Bar Primi opens, an Earth Day Swap, and Catskills Happenings.

Your Weekend Buzz is here.

Happy Thursday, my friends, the day you wake up and say: The Weekend Buzz will be here soon, so who cares that the world is going up in flames! Happy to help. 

Today, I have three fantastic ways to wile away your weekend: one very special spot near Penn Station, another in Carroll Gardens, and one in the Catskills!

Bon weekend,

Andrea

Eat and Drink at Bar Primi

I don’t know that I’ve ever felt drawn to Penn Station. In fact, I think I’ve been actively repelled by the area. That is until Josh Picard, Luke Ostrom, and Andrew Carmellini, the guys behind NoHo Hospitality (Cafe Carmellini, Locanda Verde, The Dutch, and Lafayette) opened their second location of the beloved Bar Primi in the heart of Midtown’s Penn District (349 West 33rd Street, between 8th & 9th Ave). Now it might be my favorite part of town.

The story of how Bar Primi ended up here is a little like a Fairy Tale, the one about the ugly duckling that turns into a swan. It goes like this: Josh and the guys were searching for a space near Penn Station and were shown lots of sparkling spaces in glass towers, all new and ready to go. When they were walking to one of these towers, down a dark corridor of 33rd Street, they spotted a big old abandoned garage set back from the street by about 20 feet.

“What’s that,” Luke asked their real estate agent. The agent waved him off: “It’s abandoned and you don’t want that.” Luke’s eyes lit up. Josh and AC were already walking toward it. They snatched it up and spent the last three years,  along with Meyer Davis, building, renovating, carefully keeping the bones, including the walls made of stone, brick and concrete. It’s truly breathtaking.