Yorkville Blog
Upper East Side New York City

ChowHound has a nice thread going on best spots to kick back with a cup of coffee.

My favorite is always DTUT, with its comfortable couches and friendly atmosphere.

Yours? See http://www.chowhound.com/topics/374087

One part "Breakfast at Tiffany's," one part "Animal House," Yorkville attracts the post-college set with its cheap rents.

That's how the NY Post described Yorkville in Lisa Key's Price Points article this month.

And what is the price point? $1,600 - $2,000 to rent a walkup and $2,750 to $3,000 for the luxury of a doorman building.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02012007/realestate/price_points_realestate_lisa_keys.htm?page=4 (Page 4 of the article)

Metblogs has a list of ten places to eat for under $10 in Yorkville. Some of our favorite places -- like Pio Pio and Burritoville -- made their list as well as a few that we haven't tried yet.

http://nyc.metblogs.com/archives/2007/02/10_for_10_upper.phtml
A couple others we reccomend:

• Pita Grill (2nd Ave and 83rd) has great healthy mediterranean food.
• Blockheads Burritos (2nd Ave and 81st) is my go to place for delivery
• Nina's Argentinian Pizza (2nd Ave and 91st) is a small pizza place with a unique menu and great atmosphere

The final chapter was written last week in the case of one of the worst crimes in recent Yorkville memory. Paul Cortez, 26, was convicted of killing Catherine Woods in her Yorkville apartment.

Prosecutors said that on Nov. 27, 2005, Mr. Cortez slipped into Ms. Woods’s
building on East 86th Street in Manhattan between 6 and 7 p.m., after her
hometown boyfriend and roommate, David Haughn, had gone out to get his car.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/16/nyregion/16cortez.html

I'm no connoseiur, so when I do have the occasional desire to buy a bottle of wine, I'm always stopped in my tracks by the overwhelming selection of bottles at the supermarket or wine shop. Usually its shelf after shelf of wine with an occasional card attached to describe a particular wine.

Then I discovered Best Cellars on 87th and Lexington. They make it simple. The whole store has maybe about 100 wines, all under $15. They did all the work to narrow the selection down to just the best wines. Why should you wade through a huge selection to discover good ones yourself? And even better, the wines are organized along an easy spectum. Whites go from fresh to soft to luscious. And reds fo from juicy to smooth, big and sweet. Simple.

JetBlue seems to think they're cool too; Best Cellars is providing the wines on JetBlue flights.

http://www.bestcellars.com/

Labels: j

My love hate for Pinkberry...

Pinkberry opened up a shiny new location on the Upper East Side (2nd ave b/w 81st and 82nd) serving all-natural frozen yogurt.

Love it because it is bringing a trendy and innovative new place to Yorkville. It has fun toys on the shelves as decoration, cool music, and unique toppings like capt'n crunch cereal or fresh kiwi.

Hate it because it is the only frozen yogurt I've tried that actually tastes like - yikes - yogurt! Apparently I'm odd though, because folks always seem to be in line for the stuff. I gave it a shot a couple times and just can't get over that sour yogurty taste.

Oh well, I really wanted to like it. But for those that like the taste of yogurt, its a great place to stop before going to Comic Strip Live across the street for a show.

http://www.pinkberry.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/dining/21pink.html?ex=1172725200&en=7520bfd5f0317255&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERFEATURES

A few months ago we started noticing a strange pattern of stores closing on the corner of 85th and 2nd. Normaly stores losing their leases would probably just mean that they couldn't afford the rising property value. But in this case, they were closing right next to eachother on both 85th st and 2nd ave. Siegel's deli closed. Sotto Cinque moved. A dry cleaners moved. BUT, the tenant at the corner, Panorama Cafe, stayed put.

Now we know why. The L-Shaped property around Panorama is being sold.

This ±6,300 square feet L-shaped parcel is poised for a ±105,000 square feet
future residential development.

.. Residential F.A.R.: 10.0(up to 12 FAR with inclusionary housing) Commercial F.A.R.: 2.0

http://www.easternconsolidated.com/listingdetail.php?listing_id=427 (see the listing for a map)

Offers were due Feb 7, 2007 but the listing page is still up.

The Robert A M Stern designed condominium building being built by Related Sales now has a website. They're calling it The Brompton.

http://www.thebromptonnyc.com

The site has almost no details except:

• They expect a fall 2008 occupancy
• It will have studios, 1, 2, 3, 4, bedrooms and penthouses
• "Traditional yet modern interior"
• And they really like calling it "Proper". Perhaps they're trying to conjure up images of the more old-money section of the neighborhood, but truth is that area is a couple blocks to the west near Park and 5th Ave.

Labels: Brompton

Did I say Bar 84? I meant Kid Fresh.

The new tenant of the old Elk Candy store is an innovative little place called Kid Fresh. It's a food store selling healthy meals for children. The kind of thing that I can only imagine succeeding in a happily wealthy neighborhood. The place looks more like a toy store than grocery and makes such fun foods as sandwiches cut into little shapes. I bet its really popular for afterschool snacks.

Two banks just a block apart. Both HSBC and Commerce Bank are on 85th and 3rd. Banking there couldnt be any different though.

I went to Commerce Bank first. I don't have an account there, but heard I could bring in my coins for some crisp bills. So I went over with a big stash of coins that have been collecting on my dresser for the last year. Not only do they have an easy machine to use free of charge, but there was no line at the teller when I went to trade in my receipt for the cash. Everyone there was all smiles and helpful. There's even lolipops for the kids and dog treats for the pets.

Now HSBC, I do have an account at. I went to take care of something at the ATM. It didn't have the option I needed. So I went to the teller and waited in the huge line to see the one or two tellers. Not sure how long passed while in line but I went through about 5 games of soliatire on my cell phone while waiting. And when I got to the teller he said he couldn't help me. Try customer service. Line there? Of course. Able to help me? Nope.

Next time I need to open an account, I know where its going to be.

Labels: bank, commerce bank, hsbc, nyc, yorkville