While watching a New York Knicks game on television last week, I heard one of the MSG channel announcers, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, mention he opened a restaurant in the city. Walt Frazier was a former Knicks player himself and has stayed around the organization for quite a number of years announcing their televised games. Frazier has always had a reputation for being the sharpest dresser in all of sports, and his microphone skills have made terms such as "swishin' and dishin" and "postin' and toasin'" household basketball items. If he was going to open a restaurant and have his name behind it, there was no doubt I was going to have to see this place for myself.
After reading about the restaurant more from some online articles, they all mentioned that it was going to open till April, but when listening to Frazier talk about it on television, it seemed like it was open already. Not sure if it was open or not, I was going to head to the city anyways and take a chance. Originally, I was planning to take my cat to the vet at 4pm for a stomach problem it was having earlier in the week, then when I returned home, make the trip to the city. Then a last minute curveball was thrown my way. It was brought to my attention in the middle of the day that a filmmaker I met in Haiti back in December, Zaka, was screening an episode of a series he was working on called "TapTap". He invited me over to his apartment as the creative process was taking place and I was curious to see how it came out on screen. With some last minute maneuvering I pushed the cat's vet appointment to the next day and hurried on a subway to get down to the city. The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism on W.40th off of 7th Ave. (former home of the New York Herald newspaper) was the place the screening and the panel discussion afterward was taking place. The Frazier restaurant was takes up W.37th-38th on 10th Ave. So the plan was see Zaka and his screening at CUNY, then after walk over and see if the restaurant was open for business.
Talking my usual route to Times Square which required a transfer to the 7 train at Grand Central, I saw the tracks were as clean as ever. When I arrived at Times Square there was a youngster dressed up to the nines jamming on his piano, which drew a crowd. By the time I got to the CUNY school, conveniently located next to Domino's Pizza, and in the room where the screening took place, it appears I missed all the films and only caught the tail end of the panel discussion. I recognized Zaka immediately and after the discussion wrapped up I went up to him and gave him quite a surprise with my attendance. He was happy to have someone to hang out with for a few hours as he was due back later in the day to specifically speak to one of the CUNY classes. We strolled over to Chevy's on 42nd St. for a snack and to catch up since we hadn't seen eachother in the past three months. Even though I missed the screening of his film, he told me it was available on YouTube (link below) with an English subtitle option, so I would be able to follow along.
Ideally I wanted to have my belly empty by the time I arrived at Clyde's restaurant, but the late lunch at Chevy's filled me up with a few cocktails and some buffalo wings. Still, I was in the city already, I had my find fixed on the new restaurant, so I was just going to have to find a way to cram more food into my stomach. The one issue with the location is that it's on 10th Ave., which in Manhattan terms, it might as well be located in Alaska. Not too many people are going to want to make that walk, especially during the cold season. The blocks around 8th, 9th, and 10th avenues get very long and offer little to look at, except for parking lots. The restaurant itself is quite large an takes up an entire block. I looked at the entrance and saw there was some construction work going on inside, so I really wasn't sure if it was open yet. I moved in closer towards the doorway and saw there was an open sign posted on the door, even though work was being done near the entrance. Once I was inside, the first part of the restaurant is a long sports bar style venue, with flat-screen TVs galore, a room for shooting hoops, and images of Walt Frazier all over the walls. The ceiling is even decorated with mock gold and checkered suits that are a staple of Frazier's wardrobe. Once you go past the bar area, then there is a more formal dining area with quiet tables and dimmed candle lights.
Since I was by myself, I just took a seat at the bar and was going to do my food damage from there. There were quite a number of patrons also inside, but the newness of the atmosphere didn't give the restaurant it's own vibe yet. The servers were friendly, but everyone seemed to be wet behind the ears. On some occasions they would give you too many utensils, and other occasions a server would disappear for long periods of time. Plus, it didn't help there was construction still going on near the doorway or that the TVs were out of commission with wiring issues. The bathrooms are hidden behind the bar area with a secret James Bond-villain type of door, which took me three minutes of going back and forth across the entire inside of the place to eventually discover. With those issues aside, its about the food, so I took up one of the cowhide-colored menus and made my selections. With a nice glass of Stella Artois, I started out with an appetizer, and what caught my attention was the duck liver, also known as foie gras, for fancy people. Usually an expensive item, the menu price was only nine dollars, so I jumped on that bargain. It's served with buttery toasted marble bread slices which you can post the liver on and eat. That one was quite enjoyable and a rare find on menus these days.
The menu itself covers a wide range of options, there's options for meat, fish, pasta, and Asian cuisine. I was in the mood for something meaty, and scanning up and down the options I went with the twenty-nine dollar smoked short rib. When it came out, it was a giant slab of hickory-smelling meat on the bone. The inside was peculating with perfection as the meat was cooked just right. The outside was firm and crusty from the smoke-cooking process, but the inside was soft and tender. The best part was that there wasn't that much fat at all. The only downer is that it didn't come with a side, I don't count the handful of leaves in the plate as a side, so those would have to be ordered separately. At that point my stomach was busted, so I really didn't need any extra food on the plate. As I scanned around, I noticed there was an image of Frazier on the walls watching me from every angle. It must be his way to make sure the workers keep their hands out of the cash register. I was all set to leave when the bartender asked me if I wanted to take a look at the dessert menu, it would be a shame to leave a new restaurant without seeing the dessert menu, so I had a look. Nothing really stood out of me and the options were quite bizarre, but for the sake of getting something I went with the peanut butter bombe which was alright. It's served with a side of celery sorbet, which was part of the dessert menu weirdness, so I just focused on the peanut butter treat. Other than the dessert menu, everything else with the food was great and I could see myself eating there again in the future. When I left with a ton of food in my stomach, I went by Times Square and walked all the way over to Lexington Ave. to catch a subway. It was my solution to getting my belly to go down quicker.
