Hell’s Kitchen Local

This shop has the best olives and cheese in the neighborhood. They also have the greatest spices. I come here to stock up on cheeses and hard-to-find foreign foods. Every December, I come to get freshly grated nutmeg and clove to make my annual winter gingersnaps.

I’m at this library several times a week, and every time I find something new, from books to a movie series to a friendly face. It opened on September 24, 1909, with funding by Andrew Carnegie, and I feel that history when I walk through the front doors and into the Renaissance Revival building. The librarians are always helpful and very friendly. They’ve recently expanded their events, and now they have everything from a horror book club to a scrapbooking workshop to a wider array of movies. I recently saw Soylent Green there, and it was the perfect weekday matinee getaway, just a few minutes from my home.

Great food and drinks, the servers all treat me like family. Who doesn’t like hummus and pita and a mule?!

The first Broadway show I ever saw was The Full Monty at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. I was 15 years old and it was the summer of 2001. My sister and I sat in front row student rush seats and I was so, so in love with everything about the show, from David Yazbek’s killer score to the incredible performances.

In each of my The Untold Stories of Broadway books, I write about seven current Broadway theaters and then I write about one lost Broadway theater. The Mark Hellinger Theatre, which is featured in my first book, is one of these, and it looms large in the memories and imagination of theatre folk.

Ari has been cutting my hair since I moved to Hell’s Kitchen. Such a sweet man. I always leave feeling fresh and super powers restored!

My favorite midday break is with a coffee and bite at Sullivan Street. They're always kind and inviting and the food is just wow.

Mandy and the team at Ardesia are just fabulous! I feel like I learn something new about wine every time I go in and I love the vibe they have created in that restaurant. It's inviting and cozy but has a great buzz to it at the same time.

Norma has the best Neapolitan pie. They do the cheese sauce ratio and crust perfectly for the style they make.

The best grocery store in all of Hell’s Kitchen, the independently owned Westerly Natural Market, is a unicorn in many ways. Despite chain grocery store competition on every other block, the Westerly has thrived at the corner of 54th Street and 8th Avenue since 1966. That’s almost 60 years!