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If you’ve ever tried going on a weekend trip outside of the city during the summer, then you know it can be a major headache: it’s nearly impossible to avoid the Friday-through-Sunday traffic both into and out of the city. 

Luckily, if you’re looking to get to nature without the hassle, a great alternative is just about to make its yearly debut. Following a successful run the past couple of years, Amtrak is bringing back the beloved Berkshire Flyer, a seasonal train that takes New Yorkers straight to the Berkshires, Massachusetts’ most stunning natural region filled with hills, lakes and open fields.

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The Berkshire Flyer will depart from Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station every Friday starting June 21 through September 2 and return to New York City on Sundays. The trip takes about four hours in total, including stops at worthwhile destinations like Poughkeepsie and Hudson. 

On board, passengers will enjoy free WiFi. They will also be able to bring along two personal items and a couple of carry-on bags each.

The last stop on the train is Pittsfield, Massachusetts, located at the heart of the Berkshires. From there, you can drive to Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts at 3,489 feet above sea level, where you can chill out in a spa. Perhaps, simply stay put in Pittsfield to dive into the town’s cultural exploits and farm-to-table culinary scene. 

For the first time, the Berkshire Flyer will also include a train that will go from Manhattan to Pittsfield on Sunday mornings, in case you want to spend the entire week there.

Fair warning, though: throughout the past few years, passengers have had to deal with plenty of delays throughout the season.

Recently, though, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy secured $8 million to funnel into rail improvements, hoping to make the Berkshire Flyer smoother and more efficient, according to The Berkshire Eagle. 

More people than ever are expected to embark on the journey this summer, so make sure to get your tickets in advance on Amtrak’s website. 

* This article was originally published here

Manhattan’s Flatiron area has been the unofficial headquarters of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s ABC concepts, which include his seasonal dining room ABC Kitchen, his Latin-inspired restaurant ABC Cocina and his plant-forward spot ABCV. Now the prolific French chef and restaurateur is bringing all three across the bridge in a massive new 300-seat restaurant, JGV’s first foray into Brooklyn. 

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Hot off the news that the famous toque will be repurposing that old 18,000 square-foot Spice Market space in the Meatpacking District and turning it into a swanky, members-only club dubbed Chez Margaux, Vongerichten will be bringing his ABC restaurant trilogy to Dumbo, at 55 Water Street to be exact, which, if you’re a Time Out New York regular, you know to also be the building complex where you can find our very own Time Out Market New York. 

Per Eater, Lois Freedman, head of Jean-Georges management, confirmed that the new restaurant is still in the design phase and construction on the project will start this season. The still-to-come eatery will reportedly be run in a similar vein as the chef’s most recent London entry, which opened last month at the Emory Hotel in Knightsbridge: that restaurant, called ABC Kitchens, incorporates “delicious elements” of all three existing ABC concepts, ABCV, ABC Cocina and the O.G. ABC Kitchen.

That London menu currently boasts dishes like tacos stuffed with Dover sole and apple slaw, three-cheese pizza dotted with wild garlic and asparagus, and a celeriac katsu with grainy mustard aioli and something called a “spice condiment,” so it will be interesting to see if the New York newcomer mirrors that wide-ranging selection. 

The Dumbo location will be Vongerichten’s first Brooklyn restaurant—he has thirteen in Manhattan, including his fine-dining flagship Jean-Georges as well as Nougatine, Perry Street, The Mark, The Fulton and the Tin Building food hall, among others. The celebrity chef also recently debuted Four Twenty Five, a luxe new Park Avenue dining room, this past December. 

* This article was originally published here

It’s always exciting when one of the best ice cream shops in New York City churns out a cool new flavor. It’s even more exciting when said parlor will be scooping it up for free: OddFellows Ice Cream Co., the folks behind beloved flavors like Coffee Crunch, Strawberry Jam and Cookies & Mint, have partnered with brioche brand St Pierre Bakery on a new collaboration dessert that they’ll be giving out for free to celebrate National Brioche Day. 

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Launching on Tuesday, May 14, and available through the week as supplies last, the brand’s sweet collab is a limited-edition Coffee & Brioche Waffles ice cream flavor that combines generous chunks of St Pierre’s decadent brioche waffles—”the sweetness of a Belgian waffle meets the richness of fluffy brioche,” made from a traditional European recipe and sweetened with crunchy pearl sugar—with OddFellows’ carefully crafted coffee flavor.

But that’s not all: OddFellows will offer 50 complimentary Brioche Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches featuring the brand-new flavor to the first 50 customers who show up on May 14th to one of its six participating ice cream shops located in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as Tampa, Florida and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

That means NYC locals can visit the Domino Park (40 River Street), Dumbo (44 Water Street), Brooklyn Bridge Park (334 Furman Street, Pier 5) or Chelsea outposts (141 Eighth Avenue) for the chance to get one of the gratis ice cream sandwiches. The parlors open at noon, so plan accordingly! (But even if you don’t manage to score one of the free waffle ice cream sandwiches, you can still DIY your own scoops sandwich at OddFellows, which allows you to smash your chosen flavor between two chewy chocolate chip cookies.) 

Check out the limited-edition Coffee & Brioche Waffles ice cream flavor—as well as that tasty-looking waffle ice cream sandwich—from the St Pierre Bakery x OddFellows collaboration below: 

* This article was originally published here

A real-life friendship was the catalyst for this tasty collaboration. Chefs Trigg Brown and Danielle Spencer, of Brooklyn’s beloved Taiwanese bakery and restaurant Win Son, will cross the bridge to join their long-time pal, executive Chef James Tracey of the Midtown East brasserie Monterey, for a one-night-only collaboration dinner held at the latter restaurant (37 E 50th St). With the chefs cooking together, the exclusive evening will feature dishes inspired by both Monterey’s modern American and Win Son’s innovative Taiwanese-American cooking. 

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Kicking off with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on Saturday, May 11, at 5:30pm, the Monterey-hosted meal will be a “pop-up seven-course blowout menu” that will “transport diners across boroughs and across continents” with bold dishes like fried soft-shell crab with grilled ramps, Taiwanese fish sauce and herbs; guajillo-braised beef cheeks with Anson Mills grits, fresh chickpeas, spring onions and cotija cheese; and chicken wontons with morels, firewood bean paste and five spice beurre fondue. Of course, you’ll be able to finish off with one of Spencer’s famed mochi doughnuts (a popular order at Win Son’s bakery offshoot), turned à la mode and topped with strawberry gelato and red wine gastrique. 

The dinner marks the first time that the trio is back in the kitchen together, fusing the best of their respective restaurants, since the gang’s Colicchio and Sons days: Brown interned for Chef Tracy back in the day at Craft, and later cooked together at Colicchio and Sons, where they met pastry chef Danielle Spencer.

Tickets for the event are $98, excluding tax and service; space is limited, so you can reserve your spot now on Opentable. A creative drinks pairing from Chef Driven’s Beverage Director Aviram Turgeman will also be available to add on for $75 per person, with bubbles, sakes and wines accounted for.  You can check out Brown, Tracy and Spencer’s full collaboration menu for the Monterey x Win Son dinner event below. Save us a mochi doughnut!

* This article was originally published here

New Yorkers love (and love to hate) a spectacle—and this might top them all—literally.

Thirty Seconds to Mars lead and Mobius actor Jared Leto, along with 20 others, including actors Simu Liu and Jodie Turner Smith, rappelled down the Empire State Building this morning to help raise funds for a non-profit.

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Leto and his fellow brave rappellers made their way down 900 feet from the building’s iconic spire to the 30th floor to bring awareness and raise money for Outward Bound, a worldwide educational and charitable network that works to change young people’s lives through challenge, learning and adventure. The participants raised over $3 million.

Last year, Leto became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building to announce Thirty Second to Mars’ world tour. 

This time, he was joined by others, who wanted to bring awareness to Outward Bound in a big way.

“My wife and I chose to join the Big Rappel to benefit a great cause, and I got to see the amazing views from the three levels of our Observatory and the Empire State Building’s few remaining great office leasing opportunities on the way down!” said Tony Malkin, chairman and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust in a statement.

But that’s not all: Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, Trustee of Outward Bound in the U.K. flipped the switch for tonight’s ESB lights that will shine in blue, pink, green, and white to honor Outward Bound. 

“On behalf of Outward Bound, thank you to the Empire State Building for hosting such an inspirational event,” she said. “Bringing young people out of their comfort zones and supporting them to achieve something they never thought possible is what Outward Bound is all about. I am so happy to offer my support as a trustee and a great admirer of the Outward Bound Trust and all they stand for—these participants really are an inspiration.”

You can watch the harrowing event below.

* This article was originally published here