Chicken fingers ain't gonna cut it 🏀
Where to eat before, during and after the Knicks game.
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I don’t think enough of you guys appreciate basketball. I’d like to see some more acknowledgment that the NBA is back, that we have games to watch every single night after months of living our lives basketball-less. I'm not shaming you, I've been there. Before I was a fan, I’d get increasingly frustrated with friends who made me move bars mid-drink to one that was playing “the game,” or change channels mid-movie to watch the last quarter of “the game,” or worst of all, told me they couldn’t hang out at all because “the game is on tonight.”
My life got so much better when I started paying attention to “the game.” The players are hot and hilarious, the drama is never-ending, the fans are something that the words loyal and passionate do not even begin to capture.
“I'm just not into basketball.”
“I don't understand the game.”
“Basketball is boring.”
If you’ve ever thought that last one, clearly the first two are true. But I’ve watched a lot of people get into baseball this year by way of falling for the charming (to many, but certainly not me), handsome (to many, and admittedly also me — Francisco Lindor is respectfully a stud) underdog team that is the Mets. So if everyone can suddenly not only understand, but fall in love with baseball in just one short season, then I promise you can do the same with basketball. It’s worlds more exciting, anyways. Once you start to get it, you’ll understand what I mean when I tell you that Perfect City is recording a triple-double today. If you never fall in love with basketball, I’m sorry for you, but you’ll still understand this next part: I’m providing you with my recommendations of the very best things to do, eat and drink before, during and after a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.
Before the game
My absolute favorite pre-game move is to slip into Los Mariscos for a light, early dinner. And one or two margaritas. The restaurant is technically a part of Chelsea Market, but you can avoid the stream of tourists inside by going through their solo entrance on 15th Street. It’s super casual — you’ll sit at a wooden table and order your food at a counter — but you won’t have to wait for a seat if you show up around 6pm. If you go then, you’ll be able to eat a few crispy fish tacos or the especial ceviche, which comes piled on top of a crunchy corn tortilla and topped with creamy slices of avocado, walk the 20 minutes to Madison Square Garden, and get to the game before tip-off.
Friends have asked me before where they can get a proper dinner before the game, which confuses me because I wouldn’t necessarily want to tack a $100 bill onto a day’s tab that already includes a $300 Knicks ticket and at least one $30 tequila soda, but you do you. There’s a lot of fun stuff around the Garden right now, like the big, glitzy, reminiscent-of but much better-than a mall restaurant, Zou Zou’s. They also have a cool cocktail bar upstairs that has a smaller, snackier food menu and lots of velvet couches. Dining at Shukette is so wacky and bumping and exciting and fast-paced and loud that it can feel like being in an Uncut Gems scene (thats a compliment). The food is excellent if you can get a reservation, though I’ve heard walking in on the earlier side has a pretty high success rate. My family goes crazy for Skirt Steak, a restaurant with a $45 salad, steak and fries prix-fixe menu. And one more thing to consider… Andrew Tarlow’s new place Borgo is just a 19 minute walk from MSG.
If you’re normal and are just looking for something quick and delicious to eat before walking into a place where a slice of mediocre pizza costs $10, the OG Upside Pizza on 8th Ave is where you need to be. The vodka slice, the crispy-edged square slices, and whatever special slices they have (sometimes a brilliant sausage and peppers slice, other times a summery sungold tomato sauce) are my favorite. And if you see garlic knots in the case, trust me, you need an order of them.
At the game
Maybe you went straight to the game from work, maybe you love stadium food, maybe you didn’t order enough tacos at Los Mariscos. Whatever the reason, if you find yourself hungry at the game, you should beeline to the nearest Fuku. I know I said chicken fingers wouldn’t cut it, but I told a white lie so that you’d read this. And aren’t you happy you did? You’ll also be happy when you’re handed a box of perfect chicken fingers sitting on a mountain of salty and spicy jalapeño powder-dusted waffle fries. The Mike’s Hot Honey chicken fingers are pretty good too, but their fried chicken sandwiches are where it’s at.
After the game
If you want dessert and to go to bed, which is always what I want, there is no option more satisfying than a McDonald’s vanilla cone, especially when used as a dip for a small side order of hot, salty fries. There’s one on 33rd and 7th and another on 35th and 8th, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t end your night here.
I wouldn’t eat at Blarney Stone, Stout or Mustang Harry’s, but they’re all solid, spacious spots that stay open late, perfect for anyone who wants to spend the rest of their night drinking and watching the Western Conference games.
Personally, if I weren’t ready to end my night after the game, I’d go to Wakamba, a wonderful, dirty dive bar formally known as The Distinguished Wakamba Cocktail Lounge, which I think is a beautiful name. I also think it’s beautiful how much Anthony Bourdain liked drinking Presidentes here. He used to live in the neighborhood, which is why he’s also spoken a lot about Rudy’s, a bar in Hell’s Kitchen that you should know for three reasons: the beers are $3, the hot dogs are free and there’s a big pig bouncer outside named Baron Von Swine. It’s one of the — perhaps the — greatest dive bars in this crazy city.
NEXT WEEK
My birthday is very soon, and even though I make cakes for everyone else’s birthday (which I talked to
about in yesterday morning’s edition of his daily newsletter🧁), I never make my own birthday cake. There are a few bakeries I really love, specifically for special occasion cakes, so maybe I’ll put together a guide to ordering cakes in NYC for you guys.
my mouth is watering
big fan of nan xiang xiao long bao pre-msg