46 new york | july 8–21, 2019
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Bánh Mì
at the Great Hill PROVISIONER:
Saiguette
(935 Columbus
Ave., at 106th St.)
, a
bustling little Vietnamese takeout shop, makes the biggest bánh mì on the Upper West Side, maybe the city. It takes two wooden skewers to hold one together, and could give a 2nd Ave Deli triple-decker an inferiority complex. Which is not to suggest that these substantial specimens aren’t meticulously crafted, well balanced, and perfect fare for a trencherman’s picnic.
PROVISIONS:
You want the
39-F bánh
mì
(“Grilled Juicy Boneless
Chicken Thigh”), or the 39-J
(the classic pâté-and-
pork-terrine arrangement); either way, one
bánh mì is
enough for two picnickers. Get some
ginger iced tea
to wash it down.
THE SPOT:
On a sunny summer afternoon, this open hilltop meadow almost looks like something out of
The Sound
of Music
. It’s the third-highest
peak in the park, and the No. 1 place to eat an outsize bánh mì
under a massive
American elm tree.
Enter at
W. 106th St.
PROVISIONS:
Straussies
, as Strausman
calls them, are on the small side with a glossy sheen, a firm chewy crust, and great flavor, in both everything and plain varieties. Preorder a dozen by Friday for pickup Sunday morning (the only day they’re available),
along
with house-cured lox and scallion cream cheese.
THE SPOT:
The four-
acre woodland that recently reopened to the public after an 83-year hiatus is just steps off Central Park South but feels like one of the park’s (and the city's) most remote corners. It’s crisscrossed with hilly trails that end in scenic overlooks with ornate wood benches, but try to find the rocky promontory perched over a waterfall trickling into the pond below; it’s fed by pumps hidden in the rocks, just one of Central Park’s man-made forces of nature. Enter at E. 60th St.
6
Chicken
Over Rice at the
Dene Slope
PROVISIONER:
Tony Dragon’s Grille
,
a food truck parked at the corner of Madison and 62nd Street, smack-dab between an Hermès and a Brioni, is like a Greek diner on wheels.
THE SPOT:
With its manicured lawns, ring of red cedars, and the wafting scent of SPF-75, Cedar Hill is a pastoral picnic oasis built for unbridled panini chomping. Enter at E. 79th St.
8
Dominican
Pasteles at the Conservatory
Garden
PROVISIONER:
East
Harlem–based artist Julio Valdez opened
Cafecito
del Arte
(181 E. 108th St.,
nr. Third Ave.)
last fall in a
building he converted to art studios, serving coffee along with Argentine-style baked empanadas and the tamaleslike pasteles en hojas of his native Dominican Republic. To lure customers to the side-street location, he scrawled a trail of inconspicuous chalk signs on sidewalks and scaffolds like so many bread crumbs.
PROVISIONS:
Pasteles
made according to Valdez’s family recipe combine white yautia, green plantains, and green bananas in the dough, which is
studded
with beef or chicken, wrapped in plantain leaves,
tied with string, and
boiled until set. Supplement with a spinach empanada encased in a flaky "integral" (whole wheat) crust.
eating outside
The lazy picnicker’s
guide to the best takeout victuals to bring to Central Park, and the most idyllic
places to eat them.
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NINE PAIN-FREE PICNICS
In Manhattan’s Glorious Backyard