Bike and the City! » By Neighborhood

Bike To: Inwood Park & The Cloisters for the best empanadas and wraps in town

Bike and the City! — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:35:07 +0000

The northernmost tip of Manhattan is hardly level ground to walk on. At the top of Fort Tryon Park is The Cloisters, a gothic abbey made from 5 dissembled European buildings. Up in the hills of the adjacent Inwood Hill Park, hike through Manhattan’s only remaining native forest with dropping views of the Hudson, walk under a giant bridge, watch trains cut along the river bend. And if you’re hungry- Noemi’s has the best empanadas and salad wraps in town!

What to see at the Cloisters:

The Cloisters is the branch of the Met Museum is dedicated to the art and architecture of the middle ages; similarly, admission is by suggested donation which is great. The views are enticing: the windows at the garden and courtyard, the dropping staircases, and art including the unicorn tapestries and the reliquaries (iconic statues containing bone matter of saints).

More info:

The Recommended Route from Central Manhattan to Fort Tryon Park / The Cloisters:

1. Take West Side Hwy bike path to Riverside Drive. (Distance markers: At 145th St, you’ll cross back under the highway to the riverfront and will be on the Ft Washington Park Bicycle Trail. George Washington Bridge = 179th St. Riverside Dr = 207th St.)

2. Bike on Riverside Dr for 4 blocks. Enter at Inwood Plaza on your right (where Riverside Dr meets Dyckman or Broadway). Lock bike on street (recommended), or carry it to top and lock it around the museum lot.

3. Budget 1-1.5 hrs to explore the Cloisters. You’ll probably be hungry afterward – so grab a bite before heading to Inwood Park just a few blocks down.

4. Exit museum on north end (parking lot side) to Riverside Drive. If you end up on Broadway (east exit), walk with park on your left so you head north back to Inwood Plaza.

Total Biking Time: ~2 hrs from SoHo / 1 hr from Central Park Columbus Circle
Total Biking Distance: 14 miles from SoHo / 7.5 miles from Central Park Columbus Circle

Lunch @ Noemi’s Salad and Juice Bar (225 Dyckman St btw Seaman and Broadway):

Wow, somebody must’ve had a field day naming those two streets.
Noemi’s has brightly colored walls and small tables at the front. The prices are great for fresh made to order service:
$7 – wraps, sandwich, or salad
$3 – Empanada
$3.50 – Desserts
$5 – Smoothies or Yogurt Parfaits
$1.50-2 – Drinks
$6 – Brunch

What we ordered and loved:
-Spinach w/ Manchengo Cheese empanada (which had some sweet raisins to balance the flavor)
-We both got the Guava and Cream Cheese empanada for dessert (like a tropical apple pie!!)
-Chicken salad wrap, perhaps the best in the country, fresh and tangy.

Exploring Inwood Hill Park:

1. From lunch, head west on Dyckman St to Payson, then turn right. Park is on left, enter after passing playground.

2. Simple trail to riverfront clearing: stay to your left at any fork in road until you reach the top of park (~15 mins). A small clearing will be on your left marked by a small boulder. Squeeze around boulder for an unblocked view of the Hudson River and New Jersey Palisades. However, the whiz cars on the expressway below was annoying.

3. Continue on this trail, and you’ll come to the towering base of the expressway bridge. It’s really pretty, and you’ll also see the Metro North rounding a bend in the hills on the other side of the river.

4. Turn R and walk/bike with water on your left. This is the bracken water (half salt/half freshwater) that separates Manhattan from the Bronx.

5. BIKE HOME: Park exits at 218th St. R @ Broadway and head south to Riverside. R turn on Riverside to waterfront bike path and turn left to go south.

View Larger Map

Bike To: Governors Island for colonial mystery and weekend festivals

Bike and the City! — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:35:08 +0000

If you’re looking for a quick bike getaway from New York and a breath of air, Governors Island is your five minute ferry ride into a time warp. Ivy league-looking row houses meet colonial battleground at this former military base. They’ve got weekend concerts, art installations, and free 1 hr bike rental Fridays!

Bikes and the Ferry: departs Manhattan every half hour: Fridays from 10am – 3pm (last boat returning at 5pm), weekends from 10am – 5pm (last boat back at 7pm). Departs Brooklyn only Sat & Sun 11am – 5:20pm (last boat back at 7pm). Ferries alternate every half hour between the passenger ferry with a limit of 15 bikes aboard, and the car and bike ferry with unlimited bikes. The car ferry has a garage style bike rack (bikes are safe and don’t need to be locked up as long as you’re there to pick it up when you off-board). To board the Manhattan-bound passenger ferry leaving Gov Island, check if there’s a line for bikes. Facing the dock, bikes will be lining up against a wall on your right. Complete ferry schedule.

What to do on Governors Island:

More info:

When you get off the Manhattan ferry you can head right or left. Most head right toward Castle Williams (pictured above) and then to the tree-shaded Colonels Row, which looks very colonial times meets East Coast Ivy-league campus grounds.

