Every day is like Friday
Every day is like Friday
3 cool new things, your weekend plans, and our Kips Bay guide!
This week we’re sharing our Kips Bay Neighborhood Guide, featuring 3 cool new restaurants, highlighting lots of weekend food, shopping & art show pop-ups and introducing you to our cool friend: Nick Pachelli.
Pasta Night
Photo by Mark Zhelezoglo
Renato Poliafito’s new “fine-casual” pasta-centric restaurant, Pasta Night is here! In prime Prospect Heights at 575 Vanderbilt Ave, Pasta Night was created after the monthly pasta nights that were held briefly at sister restaurant, Ciao Gloria, pre-pandemic. The restaurant is a modern take on the Italian trattoria, offering a menu of beloved pasta classics with contemporary twists, seasonal appetizers, and a small selection of entrees, a variety of Italian pastries, desserts (including a rotating gelato selection from Brooklyn-based gelateria Biddrina Gelato) &&& an aperitivo hour.
Saturn Road
Meet Saturn Road: a space for coffee, beer, and wine that’s the newest edition to Court St in Cobble Hill. Coolstuff’s resident expert on all things web, Emily Tarbush, stumbled upon this place after they opened last week and had to share, “it’s immediately become my new favorite spot in Cobble Hill.” Listen to her – she’s already been 3+ times!
Gus & Marty’s
Photo by Jovani Demetrie
From the team that brought you Egg Shop, Demetri Makoulis & Sarah Schneider, comes Gus & Marty’s – a new Greek restaurant in Williamsburg just steps from McCarren Park. Unlike most Greek spots in the city that are either super casual or very high end, Gus & Marty’s strikes a perfect balance right in the middle… all without incorporating any blue & white into the decor. We can’t wait to stop by for some moussaka, a cocktail, and all the other fun dishes on the menu!
Depending on your unique New York City experience, you may have never spent an afternoon in Kips Bay – there’s even a chance you haven’t heard of this little pocket of the East Side of Manhattan. We’re here to change that – because Kips bay is FULL of hidden gems, independent businesses, and endless good bites. It’s all happening east of Lexington, between 23rd and 34th.
Meet Nick, a journalist, producer and the author of The Tennis Court. While Nick spent years writing sports and culture features, some of his favorite stories he’s reported over the years center around tennis. It’s not surprising that he plays and watches a lot of tennis (in his own words - maybe too much), and grew up on hot, cracked hard courts in the Southwest. We caught up with Nick to hear about why he created his book as an ode to tennis courts around the world.
Photos Excerpted from The Tennis Court by Nick Pachelli (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2024. Photographs by Nick Pachelli.
How did your career in sports writing begin? How did it lead to your fascination with Tennis?
I first started freelance writing on sports and travel when I still lived in California back in like 2014, 2015. I joined a community of journalists and they helped me with some pitches and off I went. I moved to New York in 2016 and I got a job in journalism and really leaned into doing more sports, specifically tennis. I got assigned by the New York Times to write some tennis pieces, some stuff on pro players as well as a piece where I went to cover the revitalization of a tennis center in Havana, Cuba. That piece was probably everyone's clue that this book would come one day. I didn't know it at the time but that reporting trip was probably the happiest I've ever been. So it should've been more obvious to me that I should've followed that kernel into a book.
Tell us about your new book, The Tennis Court: A Journey to Discover the World’s Greatest Tennis Courts!
This coffee table book is fun and silly and wild! It's meant to appeal to everyone, from the total tennis nerds to people who don't know anything about tennis but appreciate the aesthetics. Keep in mind: tennis is our only sport where the canvas we play on changes from place to place. The book really celebrates that.
So! The Tennis Court is this fun visual and reported odyssey in pursuit of the world's greatest and most unique homes of tennis. That includes a remote court in Northern Scotland or one in the Faroe Islands or Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. Tennis is everywhere! After I got the contract to do the book and after an extended research period, I traveled for about 510 days to visit as many tennis grounds as I could manage. I went to over 1,000 tennis grounds (public courts, stadiums, private clubs, etc.) and played lots and lots of tennis. (I was a fairly high-level junior player, burnt out in college, and still play tournaments today from time to time.) One note: there are no courts at private homes in the book. Every place had to be accessible to the public at some point in the year, whether buying tickets to a tournament or going to play there.
What’s your favorite part about the New York tennis community?
I think a lot of the NYC tennis community will agree when I say playing tennis here is a bit f*cking crazy. My favorite part about it is the fervor, the commitment and mad dash to get court time in the city. I write in the book that tennis is "the most ruthless pursuit in NYC," and I mean it. I don't think you'll find any other place in the world where such committed people come together in their own pockets of their city to talk about and play tennis. And as with all things in this city, there are some true characters in NYC tennis. I like to encourage everyone to play more doubles and thus meet more people. I'll also add that finding new tennis partners in this city is just like dating but way more intense. The Whatsapp and Telegram groups and the subsequent Instagram stalking has serious hookup app fervor vibes.
How did you discover all of the tennis courts from around the world that are featured in your book?
So my time in the journalism world included a few years doing investigative works on some heavier subjects than tennis—like gun violence and human trafficking. But I started the tennis courts book like I'd start those investigative projects. I got on the phone. I had a researcher helping me, and we started with a country-by-country web search for notable courts, whether stadiums where the pros play, public courts, private clubs, tennis academies, or something else. That gave us a small sense of what was going on in tennis in Greece and Egypt and Australia, etc. etc. Then we picked up the phone for about four months and talked to people in almost every country in the world where tennis is played. And we just asked, "Where are your most cherished courts, your most unique courts, or your courts where the community is just ravenous for tennis and supportive of each other?" That's really how we did it. Community is at the center of the book, and I hope that comes through.
Do you have a favorite tennis court to play on in NYC?
I'm biased. I live in Fort Greene so I spend most of my time hitting on the courts in Fort Greene Park. There's a very large contingency of very high-level players around there. We are all very competitive with each other but it's pretty playful and kind-hearted. Most days. (Disclaimer: I'm on the board of the Fort Greene Tennis Association. It's a volunteer board and we work to make tennis more accessible and run events for the community.)
There are some other courts around the city I really like. The Hudson River courts are such a scene. I love it. I also go out to the National Tennis Center fairly often, especially in winter. I steer clear of the Central Park Courts. I'll also plug that playing on the semi-hidden court in Grand Central Station is fun to do once, if you can snag a reservation a few months out.
Follow Along:
www.nickpachelli.com
@nickpachells
Grab a spoon for pozole and a copita formezcal because Bowl of ‘Zole is back in Brooklyn! On October 17 at Industry City, snack on bowls of pozole and more classic Mexican cuisine from over 20 outstanding rising-star chefs and Michelin-recognized restaurants (including Cosme Aguilar of Casa Enrique, Justin Bazdarich of Oxomoco, cool friend Yara Herrera of Hellbender &&& more). You’ll also have the chance to sip and sample pours from Tequila Fortaleza, Rey Campero, Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, and Lot001 Brands, just to name a few. Grab those tickets!
P.S. Upgrade to paid to make sure you aren’t missing out on the rest of this newsletter including food & restaurant collabs, this-weekend-only vintage markets, our favorite things this month, &&& more!