Results tagged “subwayfare”

The new MTA chief is pushing a plan to offer discounts for bus and subway riders on weekends and late nights. MTA CEO Jay Walder has been making a big splash since taking over the job earlier this month, talking to the media about a number of big ideas, such as installing cameras on buses to bust bus lane blockers and introducing a no-swipe MetroCard that would double as a debit card. In an exclusive interview with the Times yesterday, he revealed his latest crazy scheme.

The Sunday Mexican cart scene we mentioned last week had Gothamist thinking about tacos all this week – again. After our new friend Pam asked us to provide her with a salsa recipe over a communal table at the continuing downhill experience that unfortunately is New Green Bo, we decided to highlight our favorite red salsa this week for Subway Fare.

We continue our march across 14th street this week, skipping over Union Square and landing just shy of the ever expanding Meatpacking District.

- When our work colleague showed us this in his copy of the Post yesterday he said the below described sandwich was for sale at McDonald's:

A new steak sandwich going on sale today in London will make your mouth water and your wallet cry - because it costs a whopping $148. The McDonald sandwich consists of pricey Wagyu beef, Brie de Meaux cheese, 24-hour fermented sourdough bread, and foie gras-flavored mayonnaise.

We were fortunate this week to score an invite to a dinner, hosted by a currently unkitchened chef, where a sampling of 5 varieties of heritage-style pigs was set to take place. More on the pork served next week in a post about the evening.

Please go to one of these restaurants on Sunday, April 30th to do your bit fighting the damage left by genocide in Darfur. Right now we are leaning toward Tia Pol or Cafe D'Alsace.

Shifting one stop West on the L train this week puts us at Third Avenue and 14th Street, an area on the food uptick since the opening of Whole Foods and more recently Trader Joes. Although the immediate area lacks any real stellar restaurants, there is an abundance of places to grab a good bite to eat and even a little Japantown that has been brewing on 9th Street for a few years.

Back when, as wee bit food junkies learning about the relation of pork bellies to bacon from Trading Places, we never imagined that bacon was already living a double life right in front of our eyes on non-breakfast menus, hiding as fatty pork down at places like Judy Doo’s Chinese Restaurant. Grateful for the early exposure, we were full-on joyful when chefs at innumerable restaurants in the early 2000’s began to prepare it every which way – roasted, brined, braised, grilled, often combining methods. Gothamist is also partial to using it mixed with pork shoulder for things like tacos and ragu at home.

In recognition of last weeks' welcome news that CNET has purchased Chowhound.com, we off these selections from the Chowhound Boards.

The stretch of First Avenue from the L station at 14th Street down to Saint Marks is chock full of great stops for food junkies. While most of the great stops are casual restaurants that excel at what they are doing, there is a bona fide great restaurant in the mix and a smattering of excellent food stores.

When we go on our Subway Fare excursions the foodstuffs we see at the markets we visit always tempts us. In order justify buying more during each stop, we will begin working up a recipe or two from what we find that looks great, alternating weekly with the Subway Fare dispatches.

This week, planning to go explore the 116th Street stop on the 6 train, we popped out of the subway on a chilly Saturday afternoon. After a few minutes walking around, scoping some West Indian shops, talking to locals and seeing the barren marketplace under the Metro North Viaduct above Park Avenue we decided to return there in the warmer months. We will probably wait till La Marqueta Internacional opens in the summer, all the better to include exploring what seems to be a great new project for a neighborhood whose diverse residents historically are quite proud their colorful heritages, and not shy about showing it off and sharing it with all. Really, after reading this how can we not be excited at the prospects.

Down in our lower, Lower Manhattan work neighborhood, amongst the pizza places serving cheesesteaks and the catch-all spots trying to pull off turkey sandwiches, tossed salads and Udon, there are a few places that rise above the clutter.

Upon exiting at the M/R station at the 4th and Union stop we were tempted to pop into Schnack Express, but did not want to risk offending our much appreciated local guides Colin and Kate who spent hours preparing our gastronomical hit list. Soon we were very happy about our restraint - the hit list was very long. Union Street north of the station on 4th Avenue, as well as 5th Avenue south from there, yielded many great places to dine and purchase foodstuff and libations for the homefront.

For such a long and storied crosstown street, it is odd that Bleecker Street on has only one subway stop. That stop on the 6 train will drop you square into NoHo, providing easy access to that neighborhood as well as the East Village and NoLita.

Gothamist hit the transportation trifecta while stepping onto the platform from the 7 Train at the 61st Street –Woodside stop. While the subway left the station, a train passed below and a plane passed above. Given that the Subway platform is smack under a LaGuardia arrival flight path, and high above the LIRR tracks, this timing dependant sensation is rivaled only by the horizontal superfecta in Elizabeth New Jersey where the seaport, train tracks, I-95 Interstate and Newark runways run parallel. Actually the low flying planes were a recurring theme as we wound our way around the area north of the 7 line. Around each corner was a new angle and perspective, as planes landed every minute or so with the backdrop changing from residential blocks to light industrial and manufacturing.

In a time before Pastis transformed the Gansevoort Market forever, Gothamist lived in shared commercial space on Little West 12th Street with some artistically inclined folks. The food routine was straightforward; La Taza de Oro and Hector’s (44 Little West 12th Street, 212-206-7592) for day to day prepared food, Chelsea Market and Western Beef to buy raw foodstuffs, and Rio Mar served endless tapas with your Sangria.

Exiting the Grand Street stop on the B or D train will put you in the heart of Chinatown’s light industrial NE district – indoor lumber yards and metal shops up Chrystie, lighting shops on Bowery, as well as signage and printing shops further Northeast. Bustle is everywhere on the sidewalks with old men fixing shoes for waiting customers, vendors selling food from shopping carts and makeshift booths, and shoppers scurrying from one market storefront to the next buying provisions to cook meals at home.

Ed. note: This new weekly column will guide you to a subways stop and its surrounding food destinations. We hope that it will inspire you to take some time over the weekend to explore some new food in a new 'hood!

The MTA and the People (as represented by the Straphangers and the Automobile club) go back to court to debate whether or not fare increases should be rolled back. The big issues are how the MTA deliberately misled everyone to believe that they were in financial dire straits and that the MTA is providing a costly service that probably will need some sort of fare and toll increases some point soon. More coverage from NY1.