Skipping town
Upstate summer ‘26 preview, favorite Hamptons restaurants, Litchfield listings, Knicks tix, Bar Contra, Bertie’s, MORE
CULTURE & LEISURE • If Necessary
Belle & Sebastian • The Rooftop at Pier 17 (Seaport) • Sat @ 730p • Heineken Silver Zone, $167 per
Knicks v Cavs • game 3 • Rocket Arena (Cleveland) • Sat @ 8p • sec 107, $800
Cavs v Knicks • game 5, if nec • MSG (Midtown South) • Wed @ 8p • sec 107, $4394 per
WORK • Friday Routine
Bar crawl
CHLOE FRECHETTE & PAUL MCGEE • owners • Echo Lake + Undercurrent
Neighborhood you work in: Williamsburg
Neighborhood you live in: East Village
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
We just opened our new bar in Williamsburg, Echo Lake, last month. Our poor staff have been stuck listening to the same playlist on repeat, so we’ll be fine-tuning the bar’s music selection on the drive up to our house in Pound Ridge, NY. Our plan is to load up the car with rum and vintage spirits from our personal collection to bring back to Undercurrent, the small rare rum bar beneath Echo Lake that opened earlier this month.
Any restaurant plans?
We live half a block away from Stars in the East Village, and only two blocks from Penny and Claud. If you’re lucky, you can complete the trifecta in a single night, starting with a glass of wine or vermouth at Stars, then dinner at Penny (order the bread) before heading downstairs for dessert at Claud. The staff at all three are exceptional, and remind us that true hospitality is a rare luxury, and we soak it up as much as we can when we’re there.
For cocktails, we’ll head to Bar Contra on the Lower East Side. Dave Arnold is one of the few bar owners who doesn’t use technology superfluously behind the bar. Every technique serves a purpose, and the resulting drinks are original and delicious.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Although we don’t typically go for opera, we have tickets to see Innocence at the Met, which has been labeled a masterpiece, so we’ll see what the hype is about.
Any weekend getaways?
Earlier this year we drove to New Marlborough, MA, specifically to visit The Old Inn on the Green after seeing a picture of the dining room (and becoming instantly enamored). We’re suckers for candlelit rooms, and The Old Inn on the Green relies solely on fireplaces and candle-lit chandeliers as light sources. It reminded us of Stissing House, stuck further back in time. The food didn’t disappoint either.
What was your last great vacation?
Scotland is my [Chloe’s] spiritual homeland, and we spent part of last summer in the Highlands. We stayed at a remarkable church manse-turned-hotel called Lundies House in the small village of Tongue, just a five-minute bike ride from some of the region’s best beaches.
Scotland is also home to one of our favorite bars in the world: Bertie’s, located in the Fife Arms. It’s just Scotch — no ice, no cocktails — and it’s a masterpiece.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
Last summer we bought a 1984 Mercedes station wagon to cruise around in. It can barely make it up hills, but on a flat road with the windows down, a cassette playing, and the dogs in the back, it feels like heaven.
What store or service do you always recommend?
Rosemary Home. We used to spend a lot of time scouring eBay and other auction sites for vintage bar- and glassware, but as we’ve gotten shorter on time, it’s nice to have such a thoughtful and fairly priced selection of vintage glassware in the neighborhood.
Where are you donating your time or money?
Having just opened a bar, we’re short on both of those things right now, but we always look to New York Cares for immediate ways to chip in, connect with, and make our city better.
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CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: Sotheby’s launches museum residencies at the Breuer • Pollock sells for $181M at Christie’s auction • Selldorf gets Louvre expansion commission • Greenpoint Open Studios back next weekend • Longevity hack: go to a museum.
GETAWAYS • Upstate
Summer preview ‘26
Half a dozen new restaurant and hotel hotspots on our radar for this summer Upstate. Previously: Summer preview ‘26, The Hamptons.
