Friday December 9
Location: Chelsea, NYC
Music: Z100’s Jingle Ball 2011 Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Food GoGo Curry
Drink Stitch
Miscellaneous Leisure Time Bowl
Join an all-star lineup for Z100’s Jingle Ball 2011, which has become an annual tradition with performers including David Guetta, Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, Pitbull, LMFAO, Foster The People, Gym Class Heroes, Hot Chelle Rae, Kelly Clarkson, and more. The owner of GoGo Curry is obsessed with the Yankees Hideki Matsui and his Jersey (55). The menu’s theme is baseball and katsu, a fried meat, chicken, or shrimp cutlet served in a curry sauce is the specialty here. Portion sizes are Walk (small), Single (Med.), Double (L), and Triple (XL) and are inexpensive. The mascot, a gorilla for some reason, is plastered everywhere, making this place even quirkier. In the heart of the garment district, Stitch, a cozy after-work bar/lounge, stocks a cocktail menu with a design theme. If you still have energy and are in the mood to bowl, check out Leisure Time Bowl. Located in the Port Authority, this place is stylish and fun.
Friday December 9
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Music: Crystal Stilts
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Knitting factory
Food: Fette Sau
Drink: Spuyten Duyvil
Accessory: Union Pool
Crystal Stilts sound retro, like early Velvet Underground, but with a modern charm and great songs they add just enough to it to make it their own. Also on board are Happy Refugees and McDonalds. If you’re feeling German BBQ, you can head over to Fette Sau (fat pig in German), where the owners of nearby bar Spuyten Duyvil have opened up this meat only restaurant serving up some of the best pork and beef in NYC. For drinks, Spuyten Duyvil is a beer lovers dream, with a selection from all over the world, friendly and knowledgeable bartenders and a neighborhood feel, it’s no wonder this place has been so successful. If you’re still ready for more, you must hit Union Pool, where there’s always a band playing, great DJs, and plenty of action.
Saturday December 10
Location: East Village, NYC
Music: Loser’s Lounge (tribute to Diana Ross & the Supremes)
Show time: 6:30 & 9 PM
Venue: Joe’s Pub
Food: Oyama
Drink: Grassroots Tavern
Miscellaneous: Mudd Cafe
Don’t miss the chance to see the Loser’s Lounge (tribute to Diana Ross & the Supremes) where a house band and tons of special guests pay tribute to these musical legends. 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 Mudd Cafe a great little coffee shop in the area.
Saturday December 10
Location: Midtown West, NYC
Art: Sherrie Levine: Mayhem
Show time: See website for schedule; Through January 29, 2012
Venue: Whitney Museum of American Art
Food: Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack
Drink: BB&R
Miscellaneous: Dylan’s Candy Bar
Sherrie Levine (b. 1947) has transformed and re-contextualized images and objects in her work since the late 1970s, often presenting them as installations that provide a compelling sense of context. This exhibition, Sherrie Levine: Mayhem, developed as a project by the artist, includes works ranging from well-known photographs, such as After Walker Evans: 1-22, 1981, to recent sculptures, such as Crystal Skull: 1-12, 2010. The exhibition, conceived by the artist as offering constellations of older and newer works, will provide juxtapositions that provoke new associations and responses. If you’ve got a craving for barbeque, check out Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack as the ribs, chicken, beef, and pork are all smothered in some amazing BBQ sauce. BB&R, which stands for Blonde, Brunette, and a Redhead is the brainchild of three best friends. What they’ve created is something between a neighborhood bar and a lounge with leather seats in the front and a pool table, photo booth, and video games in the back. Looking more like it came out of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Dylan’s Candy Bar is a colorful place to get lollipops, licorice, and all things sugary. Don’t go crazy though, or your sweet tooth might melt here!
Sunday December 11
Location: Astoria, Queens
Art: Jim Henson’s Fantastic World
Show time: See website for schedule; Through January 16, 2012
Venue: Trinity Church
Food: Sanford Restaurant
Drink: Café Bar
Miscellaneous: Cavo Café Lounge
Jim Henson’s Fantastic World celebrates the internationally known creative genius Jim Henson, whose work encompassed film, television, and puppetry. The exhibition features over 120 artifacts, including drawings, storyboards, and props, all of which illustrate Henson’s boundless creativity and innumerable accomplishments. While Sanford Restaurant has been around for 75 years, you’d never know it with it’s modern décor and its very forward thinking diner fare. Try the Organic Asian Noodle Salad ($14.95) or the Pork Osso Bucco ($17.95) for just a taste of the delicious dishes that this place offers. For a drink, try Café Bar for something surprisingly different. On the outside it looks upscale but inside it’s a funky mix of couches, art, coffee shop, and Ikea-like design making for a super relaxing place for a drink or meal. At Cavo Café Lounge grab some traditional Greek and Mediterranean dishes off the menu and sit inside or outdoors in their Mediterranean themed backyard that is simply amazing.
