Click on each photo below for a larger image.
About a year ago when we visited New York City in 2018 I was able to find a hotel with reasonable rates right in the heart of Times Square in Manhattan, New York City. This year I could not find any hotels anywhere in Manhattan at a reasonable rate. Instead I found a hotel that was just one subway stop away from Manhattan along the MTA F Subway Train line in Long Island City in Queens. We stayed at the Howard Johnsons by Wyndham Long Island City.
Locals said this used to not be a safe neighborhood but we didn't have any problems walking the 3 blocks to the closest subway station. There were a number of hotels of ten floors or more near our eleven floor hotel including a Sleep Inn and a Best Western Plus and a brand new hotel under construction right across the street from our hotel. Most likely we'll stay at one of these hotels in the future when we visit New York City whenever we can't find a hotel with reasonable rates in Manhattan.
111 E 27th St (btwn Park & Lexington Ave, Rose Hill, New York City
The BlueSmoke BBQ is at street level directly above the Jazz Standard. Both serve the same menu of food and drinks. We arrived early for our reservation for the jazz session that would start at 9:30 PM
The BlueSmoke BBQ and Jazz Standard are non-tipping restaurants. Tipping is not allowed. The bill arrives with only space for a signature and no place to add a tip. There isn't even an automatic service charge listed. They probably have raised the price of all items enough to pay the service staff enough to make up for the absence of tips. See the above bill.
Above is the wine list and below is the Osmote Seneca Lake 2017 Cabernet Franc from New York State that we selected. My wife and I are both fans of Cabernet Franc which many find a bit too earthy. Cabernet Franc is more commonly found in blends of wine than by itself. In an attempt to create a grape with a less earthy taste it was crossed with Sauvignon Blanc many generations ago creating a new grape variety: Cabernet Sauvignon. That became far more popular and desired than Cabernet Franc. It isn't that common to find Cabernet Franc on wine lists in restaurants. So, when we happen to find it available in a restaurant, we will often order it. This Cabernet Franc was pretty good.
111 E 27th St (btwn Park & Lexington Ave, Rose Hill, New York City
They have a strict "No Photos / No Video" policy so I was only able to get a couple of photos before the performance began. The above left photo is the stage and the above right photo is the bar area.
As you can see above, Blue Smoke BBQ and Jazz Standard feature an extensive selection of whiskey. I am a big fan of Scotch from Islay and even have a 4 day tour scheduled in August of this year of the distilleries of Islay, Scotland. They had Ardbeg Corryvreckan from Islay on their Scotch Whiskey list of offerings so that is what I ordered.
163 W 10st Basement
After the set ended at the Jazz Standard we headed over to Smalls Jazz Club. We arrived in the middle of a set that was already sold out. But, the person at the door said they were selling tickets for the next set that would be starting at Midnight. He also told us that the Mezzrow Jazz Club down the street has the same owners and we could go listen to some live jazz there while waiting for the next set at Smalls Jazz Club to start. So that is what we did! We headed down the street and went into Mezzrow for a short while. It was packed but we found seats for our short stay.
At 11:45 PM we headed back to Smalls Jazz Club. There was a long line waiting to get in and at first they told us to go to the back of the line. But, once they started to let people in they went down the line asking for any that already had tickets to go ahead in. Thus we got in ahead of most and had our pick of sitting almost anywhere. We picked the second row of seats not wanting to be right up front at the stage.
183 W 10th St (btwn 4th St & 7th Ave)
59 Grove St, New York, New York
We stepped into Marie's Crisis Cafe where a live performance was still going on. According their own description it is a dive bar that epitomizes a deep love for show tune music, community, and fun. We only stayed a few minutes as there is a two drink minimum and we already had enough to drink for the night at the Jazz Standard and Smalls Jazz Cafe.
Jazz isn't just limited to the jazz clubs. You'll find it in the subway too! All week we ran into live musicians not just in the pedestrian tunnels in the subway but also right on the subway trains.
You will find interesting characters in the subway any time of day but especially at 2 AM.
Click on each photo above for a larger image.
