In a couple of weeks my kids and I are going to do a “challenge” that they saw on some social media - to walk from the northern tip of Manhattan (Marble Hill) all the way to the southernmost point of the Battery, in a single day. I’ve mapped out a significant portion of the walk, to include various stops and sights along the way – and, of course, a lot of that is going to be food stops to keep us fueled.
I have options for everything Harlem and south, but this will be my first visit to some of the more northern neighborhoods on the island and I’m specifically having difficulty with Washington Heights - due to an over-abundance of options and lack of any clear winner.
So I’ll put this to you: What would be your top spot, around 10:00 a.m., for some sort of midmorning pick me up? Good coffee is mandatory, baked good(s) can be either savory or sweet, but definitely as local as possible, flavor-wise. (Which I gather is Dominican.)
Other currently planned food stops en route, in case anyone is interested (open to suggestions/modifications!):
Inwood - BDC Coffee (random choice, just some coffee and maybe a pastry to kick off the walk)
Harlem - Charles Pan-Fried Chicken
Central Park - Got to be a hot dog, right?
Midtown - Something at/around Grand Central? (Any especially good pizza? A slice seems thematically required for this excursion.)
Village - Gnocchi on 9th (seems heavy, but my kids both saw this all over TikTok so…)
Chinatown - Yi Ji Shi Mo
I’ve walked from Battery Park to Central Park or the UES several times.
I really haven’t explored much north of 110th St.
I look forward to your report!
p.s. @a_m,
if you’re looking for something in Hell’s Kitchen or Chelsea,
I am a fan of the Sullivan St Bakery.
2 locations.
I usually go to the one in Chelsea. 236 9th Ave,
New York City, New York https://maps.google.com/?cid=10174271085311102778
When I’m near Central Park, I usually get a bagel with Nova and a shmear to go from Barney Greengrass, and eat it in the Park.
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I think we’ll have to pass on D’Lili as we’re going to walk through Inwood Hill Park for the first bit, but Salento looks very promising and seems right on target: Highbridge Park is already on the map for that part of the day. (Trying to keep a lot of the walk in or adjacent to green space as much as possible, at least until mid afternoon when it will be all buildings all the time.)
Oh wow, thank you for mentioning this. I used to visit regularly but haven’t been there in probably a decade and kind of forgot about it. Will definitely add it to the list if not for this walk, then for my next visit. I’m way overdue!
Great call, another classic NY place. I think we’ll probably hit Russ and Daughters the next morning for breakfast, but if we change that plan this is a great idea. I was also thinking Zabar’s; I actually proposed to my wife in the park over a picnic of Zabar’s takeout
Well, then, if you find yourself heading southeast from Inwood Hill Park to Highbridge Park, you might stop at Kenny Bakery, 126A Dyckman St. Also Dominican.
You can hit the other location of Charles Pan Fried Chicken on W 72 St if it’s closer to lunchtime then.
Some of us went to Mama Africa next to the 125 st location a while back, and while they aren’t a quick stop for a sit down meal, they have some interesting treats to pick up and go like a special kind of donut and some other snacks plus some interesting juices.
Heather Garden in Fort Tryon is already on the list. Is there more we should specifically target to see in there?
Thanks for the notes regarding the other Charles restaurant and Mama Africa. The latter sounds really interesting. Always way, way too many choices in NYC!
Thanks again, all, for the feedback and help. The walk happened this past Saturday and it was not quite the day I had originally planned! Friday night when we went to sleep, the weather forecast on our phones said “cloudy” with a high of 66 and I thought it was going to be a perfect walking day… Of course that’s not what happened; we trudged through persistent drizzle most of the day, which made it more of a long grind than a joyful amble. We also abandoned most of our planned route early on (turns out, walking through wooded areas in the rain isn’t fun! who knew???)…but we soldiered on and covered 19.5 miles between the corner 228th and Marble Hill on the north side and, on the south end, a fence blocking our way to the Statue of Liberty Lookout Point. (Our planned terminus.)
Food-wise we hit far fewer things than I had anticipated:
BDC Studios, in Inwood: This was our planned initial coffee stop and we made it. Nice place! Turns out it’s both coffee shop and cooking school. We had some delicious coffee and a really nice pastry, the “coco pineapple,” which is basically a large macaroon with added pineapple.
Kenny Bakery: We tried to make this our second stop! There was a line out the door that we waited in for over 10 minutes. Alas, only one person appeared to be working inside, making what looked like some egg and cheese panini, as well as cafe con leche (I guess). The line did not move an inch and my son was ravenous, so we had an empanada from the Mexican place next door (decent!) and moved on. Kenny is clearly very popular and we’ll have to try again some other time.
Charles Pan-Fried on 125th: I don’t regularly eat fried chicken so I don’t have a good sense for it, but this was crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside, well-seasoned…seemed like everything I could want from some fried chicken. Corn bread, very good, texture spot-on. Maybe a touch on the sweet side. The winner for me, though, was the cabbage side I opted for. I don’t know what kind of pork product and prep they use for that cabbage, but it was amazing: Smoky, porky, savory, perfectly tender. This might have been the best cabbage dish I’ve ever had.
Solid State Coffee, W 71st: All of my park plans fell through, food-wise and otherwise (I had a whole route mapped out with various things)…and we couldn’t have possibly eaten anything anyway after our huge Charles Pan-Fried lunch. But we desperately needed another coffee and found this place. I really liked it here. Nice music and vibe, and a really great Americano. But I’m not sure how biased I was by needing a coffee and a dry place to sit…
Gnocchi on 9th: Having accompanied my children to plenty of Instagram and TikTok finds over the years, this one was somewhat better than I anticipated. We tried the vodka sauce (which we were told was the best) with added burrata, and the truffle cacio e pepe. Vodka sauce was in fact really good. The gnocchi were a bit chewier than really high end versions. Cacio e pepe wasn’t quite as successful as vodka. Maybe this should have just been called “cacio”; I didn’t get much of a sense of pepper. And it needed some! The “truffle” part turned out to be a spritz of truffle oil. So…probably pass on that one if you go. (Note that the lack of pepper and presence of truffle oil, which I usually don’t love, didn’t keep us from eating the entire container.)
Random hotel bar: Come 4:30 in the afternoon my wife and I were in serious need of a martini. Judge me if you must.
Halal cart: I thought we’d have a celebratory dinner after the walk but no one really wanted to move. So we had chicken and fries over rice, some drinks from a bodega, and watched a cooking show. NYC halal chicken did not disappoint!
We saw a lot of areas I’ve never been to before and there’s clearly much further exploration for us to do. A fun day and I’d recommend giving this sort of thing a shot, although I personally don’t plan to repeat. (Bonus tip: The “Flush” app was a life saver on this walk!)
I never would judge. I like a little mix of random, convenience, and planned food and drink. As I get older, I do a lot more unplanned stops and visits. Some misses but a lot of wins!
In a similar vein, I think I’m going to so a really long walk in Montreal, either along St Laurent or Sherbooke, and mention where I stop.