If you head right (west) to the water, you can take the main cycling road around the island. It’s beautiful to bike this mid-afternoon with the water glistening from westward sunlight. This road takes you up to Picnic Point (a very new-construction feeling park with hammocks and food vendor carts at the farthest tip of the island). The east road back down is much quieter.

Heading left from the Manhattan dock (east) takes you to the majority of the activity centers on the island: bike rental, the historical yellow houses open for view, the movie theatre, the Brooklyn Ferry landing, and the entrance to Fort Jay.

Fort Jay has two entrances (east and west), a dry moat, and a number of random pathways to explore. Inside the fort, the four corners each lead to different lookouts, some with cannons. I think the view of the fort buildings from the lookouts is highly reminiscent of London terrace housing (pictured below)… I love it.

The Recommended Route from Manhattan to Manhattan Ferry:

1. Take West Side Hwy or East River Dr south to terminal if coming from above Houston St. If your starting point is below Houston, the key street to take down is St James Pl which will drop you off directly in front of Ferry Building.

The Recommended Route from Williamsburg to Manhattan Ferry:

1. Cross Williamsburg bridge and take the Clinton St bike path south.

2. R on East Broadway.

3. After 3 blocks, L onto Pike St bike path.

4. R onto South St until arrival at Ferry Building. (Governors Island Ferry Building is to the LEFT [east] of the Staten Island Ferry Building].

Total Biking Time from Williamsburg: 20-25 minutes
Total Biking Distance: 4.5 miles

View Larger Map

The Recommended Route from Williamsburg to Brooklyn Ferry:

1. South on Union Ave.

2. R on Flushing Ave heading west.

3. R at Navy St heading north, curving left at York St heading west.

4. L on Front St, which merges into Old Fulton St and takes you to Ferry Terminal at waterfront.

Total Biking Time: 20 minutes
Total Biking Distance: 3.6 miles

View Larger Map

The Recommended Route from South Brooklyn to Brooklyn Ferry:

1. Take your usual route toward the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridge (ie. any Avenue or bike path heading north, then L onto the Bergen St bike path heading west.)

2. R on Smith St for 5 blocks, a quick detour L on Schermerhorn for 1 block then turn back R onto Boerum Pl (aka Brooklyn Bridge Blvd).

3. L on Tillary St for 2 blocks, then veer R onto Cadman Plaza W (aka Old Fulton St) until you reach the waterfront.

Bike To: Prospect Park for Franklin Beer Garden & Jamaican Patties

Bike and the City! — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:57:01 +0000

Spend a summer day at Prospect Park followed by more relaxing at the Franklin Park beer garden, topped off with yummzy affordable Caribbean (Jamaican) food a few blocks northeast of the park. Both are at the intersection of St Johns Pl & Franklin Ave.

Franklin Park Bar
618 Saint Johns Pl (just west of Franklin Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11238
(718) 975-0196
http://franklinparkbrooklyn.com

Where is this place? For first timers like myself, it was obscure and difficult to find. Don’t feel thrown off because it’s a completely residential street. Follow the noise coming from that driveway with minimal signage! It’s actually a nice venue with easy bike lockup on the sidewalk, large patio seating and a huge interior space where you can dance during a special event, or skee-ball your way towards tickets for a free drink.

The cheapest beer is $5 (not Brooklyn-cheap.. but does Brooklyn-cheap exist anymore? don’t answer that). However, they have a great relaxed attitude for BYO (bring your own..):
-Entertainment (board games)
-Outside food
-Pets
-Smoking

OUTSIDE FOOD? Yum! That brings us to recommendation #2 for this trip, courtesy of Ramen & Friends who invited me to join up with them for this outing and wrote more about the food we tried:

Update: The Spice is Right has closed since this entry was written. However the strip of Franklin Ave near St Johns place has several Jamaican take out places. Still in search of a Curry Veggie Pattie that was as good as what I had there. The prices for a patty in that area should be between $1.50 and $1.80.

You’ve got to try! Patties look like calzones or hot pockets and are the most transportable food to bike back to Prospect Park with.
Also try their fried plaintains, slow cooked and heavily marinaded jerk chicken or goat – $6 for a small box stuffed with meat over rice, $8 for medium, and $6 roti wraps (roti is a puff pastry flatbread popular in southeast asian cuisine as an appetizer with curry. My favorite roti is from Nyonya, a malaysian restaurant in Little Italy, Manhattan),

Tip: They’re usually out of half of their menu so just come with backup options.

The Recommended Route from Lower Manhattan/Manhattan Bridge heading south:

1. Cross bridge and head toward the park via bike route or Flatbush Ave.
Link: [How to: Cross the Manhattan Bridge]

2. 2 blocks after you pass Atlantic Ave, make a L on Dean St and take the bike path down to Franklin Ave.

3. R on Franklin Ave, head south 6 blocks to St Johns Pl to destination.
For bar, make a R on St Johns (bar will be on your L), or Caribbean food is on your L immediately after passing St Johns.

