With the immanent destruction of five points, NYC is slowly losing its fight with its unique sub culture of street art. Yet where one monument falls, others will rise to take its place and one of those can be found down in the Lower East Side on Bowery. Who knew that a single wall could have so much history while invoking such complicated and diverse emotions. While not a traditional museum by any means, the Bowery Mural is by far one of the most unique art installations that you will find in New York City or any other city. Some will call it art and some will call it defacing property, either way graffiti/street art is a very polarizing concept. The Bowery Mural takes this concept to its limit to really try and define NYC street art and make it more acceptable. The mural is around two or three stories high and long as around 1/5th of a city block. They include beautiful color and unique art designs that you won’t find in any true historic museum. NYC has always had a deep heritage of street art going back for many generations and this mural is no exception. The history of the wall can be traced back over 30 years to a simple concrete slab just off of Bowery in the 80’s and as of only a few years ago has recently been reinvigorated with the help of several different groups. The mural can be found on the corner of Bowery and Houston streets and is in a constant state of change. The mural changes every few months to a year so it is a great place to visit every spring when the weather gets warm.
Category Archives: LES
Kuma Inn – A mix of tapas and Southeast Asian
Everything about the Kuma Inn is interesting and fascinating, starting with the fact that the entrance is really hard to find. Located on the second floor right above two bars (one in the basement and the other on the first floor) it also has no sign to speak of. Once inside, you are greeted by some of the most wonderful smells that a mix of Thai, Filipino, and Southeast Asian food can provide. While empty on the night I went (due mostly to a snow storm) you could tell that this place oozed with flavor and personality. It didn’t hurt that playing on the background speakers was a solid mix of 90’s rap. I can say that I ordered far to much and was only far to happy about that decision. Some personal favorites were the Chinese pork, chicken wings, edamame with basil lime oil. I walked away with this meal feeling extremely full as well as feeling I had discovered a hidden gem. This is a highly recommended spot for a tapas style meal (smaller portions) but with a asian twist.
Note that this bar has two distinct features, the first is that its a BYOB restaurant so bring your own wine and the second is that it is cash only.
Chicken Biscuit Redux – Cheeky Sandwiches
Sadly the website for this restaurants website is not working properly but the biscuits are definitely working. Was able to experience a delightful morning biscuit from this tiny little shop in Chinatown. The shop harkened back to the back porch at your grandma’s house with actually affordable food by NYC standards. The C-biscuit was really quite good even though it had this strange cabbage that sadly didn’t really enhance anything. I did have the the egg biscuit after and it was delightful. I would highly recommend this place as a great place to grab a beer, settle down for some great sandwiches, and enjoy an escape from the streets of NY.
Have to say though that both the shrimp Po-Boy sandwich and the short rib sandwich both sounded delicious.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cheeky-sandwiches-new-york
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