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You would think that following that infamous Pete Wells review in the New York Times back in 2012, Guy Fieri would steer away from opening a restaurant in Times Square and, yet, here we are: the Food Network star is gearing up to launch his new fast-casual Chicken Guy! concept at 138 West 42nd Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue this Friday. 

Now operating or about to debut over 20 locations across the country, Chicken Guy! originally launched at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando back in 2018.

According to Eater, the new restaurant will serve a menu of six sandwiches—think bourbon brown sugar barbecue—for $14 each, plus 10 different sauces, hot tenders, salads and milkshakes. Think of it as a fried chicken empire, in a way.

Although, rightfully so, Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar is the one restaurant that New Yorkers immediately associate with Fieri, the cook has actually debuted similar businesses in the area a few times after his maligned eatery closed. In 2021, he launched a delivery-only restaurant in Times Square that was called Flavortown Kitchen, for example. 

Overall, though, New Yorkers seem to just be fascinated by the instantly-recognizable Fieri, participating in themed bar crawls focusing on the figure for years now. Let’s be honest: we can’t think of a more Flavortown-like area in the world than Times Square, after all. 

* This article was originally published here

Eataly always brings authentic Italian products and experiences to the city, and it’s no different during winter. The incredible winter pop-up called ALPINA (at the SERRA rooftop by Birreria) is repping the après-ski lifestyle without having to hop on a plane, and it’s here all winter long!

Inspired by mountain cabins, ALPINA’s winter escape offers a variety of programming, workshops, delectable foods, and seasonal drinks! As soon as you enter you’re greeted by the calmness of wintery snow-frosted naturalistic decor. 

Can we talk about all of the comforting food?! Eataly’s ALPINA highlights cuisine from the northern regions of Italy. Embrace the melty goodness of Fonduta di Formaggio, an Italian twist on Swiss fondue with focaccia croutons to dip! 

Some of our favorites include the Canederli, traditional bread, and speck gnocchi that was pillowy soft! In contrast, we also enjoyed the Cotoletta alla Valdostana which was a crunchy chicken cutlet with prosciutto and cheese on top.

How about a Polenta Bar? The creamy cornmeal is served with a choice of Ragù di Carne, Ragù di Funghi, Salsicce e Funghi, Short Ribs, Ragù or Goulash. If you have a sweet tooth, indulge in Fonduta di Cioccolato, a dessert made for two; this warm chocolate fondue is served with fresh strawberries and biscotti.

The seasonal beverage menu is filled with so much variety as well. From Hot Toddies to the Bombardino (an Italian egg nog drink), these cocktails will warm you up from those frigid temperatures! Our favorite drinks included the Strawberry Rhubarb Spritz and Olympia which has barrel-aged Vida Mezcal. The best wines from Italy’s Northern regions will also be available! 

For those continuing beyond Dry January, into February, “zero heroes” will also be available. The “Used to This” is a non-alcoholic Italian orange spritz and the “Nut Worth the Hassel” has non-alcoholic Amaretti among others!

Add a layer of fun and adventure to your winter with different experiences at ALPINA! Head to SERRA Rooftop by Birreria at Eataly in Flatiron for many limited events happening. Enjoy Cortina Happy Hour, where you can snag cocktails for $10 every Tuesday through Thursday.

For an additional charge, take all kinds of hands-on classes where you can learn how to make Alpine-inspired cocktails, pasta, and more! For a full list of classes and info on each session, go here. 

Also at ALPINA, unwind after work at Après Ski Nights! Vibe to Weekly DJ nights with an après ski dress code, unique beverage options, and more! On the weekends, devour Alpine-inspired brunch favorites at Brunch ALPINA on Saturday and Sunday. 

Winter Blues where? Eataly’s ALPINA pop-up provides a great escape throughout the Winter! But make sure you take advantage of all it has to offer; it’s only here until March!

See Also: Here’s a list of amazing things to do in February

The post Escape to the Italian Alps At This Stunning Winter Pop-Up By Eataly appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

“Out Late” is Time Out’s nightlife and party column by DJ, Whorechata founder and Time Out New York Culture Editor Ian Kumamoto, and is published every other Tuesday. The previous edition was about the honky tonk bar trend taking over nightlife.