Total Biking Time: 30 minutes
Total Biking Distance: 5.1 miles

The Recommended Route from Prospect Park or South Brooklyn heading north:

1. If you’re coming from the park, take the Bedford Ave bike lane just a few blocks east of the block and head north.]

2. N on Bedford Ave to St Johns Pl (2 short blocks after Eastern Parkway). Option 1: Bike or walk wrong way down one-way residential st to Franklin Ave. Option 2: Bike north one extra block, L onto Sterling Pl, L onto Franklin, head one block south back to St Johns Pl.

Total Biking Time: 5 minutes
Total Biking Distance: .5-1 mile depending where you are in the park

Bike To: Flushing, Queens for Dim Sum

Bike and the City! — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:50:24 +0000

Did you know you can bike to Flushing’s Chinatown in the same amount of time it takes to bike into Manhattan’s Chinatown? It’s seriously a lot closer than you imagine, and a worthwhile change in scenery.

I had a dim sum date this morning with Y. & R. from Ramen & Friends in Flushing (which I’ve never been to). I’ve actually avoided it because it looked way too deep into Queens to make a trek out there. But comparing the train ride on the (G -> 7).. the bike ride looked more efficient and seemed nicer than being trapped underground on a beautiful day.

The Recommended Route from Lower Manhattan/W’burg bridge or South W’burg:

1. Bike along Grand Ave until it becomes Broadway
(scenic points for the last 1.5 miles of this stretch. Look out for surburbia’s version of cute swedish inspired cottage buildings, and a noticeable rise in elevation to experience NY on a hill!. Also, many local chinese restaurants and food carts at this point and up to Junction Blvd)

2. R on 51st Ave -> veer left on Junction Blvd -> Take right fork on Corona Ave -> R on Roosevelt Ave

3. Roosevelt Ave
(scenic point: biking under the shelter and cool shadow of huge above-ground railway for a 2+ mile stretch. Passes baseball stadium for NY Mets. Watch out on the bridge entering downtown Flushing- it’s a bit tricky with the grating and potholes.)

4. L on College Pt Blvd followed by immediate R on 39th Ave.

5. Arrive at Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant 13330 39th Ave (btw College Pt Blvd & Prince St), Flushing, NY‎ – (718) 359-8600

View Larger Map

About: Dim Sum (pronounced deem sum in cantonese) is the Chinese equivalent of tapas and is eaten in lavish banquet halls over the din of conversation. You order from carts that are wheeled by your table or who you wave and call over; your bill is stamped and priced accordingly by dish size (small, medium, large). Menus are also on your table in case you want to order non dim-sum food in the form of large platter lunch dishes.
For more reading: Wikipedia.

What to order: Dim Sum @ Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant
The food is great at this restaurant and you should have no problem just speaking English.
(Standard things to order: Shrimp ball (har-gow), Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll (Har-churng), Pan fried Taro Cake (wu-tao-go) and/or Pan fried Turnip Cake (low-bok-go), any bun (bao), Egg custard.. flan in puff pastry crust (don-tot).)
The tea is especially good, we were served two kinds: first a quality Jasmine tea, finishing with a cooling Chrysanthemum tea.

Tip: Arrive at 11am to avoid an extended wait, and be sure to get a number or list your party with the front desk staff.

Avg bill including tip: $12-18 per person

More on the bike ride view:
Wow this has reaffirmed to me that New York is really beautiful. Biking through the vast NY suburbs looked so much like LA that it’s changed my perception of NY from being so Manhattan/Brooklyn big city focused.. to include the perspective of a surburban resident and diversity outside of city center. The long stretch of Grand Ave is much reminiscent of Oxford Avenue in North Berkeley, California with its quiet winding streets, elevated points where the buildings have unobscured views of sky. And the thematic Swedish cottage architecture for some corner buildings.

Total Biking Time: 35 minutes
Total Biking Distance: 7.4 miles

The great adventure: really damn lost in Brooklyn

Bike and the City! — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:22:39 +0000

I decided to journey out this afternoon to enjoy the weather before the rain came. Destination? Bedford waterfront to read. Too bad I couldn’t find the waterfront and ended up going south, eventually wandering my way to Prospect Park. Overjoyed at the pretty nature, and aghast at the angry people thrashing about in it.. I made the best of it and biked around in circles until I was almost on the same track as the marathon bikers.. but then I saw the lake, so beautiful.. so I went exploring in it, witnessed a shortlived glimmer of beautiful sunset light peeking through the trees illuminating a fallen tree in radiant orange amidst shadowed forest. Anyhow, I’d just come from the grocery store in wburg so I sat by the main bike road and ate bread and cheese.

Near dusk, I headed back.. I mean, I looked at the map ahead of time! Instead of going home, I got my biggest tour of all the neighborhoods of that part of brooklyn. I eventually was so discombobulated in time and space I thought I was biking through Chicago once more. I tried to retrace my (ridiculous) footsteps in the map below. 2 hours later I made it back home, after having seen the navy yard one too many times, too many bqe over and under passes, and one too many entrance signs to the manhattan and brooklyn bridge which I couldn’t seem to escape. What a maze: