NEW IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: A serious coffee shop and an outdoor café.

Let's see, where exactly have I been since June of this past summer? That's a misleading question because the answer is, not anywhere really except close to home, and I haven't posted to the blog in all that time. There are reasons and excuses, but no matter, I'm now working up the energy to get back to it.

So here is my first new post in a while, and, just in time, two new coffee shops opened over the summer, each just around the corner from my home. Dag's is a takeout place with freshly made and boxed food to go, and Illy coffee. It's located in a tiny Parks Department concession on 47th Street off First Avenue. This is its fifth incarnation I believe, and sadly, none successful beyond one summer, but Dag's may be a winner. The orange themed logo, awning, tables and chairs are a playful enticement, and so far they've had no trouble filling up the spots at lunch time. Once in a while I stop there mornings when I walk the dog, and get an Americano to go, or we'll sit and enjoy some leisure time, and some (as fresh as it gets midtown) air.

The other, PennyLane, is round the corner on 45th Street, off of Second Ave., and it's for serious coffee lovers, surprising for a rather dead street, but the UN is just down the block (from both places actually) and the clientele is often made up of a cross section of the world where good coffee is appreciated. PennyLane serves Stumptown coffee. The cafe itself is spartan, with modern tasteful furnishings. You can buy a choice of pastries, but it's really all about the coffee.

Both are welcome spots in this neighborhood—I've written about the dearth of good coffee and cafes in this neighborhood, and this past year I posted—with fanfare—about the arrival of Macaron, on Second Ave—happily, it's doing well.

Coffee at DAG's outdoor cafe on 47th St and First Ave.

Boxed lunch—burgers, salads and sandwiches.

PennyLane on 45th and Second.

The signboard changes daily—words to the wise, or just a 'bon mot.' 

Coffee lovers.

A serious Barista!

And, around the corner at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, Starbucks al fresco.

Ana Tsarev's red fiberglass flower sculpture, LOVE.

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe

Last Sunday, a warm, sunny spring day, Housing Works Bookstore Cafe & McNally Jackson Books hosted an all day Downtown Literary Festival at their Soho spaces. The list of events was pretty impressive, starting early in the morning at Housing Works, segueing between there and McNally Jackson, and ending in the evening with an After-Party at Pravda (a Russian speakeasy as they describe it). There were book and poetry readings, and talks on a range of topics to pick from. I was keen to get to a morning reading at HousingWorks of "Russ&Daughters, The House that Herring Built" by Mark Russ Federman, former proprietor of the famous Jewish 'appetizer'* store and foodie destination of the same name.

The reading started off with a breakfast spread of bagels and cream cheese compliments of Russ&Daughters (who knew!) and a coffee (iced Cappuccino) from the Cafe. Mark Russ Federman took the podium, 'spieled' a bit, and then read from his book—a lighthearted, but sometimes poignant, anecdote filled tale that takes you through the history of grandfather Russ's arrival in 1907 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, selling herring from a pushcart, to a successful business that is still going strong. It took a lot of hard work and more than a little 'chutzpah' but the story is one shared with scores of Jewish immigrants who arrived on the Lower East Side of New York during that period. And, it's my grandfather's story—a furrier—who arrived, in 1903, from Eastern Europe via a ship out of Hamburg, like the first Mr. Russ—and so my interest.

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, Crosby Street.
http://www.housingworks.org/bookstore/

Breakfast. Bagels and Cream Cheese, compliments of Russ & Daughters.
Lox Populi-Russ&Daughters. 

And... Coffee from the Café.

Mark Russ Federman takes the podium.

This reading was arranged by a newly formed group called Dish: Food, Drinks, Stories, that put on readings and talks by, "New York's hottest chefs, restauranteurs, mixologists, food authors, bloggers and critics." They have a FaceBook page at: DISHNewYork

Their debut event, takes place May 1, 7PM, at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, and features, along with others, Lucy Knisley, illustrator and author in conversation with Saveur online editor, Helen Rosner, to celebrate her new graphic novel, "RELISH, My Life in the Kitchen." 

*Appetizing: a Jewish food tradition that is most typical among American Jews, and it is particularly local to New York and New Yorkers. To keep the Kosher laws, stores selling cured and pickled meats became known as delicatessens, while shops that sold fish and dairy products became appetizing stores.