Nightlife in New York has always been political. Whether it’s a West Village bar that set off the modern gay rights movement or a hedonistic midtown club that embraced people of color before much of the rest of the country, the counterculture has a tendency to convene in the late-night hours.

Sometimes, you have to listen carefully to see where, exactly, the culture is going. For the past year, I’ve become attuned to a sonic trend across the city’s clubs, particularly Brooklyn’s underground: DJs of all backgrounds have been playing remixes of music from Southwest Asia and North Africa—a region also known as SWANA. Predominantly Arab, I’ve heard of SWANA music woven into Jersey Club, Brazilian funk, and even reggaeton, creating a sound that is slowly becoming a signifier of cultural resistance.

This didn’t happen out of thin air, of course. For the past decade, many club nights have been steadily pushing forward contemporary Arab music forward, which is itself influenced by Western genres like EDM. Those parties include Yalla, Haza, and Nefertitties, many of which are queer-founded and contend with a fragmented and often complicated Arab American identity. 

One of the most prominent SWANA events to come out of New York nightlife in recent years is Laylit, the party collective co-founded by MNSA, Nadim Maghzal and Saphe in 2018. They began hosting their first parties at the Bushwick venue Mood Ring, and the success of their first events made it clear that they would quickly outgrow it. Now, they’re throwing Laylit parties in 10 cities across the world. 

MNSA’s relationship to his own identity has shifted throughout time: he moved from Beirut to the U.S. shortly after 9/11, where he says he felt a pretty immediate pressure to hide his “Arabness.” As the years went by, though, he didn’t want to feel so distant from his heritage. MNSA began making music with a friend, Nadim Maghza, as a way of reconnecting to some element of his culture. Not long after, they met Saphe, a PhD student at Columbia who had extensive knowledge of SWANA music. They decided they would start an Arab-centered party, except they would not exploit stereotypical elements of their culture or play “traditional” sounds from the region—instead, their party would be in dialogue with the global music scene and showcase contemporary Arab music, which they felt very much deserved a spot on the global stage.

To become part of a larger nightlife ecosystem, they knew they had to throw parties at venues that were well-respected, such as Brooklyn’s Elsewhere, and that their parties had to have a mix of straight and queer people. “It was important for us to create this positive friction and a sense that we’re all here together, and let’s figure this out together,” MNSA says. “A lot of the reason a lot of us are here is because we left the region, or were forced to leave as refugees. Then there are the second-, third- or fourth-generation Arabs, and all of us have this common thread of trying to discover this complex identity.”

There’s a sense that they are trying to figure out what a contemporary and progressive Arab identity could look like in real time, and it’s a search that is palatable at any Laylit function. “That tension is something we try to explore, mostly through the music we play, which is experimental and complex, not just what you’d typically expect,” MNSA continues.

Parties like Laylit inspired others throughout the diaspora to create their own interpretations of a SWANA party. Haus of Dahab, founded in September 2023, was created by friends Nat and Ruth*. They’re both Coptic, which is a Christian minority group from Egypt, and they also identify as queer. They wanted to create a party where queer and trans people could still interact with their Arabic heritage in an environment that wasn’t so charged. “So much of our culture is really attached to religion, whether that’s Coptic people in the church, Muslim people in the mosque, and so on, but this is a space where we can participate in our culture and it not have to be attached to any religious framework or baggage,” Nat tells Time Out. 

“This is a space where we can participate in our culture and it not have to be attached to any religious framework or baggage.”

They also want to introduce New Yorkers to mahraganat, a genre of Egyptian electronic music that incorporates hip-hop, techno and Egyptian folk music. The Egyptian government has tried to ban mahraganat for its politically charged and secular messages, but that hasn’t stopped many of the country’s young people from continuing to create and engage with it.

It’s impossible to talk about Arab parties in New York right now without mentioning Palestine—for everyone I spoke with, it was at the forefront of their minds. Since October 2023, both collectives have grappled with how—or even if—they should throw parties, and if doing so was disregarding the immense suffering happening in the Middle East. Laylit canceled several parties when the war in Gaza began, and Haus of Dahab took a six-month hiatus while it figured out how it should move forward. 

