New York Magazine – July 08, 2019

50 new york | july 8–21, 2019

eating outside

IT’S TRUE: The line

is murder and the high-

season mob extra-mobby.

And old-timers tell you the

orangeade ain’t what it used

to be. Why you go anyway:

because nothing enhances

the flavor of a snappy, all-beef,

natural-casing frankfurter

like salt air and the clickety-

clack suspense-ascent of a

vintage roller coaster. (Ditto

the crinkle-cut cheese fries.)

And because no serious

student of tube steaks has

not been to the corner of Surf

and Stillwell Avenues, where

a Polish immigrant from

the shtetl named Nathan

Handwerker began his Nickel

Empire in 1916. (The

Nathan’s outpost located right

on the boardwalk not far

from the mother ship is also

a bucket-lister.) What author

Reginald Wright Kauffman

said about the strange, seedy

oasis that was Coney Island

at the turn of the last century

applies to Nathan’s itself

today, especially when you

factor in that annual Fourth

of July hot-dog orgy: “It is

blatant, it is cheap, it is the

apotheosis of the ridiculous.

But it is something more ...

and not to have seen

it is not to have seen your

own country.”

NATHAN’S FAMOUS

1310 Surf Ave.,

at Stillwell Ave., Coney Island

718-333-2202

13

AND IF CROWDS DON’T FAZE YOU, there’s much to like about

Hearth’s new High Line outpost—formerly Terroir’s High

Line outpost—a slightly sunken patio a few steps removed

from the main walkway with Hudson River

views, tight-squeeze communal tables, and

not quite enough umbrellas. The biggest clue

that the concession has changed operators

this year is the presence of a solitary Riesling on the wine list,

versus the usual profusion when the place was a satellite of the

Summer of Riesling world headquarters. Now there’s more of

an emphasis on rosé—sparkling, still, on tap, and even frosé.

But the menu and the vibe remain virtually unchanged—

casual, bustling, and big on better-than-the-setting-requires

sustenance like a bun-dwarfing grass-fed-beef hot dog and

a crusty sandwich stuffed with creamy ricotta and garlicky

broccoli rabe.

Broccoli-Rabe-and-Ricotta

SANDWICHES

On the Lower High Line

HEARTH

The High Line, Tenth

Ave. nr. 15th St.

A

HOT DOG

Where Hot Dogs

Got Their Start

Is it possible to find

a bit of peace and quiet

at the intersection

of two of New York’s

most overrun tourist

attractions? Yes, at

least for the moment,

until the hordes

eventually make their

way to the High Line’s

final section,

the Spur, which, quite

conveniently for picnic

purposes, extends

above Hudson Yards’

sprawling new Spanish

market, Mercado

Little Spain. Foodwise,

there may be no more

inherently portable

a sandwich than the

18-inch-long flautas

at the market’s

Jamón & Queso kiosk,

each compact, baton-

shaped loaf rubbed

with tomato pulp

and tidily filled with

a different venerated

form of Spanish pork

product (or Manchego

cheese). Grab two

and a couple of juice

containers of smooth

and tangy gazpacho

from Frutas & Verduras

across the hall, then

head up to the Spur,

which is part public

piazza (with bleachers

and benches) and part

art gallery. Or if you

feel like a stroll, convey

your bagged lunch

west and then north

on the elevated park’s

most remote and

undiscovered stretch

(relatively speaking,

of course), under the

multicolor pennants

of The Garlands,

an exhibit fluttering

in the breeze. The view

east affords a rare

perspective of Hudson

Yards—both the before

(the still-exposed

rail yard that will be

built over in stage

two) and the looming,

glittering after.

11

MERCA DO

LITTLE SPAIN

10 Hudson Yards,

Tenth Ave. at 30th St.;

646-495-1242

A

SPANISH

FLAUTAS

PICNIC

ON THE

UPPER HIGH LINE