Friday December 24
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Event: Jewmongous’ Holiday Extravaganza
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: City Winery
Food: Pakistan Tea House
Drink: Mocca Lounge
Miscellaneous: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
Like most jews, we spend Christmas eve and day eating Chinese food and going to the movies because it’s the only places open. This year, you have one more option, Jewmongous’ Holiday Extravaganza, with Sean Altman’s alter ego Jewmongous. Special guests include comedy songsters Cynthia Kaplan, Tammy Faye Starlite and Goddess Perlman of Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad, plus more TBA. Nearby, Pakistan Tea House is a buffet style Indian restaurant where you can choose between chicken, meat, fish and vegetables. It’s affordable and very good. For drinks, check out Mocca Lounge. With a funky interior and a menu of Italian inspired fare, it’s also a bar with a large list of coffees with or without alcohol, beers, and frozen shots. Smack dab in the heart of Chinatown, the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory makes gourmet ice cream flavors like Black Sesame, Ginger, Durian, and more exotic flavors like Taro and Wasabi. Don’t worry, they have the go-to’s like Vanilla, fruits, and chocolate flavors too.
Friday December 24
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Event: Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations of Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano No.1
Show time: See website for schedule
Venue: MOMA
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park
Pianists Jennifer Allora (American, born 1974) and Guillermo Calzadilla (Cuban, born 1972) interpret one of the holidays biggest hits at Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations of Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano No.1. A hole has been cut in the center of a piano and the artists will be placed through the hole, playing the song while walking around the space with the piano. Nearby and delicious, Eatery offers a new American menu that’s asian influenced. Try the Red Curry Chicken Breast over roti pancake, with baby carrots and red curry coconut sauce ($16.95). Valhalla’s minimalist space is chill, letting the 24 brands of beer from all over the world on tap be the main attraction at this bar. While its warm out, waste a little time walking through Central Park, relax, and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Just watch your step. The working horses tend to leave surprises behind them!
Saturday December 25
Location: Tribeca, NYC
Event: Chinese and a Movie
Show time: 2 PM
Venue: 92Y Tribeca
Food: Pakistan Tea House
Drink: Mocca Lounge
Miscellaneous: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
While many spend Christmas opening gifts and spending time with their family for the holidays, a great alternative to eating Chinese and watching films at home is Chinese and a Movie, where you can watch them at 92Y Tribeca! Best of all its two hilarious films from recently deceased comic genius Leslie Nielson. At 2:30pm there’s Airplane! at 4pm – The Naked Gun with Chinese food from 2pm until it is all gone. Nearby, Pakistan Tea House is a buffet style Indian restaurant where you can choose between chicken, meat, fish and vegetables. It’s affordable and very good. For drinks, check out Mocca Lounge. With a funky interior and a menu of Italian inspired fare, it’s also a bar with a large list of coffees with or without alcohol, beers, and frozen shots. Smack dab in the heart of Chinatown, the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory makes gourmet ice cream flavors like Black Sesame, Ginger, Durian, and more exotic flavors like Taro and Wasabi. Don’t worry, they have the go-to’s like Vanilla, fruits, and chocolate flavors too.
Saturday December 25
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Event: Tzadik/East Village Jewish Music Festival
Show time: 8:30 PM
Venue: The Sixth Street Community Synagogue
Food: Oyama
Drink: Grassroots Tavern
Miscellaneous: Mud Cafe
If your feeling adventurous or are just a jazz lover, check out the Tzadik/East Village Jewish Music Festival where five bands on John Zorn’s Tzadik lable will perform. Acts to play include Ayn Sof Arkestra & Bigger Band, Hasidic New Wave, Midnight Minyan, Pitom, Rashanim and poet Jake Marmer. With sushi that’s 50 percent off all the time, you might think, “Something’s wrong with that?†but the fish is good and the rolls are inventive, making Oyama one of the best low-priced sushi joints in the city. Though St. Marks all of a sudden lost its charm, Grassroots Tavern hasn’t. This large dive bar has cheap drinks, darts in the back, and old men behind the bar, things a good dive bar should have. Excellent coffee served in a big mug and a healthy menu of food coupled with a year round enclosed outdoor backyard patio make Mud Cafe a great little coffee shop in the area.
Sunday December 26
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Film: Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures
Show time: See website for schedule
Venue: MOMA
Food: Eatery
Drink: Valhalla
Miscellaneous: Central Park
Celebrating this pop art icon, Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures takes a look at the experimental films Warhol made between 1963-1966 which are slowed down to play at their intended speed. Nearby and delicious, Eatery offers a new American menu that’s asian influenced. Try the Red Curry Chicken Breast over roti pancake, with baby carrots and red curry coconut sauce ($16.95). Valhalla’s minimalist space is chill, letting the 24 brands of beer from all over the world on tap be the main attraction at this bar. While its warm out, waste a little time walking through Central Park, relax, and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Just watch your step. The working horses tend to leave surprises behind them!
