Findlay // Sandsmark: broken (iteration III- for LIC)

Before

Long walk · 0.7 mi · 13 min walk; 2 min ride - Astoria

A narrow Venezuelan place on 36th Avenue that has been griddling arepas on this block since the late 2000s. You order at the counter from a board of about twenty fillings and the reina pepiada is the one most people come back for. There are a dozen or so tables and the turnover is quick. It sits directly across 36th Avenue from Melrose Ballroom's door.

After

short ride recommended · 7 min - Upper East Side

Down a few steps on 85th between First and Second is an Irish pub, with a pool table at the back and bowls of free chips on the bar. Guinness poured properly and nothing on the walls that looks like it was bought as a theme. It runs to four in the morning seven nights a week. Quiet enough on a weekday that the pool table is usually free.