking locations by next year, according to a press release by the Department of Transportation. 

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On May 9, the city issued an open call to identify a company that could operate the secure bike storage network. 

“With record bike ridership and an all-time high number of protected bike lanes, New York City is experiencing a booming cycling renaissance,” Rodriguez said in an official statement. “This initiative will support continued growth in cycling by addressing a key barrier to bike ownership: the lack of access to secure bike storage.”

After securing a company to do the job, the city will start operating the first storages as early as next year, hoping to finish building all 500 within the next half-a-decade. 

The program will prioritize locations that are near major transit hubs while also accounting for e-bike accommodations.

The Department of Transportation is already considering several potential models, including small-capacity units installed by residential areas able to hold 10 to 12 bikes at once. 

Enclosed high-capacity units, on the other hand, will be located near major transit hubs and will be able to house dozens of bikes at once, including, potentially, charging stations for e-bikes.  

A third model currently being analyzed involved self-locking racks, which can be placed on sidewalks or the curb. These have the simplest design and resemble the Citi Bike racks that already exist all across the city.  

Providing more secure biking storage will not only decrease bike theft and encourage New Yorkers to opt for the mode of transport, but the process could potentially fundamentally change the way people get around the city.

“Providing residents with secure bike parking is instrumental in ensuring more New Yorkers are walking, biking and using mass transit, which helps to cut our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Elijah Hutchinson, the Climate and Environmental Justice Executive Director for the Mayor’s office, in an official statement. “New Yorkers require a mixture of travel options to meet their daily needs.” 

* This article was originally published here

New York City is full of drop-dead gorgeous dining rooms, from scenic spots like Tavern on the Green to French stunners like Le Coucou (which, along with being très jolie, was recently found to be one of the most popular restaurants in the world). But out of the thousands of restaurants in NYC, which is the most beautiful?  In honor of the 50th anniversary of PEOPLE magazine, the editors at OpenTable and PEOPLE paired up to crown the most beautiful restaurant in each state.

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The list of the 50 Most Beautiful Restaurants in America featured such beauts as The Restaurant at Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, California; Tillie’s in Dripping Springs, Texas; Everett’s 8,800 in Big Sky, Montana and the Crow’s Nest at Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, Alaska. But in our neck of the woods, the New York City venue that is turning heads as the Empire State’s most beautiful restaurant is Verōnika, the romantic Rose Hill eatery tucked inside the 19th-century Park Avenue South building that houses the Fotografiska Museum.

With its luxe, Roman and Williams-designed interiors—per the designers, they “re-envisioned with respect and innovation the historical 1894 Beaux-Arts Church Missions House” for the restaurant’s look, with high ceilings, gilded accents, ornate brass chandeliers, a Black St. Laurent marble bar, mohair seating and trimmed archways—it’s not a surprise that Verōnika would grab the attention of the list makers. “Curvaceous and deep mohair seating with an arched back hugs you and references the architecture of the room. Polished, elegant hued Rosa Perlino marble tabletops are graced with custom egg-shaped lights,” the Roman and Williams crew wax poetic about their design work. 

The sprawling restaurant was initially opened by celebrity restaurateur Stephen Starr—who knows his way around a well-appointed dining room, being behind such New York heavy-hitters as Pastis, La Mercerie, Buddakan and the aforementioned Le Coucou—in 2020 but post-pandemic, is now operated by CultureWorks, the owners of NeueHouse and Fotografiska. The elegant room is complemented by continental European cooking: lobster omelets, Dover sole Meunièr, a salt-crusted porterhouse and the like. 

* This article was originally published here