Eat Street, NYC

The tiny streets in the Financial District make it hard for restaurants to take up a lot of space, but Stone St is fairly wide. These barriers seem particularly visible and protective from passing cars.  

I visited the Upper East Side today, and its restaurant landscape is pretty sparse compared to downtown. But we did visit this cute cafe that presumably has more seating now than they did in the past. It's hard to see, but they've maximized their space by setting up a "table" in front of their bench made of milk crates and a plywood board painted pink.  

I like the greenhouse vibe, with the bright colored counter and stools. The counter in place of tables give it more of a teahouse/coffeeshop feel.  

  This restaurant is the harbinger of what is sure to be decorative gourd season for outdoor dining now that it's fall.

Tortaria's shed does  have a particularly nice roof, but what really makes this scene notable is that this is what the "anarchist jurisdiction" depicted in this NBC New York tweet looked like on the afternoon of Sept 21, 2020. The anarchy in NYC is just intolerable.

With sports back in session, lots of restaurants have put big screen TVs outside for patrons. This ends up packing the places on the weekends, but even on random weekdays, the screens are still out. (Expand post for a second picture.)  

More than any other restaurant that I pass regularly, Spicy Moon has been experiencing an ongoing evolution. Starting from the bottom: they decided on garish neon early on as a design choice. They soon expanded the pink tape with other neon colors. Then they added bright red plastic dividers, with color-changing rope lights. In its most recent incarnation, the neon tape has been replaced with street art that reflects its vegan mission (note that the animals have "Save Me" written on them).  Spicy Moon's food is amazing, and I was thrilled when they moved next door. I have almost no desire to eat in this space, however. 

I don't have much to say about Sadelle's, except that I think it's pretty. I like the combination of light green and purple plants over the blue deck. It's a clean look.

A tiny bit of Spain in Soho. The Spring Street #OpenStreets makes it feel just a tiny bit more European.  

The #OpenStreets on Spring Street means that St. Tropez (black walls) has enlarged their deck to take up a chunk of the car land. People are making good use of the space, besides just eating: walking, biking, stroller parking.  

The Jerk Hut, brought to you by Akbar and Jeff's long lost cousin Lily. (The orange bench seating is also a nice touch.)  

Ruby's has a lot of attractive qualities, including good partitions, a very solid roof on the deck, nice foliage, and real furniture.

The patio isn't particularly inviting, but this is the only restaurant on the plaza along Cooper Square, which is a waste of a good plaza. Diners here are pretty far from the street (and if you go with kids, there's ample safe space to run around).  

This is the last place I ate, on March 9, before The Shutdown. Now, they have both a sidewalk patio and an on-street deck. It's only a little unfortunate that the deck is in the bus lane, though I guess I'd rather prioritize restaurants than a slightly faster bus right now.

Cotton candy pink as a monolithic color scheme shows up sometimes, and well, that's a choice that a restaurant can make. (Click the post to see a second picture.)  

 Rainbow umbrellas and inflatable palm trees! Duplex, Kettle of Fish and the Stonewall Inn make up a very festive and colorful block.

      I like the juxtaposition of street culture with the restaurant that Eater describes like this : "But at La Mercerie, where the cost of goods is so completely out of reach to so many, the restaurant rather takes on the air of an aspirational advertisement, a postcard from a fictional millionaire’s lifestyle."

The rainbow painted deck makes a gloomy day a little less dreary.