BlackBook Guide to New York 2007 (BlackBook Guide series)

By BlackBook Editors

This sleek, pocket-sized nightlife manual captures the Big Apple's most interesting social offerings--from fashion-forward clubs to avant-garde culture. The fresh and concise listings to New York... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932942165
• ISBN13: 9781932942163
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: BlackBook Media Corp.
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.8" x 0.6" x 4.0"

Customer Reviews

BlackBook

I was staying at 60 Thompson and our concierge suggested the BlackBook guide. It was extremely useful in finding hot spots around the city. BlackBook guides also make great gifts for friends who are going to the city.

I wish I had found this three years ago!

Often stuck in a rut when deciding where to go out at night, I picked up the BlackBook Guide to New York upon a recommendation from a buddy of mine. As a resident New Yorker, I must say, I was definitely impressed. This book truly captured the essence of my favorite local spots and helped to open my eyes to many other night-spots that I never would have known about otherwise. Ignoring the countless tired, old, been-there-done-that types of places, this book seems to include only those places that I actually would enjoy. It certainly makes Zagat's seem geriatric in comparison.

Great selective nightlife guide to NYC

The BlackBook Guide to New York is better than any other I've read. What I especially like about it are the detailed maps that it provides, marking all of the spots that it reviews. Other excellent features include subway directions for each location, something that most other guide books don't provide. The guide is organized in a very logical way. Tabs on the side divide it into larger regions, while it is further divided into neighborhoods within each region. All you have to do is choose the area you want to visit, and it lays out several excellent options for dining or partying. Probably my favorite feature is its extensive listings for Brooklyn, which is a really hip and up and coming area that no other guide book is covering. The fact that the Brooklyn entries are almost as extensive as the Manhattan ones really shows that the people at BlackBook know what is happening right now in New York. Really the only drawback I can find is that it is not terribly comprehensive. It has far fewer listings that most other books, but the reviews for the places it does list are really helpful in deciding where to visit. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to go out on the town in New York.

The best guide I've encountered

As someone determined to squeeze everything possible out of any trip, I can honestly say that BlackBook produces the best city guides I've encountered. I've lived in NYC for two years and I decided to check out BlackBook's guide to New York. As I expected, this guide is spot-on accurate. The reviews evoke the atmosphere of my favorite places in a few words: The Indian restaurant Banjara is "genial and dusky" while Café Gitane's "soothing pastel colors" make it comfortable lunch spot. Although the descriptions in this guide are short, they're right on the money. The editors call Café Gitane a "Europhile's wet dream" (true), and point out that while electronic/world music club Nublu has a "clever, mellow space and lush, jungly back garden," the lack of sign out front is the ultimate purveyor of the club's cool. The observations in these books, along with the array of other necessary information that they provide makes these guides credible and useful. For restaurants, the guide includes the average price of a two-course meal and a drink at the end of each review, as well as symbols indicating which places are new, cash-only, really inexpensive, or editors' picks. They also factor noise level, elbow room, and the clientele into the reviews. I agree with the judgment in these guides: BlackBook definitely has a New Yorker's perspective, but the editors pull back and see each neighborhood in the larger context that most New Yorkers have forgotten about. They point out that while much of Nolita/Little Italy's has been gentrified, "a distinct Old World Charm lingers," and they recommend a night trip to Chinatown for "delectable, exotic and well-priced" meals, where the fun is enhanced by Chinatown's mysterious nightime aura. I also agree with BlackBook's naming of the Bowery Ballroom and Northsix as among the best places to hear live music. This is a selective list, so the guide doesn't include every bar, club, or restaurant that I like. I do wish this guidebook was a little more comprehensive, but I think they're trying to give you a review of noteworthy places. Although BlackBook's lists (like BlackBook Magazine) seem to be geared toward a cutting-edge readership, these guides are accessible. No matter who you are, I think you can gauge from the write-ups whether you'd like a place or not. 4.5 out of 5 stars

Better than Zagats, and more fun!

I love the BlackBook Guide series (used to be the BlackBook list), because the entries are pre-selected by the editors of BlackBook Magazine as the best restaurants, bars, and clubs in the city. Each entry gives you a really good idea of what type of food, service, decor, crowd the venue has, and the writers add humor to the reviews so that they are fun to read. Unlike Zagats, which lets customers rate, the BlackBook Guide is like always having that one cool friend around who always knows just where to go.