Some Representative Work from New York Today

For over two years, I had the privilege of covering sports, music and nightlife for New York Today, the city guide and event calendar from The New York Times.

Covering all New York's professional sports teams, writing previews for jazz and rock concerts, and writing reviews of bars and restaurants, I worked with three spectacular editors: Matthew Klein, Andrew Taber and Dan Saltzstein. By the time all was said and done, I had filed previews for over 300 sporting events and 100 concerts, as well as over 20 venue profiles, and not once was working with them ever tiring.

While New York Today has since been somewhat consolidated into the main New York Times site, some of the nightlife and restaurant work remains online. Here are some samples:

Nightlife Reviews

My approach to reviewing venues was a specific one: help the reader decide whether it is worth checking out. A reviewer should judge whether a bar succeeds or fails in its apparent mission, but should not foreclose that analysis by dismissing the genre out of hand.

  • Duke's, a leisurely but festive southern food establishment near Union Square.

  • Off the Wagon, the unofficial NYU Law School watering hole and not that bad a bar either.

  • Fat Black Pussycat, a nightlife venue that tries to have it both ways and actually succeeds.

  • Josie Wood's, the only bar I know with the comforting atmosphere of a suburban basement.

  • The Dead Poet, the Upper West Side's newest and most reliable laid-back outpost.

  • Dewey's, often overlooked, but a welcome refuge tucked away in Flatiron.

  • Dive 75, the cushy living room with bookshelves and aquarium on the Upper West Side.

  • Eau, a reasonably non-attitude lounge in the heart of (what used to be) Silicon Alley.

  • Malachy's, a genuine dive on West 72nd Street, with an edge.

    Restaurant Review

    Pretty much the same approach. But who could say anything bad about Southwestern food?

  • Santa Fe, artistic Southwestern near Lincoln Square.