The Go Love NY Edit - March

One of the new perks of running Go Love NY and hitting 30K followers on Instagram is that I am suddenly getting asked to go to things: dinners, openings, previews. While yes, it’s been kinda fun to get all these invitations, I am pretty selective about what I say yes to. I try to only RSVP to places I’m genuinely curious about, where it seems like I’ll discover or gain access to something special and worth sharing with you.

This month delivered on that. Two chef dinners, a museum opening, and a few other things worth keeping on your radar!

Blooming Hill has been one of my go-to’s for years, so I was especially curious when they hired a new chef and started hosting wine dinners with local vineyards. I was invited to a pairing with Fjord Vineyard, a winery out of Milton, NY. We sat at a long communal farm table, the kind you’ve seen all over Instagram – done up in twine and burlap – but it actually felt real, not staged. Matthew, the winemaker from Fjord, sat with us and talked through the wines as we worked our way through the menu. I usually go for something lighter, but the scallops with gnocchi and lemon butter did not disappoint.

Reservations can be hard to get, so book a few weeks out and plan a day around it. Start with a hike at Black Rock Forest or Storm King, then head over. You could also stop at Woodbury Common on the way.

But make sure to give yourself time at their farm market. The wicker baskets and the vegetables with just enough dirt on them will make you wonder if it’s all a little too perfect, but it’s genuinely some of the best produce in the Hudson Valley.

Kanopi Restaurant is on the 44th floor of Opus Hotel in White Plains, where on a clear night the views stretch all the way to Manhattan. When I arrived, it was pouring rain and I couldn’t see a thing, but by the time we were leaving, the fog had lifted and the skyline was all there.

I had no idea we’d end up at the Chef’s Table, which sits directly inside the kitchen. It felt a little like being in an episode of The Bear, but without any of the screaming or family strife. The whole team was warm and welcoming. Chef Anthony Gonçalves runs the kitchen with his wife Andreia and their son AJ, which gives the whole experience a very personal vibe.

The menu is a Portuguese omakase. At the start of our eight courses, we were given a map of Portugal showing where each dish was rooted, which was a lovely way to set up the meal. It’s hard to pick a favorite from everything I tasted, but the lobster paired with beer stood out, as did the “happy egg”, a lightly poached egg on lobster fried rice that absolutely lived up to its name. And the Portuguese bread? Thick, charred from the broiler, warm and salty.

This is a special occasion kind of place, with a few different booking options: the Chef’s Table, the regular dining room with those aforementioned killer views, and a new weekend brunch with walk-ins welcome, which is probably your easiest way in.

After a two-year renovation, the New Museum has finally reopened on the Bowery, expanding into a second building that now connects to the original to create one larger seven-floor space. The floating balloon sculptures by Anicka Yi, helium-filled translucent forms that drift slowly through the fourth floor gallery, have become the thing everyone is talking about, and, indeed, they’re super cool to see in person.

But the building itself is worth the visit. I went straight to the top floor and worked my way down, which is how I prefer to do museums. The elevator is worth noting, with glass walls looking out over lower Manhattan, and the upper floors have a lot of open space with floor-to-ceiling windows and views across to the Trade Center.

The inaugural show, New Humans: Memories of the Future, is spread across all of the museum’s galleries and includes a huge mix of work. I liked seeing pieces by the Russian Constructivists and Salvador Dalí, but a lot of the newer work didn’t do much for me. Still, the museum itself is reason enough to go, and it’s an easy one to add to a downtown city day.

My daughter and I made a trip down to the East Village when she was home for a weekend during spring break for the Keith Haring show at the Brant Foundation. I knew she’d love it. It’s hard not to.

The show focuses on Haring’s early years, from 1980 to 1983, tracing his rise from subway chalk drawings to famous artist, all in the East Village neighborhood where he started. Most of the imagery will feel immediately recognizable, even the early work: the dogs, the radiant baby, the dancing figures.

The Brant Foundation is located in a former Con Edison substation, and the industrial space really suits the work (On view through May 31st) We grabbed a great Vietnamese lunch at Nón Lá on East 4th Street which I highly recommend – don’t miss the summer rolls or chicken pho.

Most people think of Stone Barns as the place with the impossible restaurant reservation. But the grounds are open to walkers, runners, and anyone who just wants to show up, and from November through April, parking is free, so pull right in.

On a recent snowy morning, a few running friends and I had the whole place to ourselves. We’d heard Stone Barns plows their own paths, so when everything around us was icy, this was our backup. Clean trails, total quiet, and then – coming around a turn – goats, pigs, and cows, just going about their morning.

You don’t always know where the animals will be, which makes it feel more like the real farm it is, rather than something staged. It’s worth knowing about year round. Bring the kids!

After our Blooming Hill dinner, my husband went home and did exactly what my husband always does: he ordered a case of Fjord wines. The catch was that Fjord is small and not always open, so we had to pick it up at Benmarl Winery in Marlborough, which claims to be the oldest vineyard in America, and the hillside views over the Hudson are reason enough to start drinking.

I turned it into a day. We started at Franny Reese State Park in Highland, which has carriage road trails, a few old stone ruins, and great views of the Mid-Hudson Bridge and the Walkway over the Hudson. It’s a little rough around the edges, especially this time of year, but perfect for a short, easy hike.

Lunch was summer rolls at Miss Saigon in Poughkeepsie. At this point, you probably know that I clearly will always find a way to work in Vietnamese food.

We ended the day at Adams Fairacre Farms, which has quietly become our standard end-of-day stop. A smaller, family-run grocery that feels a little farm-y but also a full store, with shops in Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Newburgh. If you haven’t been, it’s worth adding on the way home from any upstate trip.

That’s March. Slowly starting to feel like spring. More soon.

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