An Off-the-Beaten-Track Guide to New York City

I love New York. Who doesn’t? The theater, the museums, the music, the food, the subways… well, maybe not the subways.

This past April, my wife and I had the opportunity to sample it all during a one-week visit to, in the words of writer Bruce Jay Friedman, the “city of class.”

Of course, we did the usual — theater, museums, Central Park, etc. — but we also explored the far reaches of the city into outlying boroughs in search of the unusual and unfamiliar.

An Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art

What’s a visit to New York without a visit to one of its world-class museums? For us, it was the Museum of Modern Art, or MOMA, as it is best known.

We wanted to see the special exhibit on the inventive, prototypical New York artist Jack Whitten, an African American who pioneered the use of unconventional materials in his art.

The exhibition was entitled “The Messenger” after a piece dedicated to the famed jazz drummer Art Blakey, founder and leader of the seminal group The Jazz Messengers.

Many of Whitten’s pieces are dedicated to jazz musicians, such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman. He hung around with them and other musicians from the ’60s on after he arrived in the city from Alabama, an aspiring jazz musician himself.

Their experimental, improvisational spirit inspired his art, leading him to create large abstract canvases from complex mosaics made up of cubes of acrylic paint.

The swirling pieces in the exhibit were accompanied by ambient music from the very same musicians who had inspired him. A hard-core jazz fan myself, I was transfixed by the art and swept away by the music. It was one of the most profoundly affecting art exhibits I have ever experienced.

I also spent some time looking at other pieces in the museum – including many works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali and Jackson Pollock. It is arguably the greatest collection of modern art in the country, maybe in the world.

A Broadway Show at the Winter Garden Theater

And what’s a visit to New York without catching a Broadway show?

We were fortunate to grab a couple of (expensive) seats at the historic Winter Garden Theater to see George Clooney in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a play about Edward R. Murrow and his CBS news team’s confrontation with Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the “red scare” of the 1950s.

I am not a theater aficionado, but there is something about the immediacy of live theater that grabs me every time I see a great play.

To be honest, I was skeptical that any theater production was worth the $303 each I paid for seats toward the back of the theater and off to the side, but I left the theater exhilarated by the outstanding performances, the production, and most of all, by the relevance of the play.

Walks in Central Park

We also took advantage of what little good weather we had to take long walks in Central Park. The crown jewel of Frederick Law Olmstead, the godfather of urban park design, Central Park includes a zoo, skating rink, carousel, meadows, and lakes.

I have spent many hours wandering through the park, one of my favorite destinations in New York, lured down one path or another by a glimpse of blooming trees, a classic 19th-century stone building, or skyscrapers soaring over the park.

A Culinary Adventure at the New World Mall in Flushing, Queens

Few tourists venture out of Manhattan, but this tourist was willing to endure long subway rides in search of great food.

Our first excursion was to Flushing, Queens, one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the world. Forget Chinatown; this is the new Chinatown — not a tourist destination, but a real community where people work, live, shop, and most importantly, at least to me, eat.

Our destination was the food court in the basement of the New World Mall, one of the biggest Asian malls in North America.

A sprawling collection of stalls encircles one row after another of Formica tables and plastic chairs, almost all filled with people chowing down on a variety of inexpensive, authentic Asian delights.

In our hour visit, we consumed some of the best noodles, bao, dumplings, and Chinese pancakes I have ever eaten. I estimate that the three of us — my wife, her sister, and I — spent about $35 total.

I was stuffed, but not so stuffed as to pass up the egg custard tarts and warm sesame balls from the bakery counter.

Not only was the food delicious and cheap, but the people-watching on the streets, mall, and food court made me feel like I was in Shanghai or Hong Kong.

The Hip New Restaurant, Laser Wolf, in Brooklyn

Our other excursion to an outer borough in search of great food was to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn to the hip new restaurant, Laser Wolf, named after the character in Fiddler on the Roof.

Once known mainly for its tight-knit community of Hasidic Jews, Williamsburg is now a trendy neighborhood of chic boutiques, cafes, and restaurants.

The Israeli restaurant serves a main course of skewered meats cooked over a charcoal grill, preceded by an array of exotic sides including Israeli pickles and onions, babaganoush, roasted cauliflower, grilled carrots, Tunisian potatoes, red cabbage, and possibly the best hummus I have ever had.

The sides were so good, I could have made a meal out of just them.

Laser Wolf is located on the roof of the upscale Hoxton Hotel, so in addition to the great food, there are views of the Manhattan skyline from almost every table.

Avant-Garde Jazz at the Stone in Downtown Manhattan

My last excursion was to downtown Manhattan to the Stone, a legendary performance space that features the latest music from some of the most creative musicians in the world, including such luminaries as John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, and Nels Cline.

Formerly a funky storefront on the Lower East Side, the Stone is now housed in a sleek, ultra-modern space on the New School University campus.

The Stone is dedicated to serious listening. No drinks or other refreshments are available, conversations are discouraged, and patrons are urged to use the bathrooms before the performances begin.

I was there to see Zoh Amba, a diminutive young tenor saxophonist whose playing belies her small stature: loud, fast, and intense. As if to relieve the tension of her cacophonous playing, she at times picked up a guitar to sing sweet, melodious songs reflecting her Appalachian roots.

Bruce Jay Freidman is right. New York is the city of class. But it is also the city of far-flung ethnic delights and obscure music… and lots more. Who knows what I’ll discover the next time I visit?

If You Go

The average price of a hotel is over $400/night. Thankfully, I stayed at my nephew’s apartment near Central Park, so I have no recommendations. Here are Traveler’s Choice recommendations from TripAdvisor.

We had excellent meals at Momofuku Noodle Bar, the Carnegie Diner and Café, The Brooklyn Diner, Due, and The Smith.

Want to save money while sightseeing in NYC? The CityPASS gets you into 5 top attractions for less.

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Author Bio: Don is an award-winning travel writer. After a 40+ year career as an organizational psychologist, consultant, and academic, he transitioned to travel writing with the publication of his National Geographic book, Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean: Fifty Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler (with Shannon Stowell, 2008). The Wall Street Journal called this book, “ One of the best travel books to cross our desk this year…A wonderful – and inspiring – read.” 

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