Walkin After Midnight

If terms like ‘spicy beef ramen’, ‘sausage buns’ and ‘roasted shiitake’ make your mouth water then Momofuku is the spot for you. The Noodle Bar was the first restaurant in the Momofuku family. Now David Chang's food empire has ballooned but this spot still serves some of the originals that made the chain famous throughout New York, including fried chicken and caviar (upon special reservation) and of course pork buns.

Also, if you are a lover of fried chicken the noodle bar offers a special meal that required a little advanced planning. Fried chicken is Noodle Bar’s large format meal. It feeds 4-8 people. The meal includes two whole fried chickens, one southern style and one Korean style, and it comes with mu shu pancakes, baby carrots, red ball radishes, bibb lettuce, four sauces, and an herb basket. Guests are encouraged to eat as they please, from making wraps with the pancakes to eating the chicken straight-up. The southern style chicken is fried with buttermilk and spices. The Korean style chicken is triple fried and served with a light spicy glaze. More details here: https://momofukunoodlebar.com/east-village/menu/fried-chicken/

Inside Crif Dogs you’ll notice a red phone booth. Hmm that seems out of place, do they really think I need to make a phone call while eating a hotdog? Not exactly. You enter the phone booth and pick up the handset. One wall of the phone booth will open and ta-da! You’re in a hidden cocktail spot, or a “speakeasy”. It’s very small and doesn’t seat many, so it’s very intimate. If you want to be sure to get a spot you can make a reservation over the phone prior to your visit. If not, I recommend going to the phone booth first to check the wait time, and then eat the delicious hot dogs while you wait.

After your drink head to the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop for a little desert. Originally a food truck this shop has caught on in the city and garnered a real notoriety wining lots of attention and awards.

Next up is one serious cocktail lounge. Death & Co opened in New York on New Years Eve 2006/2007. It is a cocktail institution known for producing some top drinks and bartenders and contributing greatly to the renaissance in cocktails and mixology seen in the last decade. In 2010, Death & Co won Best American Cocktail Bar and World’s Best Cocktail Menu at Tales of the Cocktail Spirited awards. The cocktail bar doesn’t take reservations so grab a seat when you can find one and enjoy the experience.