NYC Vibez

Birch, located on 432 Third Avenue, is a coffee shop with a great french feel. When one walks into the cafe they immediately encounter the counter where the coffee is made. By the counter there is a line of customers waiting to place their order for the drink of their choice. Along with the coffee there is also a pastry stand located on the counter of the cafe in a glass box where customers can pick out the pastry of their choice. The prices are all written clearly and nicely on a black board with white letters. Bags of coffee beans surround the cafe for decretive purposes. There is also a cooler by the counter with drinks such as water and ice tea. The place’s sign outside is written in small letters and could easily be missed when walking down the street, so one could easily miss this hidden gem if not looking carefully enough. The place has big windows, which allow for natural light to come through. In the cafe, customers sit and talk with their friends or coworkers while they enjoy the beverage of their choice or munch on  one of the cafes delicious pastries. Customers at the cafe also use the space to do their work or read. 

Benash, located on 857 7th avenue between 54th and 55th street, is a restaurant which serves classic dishes one would find at a deli. The space is a rather large space with a large dining room and a bar. The restaurants name is advertised effectively with big light up signs, which spell the name of the restaurant. When one first walks into the restaurant they are greeted right away from the Host’s stand, which is place directly at the beginning of the restaurant. Through out the restaurant there are many T.V.s surrounding the dining room tables. There is also a bakery area with a large amount of baked goods, displayed in the window for customers to see. Behind the bakery stand there is a server there to serve the customers at the restaurant its baked goods, if the customer chooses to take a baked good on the way to go rather than sit and enjoy it at the restaurant. The servers there are all young and immigrant people for the most part and are dressed in black with Benash apron surrounding their wastes. The restaurant is also at a corner location, which makes it really stand out in its surrounding area. 

My apartment, located between 31st and 32nd street on Lexington Avenue, is a one bed room converted into a two bed room. The apartment has built in wall to separate the living room into two spaces so that my roommate would be able to have a room of his own. The apartment has a kitchen right next to the main door one walks into the apartment in. The apartment has a living room also with a black leather sofa facing a flat screen tv. Across from the living room is the main bedroom of the apartment. The main bedroom as a window and a closet and a real door as opposed to sliding door in the converted bedroom. However, the converted bedroom has a balcony attached to it with a big sliding door. The balcony over looks Lexington Avenue and is straight across from Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, a bar and restaurant which has a great social scene. Although the apartment is one the second highest floor (16th floor) noises from the street are still heard pretty easily. Especially when a game is going on and BBQ across the street is packed. The apartment is a pretty small space but very manageable between two roommates. 

Vezzo, located on 178 Lexington Avenue between 30th and 31st street, is another classical Italian restaurant I had the pleasure of experiencing over my first semester at Baruch. The exterior of the restaurant is made out of old brick, which makes the restaurant look from the outside as a really traditional Italian restaurant, almost as if one is looking at an Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Rome. The restaurant has a deep red banner across it, which has the name of the restaurant, Vezzo, on it alone, looking very artistically clean. The restaurant also has black old looking lamps surrounding it, which really adds to the old- traditional Italian restaurant ambiance. Inside the restaurant has a dining room which is in a straight line, just table after table, rather then mixed through out the restaurant. Parallel from the tables there is a bar with bar stools. The bar has an array of wines such as red and white and a bunch of options. The bottles of wine are displayed through out the restaurant as decoration. The lighting in the restaurant is dark but lit candles light up the room, giving the place a very relaxing setting. 

Brother Jimmys BBQ,, located on 181 Lexington Avenue, is a restaurant  which servers American Classic Barbecue dishes. The restaurant is rather large. There is a large dining room where guests can sit and enjoy their meals, as well as an invigorating bar. The dining room and bar are equipped with a numerous amount of TVS all along the walls so sports fans can watch their favorite game anywhere through out the facility. On weekend nights, especially during a big game, one could expect to see Brother Jimmy’s BBQ packed with an array of young people with beers in hand and a wing in the other enjoying their game and rooting for their team, while socializing with the people around them. There are numerous amount of bar stools but people not lucky enough to be able to get one just watch the game while they stand. At times, the restaurant also brings performers who sing classical American music or bring in a karaoke machine and let the guests make the show. Brother Jimmy’s BBQ is truly an invigorating expirience that anyone of legal drinking age who likes sports should definitely check out for themselves.

