‹ The story: We love eating at the bar
A day in Midtown, Manhattan · USA
A Midtown day where every meal is at a bar or a counter: the art first, the oyster counter under Grand Central for lunch, the market next door, then dinner at the long marble bar at The Modern and a nightcap where the Bloody Mary was born.
The star is The Bar Room at The Modern, the place from the story. The dotted line is the walk, in order. On foot, about 3 km. The E or M to 5th Ave/53rd St, or the 4, 5, 6 or 7 to Grand Central.
The Bar Room is next door, so the art and dinner are one block apart.
Timed tickets; members and early slots are quietest.
Photo like it: RobThinks, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Get: Sit at the lunch counter and order the oyster pan roast. Watch them make it.
The counter under the tiled vaults has fed New Yorkers since 1913.
Closed Sundays; the counter is walk-in.
A food hall in the passage along Lexington Avenue, right off the concourse.
Opens early on weekdays; shorter hours on Sundays.
Photo like it: jammmick, CC BY 2.0.
★
Get: Oysters, the tarte flambée, and whatever the bartender says is good tonight.
One of our favorite things to do in any city, and The Bar Room at The Modern is the case for it.
9 W 53rd St, New York, next to MoMA (no museum ticket needed). Lunch daily 11:30am to 3pm, dinner 5 to 9:30pm. Bar seats are walk-in; tables book 28 days ahead.
Photo: The Modern.
The Bloody Mary as New York knows it was first poured here, under the Maxfield Parrish mural.
Dressy; seats go first, the bar stands.
Photo like it: Mtaylor848, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Chef puts this whole day in your Trips, every stop in order with The Bar Room at The Modern at 5:30pm, then fills the rest of your days around what you love. Send it to whoever's coming. Free, no password.
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