Wonder wheel
ELIOT STEIN • BBC
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
ELIOT STEIN • journalist/book author • BBC
Neighborhood you work in: Midtown
Neighborhood you live in: Park Slope
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
I’m a travel editor at the BBC and usually work out of our Midtown office midweek, but on Fridays, I work from home in South Slope. When I’m not assigning and editing stories for the BBC that (hopefully) inspire people to fall back in love with the world, I’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on my new book. It’s called Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions and the Last People Keeping them Alive, and it’s about 10 of the rarest and most astonishing cultural marvels on the brink of extinction.
If the weather’s nice, I usually run a loop in Prospect Park after wrapping up work for the day. If it’s not, I may journal, meditate, or pick my three-year-old up early from daycare and set out on one of his favorite games: “end of the line.” This mini-vision quest involves us hopping on the first subway train that arrives, riding it somewhere we’ve never been before (often to the end of that line), and then exploring a new corner of the city.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
I could eat Mexican food every night of the week and am really fond of the Tacos El Bronco food truck in Sunset Park. I’ve also been going to WakuWaku izakaya in Industry City quite a bit, Java Indonesian a few blocks from my apartment, and LaRina in Fort Greene. I lived in Cagliari for a number of years and Epistrophy in Nolita does Sardinian food about as well as you’ll find in New York.
Places like Sunny’s, Brooklyn Inn, Tile Bar, Radio Bar, Sharlene’s, and Tip Top Bar & Grill are my speed for a drink.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love kayaking and recently discovered Manhattan Kayak Co. They offer year-round paddling trips throughout the region, including one of the best things I’ve done in New York City: a 30-mile circumnavigation of Manhattan that takes nine hours to complete. If the weather’s nice, I may go for a paddle before heading to the beach with the family for a stroll.
I’ll never understand people who turn their noses up at Coney Island. It’s a gem, and walking the boardwalk on a sunny day is one of the city’s better people-watching experiences. It also happens to be next to one of my favorite neighborhoods, Brighton Beach, which is about as close as 1920s New York City as I think you’ll find. Depending on how things go, I may just stay at Tatiana until the restaurant closes and it turns into a Ukrainian nightclub. Or, if it’s on, I may head to one of the city’s most joyous parties, Soul in the Horn.
Any weekend getaways?
Camping, hiking, and unplugging outside make me happy, and Hipcamp helps me find places where I can do that. It’s kind of like Airbnb for farmers: if a farmer or family owns 20 acres of land but is only using 15, you can rent part of their private property to pitch a tent, forage, meet the animals, and explore. I’ve found it makes for a much more personal and private camping experience than many state parks. We’ve recently used it as a base to canoe to islands in Maine, hike through gorges in rural Pennsylvania, and camp on a blueberry farm in Ithaca.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
We recently booked a family vacation to Nicaragua, where my better half’s family is from. I’ve visited before and adore it, but this trip will be especially meaningful, as it’ll be the first time our son will meet his last living great-grandparent.