Belvedere, an Italian restaurant, located on Lexington Avenue between 30th and 31st street, is a restaurant that offers a cozy atmosphere. Customers at Belvedere can enjoy an array of Italian dishes such as pasta and pizza. The restaurant is small with white tables and wooden floors. The lighting is very dark with candles lit among the tables. The banner outside is in yellow. The restaurant also offers a outdoor seating are, which is a nice place to sit during the warmer months. The servers at the restaurant are of Hispanic and Italian descent. During my lunch break at Belvedere I found the food quite good with a good service to match it. Although the restaurant is small during my time there it was not so packed probably due to to the fact that it was 12:30 p.m. The ambience was charming: a perfect Italian Oasis.

Bhatti, located on Lexington Avenue between 27th and 28 street, is restaraunt that serves delicious homemade Indiain dishes. The restaraunt has a pleasant atmosphere among it and the Indian Culture is represented through out the restaurant. Color such as reds and browns are reminiscent of the decor back in India, making one feel as if they are almost outside New York City. The place is square like with approximately 10 tables, packed usually with a gentrified group of customers, mostly of young people. All the servers at the restaurant are Indian, which allows New Yorkers to have a quick cultural exchange during lunch or dinner. The tables are all fairly close to each other so one may feel a bit claustrophobic.  Through out the restaurant classical Indian music is played. The food comes about in little pots, which are as hot as if they had just come out of the over, with meats such as chicken and lamb, in an incredibly tasty sauce. The servers are very hospitatible and welcoming of its customers, which also adds to the pleasent atmosphere the restaurant and its food on its own offer. In the restaurant there is also a nice amount of gold and silver as decorative pieces, which really helps add to the culturally Indian feel. 

The “square” in between the Newman Vertical Campus and the Newman Library and Conference Center is a place where students at Baruch can gather and hang out in before and in between classes. The area between the two buildings has been dubbed by students as “Baruch Square”, since the area does not have an official name, although it is more of a rectangle rather than a square. In “Baruch Square” one would see students doing work, converting, eating, on their phone or laptop, or just sitting a relaxing. The square has a Halal street vendor, which students go time to time to pick up a quick and affordable lunch. There is also the deli on the corner where students can go to grab a quick bite. On the outskirts of the square students there enjoy a cigarette or puff on their electronic vaporizers, since the Baruch campus itself does not allow smoking on the premises. There are also people, who are not students, passing by the square or enjoying the relaxing setting the square has to offer. Students in the square are diverse in color and religion but the respect and dignity the students exhibit to each other is, truly, exemplary. 

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Union Square Park. The park is filled with a multitude of people of all backgrounds. At the park, one can see people either studying, reading, walking, hanging out, or watching a street performance. During my time there, there were acrobats who conducted a performance of flips, jumping through hoops, and so on. The crowd around watched in awe as they witnessed the acrobats doing their performance. There was also an event at the park, called the “Harvest in the Square”, which was a feast conducted by the community in order to help raise money for the park. People, for the most part, were dressed fancy for the event, with men wearing suits and women wearing dresses. Around the park, there were a multitude of stores and restaraunts where one could see people shopping and eating from a distance. On the green fields of the park, individuals there sat and conversed, sun bathed, or sat alone and just enjoyed the nature around them. There was also a street market, where vendors sold their products, such as food, art and books. For those of you, who have not yet visited Union Square Park, I would definitely recommend in doing so.

The George Washington Bridge is the bridge that connects the state of New Jersey to New York City and vice versa. The side of the bridge that is on the New Jersey side is home to the small town known as Fort lee and on the other side (the New York side) it is known as the neighborhood of Washington Heights.  The bridge is known to have different color schemes, depending on which national holiday or cause it is commemorating. On the night that I travelled on it, to get back from New Jersey to the city (Sunday 9/18), the bridge was lit up in the classic white bulbs that it usually portrays. The George Washington Bridge is a beautiful bridge that has two decks to drive on- the upper level and the lower level. On both decks of the bridge there are bicycle lanes on both sides, where you can usually see people jogging, biking, or just hanging out. The bridge is usually congested with traffic during the moments of rush hour but during other times of the day it usually moves pretty fast.  If you are driving from New Jersey into New York, you will have magnificent view of the New York City Skyscrapers and if you are driving from New York to New Jersey, well you get to see New Jersey (as magnificent as that may be). The bridge also spans the Hudson River where you can see a multitude of boats floating on the water.

(Photo taken on Labor Day)