Ultimately, both parties decided that they did have a role to play in all of this, and theirs was to bring their people together into one space—to cry, to scream, and to dance. “We’re not a hospital, we’re not activists, we’re not a charity, we know how to do music and culture,” MNSA says. He kept pointing out that Laylit was “just a party,” but where they could help was in prioritizing Palestinian talent, many of whom were getting blacklisted for speaking out in protest against the bombings in Gaza. “We have a very strong conviction that we are standing on the right side of history.” 

“We have a very strong conviction that we are standing on the right side of history.”

If two decades ago, 9/11 decimated Arab-centered nightlife in New York, the sounds and culture of the diaspora are roaring back to life, this time with a newfound conviction. You can hear the echoes of Arabic on any given night at almost every major venue in Brooklyn, and even if it’s just for one moment, people cheer. Perhaps it’s protest, or maybe it’s just great music worthy of our adoration. “Every small act builds upon that same idea that you can’t erase our culture,” Nat says. “You can’t pretend like we don’t exist.”

How to go to Laylit or Haus of Dahab

Where: Locations vary

When: Follow Laylit and Haus of Dahab on Instagram for upcoming events. Laylit’s next NYC event will be in March.   

*Full names omitted for privacy reasons. 

* This article was originally published here

If you were to tell us your outie was planning on having a meal at Pip’s Bar & Grille in the town of Kier, we’d tell you you’re stuck in a daydream about Severance. However, if you were to tell us you were planning on having a meal at the Phoenicia Diner in the Catskills, we’d tell you you’re bringing the fictional storyline of Severance to life. And, well, we’d also be asking to tag along!

Season two of psychological thriller Severance premiered on Friday, January 17th. And those who’ve already seen the series thus far may have noticed a familiar establishment if they’ve spent any time in the Catskills–Phoenicia Diner.

Phoenicia Diner is an old-school, locally focused diner that’s been serving classic American comfort food with some modern twists. Diners have been ordering eggs, stacks of pancakes, classic turkey clubs, and more from this Catskills establishment since the early 80s. Though Mark (Adam Scott) and his sister Devon (Jen Tullock) had nothing more than coffee when they paid the diner a visit.

Let’s back up for a minute.

Phoenicia Diner essentially has an alter ego–it doubles as Pip’s Bar & Grille in Severance. In the show, the restaurant gets its name from Phillip “Pip” Eagan, a member of the Eagan family that runs the company Lumon.

Most recently, in the second episode of season two which aired on Friday, January 24th, Mark and Devon have an important discussion in a Pip’s window-side booth while drinking mugs of hot coffee. During the scene the two are being spied on by a Lumon employee, and the dreary lighting and bare trees seen through the window certainly emphasize the scene’s ominous vibes.

And if you jumped straight into season two without first rewatching season one to give yourself a refresher (guilty) you may have forgotten that Mark also visits Pip’s in the very first episode of the series when he’s given a gift card to the “Vip Area” of the establishment from Lumon following a work injury.

Phoenicia Diner’s director of operations tells Eater that she agreed to allow the series’ crew to visit the diner prior to the show’s premier to consider filming there. Malsatzki couldn’t tell anyone what was going on until the trailer aired, and she actually received many emails–100 a day, she says–saying things like “I can’t believe you closed,” and “What are you thinking?” from lovers of the establishment who saw the temporary Pip’s sign. “It was a huge stress release” once the trailer aired, she said.

And anyone looking to drink the same coffee Adam Scott and Jen Tullock did need only hop in the car and embark on a two and a half hour road trip to the diner! You can even get there via the Pine Hill Trailways bus departing from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Sunday brunch, anyone?!

This isn’t the first time the show has manifested in real life for us New Yorkers, either. On Tuesday, January 14th and Wednesday, January 15th Lumon Industries relocated their headquarters to Grand Central via a pop-up featuring the actual cast of the show! The pop-up was a way to promote season two of the series.

The Severance season two trailer can be seen below:

The post Pip’s Bar & Grille From ‘Severance’ Is A Real Place, & It’s Only 2.5 Hours From NYC appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here