New York has so many restaurants that if you were to eat in one every day, it will take you over 73.88 years to eat in all of them. If you choose to have all three meals outside, set aside 24.33 years of your life to cover all 26,967 eateries. There are 2,396 restaurants in Bronx, 6,646 in Brookyln, 10,625 in Manhattan, 5,999 in Queens and 976 in Staten Island. And the spreads offer every type of food, from every part of the globe.
Let’s look at some of the quirkiest restaurants in New York.
Please Don’t Tell: Speakeasy
Hidden behind a hot dog joint in East Village, Please Don’t Tell (PDT) is a cocktail bar as famous for its inaccessibility as for its James Beard Award-winning bar program and hot dog collaborations with NYC chefs. To enter, you have to call from a payphone booth behind Crif Dogs, the hotdog joint next door. Reservations at PDT can be made up to 7 days in advance and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis for parties of four or less. It has limited seating and a cancellation fee.
Where: 13 St Mark's Place
La Caverna: Eat within a cave
Established in 2002, La Caverna Bar Lounge & Restaurant in the east side NYC has a cave-like décor and the menu is eclectic American-Mexican. Ideated by owner Nick Ajdari, the lounge décor mimics the geological characteristics of a Roman cave: the walls are encrusted with dramatic stalactites, while its ceilings are embellished with elaborate chandeliers and handcrafted lights. Seating arrangements range from shiny leather armchairs and deep sofas to tall bars.
Where: 122 Rivington Street
Apothéke: Eat in a chemistry laboratory
Apothéke’s menu is laid out like an apothecary. There are six sections — Health & Beauty, Pain Killers, Stimulants, Aphrodisiacs, Euphoric Enhancers and Stress Relievers — each sporting three cocktails. In Health & Beauty, there is A Daisy if You Do (Pisco with Dandelion Root, Lemon, Egg White, Lemon Verbena, Daisy Flower); Dead Poet is a Pain Killer with Bourbon with Espresso, Black Walnut Husk, Allspice, Rye, Agave Nectar, Smoked Clove; Sitting Buddha Stress Reliever has Vodka with Lemongrass, Pineapple, Cilantro, Pressed Ginger Root, Lime & Agave; and Paid Vacation is a Stimulant with Mezcal, Tequila, Hickory-Smoked Pineapple, Cucumber, Lime & Agave, Habanero Bitters.
After a decade of slinging tonics, botanics and infusions in NYC, Apothéke is also in Los Angeles.
Where: 9 Doyers Street
Burp Castle: Eat like a monk
This monastery-themed restaurant describes itself as the Belgian Beer Bar and a "temple of beer worship". Often, servers dress in monk’s robes and placards around the Castle exhort diners to speak in whispers. It calls its Noise Level "civilised". On the menu are 12 draft and 40 bottled beers imported from Belgium, Germany, and Britain.
Where: 41 East 7th Street
Trailer Park Lounge: Eat in a trailer
Trailer Park Lounge was voted one of the Top 5 “Kitchiest Restaurants in America” by the Food Network. On Instagram, the restaurant calls it the Place to meet your next “Ex”. On their website, they talk of themselves “as a good-natured parody with questionable taste!” For nearly 20 years Trailer Park Lounge has been serving NYC delicious food, delightful cocktails, collectible souvenirs. The menu includes items like, burgers, nachos, chilli and moon-pies. For drinks, visit the fully-stocked Tacky Tiki Bar, to try the signature cocktails with names like The Lover's Concerto or Jim Bob's IQ.
Where: 71 W 23rd Street
Brooklyn Surf Bar: Eat in an indoor sandbar
You might want to leave the stilettos at home and step out in flip-flops, for this Surf Bar has sand on the floor and surfboard on the wall. The décor is quirky and the menu diverse, the USP being seafood. Their large fish tacos arrive on a wood surfboard platter.
Where: 139 N 6th Street, Brooklyn
The Beauty Bar: Eat while getting a manicure
This is an old-world beauty salon transformed into a hipster bar that still has the original furnishings, including Liberace-esque chandeliers and huge hair dryers. You can opt for a $10 manicure-and-drink deal! Walk-ins for manicures are encouraged, but you must be at least 21. The back of the bar is used to host comedy nights and when the event is over, the space turns into a dance floor.
Where: 231 East 14th Street
The Black Ant: Eat salted ants
At The Black Ant, ants are the house special. They garnish corn cocktails and ceviche. This low-lit monochromatic restaurant has others from the insectaria — grasshoppers and worms that for long were tribal delicacies. Do not be surprised if you find out that the smoky bite of the sweet-corn-and-tequila comes from grated ants and Maguey worms. Chilli-spiced grasshoppers are inside a toasted tortilla, and there’s a bug snacks called tlayuda con chapulines.
Where: 60 2nd Avenue
The House of Wax: Death masks & dead celebrities
House of Wax exhibits a chilling selection of waxwork objects, including life-sized displays of anatomy, pathology, anthropology, and death masks of famous (and infamous) characters. More than 100 anatomical models were salvaged from a 19th-century wax museum in Berlin and the bar was actually built around this collection. The entrance has 25 death masks some made with human teeth and hair, of historical figures like Napoleon and Beethoven. There’s also wax models of a life-sized digestive tract, a patient with a raging tongue tumour, figures depicting symptoms of leprosy and syphilis, and lungs afflicted with tuberculosis.
Where: 445 Albee Square West
Enoteca Maria: All the chefs are grandmothers
In Enoteca Maria, every day a new nonna (grandmother in Italian) is invited to be the chef of the day. Real grandmothers from every country are hired to cook recipes that they cook at home for their families. Of the two kitchens, one is handled by Italian nonnas, the other by invited grandmothers. To preserve the recipes, the restaurant also came up with Nonnas of the World book project, a virtual book made up of entries, submitted by the public, of grandmothers and their recipes.
Where: 27 Hyatt Street, Staten Island
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