Summers in NYC would not be complete without visiting one of the city’s many rooftop bars and outdoor gardens. For many locals, this is a great escape from our tiny studio-side apartments with windows 3 feet away from the next building. Uh huh!

The Hudson’s New Sky Terrace
356 W. 58th Street; 212-554-6000
Located on the 15th floor of the Hudson Hotel, Sky Terrace is now open to the public! A large hammock-lined landscaped terrace with sweeping city and Hudson River views. Try the mango ginger margarita.

Salon de Ning
Peninsula Hotel, 700 5th Avenue, at 55th Street; daily 4:00PM – 1:00AM
Themes based on the tale of Shanghainese socialite Madame Ning and her travels. Expensive drinks, but the views and decor are worth it!

230 Fifth Rooftop Garden
230 5th Ave (& 27th St.), 20th floor; Open everyday 4:00PM – 4:00AM
Expensive drinks and a little cheesy, but 230 Fifth offers the city’s largest rooftop bar and best views of the Empire State Building

Cantor Rooftop Garden at Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Avenue, at 82nd Street; 212-570-3820
This Art filled museum rooftop garden offers amazing views of Central Park and 5th Ave. Currently exhibiting Roxy Paine on the Roof. Past exhibits include amazing balloon sculptures by Jeff Koons.

A60 (Above 60) Rooftop
60 Thompson Street, between Spring and Broome Streets; Open everyday 6:00PM – 12:30AM
Hotel guests and members-only rooftop bar with stunning views of downtown Manhattan. Another Thompson hotel rooftop that is open to the public…
Above Allen Rooftop
190 Allen Street btw Houston and Stanton
This new rooftop has the usual expensive drinks but also has great music, great views of midtown & a popular Wednesday night.

Bohemian Hall Beer Garden
29-19 24th Avenue, Astoria; 718-274-4925
This Astoria Queens Beer Garden is the oldest and biggest for outdoor beer drinking, with $14 pitchers and picnic chairs and weekly Jazz and Comedy.

Plunge
Hotel Gansevoort, 18 Ninth Avenue, at 13th Street; 877-426-7386
Usually horribly crowded and cheesy, but if you are in the Meatpacking District, in need of a rooftop, and can’t get into the members-only SoHo House, this is it.
If this is not your style, you can always try
The Garden of Ono
The hotel’s ground level restaurant has a bamboo-filled outdoor garden and four cabanas. Call ahead for reservations at 212-660-6766.

Rise at the Ritz-Carlton, Battery Park
2 W. Street, 14th fl, 917-790-2626
Located on the 14th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park, this award-winning and aptly named bar boasts one of the most dramatic views in the city, perfect for July 4th fireworks!

The Park – Garden & Penthouse
118 Tenth Avenue, between 17th and 18th Street; 212-352-3313
Steps away from the elevated High Line Park, The Park features a lower level garden with Japanese maple trees and atop level Penthouse. This place has something for everyone!

Highbar Rooftop Lounge
251 West 48th Street; 212-229-0010
The breezy sixteen stories Highbar terrace is sprinkled with sprawling day beds, plush love seats as well as a UFO chair. Try the Drunken Watermelon: a scooped out melon rind, filled with the liquor of your choice.

Notable Mentions

B-Bar & Grill – 40 E 4th Street
The Delancey – 168 Delancey Street, at Clinton Street
Local West – 1 Penn Place, Eighth Avenue at 33rd Street
Studio B – 259 Banker Street
AVA Penthouse Garden – 210 W 55th Street
Brass Monkey – 530 W. 27th Street
Empire Hotel Rooftop – 44 West 63rd Street

Taste of Tribeca showcases the extraordinary food from some great restaurants in the TriBeCa neighborhood of NYC. $40 buys you 6 tasting samples from Ribs to Sushi to Ice Cream. In case you missed it, here’re some awesome photos that hopefully will inspire you to attend in the future.

I’m seeking your photos and videos of Taste of Tribeca 2009. Send your photos to Islandwoo@gmail.com or Tweet to @Islandwoo

Summer: July 12-31
Winter: January 18 – March 20.

At over 250 NYC Restaurants. Reservations now open. Enjoy 3-course lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35.

Islandwoo’s Top 5 Picks for NYC Restaurant Week
1. Dovetail (New American) – 103 W 77th St: Book
2. Nougatine at Jean Georges (French) – 1 Central Park West / 60th St: Call (212) 299-3900
3. Eleven Madison Park (French) – 11 Madison Ave / 24th St: Book
4. Morimoto (Japanese) – 88 10th Ave / 15th St: Book
5. A Voce (Italian) – 41 Madison Ave / 26th St: Book

History
NYC Restaurant Week, New York City’s original celebration of dining, dates back to 1992, when it was developed as a one-time culinary program to welcome the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to the City. Though created with an eye toward delegates and other DNC attendees, the program also found a strong following with residents eager for the chance to eat at some of the City’s top restaurants for a fraction of the usual cost—$19.92 for three courses—and who didn’t want NYC Restaurant Week to be a one-time-only event.

