TEAM EPIPHANY

In a truncated season, it’s not uncommon to experience a wide range of emotions watching your professional basketball franchise of choice. Without the benefit of a full training camp, no summer league, and very few practices, a team that is still trying to gel will see it’s fair share of hardship.

Sadly, the Knicks have been in a perpetual state of turnover for the past 10 years.

How can a fan truly trust a team that doesn’t even seem to trust itself? It can’t, plain and simple. However, the Knicks, as presently constructed, offer something that fans haven’t seen in years: Hope. The talent is present to do some very impressive things this year and in the future and the collective basketball competency is higher than any team fans have seen since 1999 when Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston were scoring in bunches. 

Hope is a dangerous thing, though. It does things like raise expectations and force fans to analyze a team’s structure. It forces fans to care.

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In December, Jed Stiller, Team Epiphany’s VP of Talent Procurement and President of E2 (Epiphany Entertainment Agency), opened up two NYC hot spots. Stash is an “underground” club located behind a hidden door beneath a sports bar. W.I.P. (Work in Progress) is located next door to Greenhouse, of which Stiller is now majority owner. Like Greenhouse, W.I.P. and Stash have quickly become favorites among NYC A-Listers as well as celebrities including: Leonardo DiCaprio, Adrien Brody and Drake. Congrats Jed!

People love exclusivity when dining in New York City. From speakeasy bars to clandestine alleyway restaurants, the trend has become so pervasive that I personally find it tacky. A noted exception, however, is Sushi Azabu. Why? Frankly -because the food is good enough to justify any kind of gimmick.

Saunter into The Greenwich Grill on Greenwich and Laight Streets in TriBeCa and let the host (who is rarely Asian, yet always speaks flawless Japanese) know that you’ve made a reservation for dinner at Azabu. Without a whiff of pretention, you’ll be whisked away to the back of the restaurant, led down a dark and inconspicuous set of stairs and plunged head-first into the most authentic sushi bar experience this side of Tokyo.

The best way to dine at Sushi Azabu is to sit at the bar and order the Omakase (or one of the smaller iterations of the chef’s menu, if you’re not feeling particularly hungry or adventurous). Get a sake or imported beer and sit back in gustatory wonder as the master chef doles out hit-after-hit of melt-in-your-mouth, straight-from-the-ocean, seriously sublime sushi. Don’t ask what anything is – the chef will just point to your dish and bark its name in Japanese. It’s refreshing, in such a label-conscious society, to be in a place where the names truly don’t matter. Each piece of sushi is decadent in its Zen-like simplicity. Forget the specifics of your meal and indulge. Take a leap of faith. Dive in. Enjoy.  

My Recommendations: Omakase, the mochi/green tea ice cream sundae if you have room for dessert. 

- Douglas Brundage

 TE’s NYC is an ongoing series of city-centric reviews, recommendations, commentaries, collaborations and more about everything and anything related to NYC. 

Douglas Brundage is a Social Media Coordinator at Team Epiphany. 

Learn more about Sushi Azabu over at their website.

Should you find yourself wandering in the West Village on an empty stomach, make sure to stop by Mary’s Fish Camp and grab a seat bar-side. Located at Charles and 4th Streets, Mary’s Fish Camp boasts a menu of fresh seafood favorites that are to die for. With modest surroundings in a space that could loosely be described as “cozy”, the food takes center stage. Choose from a daily pick of fresh oysters, Canadian steamers and drawn butter, delicious salt cod empanadas or many other mouth-watering dishes. If that isn’t enough to tempt you, the highly-acclaimed lobster roll is good enough to sway even the most discerning critic. 

After exiting Pearl’s Oyster Bar, Chef/Owner Mary Redding opened this gem in the same neighborhood. Compared to Pearl’s, the menu is more extensive and frankly, superior (at least in my opinion). Fish Camp is charmingly reminiscent of a casual seafood shack you would typically find in small coastal town - the likes of Cape Cod, Cape May, and just about any of the other “Capes”. The impeccable service makes the customers feel even more at home. 

Mary’s Fishcamp does not take reservations, so be prepared to wait. Brooklynites should visit the Park Slope location, Brooklyn Fish Camp, which has an identical menu and can accommodate larger parties. The outer-borough spot is also outfitted with a lovely back garden. 

My Recommendations: Lobster roll (one of the city’s best), clam chowder, fried or grilled fish-of-the-day (my fave!), lobster knuckles, fried eggplant and elotes (mexican corn on the cob with mayo and cotija cheese). For dessert, the ice cream sundae is amazing.

- Valerie Chiam

TE’s NYC is an ongoing series of city-centric reviews, recommendations, commentaries, collaborations and more about everything and anything related to NYC.

Valerie Chiam is the Director of PR at Team Epiphany. 

Learn more about Mary’s Fish Camp over at their website.

Weird Name, Great Food

As New Yorkers, we’re constantly in search of a fantastic meal with lush digs to boot. With so many options available to us across the five boroughs, and menus covering any number of cuisines, cultures and trends, it can become a bit overwhelming at times. Instead, it’s sometimes worth revisiting the basics with a simple, simply great meal. Bubby’s—with locations in TriBeCa and DUMBO—delivers on this concept. 

Bubby’s serves traditional comfort food that could otherwise qualify as staples in most American kitchens. The barbecue is especially good, with the hot links and the pork butt as a definite highlight. If the grill isn’t your pleasure, a meatloaf, served wrapped in bacon, is definitely worth sinking your teeth into. The blend of ground beef and ground pork make the dish especially tender and juicy.

Still, the real draw for anyone considering a visit is the incredible pie selection. Baked by Ron Silver and ranging from the popular “mile high apple pie” to the Michigan sour cherry, the pies at Bubby’s are seriously good. In fact, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you choose to skip dessert. The extra calories are worth it. Trust me.

My Recommendations: Anything BBQ, meatloaf, sour cherry pie.

- Kyle Turner

TE’s NYC is an ongoing series of city-centric reviews, recommendations, commentaries, collaborations and more about everything and anything related to NYC.

Kyle Turner is a Senior Account Manager at Team Epiphany. 

Learn more about Bubby’s over at their website.