When someone asks you about your neighborhood, the first image that pops into your mind is most likely going to contain your house or apartment building, local store, neighbors, basically, what have you. In the restaurant business, we spend so much time at the restaurant that it becomes our home and the area our neighborhood. I have a great wine shop right down the street from my apartment but it is closed by the time I get home. So instead I’ll just stop in at Crush Wine & Spirits on 57^th street to pick up a bottle; they have an outstanding German and Austrian selection, which happen to be two of my favorite regions. Vice Versa, I’ll see the ‘Crush’ guys in Felidia for lunch, or after work for a drink at the bar. Having neighbors can be a great thing, be it those that live next door to you, or the shops, restaurants and businesses that make up your working neighborhood. Let’s say you’re cooking dining for some friends coming over, went to the store, list in hand, checking off everything as you put it in the basket. You get home, start cooking and half way through you open the cartoon of eggs to grab one you need for the recipe and boom, your roommate took the last eggs and put the carton back empty. Your friends will arriving soon. What do you do? Obviously you knock on your neighbor’s door and ask for an egg. Same thing in the restaurant business but instead of one egg, I’ll go across the street to Club A Steakhouse and borrow a case of San Pellegrino because we just ran out and a busy Saturday night is starting. I see Bruno, Club A’s owner, more than any of my neighbors in Brooklyn, where I live. Sometimes after work, before heading home, I’ll head down to P.J. Clarke’s for oysters and a beer. Friends often tell me they never go above 14^th street because everything cool to do is downtown- and I used to agree- but midtown east has been a great adopted neighborhood, and has slowly changed my mind.

 - Nicholas Finger