Since 1992, the success of NYC Restaurant Week has only grown. It has expanded to include both lunch and dinner offerings—three-course, prix-fixe meals for $24.07 and $35 respectively—and extended to two weeks each in the summer and winter. And this year for the first time ever, many of the participating restaurants are adding Sundays to program which has been historically weekdays only.

Today, NYC Restaurant Week stands apart as one of the City’s most exciting and anticipated events. More than 250 restaurants participate—a cross-section of the NYC culinary scene that encompasses a diverse range of cuisines and includes some of its most time-honored restaurants and buzz-worthy newcomers. Through its evolution, however, the driving force behind the program remains the same: to give visitors and residents the opportunity to experience the quality, variety and hospitality that embody the NYC dining experience.

Update: 2009 Summer Events at the Bohemian Beer Garden
Battle of The Bands – Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 2:00 – 9:00 pm
Co-hosted by the Why Leave Astoria Organization.
Featuring Brooklyn vs. Queens bands in the huge outdoor beer garden
Free Admission | More 2009 Events

Astoria is known to many for its many authentic Greek restaurants and the biggest free outdoor public pool. Astoria is also known for the most famous beer garden in the city, the 90 year old Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden on 24th Avenue and 31st Street.

What most people don’t know is that the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden is the last original remaining beer garden in all of New York City where there were once 800 (three in Astoria alone)! Czech and Slavak immigrants living in Astoria from the late 1800′s built Bohemian Hall in 1910 and added the authentic European Beer Garden in 1919.

Today, most people flock to the Beer Garden after work and on the weekends to enjoy pitchers of a variety of beers including Pilsner Urquell, the beer that was born in the town of Plzen in Bohemia – what is now the Czech Republic.

Islandwoo Tips to make your trip to Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria better: Although the beer garden is open late (until 11PM M,T,W, Su and Midnight Th, F, Sa), go early to grab a bench for you and your friends. The garden fills up quick as the sun sets. Be sure to grab the Kilbasa plate (see picture below) for only $7 and be generous as pitchers are only $14. Enjoy your summer outdoors!

Here’s a list of Events at the Bohemian Beer Garden:

2009 Summer Events

Battle of The Bands – Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 2:00 – 9:00 pm
Co-hosted by the Why Leave Astoria Organization.
Featuring Brooklyn vs. Queens bands in the huge outdoor beer garden
Free Admission

Comedyland Every Tuesday @ 9:00pm downstairs next to the dining room
Comedyland is a weekly stand up comedy showcase hosted by Stacia Jensen and Colin Dempsey featuring some of the best comics from around North America. Past performers include rising comics in the alt. scene as well as comics seen on Comedy Central, David Letterman, and Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival. The most magical part: it’s FREE. Totally FREE!
Come for the comedy, stay for the kielbasa. And beer. Lots and lots of delicious beer. The Funny is waiting.

Jazz Every Thursday at 6:00pm
Join every Thursday for cool music, great food and fresh beer. No cover. No minimum. Performance is in the garden providing the weather is mild.

Sunday Afternoon Blues in the Beer Garden 4:00-7:00pm

Past 2008 Summer Events

Friday July 4th – 4th of July Festival
1PM-4PM Dixieland Music by the “WILDCAT Group”, Cold Imported Beer on Tap Great Grill Food and Friendly service, $5 admission

Summer Stage Cinema Sunday’s
Summer Stage Cinema hosted in collaboration with Pilnser Urquell and the Czech Center of NY is a series of Czech Films that will be shown in the Beer Garden at dusk. All films will be in Czech with English subtitles. Free Admission to all films.

July 6 – Rebels (Rebelove)
July 13 – Saturnin
July 20 – Lemonade Joe (Limondovy Joe)
July 27 – Capricous Summer (Rozmarne Leto)
August 3 – Short Cut (Postriziny)
August 10 – The Smoke (Kour)
August 17 – Night Over Karlstejn (Noc na Karlstejne)
August 24 – Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (tajemstvi hradu v Karpatch)
August 31 – Prague 5 (Prazska petka)

Summer Jazz Thursdays
Smoking Jazz Every Thursday 6-9pmn the garden weather permitting ; otherwise in the restaurant Free admission, no cover,no minimum.

June 26 – “Cold Shot” jazz and bluegrass with a little classic rock mixed in
July 3 – “Catgut” jazz and R&B
July 10 – Glauco Sagebin Big Band
July 17 – Lily White Quintet
July 24 – Catgut jazz R&B
July 31 – Danny Munoz Trio

Comedyland Every Tuesday @ 9:00pm

Comedyland is a weekly stand up comedy show hosted by Stacia Jensen and Colin Dempsey featuring some of the best comics in New York. Excited, yet? You should be, because a lot of the comics have been on the TV. And if they haven’t yet, they will be soon. The most magical part: IT’S FREE!! Totally FREE!!
Come for the comedy, stay for the kielbasa. And beer. Lots and lots of delicious beer.
The Funny is waiting.
NOTE: There will be no performance on July 1st.

Friday September 5, 2008 – LUSCINIA Student-Choir at 6:00pm
We welcome the U.S. Concert-tour of the Student-Choir LUSCINIA, from Opava in the Czech Republic. Czech students in traditional folk costumes perform traditional folk songs and dances. Their enthusiasm and talent are a treat not to be missed.
FREE ADMISSION.