Below 14th Street

The return to NYC and what we're looking forward to, returning to favorite restaurants and trying new ones, entertaining at home ...

Today, we return to New York City after months of travel. So many things to look forward to. The following are some of the many restaurants in this corner of the Village, as marked in the trapezoid above, that we want to try for the first time and of course our favorites to return to. (Google map of all of them below.)

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This is a paid subscriber post—but I’ll be back with the regular Saturday newsletter next week! If you missed last week’s newsletter, here’s the link to it.

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I first want to make note of June through August travel, if only so I have a record of where on earth the summer went.

June:

• Tsblisi, Georgia (fabulous people, dumplings, and cheese bread—go now before Russia invades again, which I wrote about here).

• Italy (Rome, Spello, Spannocchia outside Sienna—especially grateful for finding Spello, an extraordinary town in Umbria).

• Beautiful Newport, RI, for the Master of Fine Arts program’s spring session (if you’re considering an MFA, or know someone who is, check it out; they’re currently reading for the January 2025 admissions).

July:

• I spent a week in NYC solo as Ann taught in Truro on Cape Cod; thence to Buffalo.

• I carried on to Cleveland to promote If You Can’t Take the Heat.

• NOLA after that for the Taste of the Cocktail Convention (I should have known it would be convention hell).

Westport, MA.

August:

• Book events in Bronxville, NY; Westerly, RI; Block Island; and Belfast, Maine.

• Finally, actual vacation time, with friends on Vinalhaven, then on to the heaven of Westport, MA (which I wrote about last week).

I’m tired just keeping track of it all and am feeling lucking to have a full week in Providence to do laundry, regroup, get organized for the fall and our return to the West Village.

Restaurants we’re looking forward to …

Eager for the Indian Food at Semma.

Some of the best Indian food in the city is at Semma. Great for takeout if you can’t get a rez. Order their Biryani bowl, which comes in sealed clay pot.