NYC NOW - July 13, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

A New York court is siding with Democrats in their quest for a new congressional map. Also, WNYC’s Sean Carlson talks with travel journalist Jackie Caradonio about late night dining in New York City. And finally, we look back at the infamous New York City blackout of 1977.

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre for WNYC. We begin in Albany, where a New York court is siding with Democrats in their quest for a new congressional map. In a split decision Thursday, the appellate division ordered the state's independent redistricting commission to draw new lines for New York's 26 congressional districts. Republicans are expected to appeal the decision. They like the current lines in place, which were drawn by a court-appointed expert last year. The ruling sets up a potential blockbuster case for the Court of Appeals. That's the state's highest court.

And it could have major national implications. Republicans have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, boosted by four big wins on Long Island last year. Social patterns have changed for a lot of people since the pandemic. And it's got some New Yorkers wondering if it's still the city that never sleeps. Could 6 p.m. be the new 8 p.m.? Freelange travel journalist Jackie Cardonio says, late-night dining culture is still alive and well, if perhaps a bit more hidden.

In her article for Bloomberg, she looked into a place that she says feels like Tel Aviv in Manhattan, a Palestinian street food spot in Coney Island and more. She talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson. That conversation after the break. So in your reporting, what can you say about concerns over late-night dining waning in the city? Well, I think, you know, even 5 o'clock was the new 8 o'clock for a while because we were all working. from home and we didn't really want to stay out late. But I would venture to say 10 o'clock might be the new 6 o'clock or the new 5 o'clock now. I think people are just kind of itching to get out

there. And I think we've been a little bit inhibited by must have reservation, time limits. And, you know, those are all in place for good reasons because restaurants are still dealing with a lot of the fallout from the pandemic. But I'm seeing that more and more places are sort of responding to this demand for something that goes a little bit later and is a little bit more lively, little less formal than we're used to in New York City. So in your piece, you go through an Israeli restaurant in Hudson Square. Can you tell us more about those places and how they say differ from a typical restaurant in the city? Port Saeed was the first one you mentioned in Hudson Square. It is opening in just a couple of days on July 12. This is chef A. Al-Shani, and he has quite a few

restaurants in the city, which are very traditional, but also very amazing. Shmona, North Miznan, this coming restaurant, Port Saeed, is actually a transplant of a super famous restaurant he's had for 10 years in Tel Aviv. And so his perspective is it's a little breaking of the rules that were used to in New York City. There's a lot more freedom. And so it isn't just a restaurant. It isn't just a bar. There's also a listening bar. There's actually a record store. You can actually buy a record while you're there. There's a performance. venue. So it's this really kind of lively space where it's meant to be fluid. You pop in for a drink. You grab a table. You go to the lounge. You basically hang out as long as you want to

because they're even saying open late for their hours. So they're not even really wanting to put a closing time label on this just yet. So I'm sure someone out there saying, well, wait a second, this is New York City. There's more to do than just going to clubby spots that are open late. Can you tell us more about what's going on in Coney Island? It's kind of like a choose-your-own adventure. So Zula is a new spot in the Coney Island Amphitheater, which is a massive space. So they do some really great Mediterranean cuisine there. They have a rooftop hookah lounge that by New York standards of least is a massive rooftop.

And then they have this crazy music venue. It gives me like bar mitzvah wedding vibes. There's a dance floor. There's a stage. There's all these tables interspersed, and people are just, like, getting down between the tables. So it's really, again, just like, take it how you like it, you know, sit in the corner and don't dance if you want, but you're absolutely going to see a good time, whether you came for the dancing and the music or you just came for really awesome skewers. Can you tell us about the South Bronx in Washington nights? In the South Bronx, there's a very cool neighborhood called Mothaven.

And this restaurant is called Beatstro. So bistro, but B-E-A-T. And it's a restaurant that pays homage to hip-hop and it's Bronx roots. So it's a little bit of a speakeasy vibe when you walk in. It's kind of hidden behind a velvet curtain. There are photos from Joe Conzo on the wall. He was a, you know, a big photographer who documented the rise of hip-hop in the Bronx in the 70s. The food is this great mix of Puerto Rican and Southern Comforts.

So you've got your mafongo and your sweet plantains, but you also get your color greens and amazing pool park sandwiches. There are open mic nights, DJ parties, and actual B-Boy battles. And mind you, this is all happening right between the tables and the bar. So it's a cool vibe. It's open until two every single night. What about Washington Heights? You checked out a spot there, too.

Halow is the restaurant in our new boutique hotel, radio hotel. And it's actually named after the owners. endeavors he is from the Dominican Republic he owns over 60 radio stations there when you walk in you actually even see there's a podcast booth right there so they sometimes even do live recordings the food is amazing they have these great little yucca croquettes that come with a pineapple creolea sauce multiple times a week they do live music there so it's a lot of salsa meringuei 10 11 o'clock is when it really starts to heat up and you will see these extended families just like the music gets them and they just stand up from the table and immediately start dancing.

So I just really love that kind of fluid vibe of, you know, you're sitting, you're eating, you're dancing. It can all happen in the same space. There's really no rules. For folks who maybe are looking for upcoming spots, neighborhoods that they should look into if they want to hang out late with good food, where do you think they should go? There is a new place called Castamandup. It's named after a Nepali's shrine. There's a really big Nepalese community in Queens, and this one's in Woodside. So they're open until, I think, 2 o'clock every night. They have really amazing Nepalese food, chutneys, curries.

They have these momo dumplings, and they're actually part-owned by a pretty well-known Nepali's recording artist. So there's a lot of jam sessions. It's actually not too intense compared to some of these places I've described. The music is very mellow. That's travel journalist Jackie Caradonia. talking with WNYC's Sean Carlson. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC.

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