10 Years of Dumb Unit: Jeremy P. Caulfield presents How to Be A Fake New Yorker

I spend a lot of time in New York. I think over the last 2 years I’ve lived there for about 2 months or more. It’s often my base or jumping off spot on US tours but I also use any excuse I can to just hang out. Often I stay in Williamsburg where it seems most people I know also live. The neighborhood around Bedford could be considered past its prime yet there are still a host of great places opening off the beaten path. When you’re like me and are basically an unemployed vagrant from Monday to Friday you tend to have a lot more time than New Yorkers have to explore. The best new spot in Brooklyn that I have visited recently is Rye: an amazing bar cum dining room on South 1st, it was recommended to my wife Kyla and I by some good friends. We were heading to 5 Leaves (another great spot in Brooklyn) but were persuaded to try Rye. Wow! A beautiful dining room (Brooklyn Saloon Gothic??) With a refurbished bar that the owner apparently brought in. Great service, stellar drinks and a really fun atmosphere. I can only recommend Londoner’s wait for their Pound to go back up, then find a cheap flight , head to NYC and eat relatively for pennies compared to back home ! When I’m in New York all I do is sit around and get fat drinking coffee and micro-brew IPAs, so to do that you need a good book. I used to like Spoonbill and SugarTown on Bedford, but it’s got a weird musty smell and the books aren’t changing. So now I go across the river * gasp* to McNally Jackson. It’s an amazing book shop in a great neighborhood with its own cafe and a super selection of hard to find magazines. There’s also so much to see in this neighborhood (Bowery, Lolita etc). Speaking of the neighborhood it’s time to hit the small but wonderful street of Mulberry. Sandwiched in between everything else at the top of Little Italy (NOLITA) it’s a little street that has stood the test of time. On it is a great new restaurant that is owned by Dumb-Unit artist Elon’s sister (did you get that?). It’s called Balaboosta and we hit it up for an artist dinner on a recent tour and it ending up being one of the best meals I have had in NY. A really comfortable, inviting place in one of my favorite parts of town. Okay .. but the real.real deal is Elon’s sister’s other restaurant, a Falafel joint called Taim. It’s immensely popular, but for a reason. There are almost 400 reviews on YELP and almost all positive. Most places begin to tumble after a couple of years, but not Taim. People write things like : “The best falafel I have ever eaten, hands down” “Today I fell in love. I didn't mean to, it just happened” "I found (falafel) nirvana." "4.75 stars! though i'm only holding back that quarter of a star because i'm still in some state of shock from experiencing something so wonderful, so yummy, so great. was it a dream?" WOW! Now if someone could write a review like that for one of my records we’d really be in business!!