This weekend is a great time to test your knowledge about coffee, get a tour of New York's criminal history, catch a play about hating your job, and then wash it all down with martinis on a rooftop bar.
This weekend it will be time to wake up and smell the coffee - or tea - at the fourth annual Coffee and Tea Festival at the Metropolitan Pavillion by the F/V train on West 18th Street. F or the cost of general admission, you’ll be able to sample a variety of international coffees and teas as well as drop in on lessons including home roasting 101 and tea cocktail mixology. The festival is a great chance to ask those burning questions – like how does coffee from Mexico taste different from coffee grown in Colombia? Or, “if I hold my pinkie up does the tea I’m drinking taste better?”
Once your caffeine high is at full throttle – take the L train crosstown at 14th Street to Third Avenue for the first-ever snuggie pub crawl. I’m totally serious about this – and it’s got me kind of tickled – by now everybody should know what a snuggie is – you know -- the blanket with sleeves. On Saturday from 12 to 8 pm – you and hundreds of your closest friends have the opportunity to pub crawl eight bars up Third Avenue - from the Village Pourhouse on 11th Street to Van Diemens on 27th Street, all while wearing the latest in snuggie fashion. Tickets are $20 online at pubcrawls.com where a portion of the proceeds will go to the non-profit organization Karama Connection to benefit an orphanage in Tanzania. So, basically you get to look and act ridiculous for a good cause. Don’t forget – the event is BYOS – bring your own snuggie.
From a pub crawl of weirdos to a walking tour about weirdos – hop the 6 train at 23rd Street and Park Avenue heading downtown to Bleeker and walk east to The Bowery for the weekly East Village walking tour – gangsters, murderers and weirdos. The tour, which is led by East Village historian Eric Ferrara takes you on a journey from the golden age of the American gangster to the bohemian arts and drug culture of the 1960s. Eric guides you to historic hotspots like 57 Jones Street – the Five Points gang headquarters – and to Second Avenue at 12th Street, the scene of a famous mob shootout. For a $15 donation – you’ll be amazed to hear about the riots, assassinations, grave-robbings, and other criminal behavior that took place on the East Village streets you roam daily. Find out more at Avenuea.Org.
Now it’s time to catch the L train again at 14th and Third Avenue and head to 8th Avenue and walk up to the Atlantic Theatre on 20th Street for the much anticipated world-premiere of “Offices” by Ethan Coen, one-half of the Oscar winning Coen brothers. “Offices” is a 90-minute play of three one-act comedies about workplace pressures, meaningless careers, and the joy of firing employees. Anybody who has ever worked in an office – and that’s most of us – will appreciate Coen’s brilliance. The play is directed by Speed the Plow’s Neil Pepe and tickets are $65. Get them now, they are going to be in high demand.
After your stop at the theater, hop on the R/W to 28th Street for a noteworthy Sunday evening event and walk south to 27th Street for the return of the palms at 230 Fifth – the city’s largest rooftop bar. Each summer season, owner Steven Greenberg has 70 palm trees flown from Florida to adorn the 14-thousand square foot bar overlooking the entire city. The return of the palms kicks off the spring and summer months at 230 Fifth – and Sunday night they will also launch their brand new cocktail menu featuring a variety of fresh fruit martinis….and I can’t wait to try them!