Perhaps that's why the place is located on 10th Ave......
After reading about the restaurant more from some online articles, they all mentioned that it was going to open till April, but when listening to Frazier talk about it on television, it seemed like it was open already. Not sure if it was open or not, I was going to head to the city anyways and take a chance. Originally, I was planning to take my cat to the vet at 4pm for a stomach problem it was having earlier in the week, then when I returned home, make the trip to the city. Then a last minute curveball was thrown my way. It was brought to my attention in the middle of the day that a filmmaker I met in Haiti back in December, Zaka, was screening an episode of a series he was working on called "TapTap". He invited me over to his apartment as the creative process was taking place and I was curious to see how it came out on screen. With some last minute maneuvering I pushed the cat's vet appointment to the next day and hurried on a subway to get down to the city. The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism on W.40th off of 7th Ave. (former home of the New York Herald newspaper) was the place the screening and the panel discussion afterward was taking place. The Frazier restaurant was takes up W.37th-38th on 10th Ave. So the plan was see Zaka and his screening at CUNY, then after walk over and see if the restaurant was open for business.
Talking my usual route to Times Square which required a transfer to the 7 train at Grand Central, I saw the tracks were as clean as ever. When I arrived at Times Square there was a youngster dressed up to the nines jamming on his piano, which drew a crowd. By the time I got to the CUNY school, conveniently located next to Domino's Pizza, and in the room where the screening took place, it appears I missed all the films and only caught the tail end of the panel discussion. I recognized Zaka immediately and after the discussion wrapped up I went up to him and gave him quite a surprise with my attendance. He was happy to have someone to hang out with for a few hours as he was due back later in the day to specifically speak to one of the CUNY classes. We strolled over to Chevy's on 42nd St. for a snack and to catch up since we hadn't seen eachother in the past three months. Even though I missed the screening of his film, he told me it was available on YouTube (link below) with an English subtitle option, so I would be able to follow along.
Ideally I wanted to have my belly empty by the time I arrived at Clyde's restaurant, but the late lunch at Chevy's filled me up with a few cocktails and some buffalo wings. Still, I was in the city already, I had my find fixed on the new restaurant, so I was just going to have to find a way to cram more food into my stomach. The one issue with the location is that it's on 10th Ave., which in Manhattan terms, it might as well be located in Alaska. Not too many people are going to want to make that walk, especially during the cold season. The blocks around 8th, 9th, and 10th avenues get very long and offer little to look at, except for parking lots. The restaurant itself is quite large an takes up an entire block. I looked at the entrance and saw there was some construction work going on inside, so I really wasn't sure if it was open yet. I moved in closer towards the doorway and saw there was an open sign posted on the door, even though work was being done near the entrance. Once I was inside, the first part of the restaurant is a long sports bar style venue, with flat-screen TVs galore, a room for shooting hoops, and images of Walt Frazier all over the walls. The ceiling is even decorated with mock gold and checkered suits that are a staple of Frazier's wardrobe. Once you go past the bar area, then there is a more formal dining area with quiet tables and dimmed candle lights.
Since I was by myself, I just took a seat at the bar and was going to do my food damage from there. There were quite a number of patrons also inside, but the newness of the atmosphere didn't give the restaurant it's own vibe yet. The servers were friendly, but everyone seemed to be wet behind the ears. On some occasions they would give you too many utensils, and other occasions a server would disappear for long periods of time. Plus, it didn't help there was construction still going on near the doorway or that the TVs were out of commission with wiring issues. The bathrooms are hidden behind the bar area with a secret James Bond-villain type of door, which took me three minutes of going back and forth across the entire inside of the place to eventually discover. With those issues aside, its about the food, so I took up one of the cowhide-colored menus and made my selections. With a nice glass of Stella Artois, I started out with an appetizer, and what caught my attention was the duck liver, also known as foie gras, for fancy people. Usually an expensive item, the menu price was only nine dollars, so I jumped on that bargain. It's served with buttery toasted marble bread slices which you can post the liver on and eat. That one was quite enjoyable and a rare find on menus these days.
The menu itself covers a wide range of options, there's options for meat, fish, pasta, and Asian cuisine. I was in the mood for something meaty, and scanning up and down the options I went with the twenty-nine dollar smoked short rib. When it came out, it was a giant slab of hickory-smelling meat on the bone. The inside was peculating with perfection as the meat was cooked just right. The outside was firm and crusty from the smoke-cooking process, but the inside was soft and tender. The best part was that there wasn't that much fat at all. The only downer is that it didn't come with a side, I don't count the handful of leaves in the plate as a side, so those would have to be ordered separately. At that point my stomach was busted, so I really didn't need any extra food on the plate. As I scanned around, I noticed there was an image of Frazier on the walls watching me from every angle. It must be his way to make sure the workers keep their hands out of the cash register. I was all set to leave when the bartender asked me if I wanted to take a look at the dessert menu, it would be a shame to leave a new restaurant without seeing the dessert menu, so I had a look. Nothing really stood out of me and the options were quite bizarre, but for the sake of getting something I went with the peanut butter bombe which was alright. It's served with a side of celery sorbet, which was part of the dessert menu weirdness, so I just focused on the peanut butter treat. Other than the dessert menu, everything else with the food was great and I could see myself eating there again in the future. When I left with a ton of food in my stomach, I went by Times Square and walked all the way over to Lexington Ave. to catch a subway. It was my solution to getting my belly to go down quicker.
Perhaps that's why the place is located on 10th Ave......
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