Some day my fancy apartment slash home office near Lincoln Center will come. But for the time being, I’m forced to find quiet yet cool, central yet uncrowded interview locations for my clients. This is fairly easy during the day, but gets a bit more complicated around happy hour.
I thought other publicists (and journalists) might have this problem, so if we start a list here, I’ll ask Doug to add it as a sidebar on the blog.
I’ll begin:
Cafe Lalo
201 West 83rd Street
New York, NY 10024
(212) 496-6031
http://www.cafelalo.com/
Pros: Upper West Side, good lighting, variety of drinks, variety of food
Cons: Sometimes loud, children, bad background music
Le Pain Quotidien
60 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10031
(212) 721-4001
http://www.lepainquotidien.com/
Pros: Across the street from Lincoln Center, variety of food
Cons: Industry people, crowded at lunch
Empire Hotel Bar
44 West 63rd Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 265-7400
http://www.empirehotelnyc.com/
Pros: Across the street from Lincoln Center, variety of drinks, very quiet upstairs, good lighting
Cons: Industry people, tourists, $6 cappuccinos, no skim milk
Though it may not always seem that way, I am aware that there is a world beyond Manhattan, so please feel free to post good interview spots outside of NYC as well. Thanks for your help!
Edgar’s Cafe at 84th & Broadway is also good – very quiet and unobtrusive service.
Downtown – Mocca Coffee Bar on Church & Reade Streets (Tribeca)
or
Tazza Cafe in Brooklyn Heights is also nice
Cafe Reggio on Macdougal (near west 4th st.)
Think Coffee on Mercer between West 4th and West 3rd St.
Momofuku Milk Bar on 13th st. between 2nd and 3rd Aves.
Dean and Deluca in the Fashion District- 8th Ave. between 40th and 41st St.
Cafe Angelique- Bleecker St. between Lafayette and Broadway
-also a location in the West Village at 49 Grove St.
Great post, looking forward to more suggestions.
I almost hate to mention this because it feels like a hideaway that nobody knows about… but this is such a valuable post I’ll add in my favorite location:
If you go up to the lobby area of Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Time Warner Building (Columbus Circle, NYC) it is almost always open to the public during the day and there is almost never anyone up there. Added bonus: beautiful view of the park.
I’ve recorded MANY of my audio interviews there.
CON: I don’t know if there is a way to know when it’s closed which happened to me twice.
A nice backup is the Bouchon Bakery area (also in the Time Warner Center) but it can be rather noisy and hard to find a seat.
Peter’s at 182 Columbus Avenue at 68th Street – low-key, usually quiet