New York Magazine – July 08, 2019

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.

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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