Reviews
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Food and Drink
Radiance Tea House & Books
Mandarin, Food and Drink, Shopping
I am a sucker for any tea or coffee shop that sticks the word “books” in its business name. Radiance Tea House & Books, located in midtown Manhattan, is Chinese-owned. You can enjoy a meal there, as well as buy…
Holyland Market
Hebrew, Food and Drink
This East Village store is filled with Israeli products and is apparently very popular with Israelis seeking familiar foods from home. I always like taking pictures of food with foreign languages on it, so I went there to see…
Schaller & Weber
German, Food and Drink
You can find hard-core German food products at this longstanding family-owned Yorkville store, resident on 86th and Second Avenue since 1937. Schaller & Weber’s website says they are “masters of charcuterie.” I had to go look up “charcuterie.”…
Palombo Bakery Creamery Caffe
Italian, Food and Drink
During my Italian studies, on an expedition to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, I stopped by this establishment for a coffee break, because I thought I might get to speak or at least hear Italian. The place was bustling, extremely…
Café Riviera
Polish, Food and Drink
Café Riviera in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has Polish employees and Polish desserts and Polish customers. I traveled here in search of people to speak Polish to, and it was a highly effective strategy. I took my grammar book with me, studied…
Heidelberg Restaurant
German, Food and Drink
This German restaurant and bar, located on Second Avenue near 86th Street, is in Yorkville on the East Side. Yorkville at one time was heavily populated with German immigrants. I went during off hours, sat at the bar, and…
Cha-An Tea House
Japanese, Food and Drink
For a relaxing cup of tea, you might consider this attractive East Village tea house. It is owned by T.I.C. Group, which also owns an insane number of other Japanese restaurants in the immediate area. For…
Ferrara
Italian, Food and Drink
When I visited this Little Italy café back in 2009, I had the most heavenly latte I can remember having in my entire life. It was also at that time the most costly latte of my life. As I drank it,…
Aroma Espresso Bar
Hebrew, Food and Drink
This West 72nd Street café is a fabulous language lab—one of the best free local resources I have found for any language I’ve studied so far during this project. I went there a lot